Page 27 of Snow in Texas

“Hey,” he guy next to Colin spoke up.

Colin turned and gave him a stare that quickly shut him up.

Candy released a low, pleased laugh and knocked Colin on the shoulder. “Good boy. Alright, Cooper, let’s not play games. I could sit here all night insulting you, and it’d be fun as hell, but I don’t have time for that. Where’s Riley?”

Cooper’s expression turned smug. He was the one with the upper hand here, or at least he thought so. “What’s it to you? You took his patches. You don’t have any business with him.”

Another sharp grin. “Yeah, except his brother went by Gabe’s and tried to scare the hell out of my sister. Patches or not, I’m responsible for Jen, which means I get to keep tabs on Riley.”

Questions. So many questions swirling through Colin’s head.

“So I’ll ask again,” Candy went on, “where’s Riley?”

Cooper shrugged and looked disinterested. “He’s laying low. Trust me, he don’t want shit to do with your bitch sister anymore.”

Candy slapped the table, and the sound of his big palm hitting the wood was like a gunshot. “Say something like that again,” he said, calmly, “and they’ll be picking pieces of you out of the jukebox for the next week.”

Colin got another thigh-bump from the guy beside him and bumped back, hard, lowering one of his own large fists to the table so the man could get a good look at it. “Don’t fuck with me,” he said through his teeth, just a hiss. “I’ll lay you out.” And then he’d move onto Cooper for calling Jenny a bitch. He’d used that word all his life, thrown it around like it was weightless. But attach it to Jenny? He wanted to stomp on throats.

He caught the quick, sideways glance Candy shot him and thought it held approval. Then the VP turned back to Cooper. “I ain’t gonna go round and round with you jackasses. So you can take this message and deliver it. If Riley steps one foot onto my property, or into Gabe’s restaurant, he’s a dead man.”

People delivered threats all the time, usually with fake bravado and cheesy sincerity. Not so with Candy. Colin actually had a little chill pass through his limbs.

Silent, Cooper slid out of the booth and his two boys followed.

The waitress arrived as they were departing, frown crimping her pretty penciled-on brows together. “Oh…” she said.

“You can leave the drinks, darlin’, and we’ll take care of them,” Candy assured her.

“Okay.” Another setting-down of glasses that might as well have been a stripper audition.

When she was gone, Colin twisted around to fully face his VP and said, “Okay, what in thefuckis going on?” Before Candy could feed him some line, he went on: “I’ve been watching Jen, and worrying about her, and Candy, bro, she isn’t right. There’s something dark stirring around in her head. And you won’t say, and she won’t say. And what the hell was all that just now? ‘Cause I’m ready to start busting heads, and I need to know where to start.”

Candy looked pleased and amused. “You done?”

“For now.” Shit, he was breathing hard he was so pissed off, hands curled tight into fists.

Candy nodded. “Right. Well, Jen’s ex-husband just got outta jail, and he’s an asshole in the worst way. I’ve got a bad feeling he’s gonna try to fuck with her, and with us. He hates me ‘cause I stripped his patches. Well.” He tipped his head. “The club did. But mostly me. I stripped a lotta patches,” he said, giving Colin a level look. “I’m a patch-stripper. You try to fuck us over, you’re lucky if you get away with blacked out tats and your life intact. Damn lucky. Understand?”

Colin was reeling. Ex-husband? What the hell was this about patch stripping? But he nodded, firming his face up into a stone mask. “Yeah.”

“If you’re loyal to the club, and you’re good to Jen, you and me won’t have a problem. But fuck me over…fuck her over…”

“I get it.”

“Good.” Candy reached for one of the fresh drinks the waitress had left and downed it in a single gulp, the ice clinking against the sides of the glass. In a more honest voice, gasping a little from the whiskey, he said, “I had to clean out this club when I came home seven years ago. I need big guys, strong guys, decent guys. And right now, I’m counting on you to show me that you’re a Lécuyer, and not whatever you call yourself now.”

Colin felt his jaw get tight. “Why does everybody think Felix is so great?”

“Because he is. It’s time to bury your bullshit hurt feelings and take a lesson from him.”

~*~

Jenny

She couldn’t stop shaking. She’d downed an entire water glass of merlot and still her arms and legs were trembling.

Jenny sat in the sanctuary at the clubhouse, in her brother’s recliner, a sitcom she wasn’t paying attention to rattling away on the TV. She’d showered and pulled on yoga pants and a comfy tank. Had attempted to read for a little while. But nothing worked – she was wired.

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