Page 45 of Snow in Texas

“The cook,” Candy repeated. “The one keeping Colin busy. He been there long?”

“Dusty. No, he’s new.” She felt like an idiot. “Oh, damn…”

“One of Riley’s guys?” Colin guessed.

“That’s what I’m thinking,” Candy said. “How new is new?”

She shrugged. “A few months.”

“So before Riley got out,” Candy said. “Shit. He started laying the groundwork while he was still inside. Which means we’re two big fucking steps behind.”

“Derek,” she said, sighing, “he isn’t some sort of mastermind.”

“He’s goddamn dangerous, is what he is,” her brother growled.

“And that dirty fucking fed,” Colin said. “I shoulda put a bullet in his head.”

“You need to calm down,” Jenny told him.

“No, he doesn’t,” Candy said. The men shared a look of such ridiculous machismo, jaws clenched, giving each other bro-nods of approval, she would have laughed if she hadn’t wanted to cry in frustration.

“Guys…”

“He’s got the right idea,” Candy said, scowling at her. “I don’t wanna hear anymore protests from you about being watched, or being careful. Christ, Jen.” He scrubbed a hand down his face, and she realized he hadn’t shaved today, skin of his palm rasping audibly against his stubble. “What if he hadn’t been there?” Gesture to Colin. “Shit, what if it had been the other Riley? Forget the precinct, we might never have seen you again–”

“Stop,” she said, quiet but firm. She felt the tears burning her eyes and blinked hard. “You think I don’t know that?”

Candy muttered something to himself and pushed away from the bar, stalked out the front door. He needed space, she knew. He had to wrestle with his temper alone, or risk losing all control of it.

Jenny turned to Colin, and was met by a wall of brooding male anger.

The sight of which madeherangry, because she needed an emotional outlet of some sort.

“Y’all are stupid,” she said. “I was nothing but Riley’s wife. He’s got no personal beef with me. It’s Candy and the club he wants to wipe off the face of the earth. He should worry about himself. God knows I do.”

When she moved to hop off the stool, he caught her arm and held her in place. A light hold. She could have broken away…but when she looked up into his face, she didn’t want to.

“You were his wife.” His voice lowered a notch, velvet-smooth and deadly-serious. “And in this club, you were his property. You turned to your brother, instead of your old man. That’s a betrayal in his eyes, Jen. Not only that, but he lost you, and trust me, that’s a big loss.”

She swallowed, throat tight.

“He wants club blood…but he wants yours too.”

It was overwhelming, the sentiment behind his words, something tangible she could feel, trying to wrap around her. “Trust me, I’m not that important.” She slid down and pulled out of his grasp. She walked away from him, and a part of her hated that he let her go.

Twenty

Colin

Candy stood at the edge of the parking lot, smoking, his head tilted back, broad shoulders slumped. Colin recognized that posture well; he’d seen it in his old man often. The stance of a man carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. And for a man, the world consisted of his family: the people he loved and could care for with his own two hands.

Colin drew up beside him and shoved his hands in his pockets. “She’s scared,” he said without preamble.

Candy blew a stream of smoke up into the evening sky. “Of course she is. That motherfucker wants to kill her.”

“Yeah,” Colin agreed. “And I’d like to think you have a plan to keep that from happening that’s more effective than sitting on our asses, watching her work, and hoping nothing happens.”

Candy’s head tilted forward, and he gave Colin a sideways look. “Getting pushy, prospect.”

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