“No,” James said, his voice firm. “We handle it, no matter what it is. This is Bliss. This is the last stop. You find your way here, and you stay here. I’m not letting some asshole take our wife.”
Our? Tears blurred her eyes. He didn’t know the truth. He wouldn’t want her when he knew, but the idea that he’d come after her made her heart pound. She loved James. She loved Noah. She would give anything to change the past so she could be worthy of them.
She realized in that moment that she was so much more heartbroken than afraid. Losing them would be worse than losing her life.
“Hope, you should get out of the car.” Cam pointed to the door.
“Why?”
“Uhm, because this is what we call a jailbreak, and I would prefer to not make it look good. I can just say I didn’t find you rather than James shooting me.” Cam held out his hands as though to ask what she was waiting for.
It was a sweet gesture, but she couldn’t take it. “I’d rather face him.”
It was past time to deal with Christian. If he really was alive, she needed to take the situation in hand. She thought she’d avenged Elaine, but if she hadn’t, she would bring the law in—no matter what.
“Get out of the car, Hope. If you want to go into the station, you go in with your men, not the law.” Noah opened her door. “That way this guy knows you’re protected.”
“Please, go.” She didn’t want to beg, but it was better than them hearing her story. She might walk in with them, but there was no way she would walk out with them. They would leave once they heard her story.
“Not a chance, baby. Cam’s a big boy. He can take one for the team if he has to. It’s your choice.” James pulled the shotgun up, getting Cam squarely in his sights.
“Oh, you’re going to pay for that, Glen. The next bar fight we have, I won’t hold back. Your ass is mine.” Cam swore revenge with a smile on his face, obviously not terribly worried that James would actually shoot.
Hope shook her head. She’d steeled herself. She wasn’t backing away now. “I have to go with Cam. I have to see him. I have to know it’s him.”
She couldn’t stay in this odd limbo of not knowing. She couldn’t handle it. She’d fooled herself for weeks, but now she had to be sure. She had to know if he’d caught her. She had to know if it was time to fight.
Noah looked at his brother, and they appeared to have an entire conversation via facial tics and short, sharp hand gestures. Finally, Noah unsnapped her seat belt and took her in hand. “You’re coming with us, darlin’.”
“No,” Hope protested even as her arms went around his neck. He hauled her close to his chest. She felt better than she had in an hour, feeling his warmth and strength around her, but she knew it was a lie.
“You keep quiet or I will spank that sweet ass right here on Main Street, and they won’t do a damn thing to save you.” James pointed up the road.
Hope turned her head and saw what he was referencing.
A mob stood outside the sheriff’s office. Hope checked the sob that caught in her throat. Max and Rye stood there with Rachel. Callie and Zane were holding hands, each with a stroller in front of them. Stef was showing Jen how to load a shotgun. She knew Rafe and Laura were inside. Alexei and Holly and Caleb were talking to Nell and Mel and Cassie. Stella had a pitcher in her hand, handing out drinks as her husband, Sebastian, gave everyone a glass. Teeny, Logan’s mom, followed behind with a plate of what looked to be fudge. Teeny firmly believed that fudge was required at all tragic events. Marie, her partner, her wife, stood behind, shotgun in hand. Lucy, sweet Lucy, turned her head and saw the Bronco had stopped. Bliss had come out to protect its own—her.
Tears streamed. Twenty-seven years she’d longed for a family only to find one in the backwoods of Colorado.
She was going to let them all down.
But Noah wasn’t allowing her to go. He leaned close. “It’s going to be all right. Trust us, Hope. We trust you.”
“You shouldn’t,” she whispered.
He shook his head. “I’m a deeply forgiving man.”
“I’m not,” James said with a wink. “But I think you’ll find I’m different when it comes to you. We’ll go in there with you, but then we’re taking you back to the G, and the three of us are going to talk. Noah and I aren’t going to let you run the show anymore.”
“Since when have I run anything?” Hope asked.
“Yeah, just like that,” James said. He turned back to Cam. “Sheriff, I’m just carrying this gun in case I need to go hunting. You know how it is. A man never can tell when he’s going to get hungry.”
Cam snorted. “Yeah, that seems to be going around. Every man in the county seems to be hunting today. It should send a message to this guy when he leaves the station. I think Nate already put the fear of god into him.”
“Nate’s in there?” Hope asked.
“Oh, baby, we’re going to have such a talk about Nate. You’re not going to be running to Nate anymore. You’re going to run to your men. Is that understood?” James asked. Before she could reply, he turned to Cam. “We’ll see you in a minute.”
Before she could protest, Noah hauled her back to the truck, Butch in tow. She settled between them, and James took off.
Christian stared at the blonde. She was smiling and saying all the right things, but something was wrong. Something was wrong with all of them.
He glanced up at the clock. An hour. It had already taken that damn sheriff an hour, and he wasn’t back with Hope yet.
Yes, something was terribly wrong.
“Don’t worry,” the blonde who had introduced herself as Laura said. “Cam will find her. He thinks she’s probably on the mountain. It’s pretty remote out there, but he’ll find her.”
He kept his mouth shut when he wanted to tell the dumb bitch that she wasn’t on the mountain. She was at her lovers’ ranch. He’d gained a lot of knowledge about the ranch where his wife was staying, including the fact that she was screwing at least one, probably both, of the brothers who lived there.
But he forced his mouth closed. The deputy, a large, dark-haired man, stared at him from behind his desk. Not ten minutes before another man had walked in, apparently the actual sheriff. He’d closed himself in an office after acting Sheriff Briggs had gone in search of Hope.
There was an awful lot of activity in this sleepy little mountain sheriff’s station.
“I’m sorry,” he said, attempting to look as wistful as possible. “It’s been a long time since I saw my wife. I’ve been horribly worried about her. She can be…unstable.”
“So you’ve told me. She’s bipolar?” Laura asked.
“Yes. She’s very sweet, but when she gets into a depressive cycle, she’s terribly violent toward herself.” He wanted to work on this Laura’s obvious sympathy. If she thought Hope might harm herself, she might be more willing to easily turn her over to a man who could take care of her.
“Interesting.”
She didn’t believe him. It was there in her eyes. He could hear the sheriff in his office. He distinctly heard the words “Atlanta” and “district attorney.”
Fuck. Someone knew something. He had counted on Hope hiding her past. It seemed she’d told at least one person, and he doubted Sheriff Wright was going to come down on his side.
His paperwork wouldn’t hold up under deep scrutiny. He’d get through a few layers, but if they really dug, he would be found out. He had a couple of his men waiting to help with getting Hope out of here. One was ready to pose as a doctor, the other an orderly. He had plenty of sedatives to keep her nice and compliant.
But if these rubes wouldn’t let him out the door, he wasn’t sure what he would do.