He snorted. “Duly noted.”
When I got back into the bathroom, Isa was helping Pru dry Sam off with a towel, and I watched from the doorway with a small smile on my face.
“She’s good with them,” I said softly.
“All the more reasons to have more as soon as possible,” Pru teased.
I rolled my eyes and walked over to where Isa was standing. “You ready to go play with a bird, Isa?”
Isa’s eyes widened. “Yes!”
Surprised by the excitement in that answer, I held my hands out for her. “Come on, pretty girl. We’re going to visit my dad, and I’ll show you the bird.”
Isa launched herself at me. “Awww, Isa has the same obsession with birds that Bayou does. How cute is that?”
Grinning, I said the only thing I could think of. “Like father like daughter.”
***
I was unstrapping Isa from the car seat in front of my dad’s place when Bayou called me to tell me he’d gotten out a little earlier than he’d intended.
“Find anything else?” I asked.
“No,” Bayou grumbled. “Yes. Some. Shit. I’m hungry. Where are y’all?”
I hitched Isa up onto my hip. “We just got to my dad’s place. I’m going to clean out Phantom’s mew and give her a little exercise.”
“Cool,” he grumbled. “I’m going to head that way on my bike.”
He sounded like he was excited by the prospect of a long ride, so I didn’t point out the part about it looking like the bottom was about to drop out of the sky just a half hour drive away.
“Okay,” I said as I closed the truck door with my hip. “I’ll see you when you get here.”
Bayou agreed and we hung up. Glancing up to look where I was walking, I wasn’t surprised at all to see my dad and Elliott, one of my dad’s good friends and another member that lived on the compound, standing on the front porch watching me walk up.
“Hey,” I called out to the two of them as I moved. “Why is the front gate open?”
“They’re fixing it,” Dad muttered as he watched me head his way. “They’re in town getting a new part for it. It just kept opening slower and slower until it finally didn’t open at all today. They said it was the solar panel, but apparently, they don’t have a big enough solar panel on their truck to run the size of our gate. Therefore, they had to go get one.”
“Why don’t you just run power over there?” I suggested.
“Because the idea of being here is having a compound that is entirely sustainable even with power down,” Dad explained as he held out his hands for Isa. Isa went willingly, already in love with my father just like I was. “And having power run to the gate will make it to where it’s not sustainable.”
I supposed that I could see that. Really, I could.
However, saying that, I could count multiple times over the years that the gate had stopped working correctly and nearly all of those were due to the battery being bad, or the solar panel not working.
“Gotcha,” I said instead of arguing. I turned to Elliott. “How are you?”
He held his hands out wide, and I walked into them without hesitation.
Every single one of my uncles meant the world to me, but Elliott always had a special place in my heart mainly because he was the comedian of the group. The one that always got a laugh out of me despite how I was feeling.
“I’m doing good,” he rumbled. “I hear that you’re getting married.”
I smiled against his chest for a few long seconds before I pulled away and smiled at him as I said, “I am. We haven’t set a date or anything yet, though. So, don’t bother asking.”
His eyes twinkled. “Yes, ma’am.”
A cute little baby giggle filled the air, and I looked over at my dad who was gently tickling Isa’s neck with the ends of his beard.
I grinned at the two of them. “Would you mind hanging on to her for a little bit while I go outside and work with Phantom? She wants to visit with the bird, and watch, but I also have to clean out the mew and do all of that fun stuff. I don’t want her getting all dirty and gross.”
Dad nodded. “How about I bring her out in thirty minutes or so? That gives her time to eat and you to clean out the cage.”
I held up a thumb and said, “Sounds good.”
Fifteen minutes later, I was sole deep in muddy, poopy dirt as I sloshed in my cute chicken boots through the muddy area around Phantom’s pen.
“How would you like to move over to my house?” I paused. “Though granted, I’m getting married eventually and I’ve only really spent a single night there since I’ve moved in. Maybe I should wait until I’m permanently over at Bayou’s house to invite you over.”
Phantom didn’t bother even looking at me as I cleaned up her mew.
“You could at least act like you’re excited about the move,” I told her.
She fluffed her feathers as a gust of wind caused them to ruffle, then resituated herself silently on her outside perch my dad had made for her right outside her mew door.
I made a humming sound, singing to a tune only I could hear in my head and continued to clean up her mew until it was about as spotless as I could get it without actually bringing the vacuum out.
“All right.” I sighed and stepped back, inspecting the mew visually for any signs of another intruder.
Last week the boards at the side of the mew had been ripped off, almost as if the predator that had tried to get inside had wanted Phantom to come out of her mew before they had dinner.
Luckily, the mew was made of sturdy stuff. That, and Phantom likely enjoyed being the fat and happy bird that she was. She enjoyed being fed without having to actually look for her dinner.
Speaking of, what was left of her dinner was now gone, and I wondered if maybe I should’ve given her something a little more substantial.
She was in the process of molting, and sometimes that took a little more energy, requiring feeding more often than was her norm.
