Games of the Heart (The 'Burg #4)(176)

“It’s not getting to that with Dusty and her family,” Mike stated.

“’Course not, we got shit, we get proof on the codes, we’ll go in hard,” Sully replied.

“It’s not getting to that with Dusty’s family or any family who has land,” Mike told them. “He’s run roughshod in this county for decades. Buildings not up to code, payoffs, threats, intimidation, assault. Someone needs to visit Rutledge and see if he’ll talk. We gotta approach anyone who stuck around after they sold their farm and see if these tactics were used with them. We gotta lean on Fire and Building Safety to check his shit out. We use the Debbie shit to get him to back off the Hollidays. But we keep at him to close him down for good. This shit’s been happenin’ under our noses for years. We had nothin’ to go on before. We got shit now and it’s time it ends.”

He got a lot of looks, some chin lifts and some nods.

Mike looked at Sully, “You go to Rutledge. See what you can get.”

Sully pulled a face because they all liked Rutledge only slightly better than they liked Hitler but he nodded.

Mike looked at Colt, “Speed that shit up with Fire and Building Safety.”

Colt jerked up his chin.

Mike looked at Tanner. “Under radar, if Ryker can pull that off, you start visiting families.”

Tanner also jerked up his chin.

“I’ll visit McGrath about what I know about Debbie,” Mike said, his eyes on Merry. “You’re with me.”

Merry nodded.

Mike looked through them and finished, “Then Dusty starts bakin’ cakes.”

That got him grins.

Powwow over, they were all busy, it didn’t take long for them to disburse. Outside, Colt and Sully hit Mimi’s. Cal moved to his truck. Ryker had stayed up in Tanner’s office.

Merry, Rivera and Mike headed back to the Station.

As they walked, Rivera asked under his breath, “You payin’ any of these guys anything other than cake?”

Mike looked to his left and slightly down.

“No.”

Even as they walked, Rivera held his eyes.

Then he looked forward.

Mike did too.

Then he heard him whisper, “The depth of your loyalty.”

Mike again felt his lips curve.

He was getting it.

*

Wednesday evening…

Mike walked in through the garage door, instantly heard Adriana’s loud, squealing, little girl laughter and for the first time in a long time, he missed having kids in his house. Kids. Not young adults.

And on his son’s seventeenth birthday, a year before he graduated from high school, a year before he was able to enter the military, a year before he was able to vote, it was less missing having little kid laughter in the house and more an ache.

He walked down the hall and they were all waiting for him in his living room.

Rivera had his girl in her little girl’s party dress wrapped around his middle and he was tickling her. No was in his suit, sitting on the couch with Joaquin who was wearing a little boy suit and they were playing some video game on the TV. Fin was also wearing a suit, looking more a man than ever standing next to Reesee who was in a striking, deep purple dress that made her look more grown up than ever.

And then there was Dusty, all done up. She was ass to the back of the couch talking to Jerra. He hadn’t seen her in anything close to what she was wearing. A tight black dress that was sleeveless, the neckline high and straight but it exposed her collarbone, the skirt to the knee. Slim-heeled, pointed-toed, black shoes that had a thin strap around the back of her heel and had to be at least four inches high. Hair twice the volume. Makeup dark and smoky. Diamond studs at her ears, a delicate, slim-linked bracelet on her wrist made of white gold. And that was it.

She was stunning.

Her eyes came to him and her smile got brighter.

Jesus. God.

Beautiful.

“Hey, babe,” she called. “We’re all ready.”

He felt eyes on him and he lifted his chin to Dusty.

“Gonna change. Be right down.”

“We’ll be here,” she replied.

He nodded then looked around the room giving nonverbal greetings, smiling at his gorgeous daughter and his good-looking boy.

His eyes scanned the room one more time right before he was going to turn to walk down the hall and he saw Dusty twisted, bent double and there was no back to her dress. Just her phenomenal skin exposed in a deep vee that started wide at her shoulders and tapered to a point at her waist. She was listening to Adriana who’d been released by her father and seemed very earnest in telling her something and Dusty’s profile looked just as earnest in listening.

He was forty-three. She was thirty-eight.

He’d done it before and he was almost through it with only minor bumps along the way for the kids, the only major one being their parents’ divorce.

He looked to Reesee smiling up at Fin as he murmured something to her Mike couldn’t hear. Then he looked to No who was bumping fists with Joaquin, one or the other of them had apparently done well at the game.

His eyes went back to Dusty to see she’d leaned deeper into Adriana, she had her hand wrapped around the side of the little girl’s head and she was pressing their foreheads together while they both giggled softly about something.

He raised two great kids even doing it mostly alone.