“Are you ever gonna let me drive us anywhere?”
“Probably not so long as I have a bitchin’ Mustang. You got a problem with that?”
“You know what? I don’t. Now, if it were anyone else, that’d be a different story.”
“Oh, I get it. You love me for my Bitchin’ Mus…tang…” Her voice lost volume as they both realized what she’d just said.
“It’s not about the car, Sylvie.” Lame, but he didn’t want the first time he told her he loved her to be over the phone. “Let’s just get up into the mountains. Get away from it all for a day.”
“That sounds amazing.” But there was a wistfulness in her voice he didn’t like, a sadness that made his heart clench.
“You sure you can’t get away for the whole day?”
“No. I can’t. It’s work-related.” Her tone was final—a closed-off conversation.
“Okay. Do what you need to do, babe, and I’ll grab us some food and wait for you up at the kennels. I just want to make sure you’re okay, Sylvie.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you later.”
* * *
Alex was surprisedto see Kyle when the man walked into the yard behind the kennels.
“Thought you and all them were spending a relaxing day at the festival,” Alex said.
“Relaxing, yeah, right.” The Pup rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe for my fiancée and Wolf and Caroline, but not for me. I came here to relax just for a minute or two then I’ll meet them back in Lyons for lunch.”
Alex was tempted to kid Kyle about his ‘happy place’ but he was way too tense. “What happened, Pup? Jerold Glass again?”
“How’d you guess?” Kyle called Buster over from where he was socializing with the other dogs. The fearsome-looking mutt was coming along nicely. One of their biggest concerns was that he’d attack other dogs, but once he felt safe, he understood this was his pack and not his rivals.
Kyle scratched the big dog’s head. “That son of a bitch made a scene at the gates today when the festival opened its doors. Glass tried to bring in a gun and he upset the volunteers checking people’s bags and a bunch of families with little kids. Totally disrespected one of the women, and I couldn’t let that stand.”
“Whoa. That’s bullshit.” Mac had come to investigate the men and was more than happy to get his own ear-scratches from Alex.
Kyle nodded. “Yeah, no guns allowed in unless you’re security. The asshole shouted about how he didn’t trust us to protect him. He was on about Brianna’s brother, claiming Brianna was going to send him after Glass out of retaliation. Can you imagine?”
“Again, pure bullshit. Spent a little time with Brianna and she’s a sweetheart.”
“Her brother, though.” Kyle’s hand was back at his nape. “Can’t say I’m pleased his folks bailed him out after the scene he caused. Glass all but accused us of working with him. Just what we needed in front of the locals.”
“Yeah, I know some of the rumors going around about us being drug dealers or a cartel or some shit.”
Kyle’s mouth flattened into a straight line and his ice-blue eyes darkened. “Pretty sure I know the source.”
Alex nodded. He didn’t need to be on the spec-ops side of things to know there was a good chance Capitoline was at the bottom of it. Kyle had destroyed their plans of building a stronghold on the very mountain where Watchdog now stood. They were out for blood—anything to destroy Watchdog, subtly or not so subtly. If they could undermine Watchdog’s reputation, the community would do their dirty work for them.
Kyle inhaled, held his breath for a moment, then blew it out. “But it can’t be helped. Might even be better than them knowing the truth. All we can do is show up in the community and stay on our best behavior. They’ll eventually come around, that’s what Arden says.” Then Kyle grinned. “My own little Colorado native came around pretty quick to accepting I was from California.”
“Yeah, really? I beg to differ, judging by how much Arden teases you for it.”
That got Alex a laugh. Kyle gave Buster one last scratch, then straightened. “I should be getting back. I’ve got three vans up in the mountains full of musicians practicing away from the crowds for tomorrow’s competition. So far, Badger tells me that everyone is on their best behavior and Glass has been steering clear of Rachael and Brianna.”
“Then let’s hope it stays that way.”
“Let’s do that. Because there’s more here going on than meets the eye. George is acting jumpy, despite saying that the car theft was just joyriders. He was there for Glass’s little temper tantrum this morning and he handled it, but things are not right.”
“You should head back then.”
