Hearts and Aces (Kelsey's Burden Series Book 7)

by Kaylie Hunter

  “I’ll make it,” I said, jumping to the left at the last minute, diving under a branch and back onto the main trail.

  I heard Donovan thrashing behind me, but Bones must’ve missed the jump. Twigs and branches snapped as he cursed loudly. Donovan laughed as he passed me and kept going. The next group of runners were moving at a good clip and I didn’t have enough energy to pass them. I stayed in pace with them rounding the next corner and out of the woods again. I slapped my flag onto the table and grabbed for the next flag, but I swayed.

  “Kelsey?” Tech called out, grabbing me to steady me. “You need to stop. You’re not well.”

  I took a deep breath, focused my eyes and grabbed the flag. “I’m halfway there.”

  “Kelsey—” Anne started to say as I jogged into the woods.

  I made it down the straightway before I started to sway again.

  Wild Card caught me and turned me away from the tree directly in my path. “What the hell?”

  “I’m just winded,” I said, squeezing my eyes shut and then opening them, trying to focus my vision.

  “Wild Card?” Katie called, coming up behind us.

  “I got her. Go.”

  I tried to run faster but swayed again.

  “Stubborn woman,” Wild Card said, running ahead of me and pulling me by my arms onto his back.

  I wrapped my legs around him and held on, trying to slow my breathing. “Just winded.” I heaved another deep breath. “The rules.”

  “I read the rules. Doesn’t say anything about the runner actually running the lap. Says each runner has to make it around each lap.”

  “Shortcut… Seven feet after next tree…” I panted, trying to get the words out. “Veer right.”

  Wild Card cut to the right and found the deer trail. “Damn.”

  “At the end… log, jump, duck… leap to left.”

  “Log. Jump. Duck. Leap left. Got it. Concentrate on your breathing.”

  I tucked my forehead into his shoulder and tried to steady my breaths. They were ragged and burned with each inhale. I felt Wild Card tense and held on for the jump, duck, left leap. His feet hit the hard-packed trail, and I felt him laugh as it reverberated against my body.

  “She okay?” Bridget asked, coming up alongside us.

  “I’ll get her there.”

  Bridget nodded and took off ahead of us. She was drenched in sweat and breathing hard.

  “Another group ahead of us,” Wild Card said.

  “Not worth… brush and prickers. We’re almost to the last turn.” I inhaled again, filling my lungs. “Go ahead and drop me. I’ve got my breath back.”

  Wild Card slowed enough to lower me but grabbed my arm, running alongside me.

  “You don’t need to hang back.”

  He laughed. “How come you're always trying to get rid of me?”

  Our pathetic pace was greeted with cheers as we ran out of the woods and exchanged our flags for fresh ones. Trigger ran up behind us and grabbed a new flag too. Wild Card and I stepped aside for him to run ahead of us before we jogged back into the woods.

  “This is last lap… right?”

  “No talking. Focus on your breathing,” he said as he gripped my arm harder.

  I focused on taking slow deep breaths into my diaphragm and out just as slow, while keeping my feet stretched out ahead of me as I ran. My vision blurred a few times, but Wild Card kept me on the trail. I nodded as we neared the back turn and I veered to the right to follow the deer trail.

  “Why isn’t everyone else following this trail yet?”

  “Probably… saw… Bones,” I said between heaved breaths. “Wiped… out… hard.”

  “Quit talking. Breathe.”

  “Quit… asking… questions…” At the log I jumped, ducked, and veered left but my body kept going. I would’ve toppled over if it weren’t for Wild Card grabbing hold of me in time to pull me back on course.

  He jogged next to me holding my arm. “There’s at least twenty runners ahead of us. Any ideas?”

  I nodded, too short of breath to talk. Making a hard right again, I jogged fifteen feet to the south, straight into the woods, before jumping down into a shallow creek and turning to the east. The creek held less than an inch of water, splashing us as we ran toward the road. I heard more splashes behind us.

  “Just Katie and I,” Bridget called out. “Take us to the finish line, boss!”

