“The phone reception out here sucks, and I don’t even mind.”
She’s right. I haven’t checked my phone since we parked, unpacked our equipment, and started moving.
She kicks a rock with the toe of her boot, and it bounces off into the trees.
“The lawyers haven’t stopped calling about the case with Satan.” She says it so casually. We haven’t mentioned him in days.
If I had my way, we’d never mention that fuck for the rest of our lives after his criminal trial ends.
“Of course. You’re their gravy train.” I take her hand, threading my fingers through hers. “If anybody had a great reason to clean his ass out, it’s you. Don’t worry too much. The guys Marshall found you should handle everything.”
“He’s a genius. I don’t think the man ever sleeps. But it’s not about the money. I just want to make sure Harry will never do this to another woman again.”
“You’re selfless, Sass. One more reason it’s easy to love you.”
She smiles. The sun brings out freckles on her nose.
I want to spend the evening kissing every one.
“He’ll be behind bars before you know it,” I say, serious again. “With all the charges he’s facing, there’s no chance he’ll weasel out of it. Let him blow his money on legal damage control until he’s bankrupt.”
No exaggeration. Harry Jay faces a deluge of criminal fraud cases, bribery, and yes, revenge porn violations slapped by yours truly.
Lena’s case isn’t the only one leveled at him for abuse. She just threw the first stone, and once it hit, three other women crawled out the woodwork, chasing him for assault.
He’s such a fucking flight risk, he couldn’t post bail.
All the better. That means we get to come here and enjoy some peace without the slightest worry that Harry Jay will climb out of the brush with a loaded gun and nothing to lose.
This is Lena’s battle, but if I had my way, he’d never see the light of day again. No matter what hit man I had to pay to make it happen.
“Ready for the next leg?”
She nods.
I pull her hand to my mouth and kiss her knuckles, banishing demon thoughts from my head. I help her up, and we start moving with Queenie at our side. The path hits an incline, and she draws in a little closer.
“Enough about the past,” I say. “How’s the grand reopening coming along?”
She grins. “Pawsome Hearts? I mean, it’s more of a gimmick than anything, but it’ll help introduce Dr. Vetol to our clients. He’s pretty excited to start seeing patients.”
“A man likes to know his money’s being invested sensibly.”
“Mymoney now,” she reminds me.
“Yours,” I agree, squeezing her hand. “I’d say it paid off brilliantly.”
“Things are good. Likereallygood. You remembered to thank your parents, right?”
“Yeah.”
After my big talk with Dad, he couldn’t hold my mother back from beating down doors. She went straight to the mayor and the county board, calling in favors owed from years of large campaign contributions, demanding action to deal with the corruption in the code department.
It barely took a hot minute for my parents to get on board with the new life we’re building.
And I’ll admit, having Dad on our side is a definite plus. Pawsome Hearts had a flood of donations coming in to fix up their boarding center. The Pruitt name has been around for a long time, and he knows exactly how to throw its weight around.
“About damn time they did something useful with their money.” I shake my head.
