Page 69 of Refuge for Flora

Be there in a few. Gotta get my stuff together for work tomorrow. XOXO

Hugs and kisses. Boy, it had been a long time since she’d seen that!XOXO back atcha.

In almost no time at all, she’d be in Barrett’s arms, and she couldn’t think of a single place she’d rather be.

Chapter 9

The memoryof Flora in his arms… Her softness and warmth… How wet she’d been for him, how hard he’d been for her… “Damn. I’ve gotta get my mind in gear,” Barrett growled aloud to himself as he drove down the highway toward Barlow, wondering what he’d find when he got there. His phone rang, so he pulled over into the parking lot of an abandoned gas station and hit the button. “Quarles.”

“Barrett! Conor. You said you need to talk to me?”

“Yeah. How would you feel about coming here to help us find these bastards?”

“I’d feel really good about it if I can make a case to my superiors. Has there been some kind of development?”

“Oh, yeah. They’re here somewhere, and we figured out how they found Flora.”

“Yeah? Oh, I can’t wait to hear this. Spill it.”

Fifteen minutes later, he heard Conor sigh. “Thank god she ditched that damn bag.”

“Yeah. She told me last night that Darryl spent a lot of time ordering shit, things he thought he could use, like different kinds of alarms and trip wire devices and cameras. He fancies himself quite the tech-savvy modern criminal. She said he probably found some kind of tracking tag for cheap and stuck it in her bag when he realized she was going to bolt. They tracked her here, but the bag wasn’t with her, and he knows if she ditched it, she’s probably still around here somewhere.”

“Sounds plausible. So are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Yeah. Wanna buy some alligators?”

Conor laughed loudly through the phone. “Oh, yeah. Always wanted a bathtub full of the damn things!”

“Then it looks like Kentucky is the place to be.” Barrett could feel himself relaxing just a little bit. He had reinforcements coming and with Conor’s help, along with Kirby and some of the other conservation officers, they could probably make short work of busting the reptile ranch, wherever it was.

Flora would be safe. And their life together could truly begin. He’d realized during the previous day just how much he wanted to be with her, and he wanted to make it something more permanent than hanging out in the evenings and sleeping together. She fit into his life like the missing piece of a puzzle. Even better, while they’d been out in the backyard the day before, he’d been able to see the road as he looked forward past the back corner of the house, and he’d seen Jesse drive by slowly, most likely checking out what was going on. The two calls a day he’d been getting had slowed to one every few days, and that was good. His ex was finally taking the hint. Barrett had always thought he’d feel guilty, but he didn’t. He deserved to have a life.

And he definitely wanted Flora to be a huge part of it.

* * *

“Well?”

“I been askin’ around, but ain’t nobody seen her.”

DarrylStevens stroked his chin. “She’s here somewhur. I don’t know whur, but she is. I can feel it. Have any luck with that farmer down there?”

“Nah. He don’t know nothin’, and he ain’t gonna move no alligators neither. Ain’t smart enough, I reckon,” Bradley spat.

“Yeah, well, we gotta find some buyers. They’s another truck comin’ from Texas in a few days, and them babies goin’ on it. That’ll make more room. Long as we don’t run into fish and wildlife, we’ll be okay.” He spat on the ground and hitched up his baggy jeans. “We need to find that bitch before she sinks us.” Darryl stopped for a few seconds before he asked, “You hear from Velma?”

“Nah. I can’t figure out whur the hell she is. She ain’t answerin’ the phone and she ain’t answerin’ texts. It’s like she disappeared off’n the face of the earth.”

“We know that ain’t happent,” Darryl snarled.If he knew what I’d done with her, he’d turn my ass in. He gets any hint, I’ll have to put him down like a cur.Bradley could never know that Darryl had fed his girlfriend to the gators. She was the first regular pussy the guy ever had in his life, and he’d worshipped the whore. “She’ll turn up, I reckon.”

“Yeah. I reckon she will.” It took everything Darryl had to stop himself from laughing at Bradley’s words. That idiot bitch would never argue with him again.

Never.

* * *

It always looked reallyneat and tidy, and everyone in the area stopped there at one time or another. When Barrett pulled up in the KDFWR truck, the old man and his wife both looked up and smiled. “Hey, young man! How’s life treatin’ ya?” the guy bellowed out.

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