Page 181 of The Woman By the Lake

“Be there in a few,” he said.

“Right, see you then,” Harry returned then disconnected.

“Harry wants me to come to the access road,” he told Nadia.

“Oh boy,” she replied. “Do you need to take Gia?”

“I don’t think so. He didn’t sound alarmed. But he sounded evasive, and I’m curious, so I’m gonna go.”

“Okay.”

He touched her lips with his, bent and nabbed the boots he’d taken off earlier, put them on, then he hauled his ass out of the couch, grabbed his keys and went out the door.

When he got to the access road, he honestly didn’t know how anyone could find it in the dark. It had seen some activity recently, but the entrance and the road were so overgrown, there were only two thin patches of worn dirt to guide the way, and no indication it was there from the street.

He turned in and drove all the way down, stopping only when he pulled up behind Harry’s cruiser.

And beyond that was Bubbles’s truck.

Topping that, Bubbles was sitting outside his truck in a camp chair, a cooler beside him, a Bluetooth speaker and a lit camp lantern on top of it, another camp lantern on the ground beside the cooler. A folding camp table was on his other side, with a pizza box from Luigi’s on top of it.

Oh yeah…

And Bubbles had his shotgun resting across his thighs.

Slowly, Riggs got out and walked to Harry, who was leaning against the side of the cruiser, arms and ankles crossed.

“What the fuck?” Riggs asked.

“We got this road on radar, doing random stop ins,” Harry explained. “Raul stopped in, found this, called me, I drove out, had a chat with him, he won’t leave.”

“I know you’re talking about me!” Bubbles yelled.

Dammit.

Riggs moved to him.

“You can stay away,” Bubbles said, and Riggs stopped. “And technically, I’m stayin’ away. Tell your woman that. But heard someone is fuckin’ with you and your woman, and they’re usin’ this road. So they can fuck right the fuck off or face the wrong end of my shotgun.”

Holy shit.

“Bubs—” Riggs started.

“This is not a marker,” Bubbles interrupted him. “Not me paying one, not me expecting one from you. Friends don’t hold markers. And I know you’re not my friend anymore, but I’m yours, and no one is messing with you on my watch.”

Riggs dropped his head and looked to his boots.

He lifted his head when Bubbles continued.

“Got my pizza. Got my podcast. Got a six-pack. I’m set. You can go home.”

Bubbles had done the unforgiveable, but pure Bubbles, he was so intent on doing what he could to make friends, it made it impossible not to like the guy.

Riggs had to think on this and talk to Nadia about it, so all he said was, “Be careful.”

Bubbles lifted up his beer can to Riggs.

Riggs went back to Harry, and Harry pushed away from his cruiser to walk Riggs to his truck.

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