Reaper's Stand(49)

“I don’t have time for this,” I shouted, staring them down like two little boys who needed a time-out. “I need to check on Mel. Reese had to get her away from the fire, Nate. If you’d been here, you’d have done the same thing. She was practically on top of it. And Reese? What happened between me and Nate is between me and Nate. I’m a big girl and I can fight my own battles. I’m going to follow Mel to the hospital, and you better f*cking behave yourselves because I’m not in the mood.”

Both men gaped at me. I didn’t care—these weren’t normal times and I could give a f*ck about their little pissing match. I decided to ignore them and follow Melanie.

“Is she all right?” I asked the EMT, who was busy securing the gurney in the ambulance. She glanced over at me but didn’t miss a beat.

“Dunno,” she said. “They’ll check her head at the hospital. Looks like she hit something hard. You have any idea what happened here?”

“None,” I said, my voice grim. “But we’re really damned lucky to be alive. She was just coming out of the house when it exploded.”

“Definitely lucky,” she said. None of this added up.

“Houses don’t just explode. Do they?” I didn’t realize I’d asked the question out loud until the woman answered me.

“I’ve seen stranger things,” the EMT said. “Are you a family member? We’re headed toward Kootenai. There’s another bus coming, they’ll be able to check you out—she’s higher priority and we need to get her in. I’m going to close the doors now. Step back, please.”

“I’ll meet you there,” I said anxiously. I turned to find Nate and Reese still in their standoff, staring each other down in the flickering light of the flames. My neighbor, Danica, walked up to me and wordlessly wrapped a blanket around my shoulders.

“You okay?” she asked. “Can I do anything?”

“Can you give me a ride to the hospital?” I asked, the words broken by a sudden, harsh cough. “I need to make sure Melanie is okay.”

“Of course,” she said. “Do you want to check in with the police first? I’m sure they’ll want to talk to you, probably have a ton of questions they need to ask.”

“The answers will still be the same after I make sure Mellie is okay,” I said tightly. “Just get me out of here.”

“You got it,” she said. “Car’s parked behind the house, back in the alley. Good thing, too, because everyone on the street is blocked in. Um … I couldn’t help but notice that big guy over there was with you. And that the other one used to be with you. You want to touch base with them before you leave?”

“I don’t think so,” I said, shaking my head, frustrated. “They can play caveman without me. All I care about right now is getting to the hospital.”





CHAPTER NINE


REESE

“Here’s what you need to know,” I said to Evans, clenching my fist because I’ve never wanted to hit a man more in my life. I wasn’t exactly used to holding back. “London is with me now. You don’t talk to her, you don’t touch her, you don’t think about her. Otherwise we’ll have another discussion, and that one won’t happen where you have a thousand cop buddies to save your ass. Got me?”

Evans studied me and shook his head slowly, the flickering light of the fire throwing his face into shadow.

“I don’t want her. I could give a shit about London Armstrong.”

Yeah, and my next bike was gonna be a Honda.

“Then you won’t mind staying the hell away from her,” I said. “Things won’t get ugly and I won’t find myself diggin’ a hole down in the Bitterroots.”

His eyes went big.

Yeah, f*cker. You heard that right.

“Just to be clear—you just threatened a cop with murder? Not smart, Hayes.”

I laughed.

“You got a great imagination,” I told him. “I think we’re finished here.”

His expression turned ugly, and I thought I saw a glimpse of something like hatred in his face. Fair enough—feeling was mutual. Then the sheriff himself stepped between us, smacking me on the back before gripping my shoulder meaningfully.

“You okay, Pic?” he asked.

“Still here, Bud. Kind of concerned about my woman’s place, though. Houses don’t usually blow up,” I said, holding my gaze fixed on Evans. “Not too impressed with your boy, either. He called London a cunt. For the record, she’s the owner of this property.”

“Evans, get back to your car,” Bud snapped. Deputy Dick gave him a mock salute, then ambled off. “Goddamn but I hate that man. I think he’s gonna run for sheriff next election, too.”

“He can run,” I said, my voice cold. “He ain’t gonna win.”

“Not so sure about that,” Bud replied. “My Lavonne met up with Jennifer Burley at the casino last week. Jen said that Nate’s dad has already started talking about mounting a campaign for the boy. Fund-raising.”

“If you had any balls, you’d fire his ass.”

“I fire his ass, the commissioners will have mine,” Bud said bluntly. “You know that. I don’t think there’s a politician in the county his daddy doesn’t have something on.”