Page 97 of Bourbon and Proof

“Hawk?” my voice rasps, barely audible for anyone to hear it.

“Quiet,” my father reprimands, shoving me back down just before he rushes for Hawk’s truck.

From the back of the parked truck, my father yanks out a zip-tied and muzzled Governor Hawkins from the back seat.Whatthe hell?He presses a gun into the governor’s back, moving him into the cab of Hawk’s truck. I look around desperately, but there’s not a single person around paying attention with the chaos of the explosion behind us. The governor tries resisting, but my father knocks him on the back of the head with the butt of the gun, his body going limp as my father’s getting him into the back seat.

“Hawk!” I call out this time, but instead of rushing to help, he simply looks at me, eyebrows pinched, and then floors it, just as the sound of more glass blows out behind me.

Jolting, I cover my head with my hands, staying against the ground until I only hear people yelling from a distance. Panting, I shift my entire body, turning over and pushing myself to sit up. I blink slowly as I get my bearings, staring down at my hands. Small cuts are bleeding over embedded pieces of gravel.

When I look up, that’s when I see the fire, and there are people calling out my name. My world stops for a fraction of a moment as I struggle to pull a full breath in—Ace. I don’t hear him shouting for me anymore.

“Ace,” I try to yell, but it comes out pathetically quiet. My legs tremble as I push myself up to stand. There’s blood on my knees and the air licks like an angry wind at the side of my face. “ACE!” I bellow out, dread filling my veins at what could have happened to him.

I turn toward the chaos and see my Mustang—or what used to be my Mustang—engulfed in flames.My father blew up my fucking car?!My head spins with rage and unease as I watch people running around and shouting for their loved ones while smoke billows upwards in a black cloud around us.

“Ace!” I yell out again, a sob catching in my throat as I walk closer to the back of the trailer. Lady kicks at the sides, whinnying. She’s as spooked as I am.

“HADLEY!” is shouted again from the direction of the town green, catching my attention.

As I turn and lean against the trailer, Grant rushes toward me, Linc and Faye not far behind him. The looks on their faces have more tears trailing down my face.

“Hadley? Hadley!” Grant calls out. “Hadley, fucking hell,” he says as he reaches me and moves quickly to help me, looking at the gash along my face.

“Hadley, fuck!” Linc’s beside me seconds later, pushing his brother aside and pulling me into his chest. “Oh, thank fuck.” He holds me close, and it’s enough to have another sob tearing from my chest. Faye stands next to us with Grant, both of them looking around, trying to make sense of what just went down.

Fire engine horns blast loudly as they come barreling down the road, with a series of police cruisers following close behind.

“Holy shit, you scared the life right out of me,” Lincoln breathes out, turning my hands over to examine my bloody palms.

“Where’s Ace?” I ask shakily, tears blurring my vision. “I heard him call my name, but then?—”

“He’s alright,” Grant cuts off my worry. I exhale heavily, my shoulders slumping with relief.

Lincoln removes his glasses and wipes his forehead. “I really didn’t want to have to tell him you were inside that car when he came to. Hawk was helping him over to his truck to wait for a paramedic. Said he must’ve gotten knocked out, but you weren’t with him.”

“How the hell did your car blow up?” Faye asks, brow pinched as she looks over at the flames.

And then registers what Lincoln just said, and my stomach drops to my feet. Relief morphs into bone-deep terror. “What do you mean Ace was with Hawk?”

Grant and Linc glance over to where they’d left their brother.

“Hawk wasn’t helping Ace,” I say in a rush as I look down the blocked-off street and can’t see anything other than red and blue flashing lights and panicked faces. None of them belong to my husband. “He...He took him,” I tell them, making sense of it. “The governor was tied up and...” Spotting my phone, I step over to the sidewalk on wobbly legs.

“Hads?” Linc says as I’m calling Ace. Only, it goes right to voicemail, and I just about lose it. “What are you talking about? Who took Ace?” He glances at Grant, who’s watching me now with concern.

“My father was right here. Tried taking my horse, but the fucking truck wouldn’t start. Then my car exploded,” I say with my arms moving wildly, stuttering over my words. “He had the governor, and a gun, and then he got into Hawk’s truck.”

“Your father?” Lincoln spits out.

“Fuck!” Faye barks out, just as she takes out her cell phone.

Grant is studying me, and then looks out over his shoulder. “Let me find Griz. Something isn’t—” he cuts himself off, looking like he just worked something out as he rushes off.

My head pounds as painfully as my heart, the only certainty bringing me any clarity being the fact that I don’t trust a single thing when it comes to my father. He’s desperate, pissed off, and he wants what he’s “owed.” I’m betting he took Ace to get the payout he needed to disappear. I don’t know what the hell Hawk has to do with any of this, but he’s involved somehow, and I’m not just going to sit here and hope the monster gets caught. I’ve already waited and paid for it. I refuse to do it again. I’m done being quiet.

I call Ace’s number again, but it rings straight through to voicemail. My face squints as I try to tamp down the anxiety attack wrapping around me. I catch a glimpse of my wrist, reading our tattoo again. If someone had taken me, Ace wouldn’tlet panic consume him; he’d think like them.Where would my father go?

“He needed chaos to cover his tracks and give him a jump on getting out of here,” Faye says, and I think through what that would mean next. “They’ve stopped right along the town line before the interstate.” She swipes away on her phone, eyes locked on the screen.

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