Page 63 of Kandie Shoppe

Angel’s ducking to avoid a napkin dispenser, and a saltshaker would be funny with the way he contorts his big body to avoid my missiles aimed at his friend if I wasn’t so serious.

Ulysses shoves past Angel and his men. As soon as he reaches me, I slam my fist into his face. His head snaps to the side from the impact. Everything slows. He wipes the back of his hand over his mouth and it comes back bloody.

I feel a wild smile spreading over my face. I meet the cold rage of blue ice with pride for myself brimming to the surface. I got my lick back. He’s going to regret hurting me — hurting those kids.

“Kandie Love, you’re under arrest for assaulting a police officer,” he says calmly.

“You mean a lying, murdering, trafficking scumbag,” I sneer at the bug headed beast I had the great misfortune to ever care about.

Disappointment and haunting pain eat at me now, my satisfaction quickly gutters just looking at him. My heart craters, my soul seems to deflate as anger evaporates all too soon. All the fighting gives way to grief and exhaustion. He broke my heart, and I can’t hide it, not from him — not from anyone.

“That too,” he growls. Instead of handcuffing me, he picks me up, throwing me over his shoulder and walks out of the bakery turned bar into the night.

Chapter

Eighteen

Ulysses

“I can’t fucking believe you,” I hiss into the night, watching her out the corner of my eye as she does her best to ignore me.

“I’ve been in Montgomery being interrogated by the feds off and on for weeks and come to find out after finally being cleared that it was my fucking woman who fucking snitched me out. What the ever-loving fuck do you think you were doing? You could’ve gotten all those kids killed with your silly ass stunt.” I’m beating my fucking steering wheel so hard I’m sure it’s about to break off.

“I’m not your woman. I’m not your anything, you dumb ass dummy.” Her gaze slides over me with hate and hurt.

“We’ll see about that, wildcat,” I mutter. Of its own accord, my gaze rakes over those thick ass thighs all the way up to the tight Daisy Dukes riding high on her rump. No panties again, I’d bet. I’d bet the fortune of the Shelby inheritance my cousin, Mathias, told me I’d finally receive now that he’d helped Takeda put his evil ass daddy down.

Every Shelby knows the probability of being killed by a Love is high, but it wasn’t until now that we have Japanese billionaires and Colombian cartel bosses entering into the fray to change the dynamic between our families. In the weeks following the burning of The Camelia, every Shelby and the hired thugs they hired to bring Krie Love for daring to defy the norms this town has been dealt with in the most permanent type of way. The message is clear for the time being. You fuck with those Love girls or anyone they care about and you will find yourself — no scratch that you won’t be found.

Angel being the only exception because Easy ran from him and it’s the Loves themselves at fault for their separation. At least that’s what those of us who know what’s really going on know. Still, the truth is slow to spread just as the lie that we are traffickers took hold so quick, thanks to this messy ass little wildcat curled against the other side of my cruiser like she can’t stand for me to touch her. That shit is eating my soul alive.

I haven’t touched her since that night. First, I was too busy with the Feds and thought she was busy helping to find Easy. Soon it dawned on me the reason she was not responding to my texts was not because she was helping with the search, but she thought I was in some way responsible. One of the many rumors being spread was Easy discovered Angel’s trafficking and came to me only to have me be in cahoots with her dangerous husband and we did away with her or kidnapped her and had her locked away somewhere. Days passed when I had to deal with her male cousins on a daily basis, some of them even threatening to take Mom, who is on her deathbed, mind in retaliation.

“Loves don’t care and we sure as fuck don’t scare when it comes to our people,” Nikodemus Love told me with deadly calm, pushing the Stetson off his tightly curled locks and wiping his forehead with a bandana when I pulled up to his compound to confront him on the matter.

At the time, I didn’t think anything of Nebraska arriving on the scene to calm the matter. Later when they stopped their threats and retaliatory tactics like setting one of our fields on fire did Angel and I came to the conclusion they knew Easy left on her own with Saban. Then were turned to the possible people who had the resources to help her leave while the raid was happening when Angel spoke to her that very day. Krie was the most obvious answer, but Takeda prevented Angel from getting any information out of his wife, promising to sever his head from his body if he so much as spoke to her.

It wasn’t until today I discovered Kandie’s part. Read her statement in the documents my newly hired team of lawyers got from the government in discovery.

Pulling up to the station, I turn off the truck. Immediately, she darts from the cab. I’m on her in a second, snatching her up against my chest. “You already know I catch your little silly ass every time.” I sniff. “You fucking reek.”

Stiffening, she tries to kick back. I sidestep after one finds a lucky strike. Hoisting her over my shoulder, I slap her ass hard twice. “I’m not in the mood for your bullshit. You’ve caused enough problems,” I growl, taking the stairs up to the double doors.

“Sheriff.” Garcia jumps from the desk as I enter, carrying my prisoner over my shoulder.

“Lock up, then leave.” Shooting the words over my shoulder, I don’t break my stride heading down to the showers. There’s a long pause before I get the inevitable, “Yes, sir.”

It’s not lost on me that eighty percent of the time she escapes he’s here. The cameras I had put on the front desk after the first few times show nothing and we can’t violate inmates’ privacy with cameras in the cell. Still, I know he’s sympathetic to Kandie. Hell, the whole town is, which is why she’s so out of control. That shit ends tonight. She threw our whole enterprise in jeopardy.She’s lucky she called LL and not some random agent because not only would she be dead, but those kids as well.

Frustration eats at me as I take the stairs down to the basement. Crossing the gym in quick strides I enter the shower and sit her on wavering feet.

“Get undressed,” I tell her, nearly ripping my uniform buttons as I disrobe.

“Fuck you,” she grits through clenched teeth.

“Fine.” Taking my bowie knife out of its sheath I flash it before her eyes. “Be still. Wouldn’t want to slice that pretty brown skin now would we?”

“We can’t all be the color of glue.” She scrunches her nose like she smells something rank.

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