Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 26221 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26221 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
"You fired the last guy who got arrested."
He stares at me for a second, and then laughs abruptly. "The last guy got arrested for trying to buy heroin from an undercover cop, Wade. Of course I fired him. You aren't the last guy. You aren't a closeted drug addict. And you don't do stupid shit." He pauses, shooting me a disgruntled look. "Usually."
I relax slightly.
"Not telling me that you were arrested for hitting Palmer was stupid. What the fuck is going on?"
"He was running his mouth about my girl," I mutter. "I didn't appreciate it, so I handled it."
Hudson grunts, his eyes narrowing slightly. He's never much cared for Palmer, or for men who disrespect women. Hudson is one of the good ones.
"You forgot to mention the bar fight," Dillon supplies, oh so helpfully.
"Bar fight?" Hudson's right eye twitches.
"How have you not been shot in the ass yet?" I grumble, shooting Dillon a dirty look.
He just grins, shrugging.
"There was a bar fight, too?" Hudson growls.
"Yes." I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Palmer called Harlow a cocktease. I handled it."
"Jesus Christ," Hudson mutters. "What else have you been handling?"
"That's about it."
"Well, that's a damn lie," Dillon mutters. "He's had me running all over creation this week, trying to build a grand larcency case against Palmer."
Hudson mumbles something under his breath that sounds like a prayer for patience. But let's be honest, he's never had very much of that.
"And how is that going?" I ask Dillon. "Considering you won't return a goddamn phone call." I've been trying to reach him all week to check in. My first court date is next week. I'd really like to be able to not go to that.
"I'm here now, aren't I?" Dillon asks, eyeing me levelly. "Palmer was arrested this morning. Once he was in cuffs, we executed a search warrant of his ranch. Found all kinds of interesting shit."
"He's in jail?"
"Yep." Dillon grins at me. "We had a buddy call him up, offer to sell him a stolen tractor. You'd think he'd have had more sense than to jump on it after you threatened to expose him, but you'd be wrong."
"He went for it?
Dillon nods. "Let's just say, he was not thrilled when Linc opened the back of the truck, and Palmer saw Easton and me instead of the tractor he just paid for."
"Jesus," I mutter, a weight falling from my shoulders. The prick is finally in jail, unable to point fingers or lay the blame on anyone else. He won't be a problem for Harlow anymore. I can finally get some fucking sleep.
I can ask her to marry me.
"What about my charges?" I ask.
"Prosecutor is filing to drop them as we speak," he says. "In exchange for his cooperation on that matter, they'll knock a few years off his sentence."
"How many years?" I growl, more than willing to go to fucking trial if it means he doesn't get let off. I'll gladly do my damn time if it means he does his somewhere far away from Harlow.
"Not enough to do him much good," Dillon reassures me. "He's still going to prison."
My shoulders droop, relief hitting me in a current. Fucking hell. The prick is finally going down. I've still got a future here and a way to provide for Harlow.
"Way too goddamn much happens around here without me knowing," Hudson complains.
"On your ranch or in town?" Dillon asks, his head cocked to the side. "Because I can't do shit about what happens on your ranch, but if you want to know what happens in town, feel free to take my badge off my hands. I've been trying to get rid of the damn thing for years."
"Might as well give that a rest already," Hudson says. "You can quit when you die." His gaze comes to me. "You good?"
"Depends. Are we good?"
"Depends. You got anything else you need to tell me?"
"Shit, guess so," I mutter. "As soon as we're done here, I'm going to find Harlow. I'm asking her to marry me. I'd prefer it if she lived here with me, but if that's not in the cards, I'll be moving to her place."
Hudson stares at me for a second and then grins, shaking his head. "Ask her to move in, Wade. Bishop won't be using your cabin much longer, anyway."
"What? Why?" He hasn't said jack shit about moving out of the cabin. Hell, he hasn't said much about anything lately, at least not to me. But I'm pretty fucking certain there was a girl in his room the other morning.
Hudson just shrugs. "Not my story to tell."
Well, goddamn. Guess I'll just have to wait Bishop out then. Right now, I have more important shit to do.
"We done here?" I ask, glancing between Hudson and Dillon.
"Yeah, we're done," Hudson says.
"We're good," Dillon mutters.
I turn for the door, and then pause, turning back to Dillon. "Appreciate you handling this shit. You could have just ignored it, but this town is lucky as fuck you aren't the kind of guy who does that. And that's why you won't ever get rid of that badge."