Page 85 of Brooke's Bliss
“Am I the babysitter or are you offering to watch Cade andJesse when I stay out at the G next month to help Hope?”
Max frowned.“Obviously the first since I’m not changingCade and Jesse’s diapers.They’re going to have to do that on their own.”
“I don’t need a lawyer.”He was so deeply confused.Gemmaand Max were still arguing over what constituted a retainer, but Shane leanedtoward the sheriff.“Sir, where I come from you don’t accuse a man unless youhave proof.”
Nate sighed and studied him for a moment while Max extolledthe virtues of his children and Gemma the same about cold hard cash.“I’msorry.I have a suspicious mind.It goes with the territory.So you think theywere going to off you and Bay because of something you saw for a couple ofseconds?”
“I don’t know.”He was as confused as everyone else, and hewas finding it hard to believe that Max Harper, of all people, seemed tobelieve him when his own brother didn’t.“I only know it’s the weirdest thingthat’s happened in years.”
Gemma put a hand out to stop Max’s arguing.“You left fivemonths ago.Why wait until now?”
“They didn’t know where we went,” Shane offered.“And forthe first couple of months Trev and Jamie paid in cash because we didn’t knowif we would stay on.”
“So Trev finally did your paperwork,” Nate mused.
“It wouldn’t be hard for a PI to run a trace, probablyseveral over the last couple of months.”Gemma leaned against Nate’s desk.“Iassume Kingman had your information.”
Shane shook his head.“Nah.He paid in cash and under thetable.Said he didn’t bother getting to know a cowpoke until they’d been on histeam and tested.I wasn’t sure what the test was, but he hadn’t given it to usyet.”
“If he’s running guns, then I suspect the test would havebeen helping with the delivery or something else that would have been a majorcriminal offense.It’s often how they bring people in.They would be more openabout it when it comes to the MCs.You would have been in a probationary perioduntil you proved yourself, but this feels sneakier,” Nate admitted.
“But none of this explains why we have a sudden rash ofvandalism,” Gemma pointed out.“If they want to make sure Shane keeps his mouthshut, why would they blow the tires on his car?Why wouldn’t they simply goright to him and let the threats begin?Or kill him and hide his body so theyknow he can’t talk.There are a lot of places to hide a body here in the West.Hell, Kingman Ranch is huge.If they buried you out there, I can’t imagineanyone finding you.It’s what I would do.I mean if I was a hardened criminaland stuff.”
“You are a scary person, Gemma,” Max said with a frown.“ButI do get your point.The vandalism feels petty.”
“Or someone’s looking for something.”Shane couldn’t come upwith anything else.“I get the truck.They might be looking to make us morevulnerable.Being without a way to move around could do it.”
Nate sighed, fingers drumming along his desk.“All right,that’s a possibility.They could be trying to herd you into a place you can’tget out of, but I don’t buy it.It would be way too easy to pick you up.Youusually work with Bay, right?Trev and Jamie send their guys out in pairsmostly.”
Shane nodded.“Unless it’s a real easy job, yes, but the Gis still big.Unless they have someone on the inside, they won’t know where weare, and Trev’s got wildlife cams all over the place.They’re not monitored allthe time, but he likes to keep eyes on everything.”
“And it doesn’t explain why they trashed my sister’s lovelyhouse that is far too small for large men, and I’m going to have to add on to,”Max complained.“At least I’ve now got two young, strong backs to work theland.You and Bay need to understand that marrying Brooke means you work atHarper Stables.”
“You have to pay them, Max,” Gemma began.
“I’m paying them with my sister,” Max insisted.
Gemma’s shoulders squared.“You know this isn’t theseventeenth century, right?”
“He’s fucking with you.”He was starting to understand Max.“When he gets worried he gets even more obnoxious than usual.He’s worriedbecause while we put together the truck getting vandalized and even the theftof the safe out at the G, it’s hard to…” Shit.He figured it out.“Right afterwe made things official with Brooke, a woman hit on me at The Trading Post.”
“We all know that.”Max waved him off.“Teeny said youlooked like a deer in the headlights, and if Nell hadn’t come along, she wouldhave sent Marie in to save you.You had zero interest in that tourist.”
Max was missing the point.“What if she wasn’t a tourist?”
Nate picked up his phone.“How long does Teeny keep thosetapes?We might be able to ID her on facial rec.I’m going to assume she askedsome very specific questions.”
“Oh.”Max seemed to catch on.“You think she was sent in byKingman to figure out where you would be.Well, that makes way more sense.Iwas sitting around trying to figure out how all these beautiful women decidedto hit on you and Bay.I do not get it.”
Nate seemed immune to Max’s sarcasm.“She asked where youworked?”
“She asked a lot of questions, but she specifically wantedto know where we were staying.I’m going to admit I didn’t want to start arelationship with the woman of my dreams by having to explain why I wasflirting, but I was also trying to not be rude.I was surprised she stillwanted to talk to me after I told her I had a girlfriend.”
“Because she didn’t care about that.She wanted to knowwhere to look,” Gemma surmised.“And then you weren’t there and you were at theG.I wonder…” Gemma pulled out her phone, and her thumbs worked the smallkeyboard.She nodded as she stared at the screen.“Kingman was in DC last week.There’s talk about him running for Senate.He’s planning to primary the sittingsenator.I mean it’s a great time to clear up all those loose ends.”
“Then maybe we should think about stashing all three ofthem.”Max seemed to focus, going serious.“I’ll talk to Stef about hiring abodyguard.Maybe we should think about sending them down to Dallas.”
“Whoa.I don’t think I need to be sent anywhere.Brookecan’t leave.She’s got the play.”It was moving fast for him.“We aren’t evensure the incidents are related.”
