Page 15 of Cowboy's Way

“Hey y’all!” Debbie and Bobbi join our small group and I easily smile in their direction, at least until I see the bottles in a carrier at Bobbi’s side and a sleeve of plastic shot glasses that Debbie is carrying.

“We’re raising money for the animal shelter. One shot for five or five shots for twenty,” Bobbi announces, adjusting the bag holding the bottles for better viewing. “Now, I’m getting low on my famous Apple Pie Shine, but the Butter Pecan turned out really well and I have more Peach on ice back in the clubhouse.”

“Is it the Peach that did Havoc in the other day?” Demo asks.

“No, I’m trying out a Honey Habanero Shine and went a little heavy with the honey, so he never saw the habanero coming,” she replies with a light blush.

“Sounds like you should finally created a shine that you could name after yourself,” Risk teases her.

“It wasn’t the honey that got him, that fool should know better than to drink a bottle of shine,” Debbie says, majorly rolling her eyes before they briefly land on Faith then skip to me. “Now why haven’t we met her yet? And why do you smell like pussy?”

“I think we all know why he smells like pussy, Debbie,” Bobbi tartly answers the second question as Demo and Risk explode in laughter—and it suddenly occurs to me what the look my brothers exchanged earlier was all about. “Are you the one Hans is doing all that work for?”

“Yes, I’m Faith Murphy,” the woman at my side calmly answers. And without anyone seemingly noticing, she tilts her head and I see her nostrils flair as she takes a whiff of me. The slight widening of her eyes tells me that the others aren’t just giving me shit. “Why don’t I get a round of shots? Will you and Debbie join in?”

Demo and I exchange a glance and I know exactly what he’s thinking. The fact that everyone knows I’m standing here reeking of Faith’s pussy doesn’t fluster her one iota. And that doesn’t make a lick of sense, considering that she blushed over giving me her number in front of the sheriff.

“I’m going to skip this round,” Debbie pipes up, but immediately grabs the twenty from Faith and starts passing out the little cups.

“Didn’t I warn you about the moonshine?” I whisper in her ear as Bobbi pours us both a shot of the Apple Pie.

“Why don’t you go wash your face?” she says, giving me a wink. “And I’ll take this off your hands.”

“Oh no, you don’t!” I lift the cup out of her reach. I mean, I brought her, so that means I gotta watch out for her after all.

“Yeah, Cowboy’s never smelled so good,” Risk mutters, getting a hearty laugh from Demo.

“So, what brings you to our little piece of paradise, Faith?” Bobbi asks, clinking her little cup against each of ours.

“Stealing our men,” Debbie retorts, not making any bones about what she’s doing as she reaches behind me to pinch my ass. The big wink she gives Faith softens her words.

“Hey now!” I howl, more from the burn of the shine, but in an effort to cover that up, I step behind Faith as though I’m looking for protection.

“Yeah, Faith, what made you decide on Hawk’s Landing?” Demo asks her, piggybacking on Bobbi’s question to hide his curiosity.

“Oh, um, well,” she stammers, swaying from foot to foot. “My mom’s people were from here. I mean, notherein particular, but South Carolina and their stories made it sound like paradise. So, I always told myself that if … oh, hell, Debbie’s right. I just came to steal their men.”

This time it’s Bobbi and Debbie howling with laughter as the three of us exchange looks over their heads. Caught unaware, Faith is a horrible liar. The funny part is, she seems to know that, and was smart enough to opt for humor rather than rambling on.

“Well, damn!” Debbie says, exchanging a look with Bobbi. “We’re gonna be friends.”

“We gotta sell the rest of these two bottles to meet our goal, then we’ll come find you, alright?” Bobbi readily agrees, and I’m not sure if this is a good or horrifying development.

“How about you, Risk?” Faith quietly asks the man standing across from us. “Are you from here?”

“Nah, I served with Charm and he offered me a job with them when I got out.”

“Oh, what do you do?”

He momentarily looks confused, looking between me and her before answering. “Same as everyone else, I’m a private investigator and bondsman.”

Standing behind her, I can’t see her face, but I sure as hell can feel the tension in her body at his words. Demo’s stance is casual, but I know him well enough to know he’s clocking her expression.

“Hey, you wanna grab a bite?” I ask her, thinking it’s best to get her moving before she starts swimming back home. “You said you’ve never been to a pig roast before, right?”

“Sure, when in Rome,” she casually answers with a shrug, but I can feel how tense she is when I place my hand on her back to guide her toward the food.

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