How About No
Page 32

I snorted with barely contained laughter. “Something for your arm?”
His eyes went wonky for a second. “No.”
It was so final that I realized he most certainly did not want to talk about his problem.
“Landry, baby. Come here.”
Wade’s lovely voice slid down my spine, and it took everything I had not to shiver.
Skirting around Hoax, I headed for Wade where he was standing in the loose circle, the one that had pushed out a little bit when Wade and I had arrived to allow us room to stand as well.
I swallowed as I met each man’s curious eyes.
There were five men there in total.
Hoax—who was the most recent one that I’d met. Linc and Rome, who I’d never said anything more than hi to over the course of Wade’s and my separation. Bayou, who gave me a warm welcoming smile. Ezekiel—better known as Zee—with his colorful tattoos. And finally, Castiel, a man who worked with my husband and who hadn’t said a civil word to me since I’d left him.
I quickly looked away from that particular pair of eyes and smiled back at Bayou.
“You have a new injury since I saw you last,” I commented.
There was a new laceration that was right underneath his left eye that looked like it hadn’t felt really good to get considering the cut also had a large bruise surrounding it.
“Had a young man think it was okay to start a prison riot yesterday," he calmly replied. “I convinced him differently.”
I snickered and leaned into Wade, who wrapped his arm around me and resituated his weight so that he could better accommodate me.
“Your hand looks good,” Castiel said.
I felt my stomach sink.
I really, really didn’t want to talk to Cass. He was the most welcoming in the beginning, but definitely the worst in the end.
“Yeah,” I flexed it. “Still can’t feel the back of my hand, though.”
I didn’t look him in the eye, and I felt Wade shift.
I looked up at him to see him frowning down at me.
“What?” I whispered.
He opened his mouth to reply, but Bayou interrupted him.
“So why are we here, Wade?” Bayou rumbled. “My fuckin’ face hurts.”
I snorted and turned back to see Bayou gently prodding the skin to the side of his hurt eye.
Meaning Bayou didn’t want to be standing out talking when he could be ignoring everyone and everything.
Wade’s gaze shifted down to me once more, then he sighed.
“Yesterday I was made aware that Landry was being harassed by a woman who was upset that Landry got Capo and she didn’t,” Wade started.
At the mention of Capo’s name, the dog shifted his weight and leaned into Wade’s other side. All attention turned to him for a few seconds and Capo started to growl.
Wade sighed, and I turned my face away, just as the others did.
“Anyway, I had Cass do some research into it, and he found out that that the original name she used was also the maiden name of a woman who takes her children to Landry’s daycare,” Wade continued.
I stiffened.
“Really?” Bayou asked, large arms crossing menacingly over his chest. “Who is it?”
“Her name is Deborah Shultz. The name she used originally to try to get Capo was Debbie Petty,” Castiel said, making my eyes reluctantly turn to him.
“Deborah Shultz. Why does that sound so familiar?” Hoax asked.
“Deborah Shultz is the crazy chick who tried to blame Landry for losing her kid while the kid had been in her car—in the heat, in a parking garage—for six-plus hours,” Bayou rumbled. “She’s just fortunate that it wasn’t one of our hundred degree days or the kid would be dead.”
That surprised me that he remembered those details.
Though, I guess it shouldn’t.
The Bear Bottom Guardians had a significant understanding of what happened in their community. Their fingers lay on the pulse of Bear Bottom, and if anything happened, they were the first to know. It didn’t matter if ol’ Mrs. Gable, the ninety-year-old Army nurse veteran had tried to shoot the delivery driver again, or if the young teenager who had always been sweet as pie had suddenly turned into a goth girl over the weekend.
They knew it, and nothing ever came as a surprise to them—at least not when I was around.
They were superhuman it seemed.
“Yep,” Wade confirmed. “She wasn’t smart using her maiden name. It was easy enough to track her.”
“All the other names are phony as fuck,” Castiel said.
“So, what do we do now?” I finally asked, still not meeting Castiel’s eyes.
“We file a restraining order against her.” Castiel’s words startled me into making eye contact, and I felt my belly clench at the lack of warmness in his eyes. “You come up to the department tomorrow, and we’ll get you squared away. I ran the info by the judge today, and he’s already agreed to approve the order.”
I swallowed hard. “Okay.”
Wade’s arm went around my waist, and I felt comforted by the solid warmth. “I’ll get her up there in the morning around eleven. That’s when she takes her lunch. Okay?”
Castiel nodded.
“What else aren’t you telling me?” I finally asked. “You could’ve told me all of that earlier.”
Wade sighed. “She’s using your name and business to get dogs.”
I blinked. “Okay…”
“And she’s taking them somewhere,” Castiel said. “But they never actually get to her house. She’s not rehoming them. Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me that once she gets the dogs, she drops them off on an abandoned highway on the way home, because literally, nobody has seen her with any dogs.”
I got a sick feeling in my stomach.
“She’s using my name to get dogs, and then is doing something—likely something not so good—to them. And nobody can find them at all?” I repeated, making sure I understood him.
“And, on top of that, she’s been taking in funds that were meant to be donated to you and your cause,” Castiel continued. “There’s like eight different fundraisers she’s doing right now, promising that she’s sending out t-shirts and stuff like that for donating…and hasn’t done it yet. She raised over three grand with her last one, and some of the donors are starting to ask questions.”
I let my head fall back on my neck, and I looked at the sky that was slowly starting to sink in the sky, dropping below the line of trees in the distance.
“Of course,” I groaned. “I should’ve known when she stopped hounding me at work that she’d found some other way to vent her frustration with me.”
“Just sayin’,” Hoax drawled. “But I didn’t think you did anything wrong.”
“She didn’t,” Wade replied. “It was the mother’s fault for not paying attention to whether her child actually followed her into the daycare, not Landry’s fault. Sure, Landry could’ve asked, but it was a little chaotic that day with the three new triplets showing up. Furthermore, the mom sometimes let the grandmother watch the baby, so it wasn’t all that unusual for only one kid to show up. How was she supposed to know that the baby’s absence that day wasn’t just a normal thing?”
I felt my heart start to warm at Wade’s faith in me.
And, once again, I was reminded of how stupid and selfish I’d been when I filed for divorce.
“Bitch is crazy,” someone said from behind us.
I whirled, my heart in my throat at having someone standing directly behind me, and smiled at Liner.
Liner was one of the only people, besides Bayou, to talk to me. He also didn’t drop me like a hot potato when I’d done the unthinkable and filed for divorce.
“Hi, Liner,” I murmured. “You’re not talking about me, are you?”
He rolled his eyes and raised one hand to mess with my hair.
I slapped his hand away, causing him to laugh.
“I’m talking about ol’ Debbie Doozy,” he replied.
“Aren’t you her neighbor?” Rome asked.