Page 81 of Never Trust the Living (Battle Crows MC 7)

She visibly recoiled at the sight of him and moved to where she was standing with the large brick mailbox between them.

Wake ignored her as he kept walking. “Your husband here yet?”

“He’s sitting there on his bike watching and listening to every word,” she said. “See?”

Wake looked up to find me doing exactly that and grinned.

“I see,” Wake said as he kept walking toward us.

Tex, the overly large Golden Retriever, sighted in on his next target. Me. Meaning he started to pull harder because he might actually get to get some pets as he was used to me doing with him.

“Hey there, Tex,” I called to him.

Wake let the leash go, and the fat Golden waddled toward me excitedly.

“Bit hot out here for a dog of his size to be walking, isn’t it? Plus, you came the long way,” I asked.

It wasn’t too long or too hot for Wake, who was in immaculate shape. But it was a bit much for poor Tex who was out of breath and panting.

“Tex needs to lose some weight,” Wake admitted as he walked into the yard and immediately offered me his hand. When I took it and released it, he went on. “My sister doted on him. But it isn’t healthy for him. So I’m trying to make it to where he gets some walks in multiple times a day. Though, just sayin’, but it’s not like I don’t have the fuckin’ time to walk multiple times a day.”

I raised a brow at him. “I thought you were going to start a construction business?”

He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “I did. And am. But nobody wants an ex-con in their house, apparently. Or building them one. So now I’m just twiddling my thumbs.” He paused. “It’s not like I don’t have the cash to live off of, though. So I’ll wait.”

Apparently, before Wake had done time in prison, he’d been in real estate starting at the age of twenty-one. From there, he’d started building houses.

In fact, he’d actually built the one that Dory and I were living in at that moment in time.

“You could just build them and then sell it through your corporation. It’s not like the business went to jail. Only you,” I pointed out.

Wake nodded. “That’s also on the list of things I may contemplate. Right now, I’m just trying to enjoy having some free time, and someone not watching me piss.”

I snorted as I glanced back at Dory, who was finally creeping toward the driveway.

I gestured for Wake to move over, and Dory pulled in with a wave.

After she rolled the windows up and got out with our dinner, I gestured for her to go inside. “You mind taking that in and giving me a few minutes with Wake?”

Dory eyed me suspiciously, then looked at Wake. “I have plenty of food if you’re interested in staying. I didn’t know what I wanted, so I literally ordered half of the menu.”

His lips quirked up. “I’ll think about it.”

With a wave, she walked inside, and I waited for the door to close before saying, “If you find this motherfucker, I want to deal with him.”

Wake had resources here that I didn’t.

And I wanted to make sure that I had a little chat with the piss ant before he was taken into police custody, because lord knew what the dumbass sheriff would do with him once he had him.

My guess? Let him go. Because paperwork would cause him to actually have to get off his ass for a change.

“What makes you think I can find him?” he asked.

I picked up a stick off the ground and shook it at Tex, who started to bounce excitedly.

I threw it and watched him waddle toward it before saying, “Wake, I’m not a dumb man. I know that you have connections that I’ll never have. At least in this city, anyway. And I know that the sheriff that calls himself the law around here is scared of you and what you can do. You’re rich as fuck. You have two very prominent members of this little town as family, and you got me a security system put in today in a matter of hours. So yeah, I know you can find him.”

Wake shrugged. “Small town means lots of people in everyone’s business. I’ll do my best to get him to you, but there’sno telling if I’ll actually find him before the sheriff. Though, the sheriff doesn’t seem to actually be looking and I am.”

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