Page 129 of Wicked & Wildflower

He smiles. “I can whip you up something good, don’t worry.”

Emilio makes Darby’s drink and pours two beers from the tap before sliding those to Everett and Leo, who sit on either side of us.

The bar floods with bright light before dimming again, telling me that the front doors had opened and closed. I place a hand on my sister’s leg, garnering her attention. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Her eyes are sad, but she nods with confidence. “Yes. He went too far.”

“He did,” I agree.

“What’s up, fuckers?” A vaguely familiar slim-framed, tall, Latino man slides into the seat beside Everett, and I assume he must be Ryan, Everett’s sheriff friend. He nods at Emilio, who has a drink ready, setting it down in front of him. “You called?”

“Are you off the clock right now?” Leo asks.

He takes a slow sip of what appears to be whiskey. Swallowing, he sets the glass back down on the counter. “Officially so.”

“Great. We need off-the-record advice,” Everett adds.

Ryan frowns, looking annoyed but not surprised. “Did you break the law?”

“Not sure.”

“Fuckers,” he mutters.

The six of us lean in close while Emilio keeps other patrons at bay, and Everett and I break down our entire situation of the last months—the information I found on the company network when I worked for my father, the fact that I’ve been blackmailing him with it and that he used my daughter’s father to try and kidnap her in an attempt to get back at me.

“Tana could definitely be fired,” Ryan says after Everett explains to him how she nearly allowed Jason to leave school grounds with my child, all too easily believing whatever sob story he fed her about me restricting his relationship with Lou.

As much as I want to throttle her, I almost feel sorry for her. She must be bored and lonely to put so much thought into the reputations of people around her, to be so hung up on the livesof others. I hope she figures her shit out, and I hope she finds herself some real friends.

Friends like we have, because after Everett explained everything to Darby and Leo, it was clear that her wedding flowers were going to take a backseat tonight. So, Leo called Macie and asked her to help. She and Dom, plus their best friends Carter and Penelope, dropped everything they were doing and made the two-hour trek south. The four of them are at Honeysuckle right now getting things ready for Saturday.

“I don’t want to take responsibility for something like that,” I say to Ryan. “I won’t demand it, but I’ll report it to the principal and let the school district investigate on their own. If it happened to me, there is a good chance she has done it before.”

He nods. “As for the rest of it… You’re definitely at risk, Dahlia. Not that I don’t understand it, because I definitely do, but blackmail in and of itself is a felony, and holding onto documents like that without reporting them incriminates you as well.”

“I know.” I sigh, dropping my hands into my face.

Everett rubs my back reassuringly while my sister downs the rest of her drink, and Leo waves Emilio over to get her another.

“Are you some kind of mandatory reporter?” I ask. “Are you going to have to turn me in now that I’ve told you all of this?”

“Eh.” Ryan takes another sip of his whiskey. “Crime happened in another state. Loophole.”

“Is that really a loophole?” Darby asks.

Ryan smirks. “Eh.”

Everett winks at me, his way of letting me know I’m safe.

“Do you have any other loopholes as to how we can get that piece of shit sent to prison without incriminating Dahlia in the process?”

Ryan nods, and we all huddle closer. “Does your dad have it in writing from you anywhere that you obtained this information months ago?”

“No.” I shake my head. “We had one conversation in person in Kansas before I moved. I know my father does enough shady business that he doesn’t keep cameras or recording devices at home. Plus, I caught him off guard, so he wouldn’t have thought to set anything up beforehand.”

“Good.”

“But,” I continue, “we did have a phone conversation back in December where I admitted to having the files then.” I swallow. “I wouldn’t put it past him to have recorded it.”

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