“You ready for us yet?” Dad called from his back porch.
I looked up the length of the yard and held up a finger. “Yes, kind of! I have to go wash my hands and then I’m ready.”
Dad nodded and retreated back into the house, Isa firmly snuggled against his shoulder.
I grinned at the adorableness of that image and then walked up to the side of the cage where my father had installed plumbing for me.
Once my hands were washed, I turned around and started to make my way inside when Phantom let out a warning screech, the one she’d used only a handful of times when she was ‘alarmed.’
The first time I’d heard it I could remember the instance clearly in my mind.
The wind had picked up quite a bit the day in question. She’d been on the hunt, and a large gust of wind had nearly sent her ass over tea kettle. I saw her wings collapse at one point, and that cry had come out of her throat as she’d started to fall.
Luckily, she’d been able to resituate herself, but I’d remembered those few heart-pounding moments both visibly and audibly.
Which had me freezing in my tracks as I took stock of the situation surrounding me.
The area I was in was well-lit thanks to my father making it so, but unfortunately, this area being well-lit meant that I couldn’t see outside of it thanks to the growing darkness.
I slipped the protective glove onto my hand and then made a smooching sound at Phantom.
Phantom’s wings spread, and she flew the very short distance to where she’d been perched to my arm. The strength of her claws hadn’t so much as resituated her weight when something came crashing out of the bushes on my right.
Instinctively, I lifted my arm and gave Phantom a lift, hoping she could make it to the tree above my head to protect herself before whatever it was coming out of the bushes could get to me.
My dad had six fenced-in acres for a backyard, and this fence was the one that paralleled the highwa
y on the backside and the front gate area on the left.
Heart pounding, Phantom took off from my arm, and I was left to brace for whatever it was that was making its way—noisily—toward me.
Opening my mouth, I instinctively took a bracing step back and lifted my arms up to cover my face just as a battering ram hit me.
I went down to the ground hard as another person landed on top of me.
“Where’s my daughter?” a woman growled, fingernails digging into my arms that were still up over my face.
I dropped my hands slightly to look at the woman straddling me.
She was dressed in all black, all the way down to her boots that were planted on either side of me.
Her eyes were crazy, too, as I stared at her in disbelief.
“What? Who are you?” I struggled to get free.
The woman sat on me as I wiggled.
“I asked you a question.” She dug those fingernails in harder.
“Who are you?” I asked, pulling away.
I bucked my hips to try to dislodge her, but the woman had at least a foot of height and about seventy-five pounds on me. She wasn’t fat, but she was definitely bulky. My dad would’ve said she was made of ‘sturdy material.’
I lifted my hand and reared back, letting it snap forward just like my father had taught me.
My fist hit the curve of her cheekbone with a crack, causing her to momentarily stop digging her fucking nails into my arm.
I used it to my advantage and yanked away while also twisting to the side.
When her weight shifted, I shifted as well, causing her to fall off of me all in the same movement.
Once I was up and on my feet, I started reaching for the gun that was at my ankle—something that I’d practiced a thousand times before—when she produced one of her own and wielded it at my face.
I froze and lifted my hands up high over my head, terror starting to take over the rational thoughts to my brain.
The back door opened and I could hear my father talking to someone—either my mom or Isa. My luck, probably both.
They were the last two people I wanted out here right now.
My mother was considered more of a lover and not a fighter, and despite my dad’s teachings over the years, tended to lean more toward passive than aggressive.
Hell, when we’d deserved spankings over the years, she hadn’t been the one to dole them out. My father had.
“Step back and make your way into the light,” the woman who I now realized was Ilsa said.
I could see her face now, and there was no doubt in my mind that she was Isa’s mother.
Once we’d realized how much trouble she was stirring up around us, Bayou had gone out of his way to make sure that everyone in the club, as well as the women, knew who she was.
He’d also let Pru see multiple pictures of her throughout the years so that she would know who it was even if she had decided to change her appearance.
“Another step back,” Ilsa ordered.
I did right around the same time that I heard Bayou’s laugh.
My heart skipped a beat.
Ilsa’s eyes narrowed and she momentarily took her eyes away from me to glare up the length of the yard in the direction that I could now hear my father and Bayou talking.
He’d made it.
Thank God.
“Bastard,” Ilsa hissed and turned her eyes back to me.
However, that was all the distraction that Phantom needed. One second she was perched on the tree above our heads, and the next she was coming down hard, claws extended.
A gunshot sounded just as Phantom’s claws connected with the soft tissue of Ilsa’s face.
I gasped and fell to the ground, hoping to avoid being hit by any stray bullets, just as Phantom launched herself back upward and Ilsa began to scream.
***
Bayou stood with his arm around me as we watched the doctor in the emergency room where my mother and sister worked to stitch up Ilsa’s face.
She had a police escort—my uncle James—on one side in full uniform, and another officer, Miller Spurlock, on the other.
