Page 50 of Hyde

“Yeah, I was just hoping she’d be gone by the time you found out.” Joe gives me a sheepish look as he rubs my back.

“But she’s been banished.” I point out the obvious and as I look at each man in turn, I’m met with the same blank expression by all three of them.

“She’s at the motel near the diner,” my mom bursts forth with that pertinent piece of information and the men, collectively, look at her with a groan.

“Didn’t the original one burn down? Didn’t Aunt Charlie say it was faulty wiring?” I ask, propping my elbows on my knees as I quiz Mom with a smile starting to form.

Joe pulls me back up against his chest, with more strength than he’s shown since Dad beat him up. His right hand moves up my neck to direct my gaze back toward him.

“Le-Lee, they hurt her and she needs a couple more days to recover. Then we’re buying her a bus ticket back to Indiana. She’s agreed to go back and live with her father,” Joe informs me.

The fact that everyone in this room is already aware of this pisses me off to no end.

Trinity has managed to manipulate nearly everyone she’s ever come into contact with, so it’s not like her skills are getting duller with age. This isn’t me being jealous of her dating Joe years ago, it’s that I know she always finds a way to twist situations to her advantage.

“Let go of me, please,” I whisper to Joe, my lips within inches of his. “We’re good.”

He leans in, giving me a fast, hard kiss, before releasing me.

“I’m blunt and straight-forward. I undoubtedly got that from you, Dad,” I say, giving each of them, even Bree, a stern look. “Y’all have always known what I want because I will tell you straight out. That bitch has had, what? Three or four days, sitting in the room the Grizzlies are paying for—and meals too, I’m sure—and she’s working out how to come sideways at Molly, or Jasper, or God knows who else, to get even more. Because that’s what she always does.”

“They held her hands down on an electric stovetop, Leslee,” my dad tells me, holding his own hands up in surrender like he does when he knows I’m getting worked up. He has to know I’m not entirely wrong. “Trinity knew she couldn’t go to a hospital without unwanted questions, so Tabby’s checking in on her as she heals.”

“She knew that by not going to a hospital she’d have everyone by the balls. Trinity will milk this shit out until she finds someone to permanently support her,” I spit out the first thing that comes to mind.

“Kiddo, I actually thought of that,” Flint says, sounding slightly annoyed. “We have two of the Girlies bringing her food. No one she can seduce.”

I’ve been around Flint my entire life, long enough to understand each inflection in his voice. I’d love to give myself enough credit to say he and I think alike, but I’ll need another couple of decades to catch up to the dimension his thoughts take on.

So, besides the fact that he is annoyed that she’s back in ‘his’ territory, I’m also certain that he knows she’s going to stall for more time to come up with a plan to benefit her favorite person in the world. And since that contradicts Flint’s love for the Grizzlies and his wife, he and I are on the same team.

“Let her know she has,” I pause to look at the time on my phone, before looking back up at Flint. “Thirty hours left here. She can have a bus ticket or a grave.”

His eyes narrow, and I know damn well how he feels about being threatened but he and Jasper asked me to keep my ear to the ground for them. They had to know I’d ask for something in return.

Hyde

I start to smile at Leslee’s words, until I take in her tone and her stance.

She doesn’t look back at me as she scans the faces in front of her and a mixture of pride and calmness overtakes me. Lesleedoesn’t look at me, because she expects me to have her back—as certainly as she will have mine when the time comes.

There were so many aspects of our relationship that I never considered when I gave in to the physical spark between us. A decade ago, when I pictured my Ol’ Lady, her being hot and crazy in the sack were my two requirements.

Leslee is beautiful and we are more than compatible in bed. It’s all the other layers that constantly surprise me. She’s intelligent, confident, funny as hell, and above all: loyal.

I will never understand how I got so damn lucky, but I know that as long as I never betray her trust, she’ll always have my back and that’s especially important to men like me.

Both Flint and Gunner’s eyes shift from Leslee down to me at the same time; looking from one to the other, I give them a nod. A brief burst of surprise floats across Gunner’s typically stern expression. But it’s the spark of pride in Flint’s eyes that has me straightening my shoulders.

I tell myself that I’m too damn old to be this pleased by my adoptive father’s approval. But it feels good to have it anyway.

Chapter 15

Hyde

The morning after Leslee’s parents visited, I roll over to find her side of the bed cold and I groan when I hear a car starting up outside. I know her parents meant well by dropping her car off, but that also means she can follow up on whatever crazy-assed idea pops into her beautiful head.

Rolling over to my side, I’m just starting the painful process of getting my battered torso out of bed when I see a little piece of paper with my name on it.

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