“Okay, I need you to lock the keys to the cell away in the safe now and put my spare set under the filing cabinet in my office. Then call the boys, and tell them to stay away until I say otherwise. I’ll be in shortly with Hope.”
He listened a bit longer, then cut the call. Hope felt ill as he made another one.
“Jake, I know you and Tex are in the Hoot. I need you to come to the Lair now. I’m outside in my cruiser with Hope.”
“I’m scared, Cubby,” Hope said when he’d pocketed his phone.
“I know you are, and after what you’ve just suffered I don’t like putting you through this shit either. Newman’s going to be pissed.”
She didn’t speak, because the thought of Newman made her want him.
“I need you to listen to me now, Hope.” Cubby’s voice was calm, but Hope felt the tension inside him. “You do whatever I say from now on, because the governor is here to override any decision I make, and in all likelihood try and take you away. I won’t let that happen, but you have to stay calm and follow my lead.”
Cubby’s hand squeezed hers briefly. It should feel strange to someone like Hope, who usually kept everything private and close, that Cubby was comforting her. Strangely, what it felt, was reassuring. Newman had done this to her, made her accept comfort and friendship from people.
“You okay?” He touched her cheek.
“My life was uncomplicated a few months ago.”
“I was the same when Katie reentered my life. I thought I had everything, and then realized I had nothing.”
“It’s this town,” Hope said. “It messes with you.”
“We’re all here for you, Hope, and I’m real sorry about the baby.”
“I know, me too.”
“Newman told me to call him if you needed him.”
“Wh-where is he?”
“Denver. Said something about a meeting that couldn’t be put off.”
Hope nodded. “I shouldn’t need him. But—”
“You do, because that idiot tugs at your heart, and right now when things are turning shit shaped, you want him at your side?”
She nodded.
“You want me to contact him?”
She shook her head. She’d caused him enough trouble, and this wasn’t his problem.
Cubby opened the door when Jake and Ethan appeared. The Texan helped her out, and it showed how unsettled she was that she let him.
“I’m deputizing you two.”
“Again?” Jake said, rolling his eyes. “What’s happening now? Drug lords? Money lenders?”
“None of the above. Now shut up, and I’ll explain.”
Ethan’s arm slipped around Hope’s shoulders as Cubby talked.
“Well hell.” He whistled. “Sounds like someone really wants our girl here locked away. The question is why?”
“I have a few answers to that, but right now we have a backpack full of evidence, and inside the Lair, people who will smell blood when they see it. Bringing in the governor has made things difficult, but we can work with that, if you all follow my lead.”
“Don’t you worry, honey, I don’t care how much money or weight they throw around, no one’s taking you out of Howling,” Ethan said.
