Page 59 of Wild Bliss

Max looked at his twin. “Rach found out the woman she lovesabove all others got dumped by the new guy via text, but only after she spentthe weekend riding him like a horse she was training.”

Rye’s eyes widened. “I can handle the kids.”

He ran.

“Wyatt better like the food at Hell on Wheels.” Calliejoined Rachel and Nell, their solidarity clear. “Because he is never cominghere again.”

“Stop.” The last thing she wanted was a scene. Though it wasnice to know there were people who cared. “This is nothing for anyone to worryabout. I’m fine. I thought we had made a connection, but it appears it was onesided. There’s no need to blackball the poor man. It simply didn’t work out, soI’ll move on.”

“In a car that rolls over his body.” Gemma advised.

“I can drive it,” Rachel offered.

“I don’t believe we should violently assault the man.” Nellwas looking at her like she was a baby deer with a broken leg and Nell wasgoing to nurse her. “We should merely show our distaste with his actions bysinging outside his house for a period of no less than twenty-four hours andperhaps bombarding him with texts about inappropriate things. It might teachhim what texting is for.”

“Everyone stop,” Alexei said with a shake of his head. “Thismakes no sense. Look, I am not allowed to talk about certain things.”

“Because Wyatt’s his patient.” Doc said, finally joining theconversation. Amelia had grabbed the spoon.

“Caleb,” Alexei admonished.

“Well, everyone knows, and I’m not his therapist. I’m theguy who sits behind him at Stella’s for breakfast who has to listen to himdrone on and on about how he wants to be good enough to date someone likeSabrina Leal.” Caleb took a spoon to the face without missing a beat. WhenAmelia laughed at her own antics, Caleb stuffed a piece of banana in her mouth.“What Alexei can’t say is there has to be some other reason for theaforementioned emotional change in Wyatt because that man is into you. He’s crazyabout you, and it would be out of character for him to hurt someone like this.”

“I would not be able to be saying these things because ofpatient privacy,” Alexei said with a frown.

“But it’s accurate?” Holly asked.

Alexei nodded. “I will be calling him tomorrow. Something iswrong.”

They weren’t listening to her. “He changed his mind. Heliked the idea of me, but then he actually spent time with me and he doesn’tlike me. I guess he said all the stuff about us dating to make sure I didn’tcause a fuss when I left. He also might be a little intimidated by Mel.”

“He should be intimidated by me,” Rachel said, an unholygleam in her eyes.

“He should be intimininadated by me, too, Momma.” At somepoint Paige had joined them. She stood there in her pink jumper, hands in fistson her hips. She was Rachel’s mini-me, and she had her momma’s rage down pat.“Ms. Leal is the best teacher, and no one should hurt her. I will kick him inthe shins. No one treats my teacher bad.”

“Badly.” She was still a teacher, after all. “It’s no onetreats my teacher badly, Paige.”

“His leg’s going to feel badly when I kick it.” SometimesPaige didn’t want a lesson.

“You are not kicking anyone,” Max said with a huff.

“Aunt Nell, Daddy is patriarching me,” Paige proclaimed.

“Huh. I wonder if it has anything to do with Hell on Wheelsgetting robbed,” Gemma mused.

“What?” Someone had obviously buried the lead. Sabrinaturned to Gemma. “What do you mean someone robbed Hell on Wheels? No one toldme.”

“Well, I didn’t think I should. We’re not terrificallyclose, and I kind of thought the guys would tell you. Or your sister, thoughnow that I think about it, she wasn’t on duty when we got called out there,”Gemma admitted.

Sabrina didn’t care about why she hadn’t known. She didhowever have some questions. “What happened? Is everyone okay?”

Gemma waved the concern off. “Everyone’s fine. Someone brokein while the storm was going, and we’re pretty sure it was a group of bikersmaking a mess. I tracked them via traffic cams. Though we should call itsomething else because it’s not like we get traffic out here. We should callthem road cams.”

Bikers? “Like his family? Gemma, this is important. Could ithave been his brother?”

Now all eyes were on Gemma, and she seemed to realize shewas the center of attention and wasn’t sure she liked it. “Uh, I don’t thinkso. He didn’t say anything if it was. You know the Horde is based in ColoradoSprings. It’s hours from here. I doubt they would drive all that way to steal acouple hundred bucks and some cheap liquor.”

“Well, cheap is all Sawyer has,” Max added unhelpfully.

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