Page 31 of Wildest Forever (Lovelock Bay #3)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

PACEY

P acing the floor of the Sheriff’s office, my hands in my pocket as I wait for Riggs to get here.Rage simmers deep inside of me at what I may have uncovered, but I need to keep a lid on it until I have had a fresh pair of eyes on the evidence.

The door catches as it closes and I find my eyes lifting to see Riggs walking in.

Signature black jacket, brown cowboy hat, aviator sunglasses, a dirty tee and jeans and heavy work boots.

“You okay?” he asks as he slips off his glasses and hooks them in his tee neck, hands on his hips as his eyes bounce between mine.

“Not really,” I finally stop, staring at him, one of my hands reaching up and pushing through my hair.

Riggs rolls his lips then looks at the manilla envelope on my desk.

His brow raises.

“Is that it?” he points at the envelope, and I nod.

I hear the heavy rumble of a sigh escape him as he walks across to my desk and swipes the envelope from the surface.

Silence fills the hostile room, and my heart is banging against my ribcage.

He slips the paperwork out and just by the way his shoulders sag and his deep intake of breath rattles inside of him, I know I was right.

“Shit,” he rubs his hand over his beard and the sound of the bristle meeting his skin is loud over the anger that burns inside of me.

“Yeah...” I roll my lips, hands back fisted inside my pockets.

“I'll deal with this,” he grumbles, and I shake my head.

“No, I'll deal with it,” I step forward, but Riggs glares me down.

“Trust me,” he grunts, “let me deal with it,” and I know not to push him when he is in that mood.

I give a shit attempt of a nod, there is no point even trying to argue with him.

“What the fuck are we going to do?” I find myself whispering as the rage teeters at the edge of my reasoning.

“Going to end this war once and for all.”

I swallow down the bile that threatens to creep up my throat and ignore the angry tears that prick behind my eyes.

“Pacey?” the softer side of Riggs shows himself as he tosses the envelope on the desk and pulls me into him. “It'll be okay,” he comforts me like a dad would his son and I find myself molding into him.

My chest tightens as the hot tears roll down my cheeks. I hated showing the vulnerable side of me, but hearing those words leave his lips brings everything hurling back towards me.

The shooting.

Harlow.

My dad.

All the stuff that haunts me in the evening is rearing it's ugly head in the daytime and I am terrified of the outcome.

“What if someone dies, what if they get to mom?” the anxiety riddles me, and I can't stop the onslaught of questions even if I wanted to.

“Nothing is going to happen,” Riggs pushes me away, his hands gripping tightly to the top of my arms. “Do you understand me?” he looks down at me, tilting his head to the side, “nothing will happen to anyone,” and his words are cemented into me like a promise.

I have no idea if he is telling me the truth or pacifying me so I don't worry, but either way, it helps... if only for a moment.

“I will fucking burn the town to the ground if I need to, no one, and I mean no one will take what is ours. I don't care if they're family, friend or foe, whoever it is, they'll pay.”

I nod, over and over.

Rage turns to tears, tears turn back to rage and I feel myself begin to tremble in front of my brother.

I knew something like this was going to happen, knew we were going to find out, but it still doesn't make it any easier to swallow.

“It'll be okay brother,” he says softly, the rasp in his voice has me looking at him.

I nod, sniffling and palming the lone tear that escapes and runs down my cheek.

“It just brings it all back,” I admit, swallowing down the lump.

“I know, and I swear it Pacey, no one will get close to our family.”

“You swear?”

“I fucking swear it,” he presses his forehead towards mine, his hand wrapping around the back of my neck and holds me there. “And you know I don't go back on those.”

Walking into Sunny's, I give her a solemn nod as Riggs steps in behind me.

“Well, hello Rivera boys,” she smiles at us from behind the counter, a few people sitting in and enjoying a coffee and cake.

My eyes cast over to see a group of people sitting at the larger table and I see a familiar redhead.

I tilt my head and focus my attention back to Sunny as we approach the counter.

“Hey,” I smile at her, and lift my hat from my head as I hold onto it, Riggs mirroring my move.

“What can I get you?”

“Two flat whites and two club sandwiches,” I roll off mine and Riggs' order and he lifts his brows, a playful smirk tugging at his lips.

“Take in or take out?”

“Out please,” I sigh then glance back over at the table and realization settles in my stomach. It's our new neighbors.

“Excuse me a minute,” I say just as Sunny rings up the total and I hear Riggs grumble something that I have let him pay.

Walking over to where they all sit, their eyes find mine one by one.

“James, right?” I ask, giving her a small smile.

