Bounty (Page 117)

“Well, that’s—”

“Beautiful,” I whispered but spoke louder when I continued. “Romantic. Amazing. And from that point on, he barely left my side. He didn’t even like me out of sight.”

She was careful again when she started, “Justice, this can—”

I interrupted her.

“You know, everything I could tell you about him would support what you’re thinking. He lives in a trailer. He’s had a way tough life. He works construction and he’s got a lot of skills, I figure he gets paid well, but he’s not rolling in it. And as far as I can tell, he has that trailer, his truck, a Harley and some clothes, not many of the last, and not much else.”

I drew in breath and kept at her.

“But that doesn’t mean dick, Joss. Because I know he’s a simple kind of man. He doesn’t need much and life taught him not to want for anything because he wouldn’t get it. He’s not on the take. He’s not setting me up to use me. He didn’t remember me. He didn’t know I was Justice Lonesome. All he knew, in the beginning, was that I was a rich chick setting up house in the mountains and he wanted nothing to do with me. But seeing as I am likable, I liked him and he liked me, he struggled with beating that back. When I got strangled, he lost that struggle. And now…now…well, now he knows he’s ‘Chain Link’ because now he’s mine.”

He was mine.

I turned my head toward the house even if I couldn’t see him.

God, I said it and I didn’t say it wishing it was true.

I said it feeling it already was.

“So, what I hear in your voice is that you think he’s the one,” Joss noted.

“Yes,” I stated, turning my attention to the fire. “That’s what you hear.”

“Girl, you gotta know, when this time came, I’d worry. I told Rod this progressed with you two and now he’s worried. You can get caught up in someone and not see.”

“When I first told you I’d reconnected with the man behind ‘Chain Link,’ you were excited,” I reminded her.

“That was when I thought you might just be getting yourself some and before I heard what I hear in your voice. You might not have the celebrity of your father but you’ve always been a Lonesome.”

“I didn’t tell him my name at first,” I shared. “Not my last, not even my first because I introduced myself back in the day. I worried he’d remember me and it’d be awkward, not to mention totally embarrassing he didn’t remember me.”

“He could still know you,” she replied quietly.

“He didn’t know me.”

“Justice—”

“I’m falling in love with him, Joss,” I told her bluntly and listened to complete silence on the line.

So I kept going.

“I was born into this life,” I told her something she well knew. “I learned the lessons of Luna right along with Dad, and we both did it the hard way. Deke…” I looked beyond my deck to the trees, knowing what lay beyond was the town of Carnal, and shook my head. “No, not just Deke, these people, they’re real, Joss. They know Dad. Some of them even knew me. And they’ve pulled me in. Made me one of their own. Took care of me when shit was extreme. For the first time in my life, everyone I meet, everyone around me is not about the Lonesome. I’m safe. I’m safe with them. And most of all, I’m safe with Deke.”

She didn’t reply immediately.

Then she did.

“Mr. T introduced himself as Bill?”

I drew in a calming breath, hoping I was getting in there, and informed her, “Before he left, Mr. T said that when the foundation of Dad was pulled out from under me, he was glad I found a safe place to land. He was talking about these people looking out for me. Staying up all night to stand guard over me. Pitching in to work on my house to make it so I’d soon have a home. Showing at my place to keep me company. But most of all, he was talking about Deke.”

“I’d like to meet him,” she said.

“And I want you to meet him,” I replied. “Though that isn’t going to happen soon, Joss, because me and Deke are just starting out, getting to know each other, doing this without Anc’s psycho casting a pall over it and we need time to do that.”

“Jussy, you gotta know, your mom and stepdad are not gonna be good with hanging tight while you get in deeper with some guy we’ve never met.”

Okay, shit.

This was bad. Or a new kind of bad, maybe worse than Joss thinking Deke was what she thought he was.

This was bad because Joss was my mom and my best friend. That was a double doozy in the “look a guy over” business.

No way she was going to be easy to put off.

And when I shared how things were going with Deke, Lacey would be the same way.

So I had to nip this in the bud.

Immediately.

“And Joss, you gotta know, I’m thirty-four, not eighteen. I know what I’m doing and when it comes to Deke, I know what I’m doing.”

The careful left Joss’s tone altogether. “Justice, seriously. You’ve just told me you’re falling in love with some guy I’ve never even clapped eyes on.”

“Joss, if this works, it isn’t you who’s going to be falling asleep at his side every night. So you can clap your eyes on him when the time is right.”

“The tone of your voice, the time is right right about now,” she declared.

“The time will be right when I say it’s right,” I retorted.