If he’d been a different man, his talent and his personality would have meshed. He wasn’t that man. He couldn’t handle it. Life was a choice. He chose to live and not burn out. Trev knew some people might never understand, but he’d chosen to live the day he’d walked away.
“I’m not going anywhere, Marty. Go find someone else to exploit. And don’t call me again. I’ll never step onto the field again. Not a professional field. Now, leave me be. Bo and I have a game to plan.”
It would involve rope and a paddle because Trev intended to let Beth know what she was in for the next time she hid something from him.
Leo smiled over at him before patting Jimmy on the shoulder and passing him a business card. “Call me tomorrow. We’ll set up a session. It’s going to be all right.”
Trev raised a brow. Leo shook his head. “Patient confidentiality. But god, I could build a whole practice off this town.” He turned to Bo. “Are you going to be able to handle this? Beth lied to her Dom. This is going to be an ugly scene.”
Bo’s eyes found Trev’s. “Lied?”
“By omission,” Trev clarified. She hadn’t mentioned the fact that she’d been shot at. It was a hell of an omission.
“Fuck, I told her you would find out. I told her to call you.” Bo talked fast.
“You aren’t in trouble, Bo. Though now that we have a deal, I expect that you would call me in if something like that happens again. So, she fixed the door and painted over the bullet holes?”
Bo groaned. “Nope. She painted over the words on the wall. ‘Get out.’”
Trev closed his eyes. Those words had been meant for him. A huge part of him wanted to slink away. It would be better for everyone if he left. Beth and Bo were going to be tainted by his presence. He opened his eyes to find Leo and Bo both looking at him expectantly.
If he left, this town would eat up Bo and Beth again. Fuck it. He was better for them. The town could go to hell. Bo and Beth had made their choices. The town could hate him all they liked, but Beth was his. Fuck. Bo was his. Not in any sexual way, but Bo had just become his responsibility in a way that meant something to Trev.
Trev raised his voice to make sure Wanda heard him. As long as Wanda heard, everyone in town would know what he’d said. “I will beat the living shit out of the next person who tries something like this. I’m not going anywhere, and this town better get used to it. I’m here for a year, and then we’ll see what happens, but I’m not going to let some asshole make me run out on my friends.”
Leo stood, a brilliant smile on his face. “The man learns. I am the greatest therapist in the world.” He pointed to the five men in the opposite cell. “Group rate, gentlemen. Give me a call. I can fix you. Well, maybe not you. You offend me. But the rest of you are more than welcome.”
“Did you hear that, Patty? Yeah, I think the ponytailed man is some sort of cult leader. Right here in Deer Run. Yep.” Wanda was back on the phone.
“I can handle whatever this town tries to throw at me,” Bo said, sitting back. “This is what she wants, right?”
Trev turned to him. “I have a question for you. Were you with her when she walked into that house? Or did she call out for you to help her?”
Bo’s face tightened. “I only knew she was in trouble because I heard the gun go off.”
“Is that the way she should have reacted? Or should she have called out for you?” Trev asked the question because Bo needed to understand his place. “I don’t care what had gone on with the two of you. She should have called for you. If she belongs to us, then she has to learn to take care of herself, and that damn straight includes asking for help when some asshole is shooting at her.”
A hard look came into Bo’s eyes. “I can handle it.”
Trev was suddenly pretty sure he could. And he’d just gained a partner.
The door to the sheriff’s office opened, and Beth ran in. She was dressed in jeans and a bulky shirt Trev intended to burn. Her wardrobe was getting an update. He stood, Bo beside him as though they had practiced the move.
“I’m here to pick up Trev and Bo.” She was breathless as she spoke to Wanda. She finally turned, and a little stubbornness firmed her chin. “I hear the two of you have been fighting. You should both know that I won’t put up with it.”
Trev narrowed his eyes. The only things that kept him off her were the bars between them. “You won’t put up with it?”
She swallowed but seemed to find her courage. “No. I will not. You two should make up.”
Bo chuckled beside him. “Oh, I think Trev and I are fine now. You could say we talked it out.”
She stared for a moment. “Well, I’m glad.” She turned back toward Wanda. “Can I take them home now? I mean, I’m going to take them to their homes, of course.”
Wanda’s eyes widened. “Of course.”
Trev wasn’t going to let her get away with that. “Are you really in?”
Bo nodded.
Then it was time to stake a claim. “You can just take us back to your place, Beth. There’s no reason to hide. I slept there last night. I’ll sleep there tonight. So will Bo.”
“What?” It came out of Beth’s mouth with a little squeak. “Bo?”
“That’s right, Beth. I ain’t calling you Mouse anymore. Trev won’t allow it. And I am definitely spending the night,” Bo insisted.
Wanda continued her play by play. “That’s right, Patty. Both of them. Just like Aidan and Lucas.”
“No!” Trev and Bo both managed to shout it at the same time.
And then Bo laughed. He laughed long and hard, shaking his head.
The sheriff was sighing as he opened the cell door. He looked back at Beth. “Can you take the long-haired fellow with you? He’s made two of the men in the next cell cry like babies. If you leave him here, they’ll all be throwing fits.”
“They aren’t throwing fits. They’re having breakthroughs,” Leo assured the sheriff as he walked out.
“I’m going to actualize my own perfect being,” Jimmy Nixon proclaimed through his tears.
Leo gave him a thumbs-up.
Trev walked out after him. He walked straight to Beth and pulled the ponytail out of her hair. “I told you to wear your hair down.”
He would have quietly reminded her another several times to get her into the habit of obeying him when it came to her hair, but she’d pushed him. She didn’t get a reminder.
“It looks beautiful down. You need to leave it that way.” Bo stood close to her but not touching.
“It feels so soft. Try it.” He was going to have ease Bo into this.
After a moment of hesitation, Bo let his hand drift up and stroke her hair. There was something sweetly innocent about the way Bo’s fingers drifted into Beth’s hair. His eyes took in the soft brown stuff. Beth’s hair was threaded with sable and wisps of dark blonde. Bo touched her, petting her hair as if it satisfied something inside him. And then he did something Trev hadn’t expected. His hands wound through that silky hair and tightened.
“You didn’t call out today.” Bo’s voice was harder than Trev could remember. “When you were in trouble, you didn’t let me know.”
He could see the way her breath hitched the minute Bo’s voice had deepened. If her little pussy hadn’t gone soft and wet when Bo had clenched his hand in her hair, Trev would give up his throwing arm.
“You were mad at me,” Beth reminded Bo, her voice soft.
Bo forced her head up just a bit. Maybe Trev wouldn’t have to ease him in. He seemed more comfortable with it now. “I would never be mad enough at you that I would let some fucker shoot you. Don’t you forget that. Now, give me the keys because I’m not sitting in that Pinto for the hour it would take you to drive us home.”