I headed straight to Bradley’s house when I left the clubhouse. I needed to talk to him about Franklin and the idea that had cemented itself into my brain while I’d been at the clubhouse. I didn’t want to interrupt anything, but I needed him to tell me that I was being crazy.
I climbed off of Jameson and knocked on the front door with a frown marring my face. “It’s me, Bradley. I need to run something by you.”
I heard shuffling from inside and a loud curse before the sound of soft feminine laughter rang out. I winced and took a step back. “Sorry! I was afraid I might be interrupting and here I am, interrupting. I’ll go.”
“Wait, dammit! I’ve already got my pants half on.”
I laughed, despite feeling bad for bothering him when he was with Anna. “I’m really sorry for bothering y’all.”
The door jerked open and I was suddenly face to face with a smudged Anna. Her black eyeliner was running and her blood red lipstick was halfway up her cheeks. She bared her teeth at me and then shoved her hands through her hair. “Do you have any romantic feelings for Brad anymore?”
I made a face. “No way.”
She seemed to slump a little. “You’re sure?”
I scrunched up my face and looked past her at where Bradley was covering his face with his hands instead of buttoning his pants the rest of the way. “You’re worried that I have feelings for Bradley still? Really?”
“Yes.”
I reached out and lightly touched her arm. “You’re safe from me, Anna. He’s family now. Feeling anything for him would be incestuous at this point.”
She made an expression that I think was supposed to be a smile before reaching up and handing me a gold coin. “It’s good luck. Keep it on you. Thanks for making me feel better.”
I stood there, shocked, and attempting to catch flies in my wide-open mouth. Anna was a softie. I’d never imagined the woman would be so gentle.
Bradley pulled her back inside and then looked out at me. “What’s up?”
I shook my head. “I’ll talk to you about it tomorrow. Get back to your lady.”
He grinned. “You sure?”
I laughed at his eagerness, happy for him. “Of course. Oh, and Bradley?”
“Yeah?”
“I like your new jewelry. I’m going to tell Dad. I’m sure he’d love to see it, too.”
He jerked his eyes down to the newly acquired, not there while I’d been around, nipple ring, and turned bright red. “You better not tell your dad, Lacey! I’m serious. I only did it for Anna. You tell him and I’ll never live it down.”
I got back on Jameson and grinned. “What are you going to do for me keeping it a secret?”
“Name your price and it’s yours.”
“I’ll let you know.” I saw Anna stick her head out and waved to her. “You two have fun now.”
I rode back to the house with a grin on my face, my worries about Franklin forgotten for the moment. I put Jameson in his stable with a promise to wash him the next morning and then headed inside to check on Mom.
I found her in her room, already in bed and staring at the ceiling. “Hey, Mom.”
She glanced over at me and smiled. “Hi, honey. How was your father?”
“He’s taking those guys out. I can’t imagine he’ll be home anytime soon. You know how they all are once they get out in the boat.”
She nodded and turned back to the ceiling. “Okay, honey. I’ll see you in the morning.”
I sighed and went to my room to get ready for bed. I was halfway through a shower when I realized I needed to turn the alarm on. I rushed the rest of it and then threw a robe on to run down and set it.
Jagger was sitting at the kitchen table, his phone to his ear. He saw me and stood up suddenly. “I’ll call you right back.”
I went over to the alarm and set it before turning back to him. “Sorry to interrupt.”
He shrugged. “Just talking to Cash.”
I nodded and edged my way out of the kitchen. “Cool. I guess I’ll see you in the morning.”
Jagger nodded. “You will.”
“Okay.”
“Goodnight, Lace.”
I gripped the wall beside me and stared at him. I wanted to invite him to my room but it was stupid. He had something else going on, clearly, and my life wasn’t exactly drama free at that point. It would be stupid to even try anything. “Goodnight, Jag.”
He watched me leave without saying anything else but his eyes followed me until I was completely out of sight. I rushed up the stairs and hurried to my room, feeling like I’d been chased up the stairs. My pulse raced and I had to lean against the door to settle down. There was something about Jagger that made me feel like the earth was spinning just a little too fast and I didn’t know how to make that feeling fade.
*
I felt like I’d just laid my head down when the screaming of the alarm startled me awake. I dragged on clothes and took off out of my room and down the stairs. The kitchen door was wide open and I didn’t think twice before running out of it.
I smacked into what felt like a brick wall. With a grunt, I pushed myself off it and realized it was Jagger’s back. He was standing in just his pajama bottoms, a gun at his side as he took in his surroundings.
