Her heart broke and rolled down her cheek. “It’s not wrong, Dylan. It’s impossible...and beautiful...”
“Like you.” He kissed her.
Jake’s fourth call was enough to break the mood. “Yep?”
“Where the hell are you?”
“I don’t know the address.”
“I don’t care where you are. Get your ass to the Inn pronto. We need you.”
“I’m not ready to leave yet.”
“We aren’t leaving. There’s been a breakthrough. We need to talk. Now!”
“Fine. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“Make it fifteen...and don’t eat anything! We got food.”
Dylan watched Nile tidy up after them and felt let down. “Whatever. I’m on my way.” He hung up. “Jake says, we’re not leaving.”
“Yes, you are. You should already be gone.”
There was a reservedness to her now. He could see her closing off but didn’t know what to do about it. They rode back to the bakery under a cloud of heaviness.
Nile removed her borrowed helmet. She tried to smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Thank you for the fantasy. It was short...but sweet. I will dream about you for a long time.” She kissed his cheek.
Whatever place she was in, he was not going there. “Can I take you to dinner tonight?”
“You won’t be here tonight.” She walked away.
“I’ll call you later to figure out a time.” He didn’t wait to hear her retort.
She didn’t have one. She didn’t turn around.
“HOW WAS IT?” TIGRIS asked from the sink where she scrubbed a large pot.
“Magical, memorable, and depressing.” Nile grabbed an apron and started unloading the dishwasher.
“Why, why, and why?”
“Because that’s all it will ever be. Something to tuck under my pillow and dream about.”
Tigris dried her hands, went to Nile and hugged her. “That’s all it’s supposed to be. A dream for you to tuck away and pull out when you’re alone. We’ve got too much real-world to deal with to be entertaining dreams in the daylight.”
Nile hugged her back. “I know. That’s why I’m here instead of there.”
JAKE AND SONNY SAT on Macy’s front porch. Jake stood up when Dylan pulled into the spot beside his CV Limited.
“About damned time.” Sonny was kicked back with his feet up, helping himself to a soft taco from Taco Bell. Judging by the size of the carryout bag and the number of empty wrappers, they must have bought fifty of them. “We solved the mystery, and we were getting ready to take care of business without you. No loss.”
He was too smug for Dylan’s mood. “I take it your meeting went well.”
“Better than well.”
Jake said, “They told us what was going on. I’m getting ready to call Maya now.”
Dylan sat down. He thought about having a taco but decided against it.
Sonny pushed the bag forward. “Go ahead. This is the only food we can eat now.”
“What?”
He didn’t get an answer.
“Where’s Maya?” Jake said into his phone. “...With all due respect, Mr. Harrison, I didn’t call to speak to you...I don’t give a shit if you are her birth mother’s second cousin to the third power. Put my fiancée on the damn phone before obstruction gets added to your charges... You won’t? Fine. Give her a message, please...let her know I’ll be here when she gets back. We know the dirt those fuckers are doing. It’s appalling you didn’t protect your family. But it doesn’t matter anymore. The whole world is going to find out about this crazy-ass place and your wannabe slave owners.” He disconnected.
Dylan decided he did want a taco.
“That meeting turned out to be the right thing,” Sonny bragged.
“Did you crack the code?”
“We did.” Sonny helped himself to a beer. He offered one to Jake.
Jake took it and a taco. “Sonny was right. The Bishops have these people captured. They made them into slaves. Real slaves.”
“What?” Dylan’s forehead crinkled.
“I didn’t believe it either. But we talked to the FBI. They’ve been on this thing for a while.”
“A long while,” Sonny added. “But, they didn’t have a way in until now, with us.”
“I’ll admit there is some strange control happening, but I have yet to see anything suggesting forced servitude to the point of slavery,” Dylan reasoned. “Why is the FBI involved?”
“Because,” Sonny said, “those racist a-holes have the people here addicted to some kind of crack-drug. They can’t get off and they can’t live without it.”
“O...kay...”
“They have a dynasty,” Jake recalled the title he heard. “They own everything and they need workers.”
Dylan furrowed his brow. “And paying them decent wages with vacation and sick-time isn’t enough?”
“Guess not.” Sonny finished another taco.
“I don’t know, man,” Jake said. “The details are sketchy, but the people here have been poisoned. The Bishops control their lives.”
“Those sketchy details matter,” Dylan told him. “But how does this knowledge affect us?”
“Their power is in the secrecy. They want us gone because we’re a threat. But, we’re not hooked. We’re not getting drugged.” Jake pointed to the food. “And, we’re not keeping quiet.”
“We ain’t going no damned where,” Sonny said.
“You’re getting out of here!” Macy shoved her screen door open and stomped onto the porch. “I have heard all I’m going to listen to.” She pulled her floral housecoat tight and pointed to the upper floor. “Get your stuff and get out of my house!”
All three men stood up.
“Look, we’re just talking,” Sonny said.
“We don’t mean you any harm,” Jake added. “We’re trying to help.”
“Did I ask you for anything? You want to help me? Be gone before Tigris gets here. When I called to tell her the nonsense you idiots were spewing, she told me she was already on her way.”
When they didn’t react fast enough, she yelled, “Move!”
Like robots, they marched past her, leaving their food and trash.
Dylan was the last one in. She grabbed his sleeve. “You still have half a chance, but you need to go before Jordan gets back.”
“What’s that mean?”
Macy walked away.
DYLAN DIDN’T HAVE MUCH to repack—shaving kit, toothbrush, toothpaste, yesterday’s T-shirt. The rest of his stuff was still in the bag. His cell buzzed, signaling a text.
Meet me out back.
5 mins. Please.
He shoved the phone in his pocket and went downstairs. He loaded his side saddle, then walked around the house searching the backyard. Nile stepped from behind a silver maple but stayed close to the bushes. Dylan went to her.
“You have to leave, now.”