Light up the Night (Firehouse Three #2)(46)

“Why would I shoot you?” Everly reached over and patted Allison’s shoulder, even though she felt like mimicking her pose.

“Because I just lost us the sponsor for the tournament. Alan’s yanking his contribution. And several of the smaller sponsors are pulling out too.”

“Why? What went wrong?”

Allison pulled herself upright, and some of the normal steel went back into her spine. An angry light shone in her green eyes as she stabbed out the passcode to her iPhone and showed Everly the screen.

“This.”

It was the Hopeful Paws Facebook business page. The first post on it was a review.

Cannot believe that people are fooled by this company. They scam people for contributions to this so-called charity and then use the money for cars, vacations, and offshore accounts. They borrow dogs from other shelters for events so they appear legit, but don’t be fooled. I give this place zero stars.

“There’s more,” Allison said grimly, and scrolled down.

Six, seven, eight new reviews, all stating pretty much the same thing. And they’d all been posted within the last day.

“Who’s doing this?” The catch in Everly’s voice was unavoidable, but she held back the tears with pure rage. How dare people insinuate she was stealing money? She’d lived off ramen for the first six months of the shelter’s existence just to make sure that ends would meet.

“I don’t know. But they sent those accusations directly to the sponsors of the tournament. And Alan doesn’t want anything to do with the fallout from this. He’s covering his ass because of that supervisor he just fired for embezzlement.” Allison took a big sip of her wine. She frowned down at the spotless white tablecloth. “I’m sorry. I promised you this would be a big moneymaker, and now we’ll be lucky if we’ve got enough in the fundraising budget to cover the advertising I’ve already done. I hate letting you down like this.”

“No, Allison, you haven’t let me down. Are you serious?” Everly reached over and grabbed Allison’s hands in both of hers. The other woman’s fingers were long, slender, and elegant, her perfect manicure making Everly’s short, unpolished nails look stubby. But despite their difference in personalities and circles, Allison was sort of a friend. And Everly refused to let her blame herself for this.

“Without you and Charlie, Hopeful Paws would not exist. I couldn’t have done all this on my own. You’ve been amazing.”

Allison sniffed, and nodded. “You’re right, I’m incredible and you’re lucky to have me.” Everly laughed as Allison winked. “And now, let’s get you a glass of vino while we plan how the hell we can yank this fundraiser out of the crapper. I’m not about to lose my reputation on this one. Alan Wharton can kiss my perfectly taut ass. I do this because I love it, and because it’s a hell of a lot better than meeting another wrong decision and getting married and divorced again. Now, let’s think.”

As Allison shot straight from the depths of despair into the heights of Plans C, D, and E, Everly couldn’t help but think how lucky she was to have a fundraising chair like Allison Kurtz.

The woman was like Gossamer with a chew toy—relentless.



Drake was lying in bed reading when his cell phone finally went off. He set down his tablet and reached for the bedside table.

The selfie Everly had taken with Gossamer last week smiled up at him from the lit screen. He grinned a little himself as he swiped the answer button.

“Hey, beautiful,” he said as he lay back against the pillows. “How did your pow-wow go?”

The sigh that answered him held about a million feelings inside it. “It’s too much to go into in a single conversation. Suffice it to say we’re in damage control mode.”

Drake frowned, sitting up in bed. “Damage control? Want me to head over?”

“No, I’m on the way to you, if you don’t mind. Shirley’s already got my dogs since I was planning to be out late, and she’s keeping them overnight.”

“Come straight here,” he said, already halfway down the hall. He switched on the exterior light and unlocked the deadbolt. “Anything I can do?”

“You’re already doing it,” Everly said, her tone grateful. “It feels so amazing to have you to talk to about all this.”

He stayed on the phone with her while she finished driving, but she didn’t go into any specifics. Pacing the floor of his living room, he wished she’d hurry. Whatever had upset her was not the usual kind of thing. He’d seen her upset before when an adoption fell through, or a dog failed its temperament test. Though they hadn’t been together long, he knew the sound of her voice when she was hurt or disappointed.

This was on a whole other level, and by the time her headlights finally swung into the lot, he was ready to beat the shit out of whatever or whoever had upset her.

She was his, and he’d be damned if anything hurt her on his watch.

“Hey,” he said from the sidewalk in front of his apartment. He couldn’t wait inside for her.

“Hi,” she answered as the driver’s side door shut. Her shoes dangled from their ankle straps in one hand, her purse and cardigan in her other. “Nice night.”

Drake glanced at the moon, which was hanging fat and low in the sky. “Yeah. It is. Let me take you inside.”