Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
His eyes were hard as I said the last part, and he nodded.
“I never was near him much, anyway, since he was the kickers’ coach. I’ll also have to be around him in the spring though because the other coaches teach baseball and soccer, too,” Linc offered.
I nodded in understanding. “That’s good, because if you see him, I want you to go the other direction. I’m not sure how long it will take to have this handled, but it may not be automatic. He may be free to work in the meantime.”
“The holidays are here anyway, Dad. There won’t be any need for me to see him until the beginning of January.”
I grunted in reply. “Good. Now take that damn wolf and head to your room. I have some calls to make.”
***
I watched Ellen across my house, talking quietly with the woman Big Papa brought with him, and grinned.
“You better be careful. They’ll bring the girl into the fold and you’ll be forced to settle down,” I told Big Papa.
Big Papa grunted in reply. “Yeah, fuck no.”
I snorted.
“You’re never going to settle down?” I asked him.
The door banged open, and Ghost walked in, a scowl on his face that would’ve made him intimidating to just about anyone.
“I’ve done the wife thing before,” Big Papa said as he watched Ghost stalk toward us. “Got Sean out of it, but yeah, the act of allowing someone to have that power over me again is enough to give me hives. I’ve never found anyone like you have. Like my boy. Maybe that’ll change if I find that, but right now, Lila makes my dick happy.”
Before I could reply to that announcement, Ghost walked right up to me and halted my words in their tracks.
“Dealer’s dead.”
My head whipped around, and I stared at him in shock.
“You’re fucking kidding.” I really hoped he was joking, but the look on Ghost’s face was enough to cause me to start cursing.
“Motherfucker,” I growled. “How’d that happen?”
“Gunshot wound to the head,” he answered. “But he was also found in his fuckin’ car, which was stuffed with enough heroin and weed to supply the entire fucking state. So, right now, it’s looking like a vigilante crime.”
“Except it wasn’t.” I knew it wasn’t. “My kid’s in the middle of this shit, man. I need you to help me figure it out.”
I didn’t know anything about being a cop, and I certainly didn’t have the skills of one. I’d been a kid raised on the wrong side of the track. I had no special skills that would help me in this situation. I also didn’t know anyone who could help me beside these men.
“You don’t have to worry,” Big Papa said. “Ghost here’s a wizard at finding shit out. He’ll piece it together, and we’ll get to the bottom of this.”
I was staggered by the relief I felt at the knowledge that these men were going to have my back.
My son was right. Joining The Dixie Wardens was totally the right thing to do for us. We weren’t alone anymore, and as I looked over at Ellen, hearing her laughter, I realized that I never would be again.
Chapter 20
How do you politely tell someone you want them naked on top of you? Asking for a friend.
-Text from Ellen to Jessie
Jessie
“He what?” I snapped, turning to the man at my right. “What did you say he was doin’?”
The coach nodded.
“Saw her pull up here and try to pick him up from practice. When he wouldn’t go with her, she freaked out and tried to force him to get in the car. Luckily, a couple of the other players were there, or she might’ve actually accomplished it.”
I gritted my teeth and stared at Linc.
It’d been two weeks since I’d found out about Linc’s mother’s attempts at blackmailing him to do things no sixteen-year-old should ever have to do. Two weeks of searching for her, only for her to drive right on up to his school, where he was at his practice, and nearly force him away.
The one good thing I could see in all of this was that Coach Rhodes, the drug dealer that’d died with his million dollars worth of drugs on him, was no longer a problem I had to worry about. Essentially, while Linc was at school, he was safe.
Or at least I had thought he was.
“Go get in the car,” I ordered him roughly.
Linc walked to his car and got in. Lucky enough for him, he got into his car and sat there, waiting for the inevitable, on my end. If he hadn’t, things would’ve ended a hell of a lot worse than they had.
“I can’t file charges against her because they said she’s not doing anything wrong…yet. I’m trying to get a restraining order against her now,” I told the coaches who were watching me with wary eyes. “She’s a manipulative bitch who will do anything in her power to accomplish whatever it is that she’s trying to do, even if she has to use my son’s back to do it. I appreciate you calling me, but until I can figure this out, Linc will be coming straight home after school and won’t be attending off-season practices.”