The Devil's Due (26 page)

“That’s not something I would have guessed about you when I first met you, little girl.”

I felt my cheeks flush red. “Fuck off, Wyatt.”

He nodded. “Fair enough. It is what it is and it can’t be helped and all that bullshit. I got bigger things to worry about than how we got to know each other.”

Cade shot him a look. “What’s going on?”

“Elections, Turner. We just had ‘em.” Wyatt shook his head. “You won, you stubborn piece of shit. You won, and the guys that went for Nails are pissed about it.”

Cade stood stock still for a moment. The rising bread was filling the house with the scent of homemade deliciousness. But it seemed it would now go uneaten. I walked over to the oven and switched it off, listening intently as I did.

“How bad?” Cade asked, his voice a million miles away.

“Pretty fuckin’ bad.” Wyatt leaned up against the arm of the couch and crossed his arms. “So far as I can tell, they’re thinkin’ two different plans of attack. One is to get you taken down for murder. Ain’t nobody around who can’t say they saw you kill Nails with your bare hands. The other is to pin the shit Nails was up to on you.”

“What shit is that?”

“I’m only just figuring that part out. But when we went back up to the hill to clean out the white house, there were people already up there, having a look around.”

“What kind of people?”

He exhaled. “Not the kind of people I want sniffing around in my business.”

Cade nodded and then turned to me with a look on his face I had never seen before. I smiled and went to stand with him, resignation flooding through me.

“Lainey, I need to go back.”

I nodded. “I know you do. This is part of you being a better man.”

He nodded and reached for his jacket hanging on the hook. I watched Wyatt walk out of the door and out to his bike.

“Lainey-girl, wake up. You can wear my jacket again if you’re cold.” Cade was looking at me impatiently.

I shook my head in surprise. “What?”

“We have to go now. Let’s move.”

My heart leapt. “I’m coming with you?”

He looked confused. “You ride with me now. That means always.” He stretched out his arm and I half-leapt, half slid across the floorboards to join him.

His bike was waiting for us, gleaming in the mountain sunlight. I settled on to the seat with a grace that surprised me.

And when Cade started the engine, a delicious thrill shivered through me. I wrapped my hands around his torso and rested my head on his broad back. No matter what happened next, this was where I wanted to be.

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THE END