Several months later, after they’d been living together platonically and gotten married so she could use his military insurance, her ex-boyfriend showed up, looking for her. He kidnapped her right off the sidewalk and took her to a shady motel room.
When Sterling and I found them, he was beating up his pregnant ex-girlfriend, and neither of us wanted to let him have the chance to ever do it again or fight her for custody.
I did what I had to do.
“What did she tell you?” I keep my eyes on the road.
When she doesn’t answer for a few seconds, I turn and look at her. She’s frowning and shaking her head.
“Why don’t you tell me your side, and I’ll see if they match?”
Fuck. I have no idea how much Sterling has told Eden. He’s been overseas on a top-secret mission with the Marine Raiders, and we haven’t spoken about that night since it happened.
“I’m never going to lie to you. I also don’t want to scare you.”
My phone starts ringing, interrupting us. I swipe to answer Jensen’s call and put it on speaker.
“What?” I bark.
“He stopped at a gas station and left the kids in the car. He’s been inside for ten minutes.”
“What?” Dallas screeches.
“Uh, yeah, I can see the boys inside the truck though.”
“What rest stop are you at?”
“The Texaco right off the highway. Exit 54.”
“We’re three miles away. Stay with them.”
“All right, boss.”
He hangs up the phone. Jensen has been our ranch hand for years, and he’s fully trustworthy. He’s not the brightest crayon in the box though.
“Sterling beat the shit out of Michael before I strangled him with the bedsheets from his motel room. I bought some meth off a crackhead and stuck him with a lethal dose of it and left his body there. It was ruled a drug overdose, and nobody bothered to do an autopsy. Local authorities don’t have the budget or the manpower to identify every drugoverdose, so unless the body is found in suspicious circumstances, they won’t.”
“Being beat up isn’t suspicious?”
I shrug. “Not in a place like that. It’s the norm actually.”
I glance over at her to gauge her reaction. Her eyes are on the road ahead of us, and her expression is … pensive. Her brows are pushed together, lips pursed.
“You gotta say something.”
“I’m thinking.”
“Fuck, baby, you gotta believe me when I say I would never hurt you or anyone who didn’t deserve it. None of us would. The men we’ve killed, they’ve all been really shitty motherfuckers. They’re better off as worm food, I promise you.”
I’m taking the exit now, looking for the Texaco. It’s on the other side of the highway, so I turn left and go under the overpass. She doesn’t say anything before we pull in. I go slow, looking for Matt’s red truck.
I see it parked over near the air filling stations. Jensen is at a gas pump, still sitting in his truck. I park on the other side of the parking lot, where I can still see Matt’s truck, but he won’t immediately see mine.
“What do you want to do?”
“I want to get them out of there,” she says, wringing her hands.
“I know you do, and we will. But let’s think about how to go about it. We could have Jensen go in and see what he’s doing, maybe distract him while we get the boys. You think his hidden key is still there?”