Page 75 of Texas Kissing

There was utter silence. Then an ear-splitting crash. I realized she’d dropped the phone.

Oh Jesus Christ—what have I done?“Lily?!”

Running footsteps. I could hear her panting in fear and my stomach twisted.

The sound of breaking glass. And then the line went dead.

63

Bull

My pickup isn’t the fastest thing, but I know every back road and shortcut in town. I floored the gas the whole way, screeching around bends and nearly rolling the damn thing over twice.

When I skidded to a stop outside the bus, there was no sign of Antonio’s sedan. Lily’s Toyota was still there.

The door of the bus was open.Fuck.

I crept inside, fists ready. “Lily?”

The lights were on, but there was no sign of anyone. A cupboard had been torn off the wall and jagged chunks of plates and mugs covered the floor. A drawer was open, half of its contents scattered around. The whole place was eerily still.

Then I saw the blood. A whole spray of little red drops low down on the refrigerator door.He’d got her down on the floor and….In my mind, I saw his fist connect with her face and I wanted to throw up.

And then I saw the pool on the floor. Watery, buttoo yellow to be water.

She’d peed herself. The bastard had scared her or hurt her so badly she’d peed herself.

I’d been angry plenty of times in my life. But the rage that took hold at that moment wasn’t like anything I’d ever felt. All of the shit I’d gotten worked up about before just seemed so unimportant, now.

I tried dialing her phone but got the same unavailable signal I’d gotten the whole way over there. And then I saw the bits of broken plastic and circuitry on the floor. Someone had stamped it underfoot.

I stormed out of the bus and into my pick up...and then realized I had no idea where to go. They could be anywhere.

I sent him to her. I sent him right fucking to her.

Panic clawed at my mind. Should I go to the police? That would take hours of explanation. I didn’t even know who the hell Antonio was or what he wanted.

There was only one person who might be able to help.

64

Bull

At the Stallion Inn, I marched right up to the desk and told the clerk to give me Agent Calahan’s room number. He gave me a whole load of horseshit about privacy laws, so I picked him up by the shirt and pressed his back against the ceiling. He got a lot more cooperative after that.

I didn’t mean to bust the lock on Calahan’s door. I just twisted the handle and pushed and the damn thing broke in my hand. Shitty cheap motel locks.

Calahan was sitting on the bed, stripped to the waist. Damn city boy wasn’t as big as me, but he wasripped.He looked like a damn underwear model. He dived for his holster when the door broke and, an instant later, I was staring down the barrel of a handgun.

Then he saw it was me and lowered the gun. I was a little offended.

“I’m not trying to take your girlfriend,” Calahan growled. “Cute as she is. So if this is some jealous rage thing you can kiss—”

I stepped into the room. “Some guy took her. Antonio. Said he was her cousin, but—”

“Tookher?!”

“He went over to her place and they had a fight and—there’s blood. And she’s gone. And so’s his car.”