“Ah, have you heard about the SUV that’s smoking over at Shepherd’s garage?” I ask. “I’m pretty sure it’s mine. I sent my friend in to get the battery checked, as it’s been giving us trouble with the cooler weather, but it may have imploded instead.”
I make sure not to mention how many of us are traveling together, pretending to not have heard the question. Hopefully the guys will let it slide.
“That’s awful,” Ralph says sympathetically. “You might be here a while then. Tea runs a great bed and breakfast down on Eleanor Street. It’s a gray house with bright blue shutters. It’s called The Guest House. The food is good, and the sheets are clean. Go up to the Main Street here, hang a right, and go up the hill till you see Eleanor Street. It’s about six houses up the road. Tell her Ralph sent you, yeah? It’ll keep her from grilling ya too much since she’s my cousin. You seem like good people.”
My brows raise at the high praise, and I incline my head in thanks.
“I appreciate your help,” I say. “It’s bad luck that the car is giving us trouble.”
“You could have gotten stuck in the mountains,” Ralph’s opponent, Arnold, states. “Stick around long enough and people will thaw out. If you get Silva in your corner, it may happen sooner.”
“Who’s that?” I ask. I pretend not to know a name that pulled me from miles away on a lead that an omega by that name may be living here.
For all I know, it could be a coincidence, and I tell my excitement to take a back seat to logic. Harlan and Aiden have been looking for her and her twin sister Lexi for a long damn time, and Silva’s name could be popular here.
I figure with a name like hers, she’s probably in her seventies and a crotchety old lady. The guys here seem to think very highly of this woman as well.
I may as well keep my expectations low. We’ve been wrong before, and we’ve hit a lot of dead ends together over the years.
“She runs Club 21, and is just lovely,” Arnold says.
Ralph snorts as if I’m missing something, turning back to take his turn.
“She’s lovely to you because you’re senile, Arnold,” he says.
I can’t help but chuckle as I stand, remembering the name of the club being mentioned earlier.
“I’d head over tonight, but I heard it was ladies night,” I reply.
“Oh yes. You don’t want to go up there now,” Arnold grins. “Martha always comes home with stories from their ladies nights. You couldn’t pay me to interrupt their time.”
“Go on and see her tomorrow,” Ralph says. “Be careful of her cattle prod and don’t piss her off!”
My jaw drops at his words, but the older betas continue with their game as if I’m no longer there.
“Shut your mouth before you catch flies, son,” Ralph grunts.
Okay, so maybe they do know I’m here.
Shutting my mouth the way my elders told me to, I begin my walk to see Tea. Pulling out my phone, I shoot Isidro a text to see how he’s doing. I also need him to grab my shit out of the car. There’s a secret compartment on the SUV for our weapons that’s locked under the false bottom in the truck, so I’m not worried about that.
We just need a couple of days for people to get used to us. Then we can get comfortable and start looking for twin sisters named Silva and Lexi Davenport.
Izzy
I’ll meet you up there. People here will talk about everything and anything if you pretend to be part of the scenery for long enough. I’m hungry. What do you think about burgers? I’ll pick some up on my walk.
Me
Yeah, that’s good. A girl named Silva works at Club 21. Want to go up with me tomorrow for a drink?
Izzy
She owns the bar, Ky. I’m telling you, this is our girl. I’ll go with you tomorrow, scope things out. The place gets busy I hear on Friday nights. It’s more than just a bar. We can hang back, see what she’s like. Her boyfriend is the sheriff.
Me
Well then I look forward to seeing you later so you can tell me about what you found out. See you soon.
