Hold On (Page 175)

“He will. He’ll come back. It’s him and me and everyone knows it,” she pushed.

“Really? Are you that deep in the fantasy? How sad.”

I didn’t say that.

My head turned at the new voice.

And when I saw who was behind it, I stopped dead.

I did this because, joining our tableau, was Susie Shepherd.

And her catty, bitch-from-hell eyes were aimed at Mia.

I didn’t know Susie. Not at all. She never came into the bar partly because she was Colt’s ex, partly because she was kidnapped by Denny Lowe and shot by him during her time as a hostage, and partly because everyone in town knew she’d sold her story, which made the residue of Lowe’s journey of lunacy last a lot longer.

She was also known ’burg-wide as a soulless, selfish, spoiled bitch.

This was evidenced by the fact that she and her partner in crime, Tina Blackstone (who did come into J&J’s, regrettably, since the bitch didn’t tip), wreaked havoc countywide in a variety of ways they were committed to to the point it seemed like a mission.

These included targeting married men with their charms (and unfortunately, since Susie was very attractive, she was successful with this). They gossiped viciously with the few friends they had, spreading that gossip as far and as wide as they could, even if it was all lies. And they threw down easily and frequently whenever the spirit moved them (even to the point of Susie going at it with Vi right in front of Cal, who Susie had fucked, a fact she’d shared with Vi right in front of Cal).

Everyone in town hated her.

I only knew her because I’d seen pictures of her in conjunction with reports about Lowe’s mayhem and I’d seen her around town here and there.

But in the grand scheme of things in the ’burg, I knew one thing for certain: if your day was filled with happiness and light or it was the worst kind of crap, Susie Shepherd could darken it exponentially.

Shit.

“Your input isn’t needed here, Susie,” Mia snapped.

“You aren’t needed here, Mia,” Susie snapped back, then looked at me, throwing out a disgusted hand. “I mean, seriously. Normally? Rude. But it’s Christmas.” She shook her head. “Some people.”

I stared at Susie in shock.

Mia didn’t.

She turned fully to her and shared, “I was having a private conversation with Cher.”

“You were staking your claim to Merrick. Again. I don’t get it, Mia. The man’s so over you, it’s embarrassing. I mean,” she jerked her head to me, “she’s all but shacked up with him, in Bobbie’s parking lot with a trunk full of Christmas decorations they’re gonna put on a tree in his new house and probably fuck under, and you get in her face.” She shook her head and concluded, “It’s not embarrassing, it’s plain sad.”

I watched this all going down with some fascination at the same time I made a mental note to find time to fuck Merry under our new boho Christmas tree.

“Your opinion is unwanted,” Mia shot back.

“Just trying to help a sister save face,” Susie said with false concern. “I mean, why you haven’t left town yet, I do not know.”

“You are asking me that?” Mia retorted.

Susie shrugged. “Yeah. The words did come out of my mouth two seconds ago.”

Mia decided she was done, declaring this fact by saying, “Just go away. This is none of your business.”

I braced when Susie suddenly took two steps forward, getting right in Mia’s space and face, and hissed, “It is my business.” She lifted a hand and jabbed a finger my way. “She’s happy. He fucked her over, but now she’s finally happy and you’re in a goddamned parking lot fucking with that. So it is my business, Mia. Stay out of her face or you’ll find mine all up in yours. And, baby girl, get me. Your kitten claws might sting, but you tangle with me, I’ll shred you.”

Holy fuck!

Susie was throwing down.

For me.

“So you two are Denny Lowe sisters, is that it?” Mia bit back.

“Yeah,” Susie whispered. “Yeah we are. We don’t wanna be, but we are. And, just in case you aren’t getting this, because we are, you don’t fuck with us.”

Whoa.

Susie was totally throwing down.

For me.

I was attempting to process this and how I felt about it when I braced again. This was because Susie’s eyes lifted from Mia and she tensed.

Visibly.

Susie visibly tensed and I watched the blood drain clean from her face.

Then she started backing up.

Her mouth moved.

It moved again.

No sound came out.

“What?” I asked.

Her mouth moved, and again, no sound came out.

“Susie, are you okay?”

She looked to me.

Then she screamed, “Run!”

And that was when the gunshots exploded.

* * * * *

Garrett

“Pink.”

Garrett turned in line at Mimi’s Coffee Shop to see Cal behind him, his baby son asleep and strapped to his chest, his little girl in front of him in a stroller, the key fob to Cal’s truck half an inch from Angela’s face, a clear object of fascination.

“What?” he asked.

“Pink,” Cal repeated, looked to Mike at Garrett’s side, his eyes fucking alight with humor.

Shit.

“And, I hear, some purple,” Cal went on.

“What are you talkin’ about?” Garrett asked.

“Vi reported in. The ornaments for your tree. Brace, man. Cher’s testin’ you,” Cal told him.