AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ifthe jerk face made good on his threat of a day for every minute I stalled.
We weren’t going to stop Lincoln from going to jail. We were just prolonging the inevitable and making the situation worse.
“We’re going to save him,” Eric said as if reading my mind.
No matter how many times we were kicked down, he remained optimistic. I wished I shared his attitude.
Somehow, his positivity made me believe in miracles. Because of him, we had a business that was growing and thriving in a way I never dreamed.
The word impossible wasn’t in his vocabulary.
“Eric . . .” I didn’t want to get his hopes up.
“Just believe me, sis.”
How could I not?
I won’t go to jail. I won’t go to jail.
I’d stopped making promises to myself a long time ago that I knew I couldn’t keep. Jail was a hard limit for me, so this was one I’d make sure I followed through on.
“Okay.” I stooped back down, undeterred by my dress touching the dirty sidewalk. The clothes were for show anyway. “They have to be somewhere around here,” I called loudly enough for the agent to hear.
“Did you check by the van?” Beau asked, also using an extra loud voice for emphasis.
“I’ll look.” Pepper jogged to the driver’s side.
Honk. Honnnnnkkkk.
Underneath the SUV, I made out the tires of another vehicle stuck behind me. Pepper waved them around. They blew the horn again as they passed.
A small crowd began to gather on the sidewalk. Huh. I thought most people in the city just kept on going past trouble.
Miss Adeline held on to the dogs. Muffy struggled against the leash, desperately yanking toward the SUV. Specifically the back of it.
He was an excitable dog, especially when it came to food, but I’d never seen him like this.
He didn’t belong to Lincoln. At least I didn’t think so, but Muffy had been possessive of Lincoln since we’d arrived.
“What’s wrong with Muffy?” Eric followed my gaze from his position next to me.
“I’m not sure.”
Eric moved toward the dog and my nerves spiked. I trusted Pepper and Miss Adeline’s dogs, but ultimately they were unpredictable, particularly when they were upset.
Muffy stamped his feet and tugged. Eric bravely touched his head, though the dog remained undeterred.
“Eric, come sit by me,” Miss Adeline suggested gently.
My brother pretended not to hear, something he was the world champion at, and spoke in a soothing way to Muffy. The dog still struggled toward the car, though his feet weren’t moving quite so emphatically.
Ba-dum. Ba-dum.
I was too young to have a heart attack, but at the rate I was going, I was on track to have one before I turned forty.
At some point, I’d risen to a standing position again. Please don’t hurt Eric. I pleaded to the dog in my head, knowing that if something happened, it would completely be an accident. Even that knowledge didn’t deter the unhealthy spike of my nerves.
The agent shoved out of the car once more and stomped around to the back door. He yanked it open, released the handcuffs, and Lincoln’s distinguished arm appeared. It was long, clad in a custom-made suit, with a tanned hand at the end.
