I reached out to brace myself on the bar. I heard one of the bartenders ask if I was all right and heard Shot call my name. My vision blurred out for a second, but not before I caught sight of a very tall man wearing a gray Stetson coming through the front door of my bar. Considering this was Texas, a man in a cowboy hat was nothing to write home about. But when that man practically glowed in a golden light of perfection and wore a shiny badge that was impossible to miss, people stopped and took notice. I couldn’t miss him, because suddenly, in all the places where I had been ice-cold, a fire burned.
Scowling, I let go of the bar and tried to wave both my employee and Shot off when they made sounds of concern. It was a mistake. Too little sleep, too much to drink, too much stress and sadness all combined with gravity sent me toppling to the ground. My knees hit the hardwood behind the bar with a jolt and I heard loud exclamations burst out from somewhere above my head.
I put both my hands on my chest and tried to hold my pounding heart in place. I wasn’t used to the normally frozen thing getting such a hefty workout. I closed my eyes and ordered myself to get it together. I tried to remember I was angry…and that was it. Anger was all I was going to allow myself to feel.
Suddenly a pair of boots hit the floor in front of me. Not the heavy black motorcycle boots I knew Shot wore, but an expensive pair of gray ostrich boots that matched the Stetson on Hill’s head when he walked through the door.
When I pried my eyes open they met a soft, dove-gray gaze filled with simmering concern and something else. Something I’d always been terrified to acknowledge.
A warm hand landed on my shoulder and I felt the brush of his thumb along the side of my neck.
“Are you okay, Kody?” The question was quiet and asked in a familiar drawl.
That damn heat he brought with him crept across my skin, and before I could stop myself I burst into tears, crying for the first time since I’d learned my father was dead.
Chapter 2
Hill
Kody Lawton and I had a lot of unspoken rules between the two of us.
She knew I was going to call her occasionally to check on her, but she never called me back.
I wasn’t supposed to show up unannounced. She claimed she needed to brace herself to deal with me.
We never mentioned Aaron or the past. At least not to one another, which was sad. We were the only two people in the world who knew just how great my younger brother had been…and just how troubled.
I wasn’t supposed to ask her brothers how she was doing, and I certainly wasn’t supposed to worry about her. I broke those rules all the time. And I was breaking the “don’t show up unannounced” one right now.
It was common knowledge to those close to the Lawton kids that their sweet and calculating mother had wanted each of them to have an out. When she was gone, she’d made sure her kids all had a way to escape the tyrannical rule of Conrad Lawton. They were supposed to use the money she left them for college, to get out of Loveless, but none of them had. Kody went into the bar business. Crew bought a stallion and a small plot of land to raise horses on. And Case, well, he lost all of his to his first wife in a bitter divorce, so he had the least to show for it. None of them had managed to escape this small town, or the long shadow their father cast.
I’d never been inside the bar Kody purchased with the money she received after her mother passed away. I knew neither of her brothers liked the fact that she’d opened the rowdy dive bar on the outskirts of the city. I also knew Case frequently paid visits to the bar in his official capacity as sheriff in order to break up fights and keep the peace. But I always thought the occupation suited her. Kody was never cut out for the nine-to-five life. I was also proud of her for making her own way in the world. She called her own shots, played by her own rules, and lived her life on her own terms, which was ultimately the best revenge when it came to showing Conrad Lawton he’d never managed to quell his daughter’s fighting spirit.
I tried to convince myself I was breaking Kody’s firm no–unannounced visits rule because of the murder investigation. She was the only Lawton sibling I’d yet to interview. Case had informed me she was having a rough time coming to terms with Conrad’s murder, and I was far from her favorite person on a good day. He’d warned I wasn’t in for a warm reception, but I had a job to do. And frankly, I needed to see how Kody was doing with my own two eyes. I’d never managed to convince myself that worrying about her wasn’t my problem.
I’d assured my partner in the investigation I would handle all the interviews and questioning of the people in Loveless and those closest to the former sheriff. It was likely that the people in this close-knit community would be more open with me, since I had roots here. Not that it was any kind of secret that Conrad Lawton had courted trouble for years and was due for a reckoning of some sort. But I needed to narrow down who might have information about what Conrad had been doing in Austin, and who had gained the most from his death. This case had a lot riding on it, not only because Conrad was so well known in the area, but also because Case wasn’t going to let me breathe until he had answers he was satisfied with. I didn’t want to let him down.
I also needed to give Kody answers. I would never forgive myself for not being more aware and proactive with Aaron when his mental state started to decline. To this day I wondered if I could have saved him, if I could have done something to prevent the agony he’d put Kody through. Her relationship with her father had been complicated and often ugly, but she was going to need closure, and the only way she could get there was for the person, or persons, responsible for Conrad’s murder to be brought to justice. It was the least I could do for her.
As I stood in the doorway, I took in the bar. It had a decent-size crowd considering it was a Tuesday night. The mix of patrons was as eclectic as the decor. It was all very Kody. The building was an old barn, so the interior had a lot of western elements, including old whiskey barrels for tables. But there were also brightly colored artwork and neon signs brightening up the space. Instead of the big lighting fixture in the middle of the bar being made out of antlers or wrought iron, it was an intricate mix of colorful glass beads. The whole thing was very country and western meets boho chic. The people filling up the seats were mostly Loveless residents. They included the guys gathered near the bar dressed in leather, covered in tattoos, and rocking club colors. The Sons of Sorrow motorcycle club had moved into the hill country on the outskirts of Loveless years after I’d left town. Now their flashy bikes and intimidating presence were as commonplace as pickup trucks and horse trailers. It made sense they liked Kody’s bar since it was between town and their clubhouse, but I didn’t have to like it.
I really didn’t like the way the large, dark-haired man leaning across the bar looked at Kody. I knew from Case that Palmer “Shot” Caldwell was the current president of the Texas branch of the club. I’d taken it upon myself to learn more about the man when he ended up in the middle of the last case that brought me home. Shot was a former marine, a decorated sniper, the son of the founder of the club, and someone Kody was inexplicably close to. Everything about her relationship with the biker set my teeth on edge and had me wanting to make a claim I had no right to stake.