Chapter 44

JOEY

"Iguess I got a little distracted there for a bit," I say, letting my thumb trace circles on the bare skin of Lynn's hip.

"Hmm?" Her voice is lazy, which I take full credit for.

"We started talking about Jeremy and your brother, and then we sort of… got off track." I can't help the grin that accompanies my words.

"Oh yeah." Lynn laughs, covering her face with her hand. "Right." She rolls over so she can catch my eyes, but it puts her hip out of reach, so I bring her hand to my bare chest instead. "Before I tell you the rest, I need you to know that I value your opinion and your thoughts on all of this. From now on, I want us to be a team, and part of that is looking out for each other. As much as I made an issue of what I saw as you crossing my boundaries, I didn't take enough time to look at it from your perspective. But that's all done now, okay?"

"So, are you saying you're not going to face off with Rossi alone?"

She shakes her head. "Nope. I'm doing it with you. And Mama. And probably Hollis. And maybe a few more people."

I tilt my head at her answer, which just makes her grin. "And your brothers?" I ask.

"Subtlety is not their strong suit, and as soon as they get proof it was Jeremy, they'll lose their shit. Mama and I assigned them Act 2 in the operation."

"This is all sounding very cryptic. Care to explain?"

"What's the one thing a conceited, superior asshole like Jeremy loves the most?"

"Uh… hair product?"

Lynn snorts. "Besides that." When I only shrug, she answers her own question. "Proving he's better than everyone else. Well, that and the sound of his own voice."

"Okay." She definitely has a point. "So, what's the plan?"

"That kind of depends on you. How do you feel about playing bad cop?"

"Oh, I'm liking the sounds of this."

* * *

"He's here,"Sunny hisses as she drops her pilfered brewery keys into Lynn's hand on her way to the back door of Blue Bigfoot.

It's nine thirty in the morning, so nobody is here except us while Ginny and Hollis hunker down next door at Hollis's dog grooming salon. I was told Rosie and Maisy, Miller's girlfriend, have been assigned to corral Lynn's brothers for what they're all calling Act 2. After this morning's preparations, I'd happily hire any one of these women to plan my next sting operation, should I ever have one.

Lynn turns to me, her eyes wild with both excitement and a little dash of worry.

"We got this," I tell her before taking her hand and leading her to the bar sitting along the wall of the cavernous taproom. I've never been here when it wasn't packed with people, and the sheer amount of Bigfoot kitsch on the walls is kind of staggering.

Lynn lets go of my hand and continues to the door, where I can make out Jeremy Rossi's form on the other side. I tell the part of me that wants to put myself between my girl and this asshole to back the hell down. Lynn's got this.

"Hey!" Lynn says after unlocking the door and swinging it open. "Thanks for coming so early."

"No problem," Jeremy says, casual as can be, before pulling Lynn into a hug. It takes effort not to slam my fist into the bar—or his face. He looks exactly like he did the first time I met him: expensive, meticulously groomed, and dressed in a designer collared shirt and pressed slacks. I'll bet he waxes his chest hair.

"I didn't know what else to do besides call you. Cart is gonna wring my neck for dragging you into this, but I'm afraid of what he might do. Ever since he figured out those developers were behind the break-in and the fire, he's been out of his mind." She wrings her hands with a shake of her head. "I didn't want a repeat of the past, you know?"

Even from my position a few yards away, I can make out the tic in Jeremy's jaw at the mention of what Lynn explained as Carter choosing not to confide in his friend when shit was going down with Senators Cody and Hopkins. Jeremy felt slighted—possibly another reason he has it in for Carter.

"You did the right thing," Jeremy says in what can only be described as a condescending tone before finally spotting me and raising a hand. "Martel." He looks surprised at my presence. "Good to see you again."

I play my part like we planned and don't say anything in return. I always secretly wanted to play bad cop, so I wasn't about to give up this opportunity. Jeremy, however, doesn't appear too concerned about my rudeness.

"Sorry," Lynn says to Jeremy with a roll of her eyes. "Some people thought we should keep things in the family."

That has Rossi sending me a hard look right before he puts a reassuring hand on Lynn's back. This fucker is going down. "You did good, Lynnie," he says. "I can help Carter."

So far, so good, as painful as it is.

Lynn settles them at a table, and now it's my turn. "Lynn, it's none of his business. If your brother doesn't want him here, why are you acting like he's part of the family or something?"

Jeremy whirls in his chair, right on cue. "What are you doing here anyway?"

I relax back against the bar, crossing one ankle over the other. "I'm Lynn's boyfriend."

