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“In a day or two.”
“Why not now?”
“He met a crazy-hot woman,” Selene explains again.
I can picture her nearly sitting on his lap. They’re always touching and huddled together. Ruin never acted that way with his first wife. Nicole was just a baby mama with a ring on her finger. Selene is the real deal for Ruin, so I know he’s able to grasp the concept of love.
“Austen Halvorson will never give you what you want,” Ruin tells me after Selene tries to get him to mellow out.
“You can’t possibly know that. And what if I marry her and she has a say in the Halvorson estate? Then, you and she can push out Peter. Seems like you’re being very shortsighted here, boss.”
When Ruin doesn’t reply immediately, I feel his big brain working out angles. “She isn’t coming back to see Urick, right? This thing is between you two.”
“Yeah, but I think she’ll end up visiting her dad. He’ll be dead soon, and I’d rather she didn’t live with regrets.”
“I’m going to be square with you. The Halvorson kids all seem fine on the outside, but they’re rotten down deep. You should be careful with this woman.”
Exhaling deeply in reaction to his paranoia, I explain, “She’s as sweet as sugar. Austen ran a low-cost vet clinic before our troubles got it burnt to a crisp.”
“Walla Walla, be smart here.”
“You don’t know her,” I reply, hiding my irritation because I absolutely fucking knew he’d be a pessimistic bitch about my news. “I’ve spent the last day with her. Between us, I’m the one with inside knowledge while you’re the one talking out his ass.”
When Ruin grumbles under his breath, Selene says something in return. She must win him over because his tone changes.
“Are you sure those bikers aren’t plotting something?”
“They don’t care about Goose and me. They just want to make nice with Suzanne. Killing the remaining ranch workers did that.”
“Do we even know they’re telling the truth? It’s not like they gave you a lick of evidence.”
“Banta City is big, Ruin.”
“I’m aware of that, Walla Walla.”
“No, but you can’t feel it because we’re always in the Valley. The city breathes different. These bikers just want to make money. The ranch hands were distracting them. They did what they did so we’ll go away. Nothing more complicated than that. Kinda like how we dealt with Nomad’s woman’s crazy in-laws. They were gnats to us.”
“How did they find them so fast?”
“This city is wired. Like big brother shit. Cameras everywhere.”
Ruin exhales deeply. “Feels too tidy.”
“We still have to worry about Peter Halvorson.”
“I’m not worried about that fucking pussy.”
“If he did get those men riled up, he’s a threat. There’s nothing stopping him from hiring outside people to cause trouble for Austen or the club.”
“You just want him dead, so your girlfriend can run shit in Canary Basin.”
“Are you saying you wouldn’t love the same damn thing?”
Ruin falls silent, and I feel him thinking again.
“I didn’t see this thing coming with the ranch hands,” he tells me after he changes locations, and the background noises go silent. “Even after they fucked with Yagger, I figured it was dick-wagging by Erik.”
“How is Yagger?”