  I ran as hard as my legs would take me. Wild Card stayed close behind me as the creek turned slightly to the left and ended. I ran at full speed toward the inclined slope, but my two leaping steps failed to propel me over and I felt my weight shift backward. Wild Card wrapped an arm around my waist, dragging me upward, as Bridget ran up beside me on my right and pulled me by my arm. I felt hands against my back, pushing me onward. Somehow, with everyone’s help, we made it up the bank and onto the side of the road. I pointed toward the end of the trail as I staggered in that direction.

  “You did good,” Wild Card said, pulling me onto his back.

  Once again, I hung on as Wild Card ran with me on his back. I could hear the cheers, but my vision was too blurry to see anyone. My arms gave out, and I felt myself falling backward.

  “Got her!” Tech’s voice called out behind me. “Go!”

  Tech was carrying me by the arms and Wild Card carried my legs. Together they got me to our table and lifted me up to drop my flag into the basket.

  “Second place!” Pops called to our team.

  When they lowered me to the grass, I rolled into a sitting position—and puked on my shoes.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  I’m not sure who was the angriest with me. Everyone seemed to be competing to yell the loudest. Sara and Nicholas were the only ones being nice. They brought me several bottles of water to drink and rinse off with as Haley and Doc took turns checking my pulse and listening to my heart. I wasn’t sure where in the medical journals it said yelling at the patient who was having heart palpitations was a good idea–but they must’ve read it somewhere.

  Wild Card stripped off my puke covered shoes before carrying me over to the flatbed trailer and setting me in a lawn chair next to Hattie.

  Hattie giggled. “Welcome to the infirmary.”

  “Do they serve beer here?”

  Bridget opened a cooler and passed me a cold bottle. I didn’t have the strength to open it so I held it against my forehead.

  “Kelsey!” Grady called out, jogging over.

  “Stay away from my mother!” Nicholas yelled, charging into the yard to stop Grady.

  Several guards moved over, pointing guns at Grady.

  Wild Card and Donovan walked toward them. Wild Card picked up Nicholas, carrying him back to the trailer. Donovan exchanged quick words with Grady before they started walking toward the highway. I scanned the crowd, noting that Sebrina was watching me. I nodded in acknowledgment. She smirked before turning to follow Grady.

  I looked back to my team. “I’ll hang with the kids and Hattie so everyone else can go across the street to celebrate.”

  “And have them glare at us all night for that stunt Katie pulled?” Tech asked as he got out his phone and made a call. “You can come out of hiding now. Everyone’s leaving.”

  Katie ran out of Lisa’s house and leapt onto the trailer. “That was so much fun.”

  “Running in the race? Or running for your life?” I asked.

  Katie walked over and uncapped my beer, handing it back. “Both. What’s the next competition?”

  “Scavenger hunt in the morning,” Trigger answered. “It starts at nine, though. You and Anne will be working at the store.”

  “No, they won’t,” Hattie said. “Alex and I arranged extra staffing so the girls can compete.”

  “Are you sure?” Anne asked, looking between Alex and Hattie.

  “Lisa and I will be there,” Alex said, nodding. “And Haley, Pepper, and a couple other girls offered to work for old-time’s sake. If you two get done early, though
, you know where to find us.”

  “What about security?” I asked.

  “Whiskey’s taking lead at the store, and I’ve got the house,” Tyler answered.

  “The kids?”

  “They’re going on the scavenger hunt with us,” Wild Card said. “I already cleared it with Donovan.”

  “Yes!” Nicholas exclaimed, jumping up and down.

  “Do you know what a scavenger hunt is?” I asked him.

  “No, but I’m sick of being home,” he said, leaning against my shoulder.

  Wild Card laughed and turned back to Alex. “We’ll need Katie and Anne for the three o’clock rope pulling contest too.” Wild Card pulled a beer from one of the coolers. “It should be quick. We’ll take at least third place.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “How do you figure?”

  “Rules say the winner is the last group holding the rope. Doesn’t say anything about wearing fireman’s gear and lighting the rope on fire. Since the competition is single elimination, that means after one bout there’ll be three winning teams and three losing teams. Thus, we take third place if we lose the next two.”

