Page 63 of Freeing Denver

Tension bunches his shoulders, and he tries to roll them out. “Alistair and I had a disagreement.”

I groan. “Please tell me it wasn’t over me.”

“It was over you,” Charlie pipes up.

“Colt.” I face him. “You’re hitting each other now? Why? What could possibly have led to that?”

“I thought it was him who sent the footage to the cops,” he says. “And he said he didn’t, but that he wanted to. We argued. I lost my temper. He lost his.”

My heart becomes a dull ache. This isn’t what I wanted. I dislike Alistair, but I don’t want Colt’s relationship with him to suffer just because I’m in his life.

“Then what?” I ask.

He shrugs. “Then he left.”

I search his face. “And that’s it?”

“What else is there?” he asks. “He said I chose you, and I do. You’re my wife, Denver. If he can’t get on board with that?—”

“You got married?” Charlie squeaks. “And you spent your first night as Colt’s wife in jail? My God, woman, you are a Harland.”

I smile weakly, sinking low into the seat as guilt overtakes the worry of the night.

“Then we find Alistair, and we fix it,” I say.

“We have more things to worry about than Alistair throwing a tantrum. Denver, you were arrested for murder.”

Not my first time. Not even my second. I was arrested for Holden Hayes’s murder, too, when his body was found with a bullet in the brain and burned to a crisp in my club. A crime Axel committed to keep me safe.

“Reid is going to meet us at the house,” Colt says. “We’ll figure it out.”

If this had been my first arrest, I’d feel more confident, but I think there’s a set number of times in your life where you can get away with taking a life, and three might be pushing my luck.

When we get home, Taf, JJ, and Lewis welcome me back, but their smiles are strained, likely wondering if I know the reasonbehind Alistair’s absence. Colt’s right, though. That can be fixed later.

Reid McManon is all business when he arrives. His light brown hair is tinged with gray, and wrinkles are set into a handsome, broad face. He’s in his early forties, and judging by the ring of white around his wedding finger, recently divorced.

“Okay, honesty first. If they get the rest of that CCTV, how fucked are we?” he asks, leaning back in the dining room chair.

“On a scale of one to ten? Totally fucked,” I admit.

He nods. “I thought so. Any leads on who leaked it?”

Colt shakes his head. “I thought I knew, but now I’m not so sure.”

“Could it be Ranger?” Reid asks me. “Ex-husbands can be bitter, especially when you remarry.”

I play with my necklace. “Ranger doesn’t know I remarried, but I don’t think he did this. He may be angry, but even he wouldn’t want me in jail. If it were Colt on that tape? I’d say definitely. But not me. He’d rather I be dead than locked away.” Colt tenses, his biceps flexing underneath his shirt. “I’m just being honest.”

“I know,” he says with practiced calm. “Doesn’t mean I like it.”

“So, what happens now?” I ask.

Reid says, “You weren’t charged, so that’s good news, but Marshall is going to come for you. Hard. Apparently, she was already looking into you, and a run-in with Ranger lit a fire under her ass.” Typical. Still affected by a man who has done nothing but slowly ruin me since I fucking met him. “You need to lie low. Don’t leave the state.”

“Behave?” I offer weakly.

He nods. “Yep. Be a bride. Enjoy your marital bliss. I’ll work on keeping you out of jail legally. Colt can do the other stuff I don’t know about.”