Page 79 of Lone Star

She took a breath and smoothed her expression; softened her tone. She couldn’t afford to look snappish and professional in front of a witness. “I’m with a friend. At a job interview.”You stupid shit, I can’t tell you!she wanted to yell.

“Is Michelle with you?”

Ah. “Yes.”

He cursed – elaborately and for a long time. “Christ,” he said, near the tail end, on a deep breath. “Candy and Fox just left, and I went to the back to check in with her, and she wasn’t fucking there!”

“Yes, well, obviously that’s because she’s with us.”

She couldhearhim trying to get himself together. “Right. Brilliant. Okay. So. Would you like to explain why you thought it was a good idea to take my pregnant niece on a fact-finding mission just two days after she was nearly murdered?”

Eden stood. Slowly, unhurried, hiding the irritation surging through her now. She slouched down the width of the long room in an aimless back-and-forth, pretending to examine the nails of her free hand, getting out of hearing range of the receptionist, but keeping her voice low anyway. “You’re acting like I bloody kidnapped her. The girl was desperate to do something – to get out of that bloody clubhouse. I asked her if she wanted to come along, and she jumped at the chance.”

“You shouldn’t have invited her,” he insisted.

“Because she’s pregnant? Or because she’s your niece? I notice you haven’t asked whether Axelle was okay.”

He sucked in a breath, and was silent a beat, stunned. Then he cleared his throat and said, “Axe knows how to take care of herself.”

“So do I, and so does Michelle. YourCandyman’skept her locked up like Rapunzel in a tower. She was dying to get out.” She wasn’t sure why she kept saying his name like that, but it was turning into an outright habit at this point.

“Now that’s not fair,” he said, “Candy isn’t like that.”

“I’ve no idea what Candy’s like, but that girl needs a job to do or she’s going to go crazy.”

Another beat. He breathed out an anxious sigh. “How is Axe?”

“Now he asks.”

“Eden–”

She heard a shout. Several. Loud male voices on the other side of the counter. She lifted her head from the phone and realized all the normal clatter of a working garage had stopped. She heard frantic Spanish conversations; footfalls.

“Shit,” she breathed. To Albie, she said, “We’re at Sandoval’s, the three of us and Jinx. Consider this my official request for backup.”

Then there was chaos.

Twenty-Eight

Candy saw the dust cloud a half-mile from the turn-off into Pacer’s compound. Just as they reached the mouth of the driveway, he saw the reason for it. A plain black work van was racing down the last few yards of the driveway, bouncing crazily in the ruts, kicking up a boiling tail of dust that ran all the way back to the cozy stone house.

It braked just enough to make a harsh left turn out onto the main road – and gunned straight for them.

Candy held steady, watching the van’s grill come closer, and closer, and closer–

Then he braked hard and swerved off onto the shoulder, praying his brothers did the same.

The van blew past, but his gaze caught on the face that filled the back window; the hands pressed to the glass, palms pale and pleading. He saw an open mouth, and wild eyes; tangled curtains of gold hair.

Melanie, he recognized, with a lurch.

“Follow them,” Fox barked.

Tenny and Reese peeled away with a squeal of tires, leaving thick black marks on the pavement, racing after the van.

He gunned the throttle, got back on the road, and headed down the driveway for the house, teeth clenched against the roughness of it, each rut sending a hard jolt through his body.

When he reached the house, he scrambled off his bike, not bothering to take off his helmet or glasses. The front door stood open, still swinging, in and out, creaking faintly, like someone had just slammed it back. Like when they were wrestling Melanie out to the van. Right after they’d…

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