Both were watching dispassionately as Ilsa cried with each stitch to her ruined face.
“I’m going to buy Phantom a goddamn castle,” Bayou rumbled.
I grinned. “She aimed very well. She could’ve gotten Ilsa’s eyes but didn’t. Only her cheeks are shredded.”
“Now I see why you wear the thick glove,” he said. “Seeing the damage and knowing that damage could be caused are two completely different things.”
I agreed. “The first time I saw her rip into a rabbit I was stunned. And that rabbit had a protective layer of fur to help. The damage to Ilsa’s face was only caused by a single blow. Can you imagine if she’d continuously attacked?”
Bayou grunted. “I almost wish she would have. It’d been a favor to have her gone and out of the picture.”
“Luckily,” I heard from someone at my side. “That won’t be necessary.”
Castiel stood there, a notebook in one hand, and a cell phone in the other.
“Hello,” I said, startled to find him there.
I hadn’t heard him arrive.
Bayou didn’t look surprised to see him, though, meaning I was likely just unobservant.
“Find anything out?” I asked hopefully.
“Oh, more than enough to issue a warrant for her arrest.” Castiel gestured toward Ilsa with a tilt of his chin. “Once she’s done here, I’m taking her in for questioning.”
“It was too easy,” I muttered almost to myself.
“What was?” Bayou asked in confusion.
I gestured toward the room where Ilsa was, then to us with a wave of my hands. “That. Diane was caught after we found out that Ilsa was involved. Then Ilsa tries to shoot us hours after that.”
Bayou shook his head. “She was desperate. She knew that she wasn’t getting Isa back. She’d miscalculated, and now she had to either do damage control and try to fix it, or she was going to lose. And Ilsa doesn’t like losing.”
I sighed.
“I guess. It just seems too easy,” I muttered. “Like there is more to come.”
Castiel shook his head. “Not more. Zee and I worked our asses off today. Not to mention there was some shit in my inbox about two hours ago that had more than enough information to put her away for quite a long time if she hadn’t already dug her own grave. You wouldn’t happen to know where that came from, would you?”
Why was he looking at me?
“Me?” I asked, trying to appear innocent. “Why are you asking me?”
His eyes narrowed.
Damn, I’d laid it on a little too thick.
But, I didn’t lie well. I never had.
There was no doubt in my mind that my phone call to my father this morning about the dozens of phone calls we’d received from Ilsa the night before had elicited my father to finally send over the information he’d likely been sitting on for when it was needed.
Castiel muttered under his breath. “I can’t use any of it. Not with how it got to me. But I can investigate it myself. Which I will. At any rate, if you happen to figure it out tell them thank you.”
Bayou squeezed my hip and silenced my next, ‘But I had nothing to do with it.’
Lies.
“Are you arresting her or is Kilgore Police?” Bayou questioned, saving me from lying some more.
“That’s what we’re about to find out.” Castiel slapped Bayou on the back. “Go home. There’s no reason for you to be here anymore.”
And there wasn’t.
Not really.
“Have a good one, man,” Bayou muttered as he watched him walk away.
Long minutes passed before Bayou said, “Are you ready?”
I looked up to find him staring at me.
“Yes,” I paused. “I think I am.”
Later that night, as I lay in Bayou�
�s arms, I asked him once again if he thought it all was over.
His answer was to roll me over onto my back and kick my thighs apart roughly.
“Maybe if I show you that it’s all right, you’ll believe it,” he growled.
Then he showed me just how ‘all right’ everything was.
With his mouth.
His hands.
His teeth.
And then his cock.
But when he was done, and I was sated and sleepy, I couldn’t help but saying, “That was more than ‘all right.’”
He was chuckling quietly as I fell asleep.
Chapter 20
If you want a successful relationship, find someone that likes the same thermostat setting as you do.
-Happy marriage tips
Bayou
Three months later
The day of the hearing dawned bright and early.
We were out of the house by seven thirty. I’d dropped off Isa and left Pru’s house by seven forty, and I was at the courthouse steps with Phoebe at my side by eight.
And, so was my grandfather.
I felt my stomach dip.
Then I felt a weird sort of elation as I walked up to him and offered him my hand.
As always, my grandfather ignored it and wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me tight just like he’d done when I was a kid—just like he continued to do every single time he saw me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, stepping back when he’d finally let me go.
“I’m here to see my great-grandbabies.” Dixie rolled his eyes. “What did you think I was here for?”
Phoebe snickered at my side, and my grandfather’s eyes turned to assess her. “Hello, Fancy.”
Phoebe’s smile widened. “It’s good that you’re here. Bayou was freaking out.”
Pop’s eyes turned to me. “Yeah?”
I straightened my shoulders. “I’m okay.”
And I was.
Or at least, I would be.
Everything was fine until my father walked in and changed everything.
“What’s he doing here?” I hissed.
Dixie looked over his shoulder to my father, who was staring at the room with a look of disgust on his face.
One Chance, Fancy Page 20