Jeremy looks me up and down before turning back to Lynn. "This is the guy you're dating?"

"Well, yeah." She bites her lip, playing the part of damsel in distress to a T.

I add fuel to the fire by announcing, "I say we should send him packing."

The guy doesn't even spare me a glance this time. "Lynn, you can do so much better. You don't need him." He reaches across the table to grab her hand, and my fingernails dig into my palms. "I would kill to be your boyfriend."

"Really?" If Lynn ever decides to give up on her therapist dream, there's a spot in Hollywood waiting for her after this performance.

"Hey, asshole." I step toward the table. "Get your hands off my girlfriend!"

Rossi stands at my approach. "Back off!" His glare drops when he turns to face Lynn again, a carefully calculated aw shucks expression replacing it. "You know I've always had a thing for you, Lynnie." When she appears to melt at his words, he can't help himself from flashing me a smug-ass grin that must have Lynn grinding her back teeth.

And now for my big moment. I cross my arms and pin Jeremy's profile with a challenging stare. "Even after you broke into her brothers' bar and stole the family heirloom?"

Lynn feigns shock at my words and all but cowers behind Jeremy. It almost makes me want to laugh.

Jeremy's grin falters for the barest of seconds, but he catches it just in time as he looks back and forth between Lynn and me. "What are you talking about?" I've got to give it to him, he's an excellent liar. If it hadn't been for the initial flinch, I might have almost believed him.

"The jig is up, Jeremy," I say, offering no other details. We decided it was best just to hand him the rope and let him hang himself.

"You're not seriously listening to this guy, are you?" Jeremy turns his full attention to Lynn, who's sitting perfectly still with her hand over her mouth and her caramel eyes wide. Jeremy pushes on. "Why would I break in and steal a statue? That's ridiculous. Lynn, I'm practically a part of the family. Why would I hurt my own family?"

I step closer, getting in Jeremy's face now. Despite his innocent act, his jaw has gone tight. "Maybe because your best friend didn't trust you and he cut you out?" I offer with a casual shrug. "Or maybe because his actions made you lose your job?"

Jeremy's eyes dart to Lynn as he sputters, "This is preposterous." He's in such a panic now that he's not even questioning how I might know any of these details about Carter and him.

Lynn returns to the hand-wringing as I draw Jeremy's attention again and ask, "Is it? I don't know. Maybe you did it because Carter has everything you've ever wanted but can't get."

And just as Lynn knew they would, my words send Jeremy tumbling right over the edge. He rounds on me, completely forgetting about Lynn now. "That's bullshit! You think I want Carter's pathetic little life in a nowhere town serving beer to a bunch of losers?" His mouth twists in a sneer. "His hillbilly family and that freaky little librarian girlfriend with her psycho goat fetish?" I back up as he comes closer, an angry finger pointed in my face and spittle flying from his mouth. "You are insane if you think Carter Brooks could ever be better than me!"

Instead of arguing or reacting, I simply back up, cross my arms over my chest, and smile, finally giving Lynn the floor.

"Nice to know how you really feel, Jeremy." Lynn is on her feet now, her stance a mirror of mine, but I'm the only one who gets to see the realization dawn in Jeremy's eyes before he schools his expression and spins on his heel to face her again.

"Lynnie. I didn't mean that."

She sniffs, looking at him like he's nothing more than dog shit stuck to the bottom of her Chucks. "Too late, Rossi. You gave yourself away. Not that we didn't already have you dead to rights. We know it all. And you're going down."

With no further need for pretenses, Jeremy drops his lovesick act and thins his lips. "You don't know shit," he snarls before striding toward the front door. But when he tries opening it, it doesn't budge.

Lynn turns to me in fake confusion. "Did somebody bar the doors?"

I put a finger to my chin. "I don't know. Maybe?" Sunny and Hollis have been busy while we chatted.

Jeremy's laugh is caustic. "You all think you're so smart, just like Carter. But you're a bunch of nobodies who will never amount to anything."

In an obvious attempt to further rile the asshole into digging his own grave, Lynn looks to me. "I don't know. I think a professional baseball player is kind of a somebody, right? Not that I wouldn't still love you if you were a porta-potty salesman, Ace."

I shrug in return. "And Carter does make a damn good lager."

Our exchange sends Jeremy lurching toward us. "That idiot could have had it all if he'd just left well enough alone. But he had to be a fucking hero!"

