“Coop! What the fuck?” Jace yelled through the phone.
They both ignored him. Taryn held Cooper’s gaze, looking for any signs of deception. It didn’t take her long to conclude that he wasn’t lying. “All right.”
“I’ll follow you,” Cooper said.
Taryn was still shaking from the arrival of the authorities. A person could only handle so much stress, and she was at her wits’ end with everything. She wanted nothing more than to turn it all over to someone else so she could have a few hours to herself. But that wasn’t possible. Too much rested on her shoulders.
She closed her door, buckled her seat belt, and started her car. After a glance to see that Cooper was behind her, she started back to Jace’s. On the way, she weighed the options of telling Jace every detail or keeping it all to herself. Boyd needed to be taken down. Taryn wouldn’t argue that fact, but it wasn’t only her life on the line. It was also Payton’s.
Taryn would never forgive herself if she gave in to Jace’s plan, and Boyd killed Payton. The guilt of her father’s and brother’s murders wasn’t something she carried. If she lost her sister because she wanted to be free, Taryn wouldn’t be able to have a future. She’d shoulder that responsibility for the rest of her life.
When Taryn pulled up to Jace’s, she still hadn’t decided what to do. No sooner had she put the car in park than Jace opened her door. He tugged her out of the car and pulled her into his arms.
“I’m glad you came back,” he said against her neck.
She looked up at the stars as she held him. “I’m not sure it was the smartest thing to do.”
“Trust me.” He pulled back and met her gaze.
“I’ve always trusted you.”
He shut her door after she grabbed her purse, then they walked to the house. Cooper was already inside, waiting for them.
“Prepare yourself,” Cooper warned.
When he didn’t elaborate, Taryn swung her gaze to Jace, who shrugged. “When I suspected you might leave, I called the others.”
“And now they want to hear everything from you,” Cooper said as he opened a beer and took a drink.
“Are there more of those?” she asked, nodding at the beer.
Cooper grinned and pulled another bottle out of the fridge, removed the cap, and handed it to her. “Plenty more where that came from.”
“Thanks,” Taryn said and took a long drink. Then she turned to Jace.
He held up a hand before she could speak. “I’m sure if I were in your shoes, I would’ve tried to leave, too. You’re scared and confused. But you’re safe here.”
“Until I’m not. Then, all of you will be in danger. He won’t hesitate to kill every one of you. Men. Women. Children.” She shrugged. “He doesn’t care.”
“Who doesn’t care?” Clayton East asked as he strode in through the side door.
Taryn hadn’t been sure she would ever see these people again. She watched as Sheriff Danny Oldman walked in behind Clayton. Bringing up the rear was a man she had seen earlier.
“This is the chief of police, Ryan Wells,” Jace told her.
The sheriff and the chief. Why was she not surprised that Jace had them as friends? She looked at Jace, wondering what all she had missed during the years she had been gone. She imagined quite a bit. It made her hate Boyd even more.
“The others pulled up behind me,” Ryan said.
Cooper finished off his beer and tossed the bottle into the trash. Then a bright smile spread over his face as a woman with auburn curls walked in and went straight to Cooper. They embraced and shared a quick kiss. Then bourbon-colored eyes landed on Taryn.
“You’re gorgeous,” the woman said.
Cooper chuckled. “Sweetheart, this is Taryn Hillman. Taryn, this is my fiancée, Marlee Frampton. She’s a private investigator.”
“So nice to meet you,” Marlee said as she walked to Taryn and held out her hand.
Taryn smiled and shook it. “Nice to meet you, as well. Congrats to you both.”
“And then there’s the rest,” Jace replied with a grin.
Without missing a beat, Caleb and Brice entered the house with two women. Bringing up the rear was Abby, Clayton’s wife, who held a baby in her arms as she chatted with a blond-haired woman.
Jace let out a whistle that quieted everyone. “We’re going to do this quickly because there’s a lot to discuss, and frankly, time isn’t on our side. Everyone, this is Taryn.”
“So glad you’re back,” Abby said with a welcoming grin.
Taryn returned the smile and waved, genuinely happy to see Abby again.
Jace cleared his throat and wrapped an arm around Taryn as he pointed to Clayton. “You remember Clayton and Abby?”
“I do,” Taryn replied and nodded in their direction. Clayton had aged handsomely as only men could. And Abby was still quite a beauty, her eyes sparkling every time she and Clayton looked at each other.
Jace then motioned to Brice and the pretty woman beside him, her wheat-colored hair gleaming. “Somehow, Brice convinced Naomi to marry him. She’s a photographer—and a damn good one. She’s quite in demand. They adopted the little darling Abby is holding. His name is Nathanial, but we call him Nate.”
Taryn barely registered all of that before Jace moved on. She did manage to flash Naomi a smile in greeting.
“Caleb somehow roped in the best equine vet in all of Texas. Audrey. However, none of us can quite figure out how he convinced her to marry him.”
There were chuckles all around.
Taryn waved at the gorgeous Audrey with her thick, black hair and dark eyes, denoting her Hispanic heritage.
“Then we have Skylar, who not so long ago became Skylar Oldman,” Jace said, a smile in his voice.
Taryn nodded but couldn’t look away from Skylar’s stunning azure eyes as she smiled at Taryn.
“And that’s everyone.” Jace looked at her expectantly. “Ready?”
Taryn took another drink of beer, feeling twelve pairs of eyes on her. “I suppose.”
“Let’s get comfortable,” Marlee said.
Jace took Taryn’s hand and led her to the living room where he put her in his chair. Abby, Naomi, Audrey, and Skylar squeezed onto the sofa with little Nate, while Marlee took the other chair, a pen and paper at the ready. The men brought in dining room chairs, leaving Jace to stand against the wall near her.
Taryn drew in a long breath then started the tale from the very beginning, which for her was when Boyd and his men came into her life in the middle of the night five years prior and changed everything.
Chapter 12
Hearing Taryn’s story again didn’t make it any easier to bear the second time. But Jace hung on every word, catching things he was sure he’d missed the first time when he had too many other things going on in his head.
Taryn still held off giving any names or locations, but he understood why. Hopefully, the others would be able to help persuade her to give up that last little bit of information. He remained silent while Ryan, Danny, and even Marlee asked pointed questions like what drugs she sold, how much, and for how long.
“Did they ask you to do anything else?”
Jace’s head snapped to Danny. There was no apology in the sheriff’s eyes when he glanced at Jace. It didn’t matter that Danny was doing his job. This was Taryn. There might be things she didn’t want others to know, stuff too painful to speak about—like rape. The mere thought of someone putting their hands on her had him seeing red.