Page 35 of Beat around the Bush
“Don’t we know any lawyers?” Callan asked.
Reed scoffed. “No, idiot, because we aren’t smart enough to know any lawyers.”
“Not the fact that we live in a town with barely five hundred people?” I asked.
Reed took a swig of his beer as Rouge, Lettie and Bailey’s Australian Shepherd, came running around the side of the house. “What the hell are you doing over here, Rouge?”
The dog came up to me, setting his front two paws on my thigh as he begged for chest rubs. “If he’s over here, that means Bailey and Lettie are distracted,” I pointed out.
“Gross,” Callan muttered.
Reed finished off his beer, then tossed it in the trash can he kept by his back porch. “That dog know how to fetch a beer?”
I chuckled. “Rouge thinks he has a tail, Reed. You really think he’s smart enough to go get you a beer from the fridge?”
“He must’ve got his brain from us,” Callan said.
Reed stood from his chair. “I’m getting another. You guys want one?”
I shook my head. “I’m good. I have to drive home, and it’s snowing.”
“This heater must be industrial strength or something, Reed. Where’d you get it?” Callan asked.
“Mom bought it,” he grumbled as he headed inside.
Rouge curled up next to the heater, relishing in the heat as it melted the snow off his fur. At this point, Rouge was everyone’s dog. His love for people was too much for his own good.
My phone buzzed in my back pocket, vibrating against the chair. I twisted, pulling it out. My brows furrowed as I saw Oakley’s name lit up on my screen. Why would she be calling me at six-thirty at night?
I tapped the button to answer and held the phone to my ear. “Oak?”
“Hey, Lennon. Uh, sorry to call you, but I don’t really have anyone else’s number around here besides Lettie and you were the first person I thought of that might know what to do. I don’t want to inconvenience you though, so if you’re busy, I get it-”
“Oak, what’s wrong?” I interrupted her. She was babbling, but I could hear the slight shake to her voice.
Callan straightened beside me, watching me on the phone.
“My car slid off the road.”
I shot to my feet, abandoning my beer on the table. “Are you okay?”
“Depends what you mean by ‘okay.’”
“Where are you?”
“Uh.” Her teeth chattered through the phone with her pause. She must’ve been looking at her surroundings, trying tofigure out where she was. That didn’t comfort me one fucking bit. “I don’t really know. Can I send you my location?”
“Send it now,” I instructed.
“On the phone with you?”
“Yes, Oakley. So I can make sure I get it.”
“Okay, uh, hold on.” She pulled the phone away from her ear, and the call was silent. There wasn’t a single sound coming through until my phone dinged with her text. I glanced at the screen to be safe that I got her exact location, and then held it back to my ear.
“I’ll be there soon. Stay in the car.”
“Okay,” she said, her voice quivering with the cold.
