“The bitch is in for one hell of a rude awakening then.”
“She should get the eviction papers tomorrow,” I assured him.
“Thank fuck!” Mitch grabbed my cheeks and pulled me close so he could kiss my nose. “You are my fucking hero today.”
“I didn’t do anything but inherit my family’s land.”
“You came back when you didn’t have to and no one ever gave you a reason to want to. That’s enough for now.”
“I’m still in the Army, and half the land will be hung up in court for who knows how long as Tiffany tries to fight me for it.”
“I’ll get with Mathers and see where I need to move the herds and equipment so they’re not any of the contested land, that way she can’t put a stop to the work.”
“And I’ll see to it that you get paid this week as well as anyone you need to bring on to help out. Dad apparently kept some money aside from when my mom died and it is in an account that Tiffany can’t contest either. I’ll use that for now until I can get my hands on the business accounts.”
“Always were a straight shooter, girl. No need to go touching your trust fund, though,” he teased with another wink. We had never been rich, so he knew it couldn’t be much. “I have everything I need and will only need some part time help for now to get everything moved over. I know a few fellas who owe me some favors.”
“Don’t call in favors on my account, Mitch.”
“Hush now. I have to go hit the head and then you can buy me another round. We’ll call it even for now.”
He got up and walked away and suddenly I felt lonelier than I had since I left Violence. Was my father’s old ranch hand the only person in the bar I really knew well enough to carry on a conversation with?
My question was answered a minute later when someone tapped me on the shoulder.
“It really is you,” James Davis said. He had grown and filled out along with rocking a beard and what looked like ridiculously long hair that was pulled back into a long ponytail at his nape. He looked even better than he had all those years ago. “You have a lot of fucking nerve showing your face around here again,” he slurred at me.
“What? How? I never did a damn thing to piss anyone off.”
“No? Then what do you call covering for my fucking ex-wife while she had all her affairs?” I took a step back and gaped at James. The leather cut he wore said he went by Knuckles now, but I didn’t know that man. I only knew James Davis and didn’t feel like he had grown up at all in the emotional depth and intelligence departments.
“For years, she swanned off to that fancy college of yours and did whoever the fuck she wanted and you never said a word. Just kept letting her come there and do her thing. Even after college, you invited her to get away from her life and still not a fucking word that she might be fucking other people. You couldn’t tellme? You hate me that much for not talking to you during school all those years ago? Or was it because I said I’d never be with you? Did you think I deserved to be cheated on over and over again? Was it good enough revenge for you, you bitch?”
“I have no clue what in the hell you are talking about, James Davis, but this is my father’s wake and you need to leave.”
The minute I mentioned my father’s wake, it was like the man sobered instantly and then looked around. It was only then that we both seemed to realize there were pictures hung up everywhere. Pictures of my dad, of he and I together when I was younger. Of our family of three before we lost my mom. There were no pictures of Tiffany, and since Mr. Mathers said he took care of the details, I assumed he was told by my father to leave her out of the celebration altogether.
“I didn’t know about your dad,” James told me as he reached out like he would pull me in for a hug.
Fuck that.
“Yeah, you’ve always been self-centered like that. Now leave before I get the law in here to help escort you out.”
The bastard just pinned all his marital woes on my back. He could eat a bag of dicks and choke on them while he was at it. I stepped back and landed squarely in Mitch’s chest. He wrapped an arm around me and then lifted me only to set me down to his side and just behind him.
“The lady told you that you aren’t welcome here right now, I think you better get the hell out of here. Your club won’t have your back on this one if you refuse.”
“I have him,” another man said. I glanced around Mitch in time to see a dark-haired biker there with a grim look on his face as he took hold of his friend and dragged him away.
“I didn’t know her dad was dead, but that doesn’t change the shit she’s done. She helped that bitch cheat on me for years.”
I shook my head and went to sit at the bar and ignore everyone who heard every piece of vitriol he spat about me. It was all lies and I had no doubt he believed them. Simone led him to believe I refused to be part of their wedding back before we graduated. I had no doubt she continued to use me as a her scapegoat, patsy, or whatever the fuck anytime she needed an excuse to get out of town, lie, fuck off somewhere, or when she needed sympathy for something. I hoped like hell their kid didn’t turn out like her. Then again, the alternative was that the kid turned out like him and I wasn’t sure if being terminally stupid where women were concerned was better than being a manipulative bitch.
“What the hell was he talking about?” Mitch asked.
“Don’t know. I haven’t spoken to him or the woman he married since the day we graduated high school. She certainly didn’t visit me at college, since I never attended a traditional school in-house.”
“Know that much. Fucking fool if he thinks the woman who cheated on him repeatedly wouldn’t lie about other shit, too. The crazy part is that he divorced her and he still believes the lies she fed him about you.” Mitch chuckled then spun his serious gaze my way. “He gives you anymore trouble before you head out, you let me know. I’ll go have a chat with Crutch and Bigfoot. They transitioned over to Bigfoot having the presidency not long ago, but Crutch still has his ear when things count.”
