Savage (Wolf Ranch #4) - Renee Rose Page 0,19

I couldn’t stay away knowing what I did about Becky’s ex. Not when I’d gotten a whiff of her scent again and confirmation from my wolf that she was mine.

I had to talk to Rob, the only one within the Wolf pack who knew the whole truth about me. I had to figure this shit out and soon. It might have been just a tire today, but what would be next?

7

BECKY

“I’m sorry, ma’am. This card has been denied.”

After waiting an hour in Bishop’s small waiting area for the tires to be replaced, the scent of old coffee and motor oil making my stomach queasy then desperate for forbidden caffeine. I was hungry and tired and cranky. Mostly cranky. While I’d played a stupid game on my phone, my thoughts had veered to Clint.

Why had he come by? He lived on the other side of the mountains at Wolf Ranch. It made no sense why he was on my street unless to see me. Had he driven over twenty miles just for me?

His kiss said yes. His response to the bomb that I was married not so much. Well, maybe even more so. It didn’t matter though. It was over. Very over. No honorable guy messed around with a married woman. Clint was honorable. I knew it. He might be a dirty-talking horndog, but when his dick wasn’t hard, he was a nice guy. I hadn’t had time to prove that, but I just knew.

No way would he be friends with any of the Wolf brothers otherwise.

“I’m sorry, what?” I asked, blinking at the guy.

“Denied.” He held up the credit card and offered me an expression that screamed whoops!

After all this, the card machine was clearly broken. I hadn’t made it into work yet and would have to work over lunch to make up the lost time.

“Could you try it again please?” I asked, starting to feel panicked.

He gave me a sympathetic smile. “I did. Twice.”

He handed me the card.

“Twice?”

He nodded.

There was no reason for the card to be turned down. I paid my bill in full each month because I didn’t like to be in debt. At least, not in debt more than I already was being tied to Todd. The tires would eat into my budget, but I’d be able to pay for them if I watched my pennies this month.

I offered him a small smile and held up a finger. “I’ll be right back.”

Moving to stand in the corner of the small shop’s waiting area, I called the number on the back of the card. After pushing a whole bunch of numbers to get me to a customer service representative, the person finally told me that my husband shut off my card the day before.

My husband.

Bile rose in my throat at what Todd was now doing. Not only had he slashed my tire, he’d shut off my card, so I couldn’t pay for it. As my husband, he was able to do so. I just had no idea how he’d gotten the card number. It was a new card. I’d signed up for it after I’d left him.

I glanced out the plate glass window and down Main Street. There hadn’t been enough snow for the streets to need plowing, but there were big piles of it from the last storm. I saw the bank the next block down, and my blood ran cold. If he could get to my credit card, he could—

Dashing over to the desk, I shoved the small amount of cash in my wallet I had at the mechanic. “Here. This is good faith. I’ll be back to pay you. Keep the car. I have to run to the bank.”

I didn’t wait for him to reply but bolted out the door and down the street, my boots splashing through the small puddles. Thankfully, Cooper Valley was tiny, and most stores and businesses were within blocks of each other. I burst through the bank’s entrance with a gust of cold wind and definite dread.

It took ten minutes to learn that Todd had withdrawn all the money in my personal checking account, and I was, in fact, overdrawn since my electricity bill was set to auto-pay.

While the bank teller hadn’t done anything wrong, in fact, she’d been following the law, she looked really upset about my situation. Her pity only made me want to cry. I wanted to scream. I wanted to rip my hair out. I wanted to rip Todd’s head off and shove it up