Page 89 of Playing With Fire
“You’re a dick, you know that, right?” I ask as he approaches.
“Dig your thong out of your ass, princess. Rodeo’s in town. I had a delivery to make.”
Along with being a full-time firefighter, Phoenix is a stock contractor which means he supplies the animals used in the rodeo when it comes to town. An injury ended his career early, but you can’t take the rodeo out of the man, I suppose. He lives on a gorgeous farm not too far from me, but our properties couldn’t be more different.
Phoenix hugs my sister first. “Monica, looking fine as always,” he says, kissing her cheek.
“Yeah, yeah.” My sister’s tone is unimpressed, but her face flushes a bright pink when his lips connect with her skin.
Then he turns his attention to Shannon and holds out his hand. “Phoenix Harding, nice to finally meet you.”
“Shannon Hartley,” she says a little too breathlessly.Fucking Phoenix.
He gives her a full-wattage smile and a wink. “I know your name.”
“Jesus, can you just go inside already? Where’s your handler?” I swear Dylan’s the only one who can get Phoenix to behave.
Phoe just chuckles as he enters my house making monster noises to, no doubt, terrorize the kids. They love him. Everyone loves him.
Jake and Dylan roll in last. Dylan pulls in firstin Jake’s vintage Corvette and Jake pulls in behind him in the Range Rover I requested. Once they’re out of the cars, I clap my hand to Jake’s and pull him in for a slap on the back like we’ve always done. Dylan, I give a one-arm-over-one-arm-under hug.
Jake then wraps his left arm around his husband’s waist and sticks his right hand out to Shannon as I do introductions.
“Glad you were able to leave. Sounds like your fairytale took a nose dive.”
“Yeah, you could say that, but I’m working on creating a new one.” She looks up at me as she says it and I mirror Jake’s stance with an arm around her waist, finally understanding his desire to touch his partner all the fucking time.
At some point, my sister followed Phoenix inside—probably to check on the welfare of her children—and we find them already digging into the boxes of pizza despite it only being four.
“Help yourselves,” I tell them with no real bite to my tone.
Everyone else follows suit, because we might as well and once everyone has their plates, we sit down and begin discussing the events of the last several weeks. These are my closest friends, my allies, and this has the potential to affect all of them in some way. It feels weirder than I thought it would without Knox here, but I press on, laying bare every skeleton in my closet.
“So, that’s our story,” I finally finish. “The good, the bad, and the ugly. Now, we need help taking the wind out of Greg’s sails. He’s going to come after us hard. I have this,” I say, pulling my cell phone out of my pocket and opening my videos. “It’s not much, but it might prove intent or something, I don’t really know. The legal system is Mon’s territory.” I press play on the video I recorded from my pocket when I picked Shannon up outside the hotel. The screen stays black, but we can hear the words being said justfine.
I put my hand on Shannon’s knee reassuringly and squeeze. She stares at the phone, her face frozen in a slight sneer at the voice threatening her in the video.
“Wait a minute, go back. Did he say he’dfabricateevidence?” my sister asks, her eyes snapping to mine. “Hud, what if that wouldn’t be the first time he did that?” she asks.
Monica got the majority of the intelligence in our family so my mind races to keep up.
“You think he fabricated the evidence that got Jason off?” I ask, making sure I’m following along.
“Fabricated or tampered with,” she clarifies.
Jake speaks next. “I don’t suppose you’ve had enough time to make much progress on the subpoena, have you?” he asks.
Monica raises her head. “What subpoena?”
“Steve Ellington is Greg’s financial advisor,” I tell my sister, forgetting that I never closed that loop with her. She opens her mouth like she’s going to say something, but Shannon cuts her off.
“Ohmygod.” Five pairs of eyes swing toward Shannon, mine included. “Your dad is the man Greg’s representing in the case that starts Monday,” she says to Jake, the realization sinking in.
“Unfortunately,” Jake says. “But please understand, my father deserves to be in jail.”
“I don’t think he’s going to jail,” Shannon says.
“Why? What do you know?” I ask, my heart thundering in my chest.
