“That’s fast.”
“There’s a place down the street that delivers.”
“Convenient. Speaking of Rawlins, have you spoken to him? How’s things going with Chaney?”
He raised a brow. “Curious to see if she is still upset with you over that fight, you picked yesterday?”
“Who says I–”
“Come on, Justus, no one turns on their friend like that without a reason. I couldn’t figure it out at first, but then it became clear you wanted to put distance between the two of you. And after my conversation with Liberty, she confirmed it. If anyone needs to have a phone call, I think it’s you reaching out to Chaney and making up, explaining what you did and how you wanted to keep her safe. Which was noble but uncalled for when she had her protector at hand to do the job.”
“But maybe she didn’t want him there. Maybe she had the same issue I did.”
Rafferty shook his head, settling on the other end of the sofa. “I didn’t get that vibe from her. She seemed more at ease with Rawlins when they left. If things changed after…well…then that will be a different story, but from what I observed, it looked good.”
She nodded. “Okay. I’ll call her. Liberty wanted me to do it anyway, but I thought it was too soon. If you think I should too, then I will.”
“I do. You don’t have to do it tonight if you’ve been through too much today, but tomorrow.”
“Calling her now isn’t a problem. I’d like to hear her voice.” Justus pulled her phone from her pocket. Her finger hovered over the screen before pressing send; she glanced back at him. “What if she won’t talk to me?”
“You won’t know unless you make the call.”
Taking a breath, she took the leap of faith that Chaney would answer, and after a few rings, she did.
“Hello?”
“I’m sorry,” Justus said. “I only said what I did because I wanted you to be safe by distancing yourself from us. Can you forgive me?”
“Jerk.”
“You’re right. I was.”
“You hurt me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I was having trouble dealing with my parents not wanting me to see you, and then you go and do that. I should hate you for it,” Chaney said.
“I know. You have every right to feel that way,” Justus replied. “But I thought I was doing what was in your best interest: keeping you safe if you weren’t with us.”
“Rawlins is here to keep me safe. You have Rafferty. I think we’ll be fine.”
“Will we?” Justus asked. “Our rental was broken into and trashed today. Liberty is now in Fool’s Gold, and I’m staying with Rafferty. I hope you have better luck than me.”
“Oh no. Rawlins hasn’t mentioned anything to me about this,” Chaney’s voice rose.
“I don’t think he knows. Has he spoken with his brother?” Justus glanced back at Rafferty, who was busy texting.
“Not sure,” Chaney said.
“Be careful. If those men can find Liberty and me, they could find you.”
“Do you know for sure it was them?”
“No. It wasn’t clear who broke in, but who else could it have been?”
“Right. Thanks for the heads up.”
