gets on the buses to go home. And don’t tell Scarlett until morning. She’ll just want to go after him.”
“Agreed.”
Without another word, I raced around the fence to the bleachers, dodging through my neighbors. Callie was at the bottom, wrestling with Cash, who was trying to break free of his leash to get to me.
“We gotta go.” I grabbed the leash from her and took her elbow to spin her around. “Now.”
“What’s going on?”
“Devlin spotted Lee Williams.”
She didn’t reply. I kept hold of her arm and led her around the bleachers. Despite my desire to get her the fuck out of here, I didn’t run. Didn’t want to call too much attention.
We walked to the edge of the field where I’d parked my truck. I opened her side first, casting a glance around to see if anyone had followed while she climbed in with Cash. It was too damn dark. I couldn’t see a thing.
The crowd had congregated on the field to celebrate. No one seemed to have noticed us leave. That was good. I went around and hopped in, slamming the door shut.
“Get down,” I said. “Just in case.”
Callie ducked down, leaning toward the center to stay out of sight. Cash seemed to sense things were serious. He hunkered down on the seat with her.
We high-tailed it out of there as fast as I dared, heading out of town. My eyes darted between the road and my rear-view mirror. No one followed that I could see, unless they were trailing pretty far back and weren’t using their headlights.
As soon as we were past the edge of town, I gunned it, tearing up the road to my house. I took the corners fast, leaning hard. If someone was behind us, I wanted to get to my private drive before they could see me turn. Then they’d drive right by and end up in the middle of nowhere.
“Hold on,” I said, my turn coming up. I cut my lights and downshifted instead of braking, flying around the corner just shy of fast enough to flip us over. Callie braced herself against the cab, one arm holding Cash around his middle.
The tires spat gravel at the surrounding trees. I didn’t slow down until my house was in sight. I pulled to a stop and we got out, rushing into the house. Cash jumped with excitement, like we were playing an energetic game. Callie and I both planted our hands on the front door and slammed it closed.
I threw the lock and she covered it with her palm. We were both breathing hard and my heart felt like it was stuck in my throat.
“Fuck,” I muttered. “I’m sorry if I overreacted, but I don’t want to take any chances.”
She turned around and put her back to the door, leaning her head against it. “It’s okay. We’re safe here either way.”
My phone buzzed so I pulled it out of my pocket.
Devlin: Second sighting. Leah Mae saw him getting a cup of moonshine.
Me: Where is he now?
Devlin: I’m checking. Darren’s already back at the Red House.
I glanced up at Callie. “Definitely him. Leah Mae confirmed it. Devlin’s trying to find him.”
She nodded. Cash jumped up, front paws on my legs.
“Come here, buddy,” she said and took him to the couch. She sat with her legs tucked beneath her, Cash in her lap.
Devlin: Spotted him heading to his car.
Shit. I couldn’t ask Dev to follow him. He needed to do my job and get everyone’s drunk asses on the buses. Not to mention watch out for Scarlett and get her home. But at least we knew the asshole hadn’t followed us out here.
Me: We made it home. Safe for tonight.
Devlin: Good. We’re fine out here. I’ve got it handled.
Me: Thanks, man.
Damn, it was good to have family.
“We need to tell Bootleg the truth.” Callie’s voice made me look up.
“Uh, no.” I put my phone down. “We need to keep your secret now more than ever.”
I could tell by the set of her jaw that she wasn’t letting this go. “People are starting to figure it out. I see it in the way they look at me. Do we want this blowing up in our face and turning into a town-wide spectacle? Right now, we can still control the information and deal with the uproar.”
Crossing my arms, I chewed on that for a second. She had a point.
“Plus we need to warn everyone about Lee Williams. He’s dangerous. We can’t sit on that knowledge if it puts