Trev nearly turned the truck into a ditch. “What?”
Leo handled it all with a calm sigh. “Shelley heard it from Patty who heard it from Wanda. Some kid named Austin Hall was in Beth’s house when she and Bo came home. The sheriff thinks he was looking for drugs. At least that’s what the kid says. He took a couple of shots at Beth, but Bo took him down. The sheriff says the kid’s in pretty bad shape, though not from Bo. Meth head.”
Trev forced himself to go very calm. His first instinct was to turn the truck around, find Beth, use the rope in his kit, and prove to her all the reasons she shouldn’t lie to her Dom. “All she told me was that there had been a little trouble, but she’d handled it.”
“Bo had a little scrape, but that was the extent of the physical damage,” Leo offered.
“She didn’t even call me.”
“She was probably afraid to. I don’t mean she was afraid of you. I mean she was afraid of being troublesome. She’s submissive, but she doesn’t understand the lifestyle. She doesn’t want to be a burden.”
The lights from the honky-tonk came into view. Neon reds and blues lit up the night. God, he’d loved this place once. He’d been allowed in despite the fact that he’d been underage. He’d been the quarterback who led the team to a state championship both his junior and senior years. He’d been a damn hero, so everyone looked the other way when he had a beer or two or ten. It had all started here.
Crap, he wanted to be back in The Club. Things had been easier there. He’d known there was no way he’d be allowed to step out of line. He could spend his evenings working with subs who never lied or tried to cover anything up. There wasn’t anything to cover up. Besides the occasional scene, he had no real ties to any of those subs.
That had been fantasy. This was real life. In real life, he could fuck up all he wanted and people would just help him along. In real life, in real relationships, he had to deal with the fact that he was going to get angry and irritated even with the best-behaved sub. Because she wasn’t just a sub. She was a woman, and women were irritating and aggravating and the only thing that made life really worthwhile. Fuck, he was in love with her.
He was going to spank her ass red.
He shoved the truck in park and got out. Leo was right behind him.
“So we go in, kidnap Bo, and get out.” There wasn’t a hint of worry in Leo’s voice. It was as though he wholly approved of the plan. “You know, I always did think Julian put far too much faith in contracts. A good kidnapping followed by some time on the rack. That’s what some subs need. A claiming. Everyone loves a good claiming. Lexi’s right about that. Now the whole ‘Dom submits to the sub to prove his love’ stuff is complete crap, but she’s right about the claiming part.”
Trev stopped and faced his mentor. He really was a pain in the ass sometimes. “I’m not claiming Bo.”
“Really?”
“Not in that way. I’m not taking him home and fucking him. It’s not going to be that way.”
Leo shook his head. “That’s what you all say. Then the butt sex starts.”
Trev turned. Leo was utterly obnoxious at times. This was one of those times. “I’m planning on talking to him.”
Leo slapped him on the shoulder as he fell in step with him. “That’s your first mistake. I don’t think talking to Bo is going to help. If you want your very own crazy three-way, you’re going to have to make it happen.”
“One of these days, Leo, you’re going to end up in a crazy-ass threesome, and I’m going to laugh. I’m going to sit back and laugh.”
Leo shook his head. “Not going to happen. A. I’m not even close to bisexual. B. Not interested in sharing.”
“I’ve met your brother. You have the same taste in women.” Wolf Meyer would probably have been all over Shelley, too. The Meyer brothers were incredibly different, but the same in some ways.
They reached the front steps. Trev got a little sick to his stomach. It had been years since he’d been inside a bar, and now he was going into the belly of the beast for a man who might hate his guts.
“I’ll kill myself before I share a woman with my brother. Wolf is intolerable. He’s my brother and I love him, but I want to kill him half the time. He has no organizational skills. He throws his clothes everywhere. He’s a slob, and he still eats like a five-year-old. I can’t live with Wolf much less share a woman with him.” Leo was looking at him with an outraged expression. It was actually slightly prissy.
All of his fear fled. He’d managed to make big, tough Leo Meyer look like a prissy schoolmarm. He could handle this.
Trev strode through the doors of The Rusty Spur certain everything was going to be fine.
Chapter Twelve
Nothing was ever going to be fine again. Bo scrubbed a hand through his hair as the bartender set another whiskey in front of him. He stared at it. He wasn’t so far gone yet that he couldn’t think, couldn’t see Mouse’s pretty face turned up to his telling him they couldn’t be together. He wasn’t sure anything would obliterate that sight.
He pushed the drink away. He was drunk enough. It was probably time to figure out how he was getting home.
“Hey, Bo.” Clarissa slid on the barstool next to him. Her blonde hair was tucked under a fashionably crushed, pink cowboy hat. Her breasts were practically hanging out of her tank top. “Sorry about last night. That Brian can get mean when he’s drunk.”
“He wasn’t the only one.” He hadn’t forgotten what she’d said about Mouse. Did she honestly think she could call his best friend a pathetic whore and he’d still sleep with her? Probably. That was his reputation. He’d take just about anything and laugh it off. He was the pathetic one.
Her hand slid across his. “Don’t hold that against me. Every woman you’ve ever dated hates that girl. I don’t intend to be another of your girlfriends who takes a backseat any time Mouse Hobbes scrapes her knee. You can’t blame us for disliking her. I was a little mad that you were dumping me for the night. I had big plans. I still do. I get it now. You didn’t want Melody. You just wanted me.”
He nearly came off his barstool as her other hand found his thigh. He knew one thing for sure. He couldn’t have Mouse, but he loved her, and he wasn’t about to start up with another woman. Now that he knew he really loved her, he couldn’t accept what Clarissa was offering. “I don’t think so.”
Her cold brown eyes rolled. She leaned forward, and her hand tightened on his thigh, dangerously close to his cock. Her voice was low as she leaned in. “Come on, Bo. Don’t be an idiot. No man turns me down. I’m not about to be made a laughingstock in this town. I won’t let anyone say Mouse Hobbes took a man I wanted. Now you’re going to get up off this barstool, and we’re going to get out of here. Or I’ll tell everyone here you’re just as queer as your brother.”
Bo froze. He didn’t have Mouse anymore. Did any of it really matter? And he was starting to hate these people he’d thought of as his friends. But did he really want this fight? Would it do anyone a lick of good? Bo felt slightly frozen.
“Or you can take your hand off him before I’m forced to do something I don’t want to do.” A low, menacing voice cut through the thudding music.
Bo turned and saw Trev McNamara and Leo Meyer staring down at Clarissa. He was damn happy they weren’t staring at him. Both men looked ready to commit murder or something worse. Clarissa turned on her stool, her hand coming off his leg. She looked Trev up and down, her lips curling up. She didn’t seem to pick up on what Bo was seeing. Bo didn’t think they were sizing her up for a fun night.