  “If my husband asks, I knew nothing about this,” Lisa said, sitting in the yard chair next to me. “But just so you know, there’s extra lighter fluid in our garage.”

  “Uh, I might need to steal some of that,” I said. “I have some bags that need to be burned.”

  “I can take care of it,” Nightcrawler said, dumping an empty beer bottle into a box and pulling a new one.

  “No need,” Tyler said, taking Nightcrawler’s beer from him. “I lit the burn barrel during the race. We’re all set.”

  “We really do need to clone you, Tyler,” I said. “You did good tonight.”

  “Right back at you, boss,” Tyler said, clinking my beer bottle.

  “Am I the only one who doesn’t know what you guys are talking about?” Katie asked.

  “Consider yourself lucky,” I said, leaning my head back and closing my eyes.

  “Aunt Kelsey?” Sara said, giggling. “Remember that guy who called you misfits?”

  “Yeah,” I said, opening my eyes and looking over at Sara. She was watching her laptop.

  Tech moved behind her, looking over her shoulder at her computer. “Casey’s beating the crap out of him in the parking lot at Headquarters.”

  I grinned, pulling my phone. “Tyler, let security know that Casey’s been invited back for a beer.”

  As Tyler jogged off, I texted Casey and extended the invite. Twenty minutes later, Donovan, Bones, and Casey walked across the highway and joined us for drinks. All three of them were slapping mosquitoes away. We all looked at Katie.

  “I’ll get a fresh bucket of soapy water,” she said as she jogged into the garage, giggling.

  My attention turned to the end of the street. Six cop cars drove down the street with their lights on and parked alongside the road. I glanced over at Bridget.

  “I swear,” Bridget said, not turning her attention away from the cops as she talked to me. “That storage room is so spotless, I’d willingly lick the walls.”

  “We used a sprayer to soak the walls, ceiling, and floor in bleach. They won’t find any DNA,” Tyler said.

  “Then we washed everything in Lysol so it didn’t smell bleachy,” Bridget added. “But then it smelled like Lysol, so we washed it again with dish soap. Just smells clean now, but not too clean.”

  “I think you're getting the point,” Tyler said. “Bridget went overboard again.”

  “This time, I’m grateful,” I said, standing and drawing the attention of the officers who were gathering. “What can we do for the police officers of Kalamazoo this evening?”

  “Sorry to bother you, Kelsey,” Steve said. “We got an anonymous tip that there were bodies in the basement of Alex’s house. I’m afraid we need to check it out.”

  “Bodies?” I laughed, looking at Wild Card who laughed with me. “How odd someone would call and say we had bodies in the basement. I’ll be glad to open the house and allow you access.”

  “You sit and rest,” Wild Card said to me. “She hasn’t been feeling well,” he explained to the group of cops. “Donovan and I can let you inside to look around.”

  They shuffled as a group across the front yards toward Alex’s house.

  “They’re not going to find any bodies, are they?” Dave asked as he and Steve walked over alone.

  “Nope,” I said, leaning my head back and closing my eyes again.

  ~*~*~

  I woke with a start, sitting up to find myself fully clothed in bed. I looked at the clock, discovering it was almost five in the morning. I couldn’t remember anything past sitting in the lawn chair on the trailer the night before.

  I heard someone stir and turned to find Wild Card sleeping on the other side of the bed. He was fully dressed, including his running shoes. I slid out of bed and into the bathroom, shutting the door before I turned on the light. Making quick work of a shower, I grinned when I stepped out and saw a cup of coffee sitting next to the sink. Wrapped in my robe, I walked into the bedroom with my coffee to an empty room. I dressed in jeans, a tailored button-up blouse, and my favorite pair of boots. I checked my gun and secured it in a belt harness. Grabbing my coffee and phone, I walked out to the dining room, surprised to find Tech already up.

  “First text messages went out to the bakery employees. So far, eleven of the fourteen have read the text.”

  “Who’s next? The mill employees?”

  Tech nodded, not taking his eyes off his computer. Wild Card set a cup of cocoa next to Tech, before sitting beside me.

