Page 79 of Mustang Summer

If she were in his place, she’d totally think like that.Would he listen to her, believe her?She had to find out what Bill had done with the Shelby, then get it back.

The police had stopped by two days ago and pounded on the door.Like a couple of teenagers, she and Gage had frozen with identical expressions of terror.They’d been statues for a few minutes until the police had finally left.Then they’d come back again yesterday.Same thing.When would they get a warrant and let themselves in?She couldn’t get caught yet.She’d still look guilty, if not in the eyes of the law, in the eyes of the Walkers.

Josie was pretty sure hiding from a police officer when her brother was already a felon wasn’t going to help her convince anyone she was innocent.

She’d been tempted to answer the door, but Gage had shot her ayou better sit your sweet ass downlook.Picturing Gage getting arrested made her chuckle, but Josie had Bill to worry about, along with herself, because Milton wasn’t tied to any of the bullshit with Brock’s car.And without Bill and Gage, she’d be left at Milton’s mercy.

Gage meandered through the house.His irritation at not being able to help Bill arrange the chop, and a general lack of sleep, was making him increasingly short tempered.

She, too, was tired and cranky because she hadn’t yet found out where they’d stashed the Shelby.Once she found out, she could sneak out and use her spare set of keys to take Bill’s car.Then she’d get a phone to get ahold of Brock.But she hadn’t been able to eavesdrop on any of Gage and Bill’s conversations, and sneaking out without the info would do no good—by the time she got help, Bill or Gage would have hotwired the Shelby and moved it again.

Plus, the asshole dozed so lightly that his eyes popped open whenever her foot hit the floor.He’d manhandled her once already.If she pushed things any further, she was afraid he’d tie her up or lock her in a closet.

So she settled for needling him, upsetting him so badly he’d make a mistake.

She’d never seen him as angry as he’d been earlier.He’d answered his phone, then turned around and purred into it.Ah, a woman.Camilla or the brunette or a third woman?

So Josie had called out in a sultry voice, “Gaaage, are you coming back to bed?”

“Dammit, Jo!”

From the way his shoulders had tightened and he’d huffed at the ceiling, the rest of the conversation hadn’t gone well.Aww, poor Gage.The memory brightened Josie’s day.

Now he was barely talking to her and cussing at the phone when Bill wouldn’t answer.

“Gonna tell me about Milton yet?”Josie picked at her nails.Nothing like reminding him about his precarious position with a violent loan shark to rile him up.

“I told you, I don’t know anything about Milton,” Gage growled.

“Bullshit.”When they’d been together, she’d learned how to tell when something was up—he’d get extremely defensive whenever she asked a question.

“Why don’t you tell me about your boyfriend?”Yep, defensive.“Or how it feels banging the guys that put your brother away?”

Since it was the tenth time he’d thrown those questions at her, she didn’t bristle.Just sighed with resignation.“Like I said, Jesse put himself away.Was I ambivalent about the Walkers, thinking they had everything, why’d they have to take my brother?Yes.But I met them and they’re good people.They might not have trusted me, but Brock treated me with more respect than people I’ve been around for years.”She shot him a pointed look.

“And you jumped into bed with them.”

Oh, his snide tone…

“No.I stick with one man at a time.People do that, you know.”She ripped her glare off Gage and stared at the ceiling.“Brock is different.He accepts me like I am and only asks for the same.I like him.”

“But you loved me.”

“Until you broke my heart, Gage.And then I saw everything wrong with us.”Like how he was even more controlling than Bill, only he was smoother about it.She swung her feet down and sat up.“What are you going to do with all the girls you’re stringing along?”

“They don’t mean anything.”

“Well, they should.”

“Has this Brock confessed his undying love?Is he in Moore wearing a chastity belt?A guy with money in a small town… What do you think is going to happen?”

Gage meant to unsettle her, and maybe with a guy other than Brock, it’d work.When she’d learned of Gage’s cheating ways, she’d been crestfallen but in anI knew itway.If Brock stepped out on her, she’d be devastated—but he never would.

“Anyway,” Gage reclined in Bill’s chair, “it doesn’t matter.He’s going to think you used him and stole his car.”

A lead weight settled on her shoulders.She’d been telling herself that Brock would understand.But why would he?He’d been so uptight about her sneaking around his place.

But he’d believed her when she’d said she was enamored with his collection.

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