“Luke is a better man than you give him credit for. The best kind of man. It’s my life… It’s my choice. And I choose him.” I pointed to the door. “So, get out of our house.”
The shock showed on my uncle’s face, but he didn’t move.
“Now,” I said. “All of you.”
They filed out with only a grumble from my uncle about talking tomorrow.
After the door closed, Luke took my hand and walked me back to the sofa. “You were breathing fire, Red. Don’t you think that was a little harsh? He does care, you know.”
I collapsed onto the couch. “I’m done being pushed around. It was you that told me you needed a badass rep so guys didn’t mess with you.”
“Rep building. I get it.”
“Exactamundo.”
Luke pulled me close. “My badass woman.”
I warmed straight through. I was his woman, and now my family had to get used to it.
I pulled away and lifted my arms. “Can you help me out of this?”
His eyes lit up as he lifted his oversized tee off of me. “I’ll never refuse to undress you, Red.”
After it came off, I twisted and pointed out the second tattoo, the one of two eagles in a nest on my side. “The shoulder is me. This is us.”
“Two eagles, huh? Well, you sure fought like one just now.”
I sucked in a breath for the harder explanation I hoped he was ready for. Reaching behind, I unclasped my bra, but held the cups in place. “My dad, the real one, wrote me a letter.”
“I can’t imagine how hard reading that had to be.”
I nodded. “It was at first. He told me to decide what I wanted in life, set it as my North Star, and let it guide me to my goal. So I got another tat to remind me of that.” I dropped the bra and leaned back for him to read the tattoo on the underside of my left breast, near my heart, where only he and I would ever see it: a small star with a single word.
LUKE
His smile grew as he leaned forward to kiss me.
His mouth lingered an inch from mine. “I would have put it…” He pulled back and traced a finger over the swell of my breast. “…here, so that any guy checking you out knows you’re taken.”
I smiled and pulled my man down to me. Everything he said made me feel better about my new course in life.
Chapter 51
Luke
It had been over three weeks since Cindy had been brought up on kidnapping charges. Cliff hadn’t been found yet, and Debbie’s family had returned to their mansions in California.
Debbie had smoothed things over with her uncle and Adam a few days after the blowup she’d used to send them a message. My girl had balls.
Before he’d left, Uncle Lloyd and I had even shared a friendly beer. He seemed to have gotten past my label, perhaps because Debbie hadn’t given him a choice.
Riggs had been bugging me for weeks for more information after he’d screwed up the arrest of the Oxy-dealing pool player I’d given him.
I’d been taking Debbie with me to Pete’s, and I’d refused two meetings already with Riggs. I didn’t have anything more for him, and it pissed him off.
As a result, the text I’d been expecting had arrived minutes ago.
Riggs: We will be there in 20 - don’t go anywhere
Riggs was nothing if not predictable. If he came over, it was always the same day of the week.
It also meant he was desperate enough to bring along his dumb parole-officer brother to up the intimidation factor.
I sent back my reply.
ME: Not going anywhere
“You’d better leave,” I told Debbie. “The Nesbit brothers are on the way, and things are going to get nasty.”
She fisted my shirt and pulled close. “I want to stand by you for this.”
I pulled her wrists loose. “Not happenin’. They have guns.”
She fussed, but a few minutes later she’d mounted up, and the sound of her bike headed down the drive relaxed me for the wait.
They barged in without even a knock.
Jason appeared first, with the ever-present sample cup in hand. “Fill it.”
I took the jar. “If it isn’t Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumber. What a pleasure.”
As I expected, Jason looked to his older brother for direction.
Riggs’ red face telegraphed his anger. “You owe me something, and we’re here to collect.”
“You didn’t pay me for the last tip,” I shot back.
“Fill the cup, convict,” Jason said. He was focused on his minor part in this.
“I don’t ever pay you, jerkwad. That’s the way this works,” Riggs said, ignoring his little brother.
I raised my chin. “The department pays you. I should be getting that.”
Riggs laughed. “Not in this lifetime. I have expenses. Now, what’s your latest information?”
“Or what?” I shot back.
“The cup,” Jason said again.
I still didn’t unscrew the lid of the jar that had my name and today’s date on it.
“I get information, or Jason here violates you right back to prison where you belong,” Riggs bellowed.
I took a step back. “You guys can’t do that. I haven’t done anything.”
Jason pulled out the little bottle he’d threatened me with once before. “Sure we can. One squirt of this in the jar, and you test positive for a banned substance. You’ll be back in Augusta before dinnertime.”
“FBI. Hands in the air,” Adam said as he and his partner walked in from around the corner.
Riggs’ hand moved to his gun. “We’re LEOs.”
“No, you’re under arrest,” Adam said.
“Go for it, and I shoot,” Brolin spat.
The standoff was tense for a second as the brothers looked at each other in confusion.
Riggs finally lifted his hand away. “This man is a violent Virginia felon, and parole violations are a state matter.”
“Did you get enough?” I asked Adam as I stepped back again.
He nodded. “Martin and Jason Nesbit, you are both under arrest for extortion and conspiracy.” He reached forward and took each man’s gun. “And those are federal crimes, by the way. Turn around.”
A minute later, the sealed sample jar, the recording of the threats, and the bottle of tainted piss Jason had been carrying were all in evidence bags.
While Brolin read them their rights, I texted Debbie.
ME: It’s over
Her bike rumbled up the drive a few minutes later, and she burst through the door to give me a hug.
Before Adam left, I took him aside. “Thanks a million for this.”
He didn’t have to go this far for me, but he had.
He patted my shoulder. “It’s what we do for family.”
I realized it was really Debbie I had to thank. She’s the one who’d brought me in so the Bensons accepted me as a part of their family.
Now that this was over, there was one more thing I wanted today. I started my phone recording video and handed it to Brolin. She was the only one I’d told about this part.