Page 15 of Cursed Fox

"Wait, you knew about the cancer?" I didn't hide the accusation in my tone.

“He told me when they first found out."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because it wasn't my news to share," Maverick defended. "I figured he would say something when he was ready."

I shook my head, even though my boss couldn't see me.

"So why didn't Wes ask one of his teams?" Maverick effectively changed the subject back to my assignment.

"She didn't want them to know," I explained.

"Ah. Makes even more sense now. So what do you need from us? Any credible threat, or just the ramblings of a pissed-off fan?"

I thought about the letter jammed into my pants pocket on the floor. "The last letter threatened to harm Nancy if Jimmy didn't quit."

My boss whistled from the other end of the phone. "I would say that's credible. Where are you now?"

I scoffed. "You mean Nolen hasn't tracked my location?"

"If he has, he didn't tell me."

"I'm in Oklahoma City, but I'm not sure that's where we’ll stay."

I didn't want to be in the same town as the person threatening Nancy. If that was even where the person lived. Without seeing the actual envelope, there was no way for me to know. But unless Nancy wanted to travel the country with me, my options were limited. And that was something I seriously doubted she would agree to.

"You going to bring her home to Willow Creek?"

Now was as good a time as any to tell my boss what I’d been thinking about the last few weeks. "Willow Creek isn't my home. Nowhere is. And, no, I don't think I'm ever coming back."

Maverick cleared his throat. "Don't do this, Lex."

I hated to hear the hurt in my boss's voice, but I couldn't be like the rest of them. "You had to know this was coming. I didn't want to come to Willow Creek to begin with. I said I would try, and I did."

"You barely gave it a couple of months," Maverick argued.

"But I gave it a chance, and now it's time to move on. There isn't enough in Willow Creek to keep my mind busy. I need more."

I doubted there was any place that could keep me as busy as I needed to be, but I had to look. Maybe just traveling around the country would do the trick.

"And where do you plan on going?" Maverick wasn't giving up. Not that I expected him to. There was a reason out of the seven of us he became the boss. He was a natural-born leader who cared a little too deeply about those in his command.

"Not sure yet. I was planning to leave when you called me about Wes's favor."

I stayed quite while my boss let out a torrent of curses. The man sure knew how to string together some good ones.

When he finally paused, I interjected with, "Pretty sure, as the boss, you were supposed to clean up your language."

"Fuck that. You guys are giving me even more gray hairs than I already have."

I chuckled at the thought. Maverick reminded me of Santa Claus. If he went anymore gray—or, heaven forbid, even white—kids would be lining up to sit on his lap.

"Then I guess it's a good thing I won't be your problem for much longer."

He sighed heavily. "Lex, I'll worry even more because you aren't here."

The man took too much of the world on his shoulders, and I told him as much.

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