“Get back inside.”
“What is it? What happened?”
“Get inside, now!” Jagger looked at me over his shoulder and something about the way his face was clenched tight shot fear straight through me.
I pushed around him and nearly screamed at the scene in front of me. One of our cows had been cut open right in my mom’s garden and its insides were trailed along the porch. It looked like a scene from a horror movie. I clamped my hand over my mouth and jerked back around to face the house instead of the gruesome sight. Instead of being comforted, though, I found myself face-to-face with a message painted on our house: You’re next.
Jagger turned to see what had made me go pale and swore. “Get inside, Lacey. Call your dad down here.”
I walked inside and looked over at the empty bed where Potato should’ve been. He normally slept in Mom and Dad’s room but Dad decided he should be closer to the door, in case someone tried to come in and the alarm wasn’t on or didn’t work. He should’ve been on his bed.
“Have you seen Potato, Jagger?”
“He’s not out here.”
I tore up the stairs to Mom and Dad’s room, only to run into Mom coming out. “Where’s Dad?”
She rubbed at her eyes. “I don’t know. He hasn’t come home yet.”
I ran back downstairs and jabbed at the buttons on the alarm system until it shut up. Then I found the house phone and dialed Dad’s number. He answered on the third ring, sounding drunk and nearly incoherent.
“Where are you? Do you have Potato?”
“Why are you up so late?”
“Dad! Do you have Potato? Someone attacked the house and I can’t find him.”
“I’ll be right there.”
I swore and threw the phone on the counter. I saw Mom coming into the kitchen and immediately went into fixing mode. “Mom, Dad’s on his way home. He was out helping the guys at the club. The alarm malfunctioned and it scared the hell out of me, but things are okay. Go back to bed, okay?”
She looked around and shrugged. “Okay.”
I yanked on a pair of boots and went outside with a bag of Potato’s treats. “Potato! Here, boy!”
Jagger grabbed a couple of treats from me and sighed. “This just keeps getting better, doesn’t it?”
Franklin’s big dumb Hummer pulled in the drive a few minutes later and I was ready to scream. Dad stumbled out and Franklin rushed around to help him. Dad’s clothes were rumpled and he stunk to high heaven like cheap liquor and stale cigars.
“What the fuck happened?”
I wanted to slap him. I threw the treats at him instead. “While you were up at the boys’ club, someone was attacking the house again. I can’t find Potato! But I guess everything’s fine because you’re good and drunk, right?”
Franklin grinned at me. “Relax, babe, your dad just needed some time to take it easy. He’s been wound tight.”
Jagger appeared beside them and easily took my dad off Franklin. “That’ll be all, Hummer boy. Run along.”
“You have a problem with me, meathead?” Franklin’s pupils were the size of pinpricks and there was something shaky about the way they moved around. He was high as a kite on something.
“Franklin, should you be driving?”
Jagger grabbed my arm and pulled me after him. “Let him run his goddamn toy truck into a ditch. Fucking cokehead.”
Franklin’s mouth twisted into something menacing and he raised his finger and thumb in the shape of a gun at Jagger’s back. “See you around, soldier.”
I scowled at Franklin and hurried after Jagger. He put my dad down at the kitchen table and was standing in front of the coffee maker, pushing buttons. I eased in beside him and pushed the right buttons and then stayed there, letting the closeness of his body soothe me.
“What the fuck is happening, Jagger? This is getting crazy.”
He slipped his hand over mine and stroked my skin with his thumb. “Agreed. How about I go out and look for the dog while you force some coffee down your dad’s throat? I don’t think he should get in bed with Helen like that.”
I nodded. “Thank you, Jag.”
He pulled me into a hug and then broke free. “Let’s say you let him drink it a little too hot? He could use a little lesson about being such an asshole when his family needs him.”
I couldn’t help but agree. I watched him leave and then turned to face my father. Disappointment coursed through me. He’d been drinking with those pigs. They were awful and I couldn’t imagine they’d gotten any better after getting drunk. Did Dad think the way they talked was okay? Had he joined in? I couldn’t imagine my father saying the things those men said, but I couldn’t imagine him getting hammered with them, either.
“Why were you with those guys?”
Dad grunted at me and let his head tip backwards. It hung at an odd angle and made him look every bit the disgruntled old man that he could be.
“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, Dad.” And I had a lot of thinking to do. Things couldn’t continue the way they were going. Something had to change and I had to be the one to make sure they did, apparently.