While Bobbie was busy on Tuesday with her prep and service, Reyghan could chill out, leashed on deck or below, and better yet, with permission from the owner, Bobbie would have her puppy join her in the carriage house for her overnights.
If her client didn’t like that idea, Bobbie would sleep on her boat with her new little buddy.
“So, as much as I hate to call it quits right now, uh… To be continued Sunday night?” Buck looked hopeful.
“Absolutely,” Bobbie answered without a second’s hesitation.
Looking equal parts relieved and expectant, Buck gave her his address, then, even with the two dogs beginning to whine in protest, he proceeded to kiss the stuffing out of her again.
CHAPTER 17
Bobbie wasin such a dreamland as she came back to her shop, that she hadn’t seen her brothers lurking in the alleyway until it was too late. She wanted to kick herself. There was never anything that could make a day go south faster than her asshole siblings.
Clearly, they’d watched and waited until Buck had driven away before slinking out, when Drew had then forcefully grabbed her upper arm.
“Hey,” she snapped, attempting to unsuccessfully yank her appendage back from him.
How dare he.
She was so pissed off at the pair that her vision momentarily turned red. But she quickly gave herself a quick reminder of what was at stake before she started hurling invectives. She needed to play things cool so they wouldn’t suspect that they were both…now…suspects.
Being in possession of the intel she’d been given, had exposed them as the darkest of villains. And she wanted both of them to pay.
Bobbie took a deep breath and waited to see where the pair would take this. If it was simply a routine shake-down visit, or ifthey had other things on their mind. “Well? What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Shut it, bitch,” Drew snarled back. “What the hell do you think you’re up to?”
“Up to?” Bobbie repeated dumbly, drawing on all her acting abilities. She hoped the pair hadn’t somehow gotten wind that they were going to be investigated. She was aware that they had a few old school chums working at the OPD in various capacities. They might have been warned, if the chief or Mason had inadvertently said something around the wrong ears.
Bobbie prevaricated. “Uh, coming back to prep for a party?” she offered. “What else would I be doing here?”
“That’s not what we mean, and you know it,” Jeff put in, sharply.
Oh, shit.
“Whatdoyou mean, then?” She managed to get free, and rubbed the skin where Drew’s grip would certainly leave bruises.
“Sothard. That asshole,” Drew continued nastily. “We know he’s in town, because he came to the house looking for you while you were gone.”
Bobbie wanted to groan, but kept a straight face. Barely.
“Then earlier, he shows up here and you leave with him. Which means, since he just dropped you off, that you’ve been with him all fucking day.”
“Yeah? So? That’s none of your concern,” Bobbie clipped.
She wasn’t going to take too much shit from her brothers, especially now that she’d found out they were a lot worse than she’d always thought, and behind a whole lot of nefarious stuff that had basically derailed her life.
Drew growled. “That’s where you’re wrong.” He leaned down, close enough that she could see his bloodshot eyes. “We own you, sister dear. We made you what you are today, and you shouldn’t forget that.”
They’d played that card so many times, it was getting hella old.
“We financed your boat,” he continued, “your business, and gave you your most lucrative, weekly client up north. You think that was all easy? Hell, no. And you need to watch your ass, because we can keep those good things from continuing, whenever we want. You get me?”
Bobbie got him, alright. But she understood better than he did that it was an empty threat. What did they think she was, stupid? Or were they just so dense that they didn’t understand where everything currently stood?
First, the small amount of money they’d “lent” her for the boat, had long ago been returned with interest at the same time she’d finished paying off the bank.
The investment they’d made in her company—also a fairly miniscule amount in comparison to the loan she’d taken out—had her brothers receiving extremely generous monthly “share” payments, ones that she figured they couldn’t do without because…
