I stepped outside to take a call from my lawyer about the deal and the moment I hung up I was instantly cornered by none other than Eddie Nasser of the Texas Advocate. He must have been stalking me and waiting outside. What a little creep.

“Mr. Rylander!” he exclaimed, “do you have a moment to give a statement to the Advocate on your recent business acquisition?”

“No, I really don’t,” I replied, staring coldly at him with my best impression of Ward.

It didn’t seem to have any effect. “Are you sure? I’m sure our readers would love to hear about your purchase of several car dealerships in the area.”

I’d already said more than I felt comfortable saying. I handed him my lawyer’s card and went to step back inside. I was relatively confident that he’d stay outside the Lone Star Lounge. Ward had put the fear of god into him the last time I’d seen him.

“What about your relationship with Kate Williams?” Eddie said to my retreating back.

“Excuse me?” I paused, frozen. I spun around to find him showing me a photo of the two of us kissing in the Driskill bar. In the photo, her eyes were closed in bliss as I kissed her neck. My hands were tangled in her hair. The angle of the photo showed the curves of her body much too well, and she looked like a woman who knew her night was going to end in sex. It hadn’t—thanks to me and my big mouth—but the photo was much more candid and passionate than anything that belonged in Eddie’s collection.

In an instant, my heart was in my throat. The very last way that I wanted Ward to learn about our relationship was by reading about it the fucking newspaper. My fingers twitched into fists at my side. Violence wasn’t really my thing, but I was reconsidering. I advanced on Eddie two steps, but he held his ground.

“Perhaps you’d like to make a statement now?” he crowed. His smug smile was about to get knocked clean off his face. I wanted to hurt him. Taking pictures of me when I was out in public was fair game. But taking pictures like that of Kate? No fucking way. Eddie’s smile wavered when he looked at the change in my expression. He took one uneasy step back.

“Eddie?” An unfamiliar voice called, surprising us. Both of us turned to see Willie approaching from the parking lot with a well-preserved blonde in her sixties. She was wearing a motorcycle vest and four-inch heels. She had pink streaks in her hair. Oh shit, I thought to myself excitedly, that’s got to be Nancy. I didn’t even have to hit him! Eddie’s fucked.

And Eddie knew it too. He didn’t seem capable of forming a greeting. His mouth worked up and down comically like a dog eating peanut butter. No sound was coming out but a thin, frightened whine. It was really an entertaining thing to watch. He’d turned that unhealthy puce shade again, too. Nancy’s carefully penciled in eyebrows rose up her forehead as she approached. She looked very unimpressed. “Did I not make myself clear about staying away from the Lounge?” Her voice was dry, and her southern drawl was even thicker than mine.

“I, um, well,” Eddie stuttered. Nancy snatched the phone he was still brandishing at me out of his grasp and sighed when she saw the photos.

“Well that’s just not very sporting,” she said to Eddie after thumbing through the shots. “You know better than this.” Her tone was scolding.

Willie looked over her shoulder and then at me with wide eyes. “Kate?” he mouthed soundlessly. I shrugged. He shook his head at me like Eddie had a photo of me kissing bigfoot. He was that shocked.

“Would y’all excuse us for a moment?” Nancy asked Willie and me. We stepped a few yards away and watched what could only be the tongue lashing of a lifetime take place in hushed tones.

“Kate huh?” Willie asked me in a near whisper. I nodded my head, watching Eddie’s face grow more forlorn as Nancy laid into him. “Interesting choice.”

I arched an eyebrow at him. “Why is that?”

He didn’t immediately answer. We both watched Eddie scurry off to the parking lot away from a still-irate Nancy. Her face changed from angry to pleasant as she approached us like the sun breaking through after a rainstorm.

“Hey there, you must be Cole,” Nancy said amiably, shaking my hand with both of hers. Her nails were long and pink, and they matched her hair. “It’s so good to meet you. I followed your football career with great interest. And I just fired Eddie, in case you’re wonderin’.”

“It’s nice to meet you as well. Thank you, ma’am. And thank you for sending Eddie on his way.” Her timing had been extremely lucky, both for me and for Eddie’s face. It was almost instant karma for him. I’m not sure what I did to deserve such good fortune, but I wasn’t about to question it.

She smirked and winked at me. “No problem. A man shouldn’t have to look over his shoulder when he’s just trying to have a drink.”

I liked Nancy. Even if she hadn’t run Eddie off, she reminded me a bit of a more grown up Kate. She was clearly a bit wild. I would bet money that the vintage Indian motorcycle that I saw parked next to Willie’s Harley belonged to her.

“Well I appreciate it,” I repeated.

“You go on inside, honey bear,” Willie said to Nancy after we exchanged a few more obligatory get-to-know-you pleasantries. “I need to have a word here with Cole.”

“Sure thing, honey bear.”

Honey bear? Jesus Christ.

At least Willie had the good sense to look embarrassed about the nickname. They kissed and then Nancy headed inside to leave Willie and I alone. I was about to tease him until I saw his expression. He regarded me seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. “Kate’s got a lot of friends around here,” he said slowly, “and I’m not just talking about Ward. Nobody wants to see her get hurt.”

“Are you threatening me now too, old man?” I wasn’t really in the mood for Willie’s teasing. I’d just had to put up with attempted blackmail from Eddie.

With his typical mildness Willie just shook his head and smirked. “I don’t need to threaten you.” He paused again, presumably to let his threat sink in. “I just thought you might appreciate a warning. If any harm comes to that woman, every single patron in that bar is going after you with torches and pitchforks. And Ward will be leading them.”

I sighed. “I don’t need your warnings honey bear. Hurting Kate is the last thing I want to do.”

“Word is that you’ve done it before.”

Where the hell did he hear that? I grimaced. I shouldn’t even be surprised. I should have known. Willie might be old, but he wasn’t deaf (yet). He knew practically everything about everybody, just from listening. It was no surprise he’d learned the story from Lucas or Emma at some point. Hell, maybe Kate told him herself.

Kate. The woman who had singlehandedly turned my life upside down and inside out. Like a bomb had gone off in my brain, I’d reached some sort of breaking point with Willie in the parking lot. I was done keeping secrets, and with Willie, Nancy, and Eddie now knowing, there wasn’t much chance of us staying on the down low much longer. But even if that wasn’t true, I couldn’t wait another second. All my good intentions about going slow were about to go out the window.

I needed to see her. I needed to touch her. I needed to claim her and make it one hundred percent clear to both of us that Kate was mine. It was time to cut bait or fish, as my Uncle Jimmy would say. I never actually figured out what that one meant, but it sure sounded good.