The Deputy and His Enforcer (Kincaid Pack #3) - Kiki Clark Page 0,1
up his second six-year contract with the army and thinking about sticking it out for a full twenty when he got the news. It had seemed like a good idea until he was needed at home since it wasn’t like he knew how to do anything else or had a spouse waiting at home for him.
But his mom had needed him. His dad might have been a driving force in pushing him out of Meyerville and into the arms of the US government, but his mom had always been the most important person in his life.
When he’d heard about his dad being in the hospital with stage four lung cancer, he’d immediately started the process of getting discharged. He was the oldest, and his youngest siblings were still living at home; his baby sister was only thirteen and barely knew him. They needed his help, and it was his responsibility to take care of the family now.
Hector was right though. Following Rivera and the others not only hadn’t netted him any good intel—it could cost him his shitty-ass job if he was caught. Despite not liking working part-time as a county deputy, it allowed him to help his mom with bills until a full-time position opened up. His stomach soured at the thought of sitting at a speed trap for the rest of his life.
No, what he needed to do was change tactics.
“I won’t, man. I promise.”
The door to the shop opened and Marcus stepped out, followed closely by a dark-skinned woman he recognized. Tashmica Torres. She’d been the one who joined the group at the scene of the dead body. He narrowed his eyes as she laughed and raised up onto her tiptoes to kiss Marcus’s cheek, his white skin flushing right away.
His hand tightened on his phone as he watched her grin up at Rivera and wipe at his cheek where she’d left a smudge of bright red lipstick. “I gotta go though. Text me to reschedule about the beer.”
“Wait! I also called to tell you that Mom and Reesa changed their minds and decided to have the baby shower after all.”
Robson bit back a groan. Reesa was the oldest girl, third oldest after him and Hector, and pregnant with her first baby. She was due to pop in like a month and had said she didn’t need a baby shower—even though his mom and sister-in-law, Shannon, Hector’s wife, had tried to convince her that it was okay to celebrate the baby. But Reesa was sensitive and had confided in Robson that she felt bad forcing people to buy gifts and come to a party so soon after their dad had died.
Robson thought she was being silly—their old man had been an asshole, but he’d had a soft spot for the girls, so maybe Reesa was more broken up about his death than he or Hector or the other boys were.
“Let me guess. They want to hurry and have it before that baby slides out of her?”
Hector laughed and groaned. “Gross, dude. But yeah. So we’re all hands on deck to get it done. Shannon and I will be over to the farmhouse Saturday morning to help plan things. Be prepared to at least watch the kids like a good doting uncle even if you don’t help organize things for the shower.”
“I can help with the shower,” he grumbled, eyes zeroing in on the plant Rivera was holding as he headed back toward his SUV, Torres hurrying down the sidewalk in Robson’s direction. When he glanced at her, he saw she was looking at him. She winked, and he scooted down farther, tugging at the baseball cap he was wearing.
The plant Rivera now held had to be a different one because it no longer looked dead. It was green and healthy, but the brown-and-blue-glazed pot looked exactly the same.
Robson shifted his car into gear when Rivera started his SUV, preparing to follow him out of town. Not that it would do much good. Every time he’d tried to tail any of them north of town, he’d somehow lose them. It was the craziest thing. He’d have eyes on their vehicle from a bit of a distance, then it was like he would blink and the taillights he was following would vanish. There had to be some sort of hidden turnoff he was missing, but it wasn’t like there were a ton of trees or anything near where it always happened.