“Can you give me some more time, LoneStar?”
“How long are we talking here, Britt? Two days, three weeks, several months? The longer you put this off, the harder it’ll be to deal with,” he states, repeating my earlier thoughts nearly verbatim.
“I can’t tell you that because I don’t know,” I answer, being as honest as I can. “But I promise you that I’ll stay in touch, and if things turn out the way we fear it will, I’ll tell you as soon as I find out.”
“Britton,” he sighs. “Your track record proves otherwise, woman. I’m gonna make you a promise that I won’t break. If you do end up finding out you’re carrying my kid, and you try to keep that from me, life as you know it will cease to exist. Don’t test me on this, becauseyouwill fail.”
“Don’t threaten me, LoneStar. I don’t do well with threats of that calibre.”
“It’s not a threat, darlin’, it’s a goddamn guarantee,” he reiterates.
“I’ll be in touch,” I avow before hitting the hang up button and tossing my phone on the couch.
I watch it bounce from the force of my throw before flopping back into the cushions and releasing a pent up sigh.
Tossing my arm up across my head and covering my eyes, I mutter, “Dammit.”
His impactful words float through my mind, “your past record proves otherwise”.
I can’t even be mad about him calling me out because what he said rings with truth. I’m a flight risk, but not this time, I won’t let myself. I have to be a big girl and face my fears.
Especially, if there’s a baby to consider because that’ll change everything.
CHAPTER
EIGHT
LoneStar
“Is she coming back?”Slayer asks, glancing over at me. It’s now nighttime, and the men have all congregated around the campfire.
“Not yet,” I answer, taking a large gulp of my beer, attempting to get the foul taste out of my mouth. I know the hard truths I gave her hit her like a wrecking ball, but they were necessary. “But she will. Says she needs some time to get things right in her head first.”
He sends me a ‘told you so’ look as Riptide takes the empty seat to my left, sighing. “Talked to Gemini,” he blurts out, a cold, calculated look plastered on his face. “They figured out what’s going on in their neck of the woods.”
Slayer leans forward in his seat, elbows dug into his thighs as he leans around me so he can see Rip better. “What’s that?”
“They have a human hunting ring on their hands,” Riptide says, his face souring further as the words fall from his tongue.
“I’m sorry, what the fuck did you just say?” I ask, my shoulders tensing. Surely the fuck I heard him wrong. People are sick, I get that, but this is some made for television bullshit.
“They’ve found two survivors,” Rip continues. “One being Skippy.”
“Sutton’s friend?” I inquire. I met her briefly during my time in Montana, she seems like a good girl. It makes my stomach churn thinking that someone I’ve met became a victim of predators with such malicious intent.
“That’s the one,” Rip cautiously informs me. “She’s in a coma, had some head trauma, bullet wounds, and someone played a game of archery with her and she was their target.”
“Jesus fuck,” I spit out, removing my cowboy hat and combing my fingers through my hair. “That’s messed up, Rip.”
“Your friend, Orbit, has uncovered some shit that is going to bring down hell on their state,” Rip apprises. “It goes high up on the food chain.”
“The law’s involved in that bullshit?” Slayer asks incredulously, shaking his head. “What is it with people who are elected into office? They think they’re above the law just because they carry a badge.”
“Higher,” Rip states, nodding his head. “All the way to the top.”
“So it’s throughout the entire state of Montana, not just in their town?” I ask, fishing for more information.
“Seems like,” he confirms. “From what Gemini shared, it’s spread from one end of the state to the other.”
