Page 40 of Property of Bull
“Not by a long shot,” I tell him, heading back into the hallway to join Margo.
As I turn the next corner, Clark is walking toward me. “What happened to you?”
“Sorry, wrong turn. Is Margo still in your office?”
Chapter 12
Margo
I breathe a sigh of relief when Stryker proceeds Clark into the room.
“What’s going on out there?” I ask them. I had briefly stuck my head out of the office, wanting to find the bathroom, but the noise level from down the hall encouraged me to stay put.
“Your family has arrived,” Clark replies. “I don’t like what I’m hearing, so I’m going to work with Clear Creek’s police to keep someone watching your grandfather’s house. The lawyer isn’t shedding too much light on things, other than saying that he has the most recent copy of George’s will and he’ll be filing it with the courts. I’m going to let you go right now, but I will need to speak to your father when he arrives.”
“Why don’t you interview him at my house?” Stryker suggests. “That way you can avoid another circus like today.”
“I think that might be best,” Clark concedes. “Miss Tucker, will you be pressing charges against Jason?”
“What?” I ask, surprised, then worried, trying to keep my name out of the system at all costs. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Alright. Let me know if you change your mind or if he comes after you again,” Clark says with a sigh. “I’ll go give him the good news that he’s not getting arrested today.”
*
Stryker’s on the phone with someone from the Kings when we’re taking the turn off that leads to his house, instead of Granddad’s, and that’s when tears start flowing down my cheeks. Looking out the window, I try to will them away before the man at my side notices.
That almost works, until I choke on a sob.
“Let me call you back,” he says, looking frustrated when the person on the line keeps talking. “Come out to my house then.”
Throwing his phone into the backseat, he reaches a hand over, squeezing my thigh. “We’re almost home, Go-Go.”
The calming timber of his voice has me shaking my head.It’s not my home!I want to scream. And even if it was, at the rate I’m going, someone will end up dead there by New Years.
“Talk to me, baby,” he murmurs, constantly shifting his eyes between the road and me.
“Be careful, the turn up here—” I sniffle out the words.
“I’ve been driving this road since I was fourteen,” he says with so much bravado that I have no choice but to pop his balloon.
“And I found you in a ditch the other day.” My snotty nose takes some of the sting out of my dig, but it gets him chuckling and reaching for a napkin in the divider.
“I never got a chance to tell you what happened, did I?” he asks, ignoring the sound of me loudly blowing my nose and I shake my head, looking at him as I continue.
“A bear chased a deer out into the road in front of me.”
“Really?” I narrow my eyes, wondering if he’s just trying to distract me.
“Honestly. I didn’t see the bear until I was in the ditch. I don’t think he appreciated me interrupting his meal.”
“I’ve never seen a bear in the wild,” I tell him. It’s not like I don’t know they’re around here, but thankfully they tend to stay pretty clear of humans.
“Coyotes, and even the occasional wolves, are a bigger problem for me with the chickens out back. You’ll get used to it though,” he tells me as he pulls into his driveway.
I stay quiet, wondering how to address that ‘L’ word he threw at me earlier, even though I like the sound ofgetting used toBull’s way of life. There’s a calmness in him that soothes me in a way I’ve never felt around anyone.
Pulling into his garage, he grabs the shopping bags from the back and I’m happy I’ll have some fresh clothes after the day we’ve had.
