Chapter 20

Chapter

Twenty

K andie

"Silly rabbit, tricks are for kids," I murmur, taking the pliers, twisting the thick rubber working and working it until the final piece gives. The ankle monitor drops to the floor with a heavy thunk. The alarm starts and there is an incessant beeping. Ignoring the officer's voice coming through the device, I step over it, heading out of the loft, not bothering to lock the door. No need to have them break the door for a second time like their sheriff did last night.

I still can't believe he did it. Ignoring the lancing pain in my heart, I press on like a good little soldier. Taking the back entrance to my shop, I let myself head straight back to the kitchen. Going into the walk in, I pull out the third middle shelf that opens into a dark passageway.

I hear them entering the bakery just as I pull the hidden door closed behind me. The great thing about old towns like ours, especially those that had an active freedom network, is there are many secrets, some forgotten, many not. People often assume everyone wanted to leave, but some people chose to stay for family and various reasons. Those networks remained but were kept secret in families and communities like mine, especially when faced with roving bands of terrorists and corrupt officials and getting on the wrong side of a powerful family like the Shelbys meant your life.

Taking the path lit only with the flashlight I brought with me, I look at the smooth walls marred only by the names of those who came this way many years before me and the marks of those who were never allowed to learn to read. I touch every Love I see but there are more; Carrington, a few Spencers even, and one or two Shelbys.

After more than a mile, if the ache in my thighs thanks to Ulysses from last night is any indication, I stop. There is a fork in the tunnel. One heads north, one east, and one west — I'm coming from the south. Taking the west tunnel, I walk another two miles. This town isn't big, so when I emerge from the tunnel a mile outside of town disguised as a dried up covered well to the darkened truck, I don't have to worry that any lookie-loos are about to call the law.

This is Love land anyway, so they'd better have a good ass reason to be out here.

"Hey, cuz." Nikodemus blazes a blunt as he leans against the side of the midnight black Ford F-250 with Love Distillery Emblazoned on the side door.

"Hey," I huff, and he stalks over to me, taking my satchel and slinging it over his broad shoulder. He grins down at me and winks. "This is escape number fifty what?"

"Umm, two?" I really don't know. Leave it to my family to keep the tally. Me leaving places that I don't want to be is not a surprise to anyone. Daddy said Kerania and I were climbing out of our pack-n-plays before we could even crawl.

"I think's it fifty-four, I'd have to asked Joi. I think she has the right tally out of everyone." Rolling my eyes, I wait as he opens the passenger side and helps me into the cab.

"Thanks," I say when he folds his tall form into the driver's side. My male cousins are as tall as the girls are short. They loom over us all, but rather than ever try to bully us, they are protective almost to a fault, which is why we don't tell them anything.

"So, the good sheriff put you on an ankle monitor, thinking he was going to keep you locked down?" He gives a mirthless chuckle. "I guess he forgot they tried that when they accused you of burning that children's home down."

"I guess," I say, not mentioning that he probably didn't remember because he was grieving his daddy.

"He hurt your feelings, huh?' He side-eyes me driving at the same time.

"I'm just tired." I look out the window, trying my best not to think about how we left things last night.

I watch him get up from the bed, his dick falling heavy between his legs. He slides a look my way as he starts to pull on the sweats he wore over last night. Briefly I think about how I almost told him to leave some of his things here before all this went down.

"You know all this can be put to rest if you just tell Angel where Easy is." Looking at me steadily, he pulls the sweatshirt over his head.

"Nope." Giving him a mean look, I turn from him. "What, so she can be bullied into taking him back like you're doing me? I can handle it. She can't," I lie, knowing that I can't. Knowing I need to get away from him. Easy knew what she was about. Angel was relentless. Who knew that Ulysses would prove to be just as terrible?

"So you're okay with the El Diablos continuing to fuck with your family, stopping the flow of business in this town? Hell, the only person they're letting move with any autonomy is Dr. Everything," he scoffs, rage bubbling under the surface.

"Well, do something, Sheriff." I drop extra emphasis on his title. "Oh, but you can't because you're his little punk bitch boy."

The muscle jumping like it wanted freedom or like it wanted to fight me should have been a sign.

"You really don't give a fuck about anything, do you? Oh, but drinking, gossiping, and stirring up shit in general," he sneers.

"And riding your dick, don't forget that." I shimmy a little, loving the flush rushing under his tan skin.

He mutters something I don't quite catch, but sounds an awful lot like, "Reckless ass mouth."

"What you don't get about my family is we don't care about the repercussions. Loves stick. We ride for each other. We'll die for each other." Crossing my arms over my chest, I nod to myself, looking at him square in his eyes. "We don't cut each other off. We talk shit, but we don't let outsiders tear us apart. Family is all."

