“Okay,” he said, sounding as exhausted as she felt. “Now, tell me what the hell is going on here.”
Patty was crying, still on the floor. “I just wanted to free you of her. I thought if she was dead...”
T.D. nodded, not taking his eyes off Jinx. “I stopped by your apartment before I came here,” he said, without looking at Patty. Jinx heard the woman let out a cry as if he’d kicked her. “Had a little talk with Wyatt.” Patty began to sob, her words lost in her tears. Jinx heard enough, though, to know that the woman had put Wyatt up to killing her up on that mountain. Now T.D. knew it, too.
“Did you really think that if you got Wyatt to kill Jinx that I would want anything to do with you?”
“We could get married,” Patty said between sobs. “I would make you happy. You know I could.”
“No, Patty, you and I are never getting married, especially after you almost got me killed. I will never love you the way I did Jinx. Never. You need to leave now, Patty. I don’t think you want to watch what happens next.”
Patty quit crying and wiped her face. “What are you going to do? You’re in enough trouble. You can’t kill her.”
“Oh, I’m not going to kill her,” he said, narrowing his eyes at Jinx. “Though she might wish I was when I’m through with her. Now, get out of here.”
Patty got to her feet, hesitated and then rushed out the door.
T.D. hadn’t moved. He seemed to be waiting until he heard a car engine to make sure Patty was gone before he said to Jinx, “Take off your clothes.”
ANGUS DROVE UP the road to the Flying J Bar MC Ranch as fast as he dared. It had only been a few days since he and his brother and cousin had driven up this road. So much had changed in that time.
He pulled in behind the sheriff’s department car and got out, telling himself this was probably a fool’s errand. Just as the sheriff had said, there was a deputy watching the house.
But as he came along the side of the car, his heart began to pound. The deputy would have seen him drive up. He would have gotten out of his car to see who it was. That was if he could.
As Angus reached the driver’s side, he saw the deputy slumped over in the seat and swore. His first instinct was to race into the house. But he was smart enough to know that in his physical state, he might need all the help he could get. He eased open the deputy’s car door, grabbed the car radio and called it in. Once the dispatcher told him that help was on the way, he headed for the house.
JINX LOOKED ACROSS the expanse of her bed at T.D. “You know I’m not taking off my clothes.”
He chuckled. “It was worth a try.” He put the pistol down on the nightstand. As he did, she bolted for the door. Of course he beat her to it, knowing exactly what she would do. Grabbing a handful of her hair, he dragged her back into the room and threw her on the bed.
She could tell the effort hurt him, just as she knew it wouldn’t stop him. He knew this was the very last thing she wanted from him so he was more determined than ever. He climbed on top of her, and holding her down, began to rip off her clothing as he told her—as he had on the mountain—all the things he was going to do to her. Only this time, there was no one to stop him.
Even with him injured, she was no match for him. She knew she should just submit, just as she knew she wasn’t about to.
The sound of the gunshot startled her. She looked up into T.D.’s sneering face as she felt his hold on her lessen. The second shot made him jerk. The third crumpled him on top of her.
Jinx felt his warm blood spreading over her chest. She pushed him off and leaped up from the bed to see the shooter standing in the shadowed doorway of her bedroom.
“Patty?” she whispered, seeing the glazed-over look in the woman’s eyes and the gun still clutched in her hand, the barrel now pointed at Jinx.
“The two of you didn’t even notice me come back into the room,” the woman said. “The two of you were so busy that you didn’t even see me pick up the gun.”
“You know I wanted none of that,” Jinx said, and saw something in the woman’s expression that turned her blood to ice. “Don’t make this worse, Patty.”
“How could it be worse?” she asked on a sob. “I loved him. I would have done anything for him. Anything. But all he wanted was...you.” She raised the gun to heart level and pressed the trigger.
ANGUS HAD BEEN moving stealthily down the hall toward the sound of voices when he’d heard the first gunshot. By the second gunshot, he was running. By the third, he’d reached the woman standing in the doorway of the bedroom.
Before she could pull the trigger again, he slammed into her. The report was like an explosion to his already pounding head. The woman went down. He went down with her as he fought to get the pistol out of her hand.
“Let me kill her!” the woman was screaming. “Please... You don’t know what she’s done. She ruined my life.” She’d broken into sobs but was still fighting for the gun as