“Yeah, you're Morgan's husband... Case...”

“Pacey,” I correct her with a soft nod of my head.I had only briefly met her and her husband when I was with Morgan a couple of weeks back.

“Apologies, you’ve met my husband Nate,” she holds her hand out, “this is Titus and Amora,” she smiles at the older man sitting opposite her and again to the redhead next to him, “and finally Xavier and Royal, Amora's parents.”

“Nice to meet you,” I say with a tilt of my head and Xavier looks me up and down like I am a piece of shit on the sole of his boot.

A grumble has him turning away and Royal, his wife, gives me a roll of her eyes aimed towards her husband.

“He can be a little...” Royal begins and I can see she is thinking how to explain her husband, her British accent strong.

“Bit of a dickhead,” Titus chuckles softly and Amora slips her hand onto her husband’s thigh which only gets another growl from Xavier.

“Anyway,” I give them a polite smile, “I better be going, just wanted to pop over and say hi...” I trail off when I hear the sound of Riggs' boots behind me, the crunch of the paper bag with our sandwiches in.

“Titus,” his eyes lift over my shoulder as he steps forward and shakes Titus' hand.

It takes me a moment to remember that Titus and Amora are his neighbors. They moved into Bluebeak Ranch, bittersweet for us really.

“This must be Nate and James,” Riggs sweeps past me, nodding at James and shaking Nate's hand.

“You're coming to Randy's on Friday yeah?” Riggs asks Titus and he gives a half shrug,

“Maybe, I know the girls definitely are... me and Nate aren't sure yet,” and Riggs gives him a soft snort of a laugh.

“Will be nice for you to come down if you can... then when I have the Boot rebuilt, we will relocate back to our local.” I find myself looking at Riggs then drifting my eyes back to Nate and giving him a soft nod.

“Anyway,” I repeat my earlier words. “We better be off.” I give Riggs a little wink and he tilts his hat, saying goodbye to our new neighbors before we turn and walk out of Sunny's.

Sighing when we're out on the sidewalk, I find myself looking back into the window as we walk past their table and Xavier's eyes burn into mine.

One brown, one ice blue, a scar that runs down from his ear to under his nose.

A shiver dances up and down my spine.

“You okay?” I hear the humorous tone in my brother’s voice.

“Yeah, just that Xavier...” I trail off and look behind me at the diner that is now in the distance.

“I think we could use him,” and I snap my head around, my eyes widening as we approach my office.

“What?” I ask, unlocking the door and pushing into it.

“Do you know what he used to do?” Riggs furrows his brows.

“No idea, this was my first meeting with him,” placing my keys on the desk, “and I don't think it was a very good first impression on his part.”

Riggs chuckles a little louder now.

“He does soften.”

I turn my lips down.

Riggs places his hat on the stand and then sits on the chair opposite my desk.

“Are you going to enlighten me?” I sit in my own chair, kicking my boots onto the hard surface as Riggs tosses my wrapped sandwich at me, catching it and shaking my head.

He looks at me through his lashes, a boyish smirk on his lips as he unwraps his sandwich then takes a bite.

He chews slowly and I swear I am about to throat punch him.

“Riggs,” I snap, brows etched into my skin.

“He was a fixer,” he takes another bite.

“A fixer?” I unwrap my own sandwich and my stomach grumbles.

“Yeah,” he glances his eyes down into his lap.

“What's a fixer?” and I can feel the agitation pricking at my skin and I know this is why Riggs is doing it.

“So, for example...” he pauses and reaches for his coffee, taking a mouthful, “when all of this went down with Clay, we could have called him, if we knew where the body was for example, then he would have just kind of... fixed it?” he lifts a shoulder.

“From what Titus has explained, he was kind of like the clean-up guy... made it go away... no repercussions.”

Then it clicks.

“Ah,” I nod, knowing exactly what he means, taking a bite of my sandwich.

We chew in silence, our eyes locked on each other, a thousand thoughts whizzing between us without us having to say a single word.

Rolling my empty paper up, I toss it into the trash can that sits in the corner of my office.

“Shot,” Riggs nods, then winks as he rolls his own paper up and throws it blindly over his shoulder and sinking it in the trash can.

“Show off,” I roll my eyes and kick my legs down as I reach for my coffee.

“So,” I shuffle in my seat, “back to Xavier...”

“What about him?”

I roll my eyes.

“You think he can help with this?” I drum my fingers on the manilla folder on my desk.

“One hundred percent...” Riggs trails off his words then gives a heavy nod.

“Can you set up a meeting?” I ask quietly.