Lynn's fake smile wavers and I'm at a bit of a loss. I don't have the first clue what Jeremy is talking about now. But I do my best to keep playing my part, hoping things clear themselves up before Act 2—which, if all the women did as planned, is about to begin in less than five minutes.

The idea had been to get Jeremy to admit to stealing Larry and starting the fire before Lynn's brothers arrived, but to do that, Lynn needs to tell him we know about Guy Taylor.

However, Lynn's not opening her mouth. I need to trust her on this, so I stay silent as well.

Jeremy, on the other hand, loves the sound of his own voice, just like Lynn predicted.

"Clarence Cody was going to set us up right. He was ten times the senator Grace Hopkins was! He was going to usher Carter and me into the good life—a huge future in politics. Power, money, women, all of it. And all we had to do was play ball. But your fucking brother had to be a Boy Scout." Jeremy shakes his balled fists and paces to the patio doors. When they don't budge either, he hits the glass so hard with his palm, I finally step between Lynn and him. Thankfully, she doesn't fight me on it.

I knew all about the mighty Clarence Cody going down, but I didn't know about Carter's involvement until Lynn told me about it. But now it's sounding like Jeremy was in bed with Cody the whole time.

Jeremy continues to ignore us as he paces in front of the doors, his voice adopting an almost hysterical pitch. "I mean, what kind of idiot gets a gun pointed in his face and a bag full of money thrown at him and still won't keep his nose out?" Shit! "That fucker had me running back and forth from DC so many times trying to clean up the mess he made going after Cody and Hopkins. It's like he has nine lives! He couldn't even die like a normal person in a shitty car with no brakes! How can he get that lucky?!"

What the actual fuck? Did he just admit to cutting the brake line? Lynn glances at me in horror—and in confirmation. With this new bit of info, I usher her behind the bar and block the entrance. Maybe we should have done this another way, but how were we supposed to know Jeremy would confess to completely different crimes than the ones we were here to bust him on?

It looks like I was just in time, too, because Rossi appears to suddenly remember our presence as he starts toward the bar, angry eyes focused on us again. "And now Cody is gone, and we're all stuck without a pot to piss in. And Carter? He doesn't even give a good goddamn. He's happy as a pig in shit with his nose in a fermenter and his pathetic life as a complete nobody." He throws his arms out on another acidic laugh, this one touched with mania. "It makes no sense!"

"Hey, man," I begin, trying to draw his attention to me instead of Lynn, but it doesn't work as he aims another glare at her.

"Your brother took it all away from me, and he deserves to pay one way or another. But I swear you all have the dumbest luck I've ever seen, just like you all think you're too good for everyone. You, you little bitch," Jeremy spits, pointing his finger at Lynn in a way that's going to get him a black eye in about zero point two seconds. "You always thought you were too good for me. Do you have any idea who I am? I would have killed to see the look on Carter's face after I fucked over his precious little sister—hell, I might even have knocked you up just for fun."

Jeremy's only saving grace is the sound of bootsteps on the hard floor telling me that Act 2 has begun. And, sure enough, all four Brooks brothers come striding into the taproom from the back hallway, each wearing an identical frown.

At the sight of Jeremy in a fighting stance, face red and eyes wild, Carter steps forward. "What the hell is going on here?"

Jeremy turns at the sound of his voice. We all watch as he tries to wrest control of himself. A grotesque smile forms on his lips as he forces a casual tone that comes out too strained to be subtle. "Hey, Cart."

Carter looks from Jeremy to me and then to his sister behind the bar. Something in Lynn's expression has Carter's jaw locking as he faces Jeremy again. "You motherfucker." I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Jeremy shits his pants at the fury in Carter's voice.

Then everything happens at once. All four brothers start going for Jeremy while simultaneously clawing at each other, trying to hold their brothers back. Not wanting to get my head knocked sideways, I stay right where I am and watch on, but that means my attention is pulled from Lynn. Which is why I'm too late to stop her when she decides to climb over the bar and get her own piece of Jeremy.

By the time we all realize her intentions, it's too late. She closes the distance, pulling her arm back as she scrambles Rossi's way, so that when she gets within a couple feet of him, her fist is primed to make fortified contact with his nose. A sickening crunch precedes a spray of blood and more pandemonium.

It takes both Denny and me to pull Lynn back, the remaining brothers descending on Jeremy, who's howling in pain. The front and patio doors burst open, allowing a stream of pissed-off women and at least a half dozen cops to enter the melee while I search Lynn's expression, hoping to God she's okay.

When she lifts her eyes to meet mine, I'm met with a pained smile before she raises a red, already-swelling hand between us and says, "Ow."