Leave a Trail (Signal Bend #7)(54)
oOo
She was still sleeping, and he was still lying next to her, fighting his demons, when his burner went off.
He grabbed it before it woke her and stood as he opened it, walking into her bedroom—which almost never got any use except as a closet—to answer. It was Show, and Badger’s stomach clenched a little as he put the phone to his ear.
“Yeah.”
“We’re meeting in half an hour. At Isaac and Lilli’s—Tash doesn’t want him riding yet.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Okay…brother.” The call ended.
It was the first time Show had called him ‘brother’ since the night he’d taken the beating at Tuck’s.
Jerri Rae had backed off of Badger being her baby daddy right away, after Billy and his buddies got their lesson and then Isaac sat her down for a talk. She didn’t make the mistake of trying to name any other Horde. As it turned out, she had no idea who was really the father. She’d been sleeping around outside the Horde, which was out of bounds for club girls. They could f*ck whomever they wanted to f*ck, but they couldn’t do that and also f*ck the Horde. They wanted to make sure the girls didn’t bring anything into the clubhouse with them and give it to the men.
She’d named Badge because she thought he was a nice enough guy to step up whether it was true or not. In other words, she’d thought he was a patsy. She’d been wrong. Maybe at one time, she would have been right, but not anymore.
A little dazed, the sound of Show’s voice speaking the word ‘brother’ still in his ear, Badger went back to the living room. Adrienne was sitting up, the blankets pooled around her waist, leaving her beautiful little breasts bare for his eyes.
“Do you have to go?”
He came and sat next to her. He had a few minutes. “Yeah, I do. I don’t know what’s up, so I’m not sure how long I’ll be. I’ll try to let you know.” He searched her eyes. “Should I let you know? Should I come back?” He’d only laid everything on her a few hours ago, but he didn’t know if he could wait longer to know.
When she put her hand on his face, threading her fingers into his beard, he could have wept, but whether for sorrow or gladness he didn’t know.
“I’m not leaving you, Badge. I have to think and figure out what my place is here. I don’t understand this life. But I’m not leaving. I love you. I just need to figure out how to live. But I already needed to figure that out.”
Caught in a sudden deluge of relief, he pulled her close and held her hard. His face buried in her fragrant hair, he murmured, “I try to figure that out every day. Maybe we can help each other.”
“Yeah.” She pushed him back and gave him a stern look. “But don’t treat me like a little girl. I need to know things. I need to understand. I’m pretty smart. And I’m pretty brave, I think.”
“You are. You’re smart and brave and beautiful. I don’t deserve to be this lucky.”
oOo
The Horde sat around Isaac and Lilli’s dining room table, arranged in their customary order. The table was a huge, ancient thing, made out of a heavy wood so dark it was almost black. Sitting at the head, Isaac looked tired but otherwise well. His bandaged arm was supported against his chest by a sling.
“I hear I missed a visitor yesterday. Got a drop-by from the Sheriff after I left? First time law has been in Signal Bend since the last time I got shot. Maybe they’re just extra fond of me.”
Show nodded. “But last time, that was literally true. Last time it was Tyler, who really was worried about you. Yesterday, Seaver made a big production out of coming up on our booth. It was about catching us up.
Pissing on our tree. This is the next step up from him following us on our way in from the run. And somebody called him in. First time anybody’s called in law for a town issue in, f*ck, I don’t know how long.”
Emboldened by the way he’d been heeded yesterday, and Show’s call this morning, Badger picked up the thread. “Somebody called, yeah. Has to be. It could have been an out-of-towner, though. But something interesting happened. Seaver made his entrance, and he snooped all over the booth, but nobody talked to him. I mean nobody. Not even out-of-towners. I don’t know if it was the way he was swinging his dick around or what, but I didn’t see anybody take time with him to point one damn finger. They had our back.
Even strangers.”
Isaac scanned the table. Badger followed his eyes and saw his brothers agreeing with him.
“I’d say we have Badge to thank for it,” Show’s voice was even quieter than usual, but it carried.
“People saw us handle Don’s crazy with reason. Maybe that warmed people toward us some. Or at least had people pulling in against the outside. And reason wouldn’t’ve been my call. Not yesterday. He shot Isaac.
He fired a weapon in the middle of a crowd. Around our women and children. I’d’ve put my fist through Don Mariano’s skull. Right there in front of the whole f*ckin’ town.” Suddenly, his glower relaxed, and his lips turned up in a smirk. “If Lilli would’ve given me the chance.”
They all grinned. It wasn’t funny, talking about who would have killed the man who’d tried to kill Isaac, and yet it was, a little, the image of Lilli fighting Show for the kill. Lilli was not a chick to f*ck with.