She shrugged. “If they hadn’t shown interest, I would’ve backed off. But you kept choosing two-timing losers. What was I supposed to do? Let my sister be the butt of their locker room jokes?”
“Please! You took pleasure in screwing them behind my back. Don’t even try to deny it.”
“Pleasure? Other than Rex, one of them was okay in the sack. Another was like a monkey. He went off before he even got it out of his pants.”
“Wait a second! How many of my boyfriends did you sleep with?” Before she could answer, I held up my hand again. “You know what? Never mind. It doesn’t matter. My point was, you took pleasure in hurting me.”
“Didn’t we already go over this? Must we beat it into the ground?”
I’d like to beat her into the ground with a big ol’ … I clasped my hands together, looking at her luggage again. An idea popped into my head. Insurance, of sorts, that she’d clean up this mess. “Let’s make a deal, Susan.”
“Why would I be interested in a deal with you?”
I ignored her sarcasm. “If you get me and my kids out of this mess, free and clear, I’ll help you lure Rex back.” All I had to do was get him onto her sticky web and then she could scuttle in and immobilize him with a bite or two.
Her gaze narrowed. “Why would you do that?”
Because I wanted to kill two birds with one stone. A big stone that was strapped to the end of my new mace. A pointy stone would be best. Unfortunately, Cooper insisted that murder would get me jail time, so I’d have to settle for manipulating Susan and Rex into leaving the Black Hills of their own free will.
I smiled, my positivity shining like a beacon through the shitstorm. At least, that was the look I was trying to fake. “Just call me a sucker for true love.”
Chapter Eighteen
What was it about Christmas lights that made everything in life seem okay? Or maybe it was what the lights represented for me—comfort food, shared laughs, and family … including the ornery law dog across the puzzle table from me.
“Quit looking at me with that goofy grin, Parker.”
“Come on, Cooper.” I looked down at the puzzle pieces, searching for one with part of a green stocking. “Can’t we just put away our fangs for one night? It’s Christmas, for Pete’s sake.”
And Susan has left the state.
Earlier, after our little talk, Susan had finished packing and caught a ride south to Denver with Mr. Peabody, who lived down near Colorado Springs. According to Mr. Peabody, the storm had stayed north and the roads were mostly clear a little ways south of Rapid City. The Denver airport was Susan’s best bet with Rapid’s airport not only still closed, but also backed up from cancelled flights.
Mom and Dad had seen her off. I figured she and I had said enough to each other down in the basement. She knew the deal—one “fuckup” for another, as in her dissolving “my” bogus marriage in exchange for me manipulating Rex into her hands.
Later in the afternoon, Doc and the kids had gone outside to play in the snow, staying out so long that I’d donned my old coat and gone out to see what they were up to. I found them in the side yard, along with a couple more new snowmen.
I stopped short at the sight of Addy battling one of the snowmen with my old softball bat. She raced in, swinging and dodging, performing moves that made my eyebrows hit my hairline.
Then it was Layne’s turn with his new trident. He attacked another one of the snowmen, jabbing and spinning. His moves were fiercer than those he’d been practicing earlier in the living room in front of Cornelius.
I raised my gloved hand to my mouth. Something about the intensity on their faces told me this wasn’t just play for them. They were small warriors, training for battle.
“They’re sparring,” Doc said, joining me.
“Where did they learn those moves?” That couldn’t be innate, could it? Maybe with Addy, who was next in line to wear my shoes, but Layne? Only females could be Executioners.
“I’ve been training them.”
I gaped at him. He was watching the two kids lunge and swing, destroying the snowmen. When had he trained my kids to … Oh! “Is this what you guys have been doing all of this time at the Rec Center?”
He nodded. “It started when Layne got suspended for defending your reputation at school. He wanted me to teach him how to fight. Instead, I taught him self-defense. Addy was eager to join us.” He glanced my way. “Of course, like her mother, she’s a natural with any sort of bat or other bludgeoning weapon.”
I turned back to my daughter in time to see her slide on her knees under a snowman’s twig arm, hop up on the backside of it, and land a blow to its middle section. “You’ve been teaching my kids how to defend themselves,” I stated, as if cementing it in my head.
“I wanted to talk to you first and make sure you were okay with it, but the kids wanted to keep it a secret. They hoped to surprise you.” I could feel his gaze on me. “I understand if you’re upset about me not getting your permission first.”
Layne landed a series of blows to his snowman’s middle, and then spun around to add a kick that knocked off a twig arm. Addy shouted in approval, high-fiving her brother.
For months now I’d fretted about what would happen if any of my enemies came looking for my kids, picturing them as lambs to the slaughter. My heart swelled. The two warriors in front of me were not lambs. Sure, they were small, but maybe, just maybe, they could surprise an enemy enough to
