Page 11 of The Devil's Pair

“Yeah?”

“Yes. Much better.”

“No bad dreams again last night,” he observed. “That’s what now? Five nights in a row?”

“Six.”

“That seems like progress to me, but I’m no psychiatrist.” He curled his fingers in her hair, gently tugged her head back so he could see her eyes. “What doyouthink, Jolene?”

“I think…” Jo took a deep breath, said what was truly on her mind. “I think I’m ready to go home.”

Silver stood stock-still, holding his breath, his hands tangled in Jolene’s dark, wavy hair.God, he’d waited to hear those words from her, because as much as he loved being up here at Open Skies Ranch, he knew that it was possible for a place of healing and refuge to become an escape and avoidance strategy. Jolene had needed the time away from Denver – no fucking doubt aboutthat– and he’d given it to her with zeroexpectations of timeline. She’d take what she needed, and that was that. Silver could and would wait.

Of course he wanted to get her back to the city, and he wanted to live with her. He wanted her stuff mixed with his stuff; he wanted their lives to meld and merge completely and for good. Open Skies was a respite, a halfway station to the final destination that he had in his sights: to Jolene bringing her entire life into his home. Then they’d start for real… in what would becometheirhome.

But after the phone call with Wolf just now, suddenly hewasn’tso sure that getting her back to the scene of the shit-show was such a great move. Too many red flags, too many unknowns, too many complications with Michael, an utter asshole who just wouldn’t show himself. Add to all of this the fact that Jolene’s not-so-dearly-departed husband had had direct contact to Dawson Kinney (a former Road Devils brother who was nothing but a traitor) and Crusher Alcott (a living, breathing, one-percenter nightmare over in Utah), and there were far too many elements floating around that Silver couldn’t get a goddamn handle on.

Too many ways for her to get hurt again, just because I wouldn’t be able to see the danger coming in time. After all, what the hell would I even belookingfor?

“Ohhhh-kaaaay,” he said slowly. “If that’s really want you want, baby, then we need to talk.”

“Talk?” Her tone was affectionate and light. “Moretalking? Like the kind that led to usnottalking on the sofa this morning?”

“Yep,” Silver said, and he saw her face change as he didn’t respond to her teasing. “This conversation is important, Jolene. If you want to go back, then you need to know what’s happening over there.”

“Oh, God.” He felt her knees go under her, and he slid his grip down her body to hold her tight. “Is it to do with – with Brian? Are the guys in trouble with the police?”

“Let’s sit, OK?”

He led her over to the massive sofa where they’d made love just an hour earlier, Jolene writhing under him, her nails scratching his back as she came, her sweet lips parted and her face flushed. She was deathly pale now, though, small and afraid, and Silver hated that. But he hated to lie to her more, so this conversation had to happen, as much as he cursed himself for scaring her.

Jo held Silver’s hand in both of hers, his other hand light as a baby’s breath on her cold cheek. Her dark eyes searched his face as he spoke, looking for any evasion or holding back, but he told her everything: he explained what Ice had seen over in New Mexico, and what (and who) he hadn’t seen. Silver told her about Briley and the twins on their cross-country hunt for a safe spot for the ex-cop to land. He filled her in about how Brian was scattered around Utah in pieces, and anybody in the cult who might have had any interest in him was either dead from the compound attack, or in the wind, scattered and desperate and looking for a chance to regroup.

“So… what is Wolf worried about then?” Jo asked him. “What exactly?”

“That there’s maybe still a cop back in Utah who was being blackmailed by that fucking cult leader Gideon.”

“Like Briley was?”

“Exactly, angel.”

“Well… so what if thereisone?” Jo shrugged. “If I were them, I’d just shut my damn mouth and be eternally grateful that it’s all over, right? Gideon is dead, the compound is a crime scene, the cult is inactive. The women are all rounded up and being reunited with their families, if that’s what they want,and they weren’t privy to any information, so they can’t share anything much. All the men are either dead or on the run. I’m not seeing how a cop would be anything butrelievedthat the blackmail is done and dusted.Isure as hell wouldn’t poke my head up and draw any attention to myself.”

“But what if the cop wants to do a little blackmail or extortion of their own?”

“To who?”

“The cult members.” Silver paused. “Or us. The Road Devils. Whoever handed over the most hush money.”

“About what? With what information?” Jo stared at him, and Silver saw the penny drop in that sharp little brain of hers. “Oh. Oh,no. You mean – the night that the guys went and rescued Iris… I mean Elle, don’t you? The night that Briley –”

“Killed Gideon,” Silver finished. “And Ice and the twins and Viking blew everyone else away before peeling out. All on CCTV on the roads if anyone would care to take a look.”

“I thought you said that Ice took off all the van license plates before they busted into the cult compound.”

“He did.”

“So… so what would be visible on CCTV?” Jo was puzzled. “Just a – a van speeding away? What’s to be found from that?”

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