Page 26

Twenty-Two

I have to succeed because I like expensive shit.

— Searcy’s secret thoughts

SEARCY

It was the first night that I’d slept alone in weeks.

It was awful.

I’d gotten so used to sleeping next to that hard, male body that I tossed and turned for hours before finally giving up and picking up my laptop to get some work done.

I hadn’t stopped working.

What I had done was become pickier with who I chose as a client.

I’d started looking through social media profiles, too, to make sure that I wasn’t signing up for some crazy author that liked to trademark universal words like ‘alpha.’

That author that had tried to copyright the word had so much backlash that people stopped buying her books. Which in turn caused her to want to pull out of her contract with me.

In the end, there wasn’t much I could do but send her the invoice and hoped she paid.

Newsflash, she hadn’t.

And she still used my cover.

But since I was poor, I couldn’t afford to fight her on it, so I’d had to let it go.

Well, as much as I could let it go.

I was a salty bitch, and though I’d forgiven, I’d never forget.

After pulling up my next client’s information, I got to work on her dream book cover.

It was two hours into my work when I heard it.

A solid banging on the front door.

I frowned and got off the bed, reaching for my pants.

After getting fully dressed, I headed for the door, my trusty baseball bat in my hand.

“Who is it?” I asked through the closed door.

“You know who the fuck it is,” Taryn growled. “Open this door, right now!”

My heart leaped into my throat.

Why would he be at my place?

“I’m not opening this door,” I disagreed. “It’s time for you to leave.”

“I’m not leaving!” he bellowed. “You stole millions from me!”

My belly somersaulted.

“I called the cops,” Kent announced from behind me. “You need to leave or they’ll make you leave.”

I pulled out my phone and went to text Posy, but the door was kicked open in the next second and I was dropping my phone to swing my bat.

That’s when the chaos started.

Kent picked up his own bat and yelled at him, meanwhile I got in a ready stance and said, “You make one single move over this threshold, and I’m seriously taking you out.”

He pulled a gun out of his pants and aimed it at me, and I felt true fear slither down my spine.

I couldn’t win with a bat when he had a gun.

A loud whirrup filled the air, and I’d never been more thankful that the cops were so damn nosy at night than I was right then.

He shoved the gun back in his pants and went down the steps, and I knew damn well and good as soon as I saw who the cop was that this wasn’t going to go in my favor.

“Shit,” I grumbled.

It was the same cop that’d victim blamed Calliope a few days ago. The state trooper of the group.

He walked up the length of the sidewalk and took everyone in.

Me dressed in sleep pants and a baggy t-shirt of Koda’s, Kent standing behind me in thin shorts and nothing else.

But his eyes lit behind me, and I knew he saw Calliope.

Shit, shit, shit.

They narrowed on her and he said, “What’s going on here?”

“This man just threatened us with a gun and broke my door down.”

The cop rolled his eyes. “I doubt that is what happened.”

And that was exactly why I didn’t like cops.

I never got the chance to call Posy.

Not when I was escorted down to Decatur Police Department and sat in a room for hours.

I was sure that the kids would find a way to tell Posy, but he’d have to come home for that to happen, and his shift wasn’t supposed to end until tonight at seven.

And I’d been in this empty room, in the uncomfortable chair, for hours.

They hadn’t allowed me to call my lawyer, either.

Hell, I didn’t even have my phone.

I was fuming, and it pissed me the hell off that Taryn had this good ol’ boy relationship with a few of the cops on Decatur PD that I was even in this situation in the first place.

I was counting ceiling tiles—which were in desperate need of replacing—when a sound of heels clicking on hard floor caught my attention.

I looked up just in time for the door to swing open so hard that it bounced on the wall.

Then came Malone.

Damn, she was getting a good workout with all the times I’d needed her lately.

“My client is seriously in here, not under arrest, in her t-shirt, sleep pants, and no shoes?” Malone asked carefully.

“Ma’am…”

That was the asshole who’d brought me here in the first place.

Another man that’d apparently graduated with Taryn.

I wondered if Posy had graduated with him, too?

“You will have your own charges filed against you, so I suggest you utilize your right to remain silent so you don’t incriminate yourself further.” Malone’s angry eyes turned to my face. “Let’s go.”

I hopped up like a well-trained soldier and hurriedly followed her out of the police station.

But when we got to an office door that read ‘CHIEF’ on the nameplate, she stopped and turned so she could glare into the room.

“This joke of a police station, with your joke of a police officer, paired with your inability to know what’s going on in your own station, is downright embarrassing. You should be ashamed of yourself. Just know that I’ll be filing charges, and you won’t fucking like what happens.”

The chief, a portly man with a big beer belly, raised his chin. His jowls jiggled, and I had to smother a laugh.

“I’ll not stand for this,” he exclaimed. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Uh-huh.” Malone snorted. “Hope you enjoy your job. For now. You won’t have it for long.”

Then she was gone, and I was following in her wake.

When we wound up outside, I came to a sudden, jarring halt when I saw all the motorcycles.

The entire parking lot was filled with them.

“Holy shit,” I breathed.

“They weren’t going to let you stay there for long,” she said as she got to her car.

“Don’t worry about whatever bullshit they spewed before taking you in.

The crap they were spouting is bullshit.

There was no crime committed. There are multiple sources that are saying he gave that lottery ticket to you of his own free will.

He’ll bring a civil suit against you, however. You can count on that.”

I sighed.

That was the last thing I wanted.

But there were a lot of things that I didn’t want, such as people knowing I was a multi-millionaire now.

Like my mother.

Fuckin’ a.

“I know,” I admitted.

She jerked her chin toward all the bikes. “I’d offer you a ride, but I have my dogs in the car. They don’t really like people.”

“No problem,” I said. “I’m literally a mile from home.”

“You’re not walking home without shoes on,” Webber declared. “You can ride with me. I have your helmet.”

I took it from him with a small smile and said, “I watched a show once where the man loses his shit that his girlfriend rides with another man. Posy won’t kill you or me for this, will he?”

Webber snorted. “No. Let’s go.”

I went.

The ride home was filled with about twenty bikers riding at a snail’s pace down the roads that would lead to my house.

When we pulled up in front of our house, my eyes widened as I saw what looked to be a brand-new car in the driveway.

“Whose car is that?” I asked no one in particular.

Webber pulled to a stop behind the car, and I got off.

“Thank you for the ride and the escort.” I smiled and waved at all the bikers.

Hush, who happened to be directly behind Webber, jerked his chin up at me.

I gave him a small smile and booked it up the length of my driveway.

When I got to the door, I came to a sudden stop and stared.

“What the fuck?” I asked.

Kent grimaced. “Mom went on a shopping spree. In case you’re wondering, every bit of this is hers.”

I gritted my teeth.

This was exactly why I hadn’t wanted to tell her.

Spine straightening, I made a rash decision and turned to glare at my brother. “Go get your stuff. All of it. We’re leaving.”

“What?”

“We. Are. Leaving,” I repeated. “Go get your stuff. Go get your sister to pack her stuff. And only the stuff you actually like, because the rest of it is trash. Where’s Calliope?”

“In her room.” He paused. “She hasn’t left. In fact, she told Mom to stop spending money. That car outside is Mom’s, too. She did all of this in the six hours you’ve been gone.”

“Fuck.” I shook my head. “Of course she did.”

Because, why wouldn’t my mother do that without first confirming that I actually had the money and would share it with her?

I sure hoped Posy wouldn’t get pissy about what I was about to do…