and I drive to Seattle. It’ll be rough—all your friends and co-workers will see it—but like you said, our love is unconditional, so we’ll survive it, won’t we?”
I heard a choking noise through the phone and I laughed again, feeling liberated.
“It’ll ruin your campaign,” I continued, savoring every word. “Destroy your reputation. You’ll be a laughingstock and everyone will know you’ve been lying about our marriage. Or I can keep my mouth shut and you can send the fucking paperwork to my lawyer. What’s it gonna be, Brandon? True love forever or a divorce?”
“I . . . I can’t believe—Tinker, how could you do that?”
“I’ll give you thirty seconds. Then I’m hanging up and hitting the upload button.”
“No!” he said. “Okay, you win. My attorney will talk to yours. We’ll get the paperwork figured out.”
So much for unconditional love.
“Lovely,” I replied. “Make sure it’s all legit. I’d hate to have any unpleasant truths come out in divorce court. Whatever shit you’ve been pulling, it will not touch me. Tread lightly, Brandon, and don’t fuck around.”
Then I hung up the phone and walked in through the side door, feeling like I’d lost fifty pounds. Well, probably more like a hundred and seventy—at least, that’s what it said on his driver’s license. Should’ve done it a long time ago, because I knew one thing for sure. I really would rather upload that video for everyone on earth to see than go back to his lying ass.
“You okay, honey?” Dad asked, wandering into the kitchen. I smiled at him brightly.
“I’m great,” I told him. “Finally figured out how to get Brandon off his ass and move forward on the divorce.”
“That sounds promising,” he replied, returning my smile. “Never liked that fellow. You think you could come into the living room? There’s someone at the door who’d like to talk to you. Says his name is BB. Big guy, wearing a leather vest.”
I followed Dad back to the living room, where sure enough, there was a great big guy standing by the door wearing a leather Reapers MC vest. He was built like a teddy bear, all round and soft-looking. His skin was medium dark and his hair was pulled back into a long braid.
“Hi,” I said, wondering why he was here. “You must be a friend of Gage’s.”
“I’m a Reapers prospect, Miz Garrett,” he said, his voice very polite. “My name is BB, and I was assigned to keep an eye on you today. I’ve been cruising by every twenty or thirty minutes, but the smoke is real bad and it’s getting harder to breathe out there. I figured it would be better if I came in and introduced myself.”
I heard a giggle, looked over to find the twins and Mrs. Webbly watching us from the stairwell.
“What do you mean, keep an eye on me?” I asked slowly, trying to process his words.
“We’ve had someone watching over you whenever Gage isn’t around, ever since the arrests this weekend,” he said earnestly. “He’s been worried that someone might come and hurt you—mostly likely that Talia chick he was—”
I held up a hand, cutting him off.
“I get the picture,” I said, trying to decide how I felt about that. On the one hand, it was the same kind of controlling bullshit that Brandon would pull. On the other, I’d been attacked last night in a public bar by a crazy woman. Having someone around in case she decided to come back wasn’t such a bad idea. “So what’s your plan?”
“I’d like to stay in here with you,” he said. “I haven’t heard from Gage or Picnic—he’s the president—for an hour now, and they aren’t responding to my texts. Until my orders change, it’s my job to keep you safe.”
I studied him, shaking my head. BB seemed very earnest, but also young. Just what I needed. Another chick to shepherd.
“Have you had lunch?” Mrs. Webbly asked, coming down the stairs. He shook his head, looking sheepish.
Suddenly a massive boom exploded the air, and the entire house shook. We all stared at each other, eyes wide.
“What the hell was that?” Rebecca asked, her voice trembling.
“I don’t know,” I said as police sirens started to wail. “Some kind of explosion.”
“I’m going to look outside,” BB said.
“I’m coming with you,” I told him, but he shook his head.
“It’s my job to keep you safe.”
“If whatever that was comes for us, we’re fucked,” I said bluntly. “We’ll go together.”
He swallowed and nodded, opening the front door. We walked out together