Leave a Trail (Signal Bend #7)(15)

GONNA GET ME KILLED, YOU STUPID BITCH!”

That was worse than any of it, hearing him call her that, yell at her like that.

But then he hit her in the face, and that was the worst thing.

He let her go, and she fell to the floor, hurting her tailbone all over again. But that didn’t even matter.

The acrid taste of copper filled her mouth, and she put her hand up and touched her lips. When she brought her fingers back to see, they were wet and red. He’d split her lip. She’d never been hit ever, by anyone ever, and within the past twenty-four hours, the man she wanted to love had hurt her twice.

As that understanding rolled over her, she realized that he had left her alone. She looked up to see Show, his massive hand around Badger’s neck, holding him against the wall, his feet off the ground.

Badger’s fingers clutched ineffectually at Show’s hand.

Show pulled him away from the wall and slammed him back. “You’re right, motherf*cker. I am going to kill you. Right now.” Adrienne had never heard Show sound like that—his normally deep, soft voice was sharp and thick with menace. It was terrifying, and she knew for a certainty that he intended to kill Badger.

Right there, right then. Badger did, too. His eyes were bugged, and his skin was going ashy. His bruises had darkened almost to black, and the cut through his eyebrow was seeping blood. Show was killing him right in front of her.

“Show, wait!” Adrienne stood and put her hand on Show’s arm. “Please don’t. I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not.” He glanced at her mouth, and she wiped the fresh blood away.

“Please, Show. He’s sick. He didn’t mean it. I know. He’s…I found him passed out in the office.

There’s, like, drug stuff in there. I think he’s sick.”

Badger fought harder as she talked, and she knew that, even in the situation he was in, he was distressed that she was telling Show what she was.

This was his secret. This was the thing he’d thought she knew. She should have known. She was stupid to have missed it.

“He’s sick. Don’t hurt him. Please.”

That shuttering thing happened to Show’s face again, and he gave her a long look. Badger’s fight was fading. “Show. Please,” she whispered.

He put Badger down but didn’t remove his hand. He loosened it, though, and Badger took a rough breath.

“You bitch,” he gasped. You f*ckin’ ruined everything. You bitch.”

Show drove his fist into Badger’s face, and he didn’t call her that anymore. Unconscious, he fell to the floor when Show released his hand from around his throat.

Show nodded to the tack room behind Adrienne. “In there, on the second shelf from the bottom.

There’s a plastic box full of zip-ties. You know what they are?”

She nodded.

“Good. Bring me two of the long, black ones.” He pulled his phone out as she did what he asked. As she filed through the different sizes and colors of ties, she heard him call Isaac. “Boss, got trouble…No.

Badge. He’s off the rails, and I about killed the f*cker right now…I know…yeah. I’ll bring him in the van here….B&B…He hurt Adrienne, Isaac. You need to be there when we get there. I need to get him off my hands before…no, I got it. Fifteen.”

He put his phone away and reached out with one hand and brushed a wide thumb lightly over her sore lip. “I’m sorry, little one. So sorry. Go back to the house. I got this now.” Taking the zip-ties from her hand, he knelt and began binding a still-unconscious Badger.

“No. I want to come with you. I want to try to explain what happened.”

His head jerked up and he met her eyes again. “You got nothing to answer for here.”

“I know. But he didn’t mean it. I know he didn’t. I know it.”

He shook his head, but he said, “Okay. Come on, then.” With that, he stood and pulled Badger up and carried him over his shoulder to the van.



oOo



Show threw Badger in the back of the B&B van—the cargo section—and led Adrienne by the arm to the front passenger seat. Though she hated to see Badger treated that way, she knew better than to say anything. Show was in a dark place, his body stiff and his expression black with anger. Yet he was gentle with her. He held her hand as she climbed in, and, before he closed the door, he reached in and cupped her cheek in his palm. His eyes were filled with regret, and she didn’t understand that.

“We’ll get you some ice at the clubhouse.” She nodded, and he leaned in and kissed her cheek.

Show had checked the office and seen the powder residue and the rolled-up bill. On the way to the clubhouse, he made a few calls, calling Dom to come search the office for Badger’s stash, bringing Kenny in to take care of the horses, letting Vicki know that Adrienne had left, and telling Shannon that he and Adrienne were going to ‘run a couple errands’ together. When he got off the phone, Adrienne turned and asked him a question that had occurred to her.

“How did you know to come? Why were you there? I thought Vicki was scared of you.”

He answered without taking his eyes from the road. “Looking for him.” With a backward nod of his head, he indicated Badger, still out in the back of the van. “He got hurt last night—”