"Then you should know that when a man loves a woman, he won't stop until he has her by his side. Angel is not going to give your cousin up. He has your grandparents, and he's made it known he's coming for you next." The truth of his words blankets the room like an artic tundra.

"And you're going to let him do that?" I demand, watching as his eyes slide to the side, then settle on me for a long, hard moment.

"If he dared touch what was mine, I'd raze the El Diablo MC to the fucking ground. I wouldn't arrest them. I'd take them out one by fucking one." He rolls his shoulders like he's ready to do it and everything in me knows he would.

Going over to a bag he brought, he takes something out. Like a dummy, I think it's something for protection — so much so I say nothing and don't even move when he comes to my side of the bed and pulls the cover back and snaps the monitor around my ankle in a tight clasp.

"You, however, made it abundantly clear right before you let me fuck you that you weren't mine. Stay safe, sweetheart." Pressing a dry kiss to my forehead, he leaves.

"We're here," Nikodemus says to me as we pull up to the rear of Valentine's clinic.

My very efficient cousin is standing in the back doorway waiting for me.

"Hey," he calls by the door from the side of the truck he helped me down.

"Yeah?" I try to keep it together.

"You did good, baby girl." With a wink, he closes the door to the other side.

The words make me feel rubbed raw. Easy is gone, perhaps forever. At least she has Oz. Saban has been pushed out of everything she's come to know. Now the town is under threat from the men obsessed with them. Any thoughts about how Snake feels about his ward have been answered in the most brutal way. Left up to him, there would be a trail of bodies left in his wake as he seeks answers to Saban's whereabouts. The only thing stopping Angel is whatever he thinks he feels for my cousin.

"How are you holding up?" Valentine asks, moving to let me in the house.

"I'm good. Thanks for letting me stay," I say, following her up to the attic bedroom.

The light, airy space is covered in lilac. One side is filled with a rack of dresses and a sewing machine and adjustable mannequins. The room hasn't been used since our cousin Sunni-Belle went to work for the Spencers of all people. Not quite as high on our enemy list as the Shelbys, they are solidly in second place after how they tried to get Mimi fired from her job and taking her baby to boot.

Going over to the antique white wrought iron canopy bed, I sit between the swathed opening, dropping my bag.

"The sheriff is probably going to come this way." Looking up at her words, I'm not surprised to hear her say them.

After those awful words he spoke to me, I'm not sure why he's even looking for me. Probably just to pressure me for his buddy in crime. Well, I'm not giving up Easy's whereabouts. I'm not even sure she's still with Oz. He could've sent her anywhere in the world. What I know of his network is that it's vast and his half-brothers, in their aptly named the Bastard Syndicate, are just as powerful as Angel Cruz. She won't be found until she wants to be. He should have thought of the type of person he brought into his world and know she'd never be okay with the way he was treating kids. Fuck Angel big ugly ass and fuck Ulysses dirty cop ass. Just because my body is weak for him doesn't mean my mind is. Getting away from him is the best thing I can do to get perspective. Getting him out of my system before he breaks me is top priority. Easy and Saban knew what they were about, but I couldn't leave. I have a business to run and even though the El Diablos have all but shut down business, I can bake anywhere. Fuck them and Angel's evil ass. Stomping around the whole county like a six-foot-five petulant baby because some pussy was taken from him is childish.

"Let him." I give her a brief glance. "I won't be here long. Just for the night." I know Val doesn't like trouble. Her parents would greatly frown on it. Unlike me, hers are still around and doing as much as they can to run her and Summer's life from the animal conservatory they set up in Kenya for endangered animals. The Love Veterinary Clinic has been open since the family's first veterinarian graduated from Tuskegee in 1949. Val's the first Love woman to be a vet and I swear she loves animals more than people, which is why I'm not surprised she doesn't fight for me to stay.

"Well." Hesitant words she's about to utter are cut short when we both turn to the rumble of trucks coming down the drive. Peeking out the attic window, we see a fleet of trucks coming to a stop in front of the house portion of the estate, bypassing the clinic and animal housing to the right of us.

We look at each other for a tense moment before Val says in a quiet tone even though they can't hear us up here, "Stay put and don't be in that window."

Turning, she heads back down, her gentle tread the only thing I hear for a few moments.

"Sheriff? You got an injured canine or something?" Tempted, I can't resist going to the window, pulling back the curtain just a tad. As if sensing me, he steps back from the porch's overhang, scanning all the windows. He passes me twice before coming back for a hot moment. He can't see me, but I don't dare breathe, scared any movement will give him cause to force his way into the house.

"Dr. Love, we have it on good authority that you are harboring a fugitive, your cousin, Kandie Love." Even from here I can see his close assessment. There is no way he can know that. I could be at the hundred different Love homes. He's just going to all the close in age girl cousins because everyone knows how close we are.