  “Why are you up so early?” I asked Tech. “I thought you had the messages programmed to go out automatically.”

  “They are automatic, but you weren’t the only one who went to bed early last night. Most of us drank a beer or two before calling it a night. I think I was asleep before ten, which means I woke up before dawn.”

  “A good night’s sleep works in our favor,” Wild Card said.

  “How so?”

  “Scavenger hunt this morning. Half the guys at Headquarters will be hung over.”

  I laughed, sipping my coffee.

  The garage door opened and Tyler walked in, stopping to look at me. “What’s your mood like this morning?”

  I grinned at Tyler. “I’m good. It’s safe to let Tweedle inside.”

  Tyler smirked, stepping back to let Tweedle pass.

  “Good morning, everyone. How was your night?” Tweedle asked as she breezed through the doorway and set her purse on the counter.

  We all mumbled various replies.

  “Okay, then. I’ll just get started on breakfast. I promised Ryan I’d go on the scavenger hunt later. I’m so excited. I just hope I don’t do anything embarrassing.”

  “Why do you care?” I asked.

  “What do you mean?” Tweedle asked.

  “Why do you care what anyone else thinks?”

  “They’re all so impressive, of course. I don’t want to embarrass Ryan in front of his friends.”

  “Ryan doesn’t keep those type of friends,” Wild Card said. “He’d never hang out with anyone who would judge you for being you.”

  Maggie walked through the garage door, wearing the same clothes as the night before.

  I shook my head. “Talk about no judgment,” I said, grinning.

  She winked at me as she filled a cup of coffee.

  “Tyler, can you call Ryan and invite him over for morning coffee?” I asked. “There’s no reason he can’t have breakfast with his wife for at least one morning.”

  Tyler nodded, pulling his phone and sending a text.

  “And Tyler?”

  He looked up at me.

  “I expect you to assign someone else to be in charge for a few hours while you sleep. You look like hell.”

  Tyler smirked before walking out.

  “I just don’t get it,” Donovan said, shaking his head. “You run your team ragged,
working all hours of the day and night, and they still won’t quit and come work for me.”

  “Maybe someday I’ll tell you my secret,” I whispered to Donovan.

  “Enough about them,” Maggie said, sitting on the other side of me. “You haven’t asked me about my night yet.”

  “Based on your walk of shame, I figured your night ended in bed with Billy.”

  “I’m never ashamed,” Maggie said, grinning. “However, you are also way off base. I thought it would be more authentic if I slept in Hobbs’ apartment, but Billy-boy freaked out.”

  Wild Card and Donovan looked at Maggie with puzzled expressions.

  “Freaked out how?” I asked.

  “He handed me clothes to sleep in—and left. He never came back.”

  I turned to Tech. “Can you pull the footage and see where he went?”

  “I thought we were spying on Daphne, not my guards?” Donovan asked.

  “Are you telling me you don’t want to know?”

  “Doesn’t matter what Donovan wants,” Lisa said, standing and moving behind Tech. “I want to know. I can’t imagine any man turning down—” she waved a hand toward Maggie’s body, “—all that.”

  “Why, thank you, Lisa,” Maggie said.

  “You’re welcome, but if you ever make a move on my husband—”

  “Lisa!” I snapped. “A little less bat-shit crazy this morning, please. It’s too early.”

  Lisa huffed but her attention moved to the computer monitor. “Well, that’s weird.”

  “What’s weird?” Ryan asked as he entered through the garage door.

  I walked around the table to join everyone else looking over Tech’s screen.

  “Why is Hobbs sleeping in the hallway outside his apartment?” Ryan asked, looking at the video. “And why do we care?”

  I started laughing when I saw the apartment number. “That’s not his apartment. It’s Daphne’s. I’ll be damned. Billy’s her stalker.”

  “Excuse me?” Donovan asked.

  My mind raced to put the pieces together. “When Maggie kissed Billy yesterday, no one could figure out why a man like him was so clueless. What if he reacted like that, though, because he didn’t want Daphne to see him kissing another woman?”