My tummy tightens thinking of him barging into Mimi or Krie's homes after all they've recently been through. Nikki skedaddled after that night at The Shack talking about how she wanted to travel before she started graduate school, so I don't have to worry about any of this coming on her. The El Diablos are more than throwing their weight around and that melee earlier is just the start because one thing about Loves is we will answer.

"You know Angel kicked in Mama and Pa-Pete's door and took them. He probably is going to come for you, too." I almost give myself whiplash turning at Summer's soft words. She stands in the door in a wrapping gown of her own creation.

Lead fills my tummy as if I ate it.

"No." Her small firm hand just beneath my shoulder presses me back and I try to charge by her. "That's what he wants you to do." She shakes her head wise beyond her years. She's the younger of the sisters, but by far the more streetwise. Summer was never made to be the country vet, and it screams in everything about her, from the couture frocks she makes to the way she carries herself. I can see her petting animals but never operating on them or goddess forbid delivering foals like Valentine.

"I know. When did this happen?" Sighing, my eyes go back to Ulysses, putting the ankle monitor on me.

"Right before that ruckus at your place tonight." Even though she wasn't anywhere near the bakery, I know our family network is vast and very efficient. I'm sure even Nikki knows about it, even though she's out of the country. I've been too busy trying to escape to check the family text thread. I can imagine what some of my more staid aunties and uncles are saying about my trouble making ass. Oh well, I have yet to prove them wrong and have no intention any time soon.

"Hold up." The forcefulness of Val's normally soft cultured tones stops us and has us both tipping over to the window once again. "No, sir. Unless you have a warrant, I'm afraid I can't allow you to trespass any further on my property. I've only let you come this far because I know you. Plus, Ms. Marlene would never tolerate any type of unethical behavior on behalf of the department, now would she?" Smooth as she pleases, Val steps closer so that only Ulysses can hear her. "Now, just imagine her getting all these calls about all these going on when she's sick like she is." She shakes her head, adding, "Y'all could have handled this better."

"I'm coming back," he promises, looking down at her hard before his eyes look up to the window where I'm standing so long perspiration starts to bead on my forehead knowing if this curtain moves in the slightest he'll be well within his rights to shove past her and enter the house. "Who's in the attic?" Summer freezes beside me. I can tell from the stillness she's not breathing, either.

I swear I didn't move, not an inch. He has to be bluffing.

Val doesn't turn but raises her chin so that she meets his ruthless gaze. "Summer's moved her sewing studio up there. She says the light is better."

"It's midnight," he grits out, his eyes flick briefly up directly at me. My pits sweat. He can't see me.

"She probably fell asleep up there. She does that sometimes." Shrugging, she steps back from him, turning away, not bothering to look away. "I can show you as soon as you show me that warrant."

"I'm coming back," he grounds out, eyes trained on her retreating figure.

Summer pivots, giving me a concerned glance before leaving me alone to stand in front of the window, looking down on the giant like he's ready to rampage after his own golden egg.

Rolling his shoulders with obvious annoyance, I watch him move with panther-like grace to his cruiser.

Sliding into the cab, he sits there for long moments as his deputies put their trucks in reverse and leave the property. His eyes are raised and lasered on the spot where I'm standing. He flicks his lights, letting me know in no uncertain terms that he knows I'm there whether he can see me or not. The other message is clear as will. He's hunting. Even from this distance, I can see the primal promise of his intent. He won't rest until he has me back. This may have started because of one thing, but it's evolved into something altogether different. I've denied him his prize. Now I am his prey.

Val: You did right. He came right back. El Diablos invited themselves too. He went through every inch of the place and the clinic. Almost found the old getaway spot.

Me: Sorry I brought them to your door.

Val: Don't worry about it. They would've come this way, eventually. They're gone now.

"You good?" I look up at the bright hazel eyes of my cousin Ember-Jane.

"Girl, I guess. Val just let me know the sheriff just left. He may come here," I warn her, already thinking of where I can go next.

"Pshaw." She waves away my worry. "No one remembers us until we show up in town with free honey, or Maxim does a beekeeping class at the library."

"We still need to be careful," I say, exhaustion eating at me like a buzzard on roadkill.

"Always am. Come eat breakfast, then no one is going to mess with you the rest of the day and tomorrow," she says, beckoning me to follow her into the huge bright kitchen.

"Then what?" I ask, watching as she fills my plate with cheese grits, patty sausage, and biscuits split with cinnamon butter.

"Juice or decaf?" She pours the juice after I answer her query. "Then Maxim is going to show you the ropes. While I run the shop, you can take orders and I'll have him to take them to Nikodemus and them so they can get them to customers."

I nod at her plan, grateful to have a way to make money now that my shop has been shut down by Angel's trifling ass.

"We have to be in for the long haul. He's crazy about Ezekiel-Jane," Ember-Jane says, then adds, "Just like Ulysses is for you."

"Then both should have acted right," I scoff, digging into my meal.