Page 62 of See It Through
“Let me,” Lock ground out, stretching his bat to touch Cleve under his chin. “Listen up.”
Cleve’s laughter ceased, and his hazy eyes grew wide. “You can’t touch me.”
“Not your turn to talk.” Lock jerked the bat, pushing Cleve’s head back. “I don’t care what you admit. You went after my girl. That’s a fact not up for debate. I can’t prove you slashed those tires, but I don’t need to. You’re going to be paying for the repairs to make up for trying to run her off the road.”
“I—” Caleb’s bat came down hard on the scattered cans, cutting off Cleve’s protest.
“Time for you to listen,” Caleb barked.
Lock pressed his bat a little harder. “You come near Hannah again, you so much as look at her or breathe in her direction, I’ll be back, and next time, it won’t be with a bat. You hear me, Jones?”
Before he could answer, the front door swung open, and a skin-and-bones woman wearing a dingy housecoat stepped out, a shotgun cradled in her arms. I went on red alert, focused on the gun, bracing for her to make a move to use it.
“Time for you to leave our property.” She sounded like she smoked three packs a day, raspy and older than her true age. “My husband answered your questions. He spoke to the police. You have some gall coming around here and waving around your fancy-ass Kelly threats. I’m not your employee anymore—you made sure of that—so you can’t boss me. And you might think you own this town, but you don’t.”
Lock slowly backed off, his bat dropping. “Don’t think I own the town, Christine. Cleve’s crossed the line. Maybe he didn’t slash Hannah’s tires, but he freely admits to trying to run her off the road, and that’s unacceptable.”
Christine stood next to her husband, the gun still loose in her arms. “He heard you. You said your piece. Cleve’s got no reason to interact with your precious princess anymore, so you can get that idea out of your big head. Now, this is the last time I tell you to leave before we have a real problem.”
I hadn’t taken my eyes off that gun. Cleve was an asshole, but there was something about this woman that led me to believe she’d have no problem using her weapon on us. If her yard ended up littered with four dead bodies, she’d probably just shove our corpses under the rest of the junk and go about her day like it was nothing.
Without warning, Christine’s beady gaze landed on me. “You’re not a Kelly, are you?” Her eyes pinched before rounding. “I know exactly who you are. You’re a Town. Surprised you’re taking up for the Kelly girl considering word was going around that she wasn’t just working for your daddy, if you know what I mean.”
“Enough,” Lock bit out. “Keep my daughter’s name outta your mouths and we won’t have any more trouble.”
He looked at the rest of us, jerking his head to the side. “We’re done here, boys. Let’s go.”
Not trusting either of the Joneses as far as I could throw them, I backed my way to the truck. Cleve was too busy getting wasted to care that we were leaving, but Christine kept a close watch until we were all loaded up and pulling out of her driveway.
As soon as we were on the road again, Lock found my gaze in the rearview mirror. “That wasn’t true, you know. There were never rumors about Hannah and Graham. She made that up on the spot.”
I nodded. “I didn’t believe it for a second.”
My father had been a lot of things—a womanizer wasn’t one of them. And Hannah…yeah, I wasn’t going to let my mind go there. It was clear to me her feelings for him had been purely familial, and I knew that without ever seeing them together.
Cormac leaned over, speaking quietly. “Christine’s an angry woman, and she’s not a big fan of our family. Used to work at the resort, cleaning rooms.”
From the front, Caleb filled in. “They caught her stealing.”
Caleb sighed. “She was the first person I had to fire. It didn’t feel great, but…”
“Had to be done,” I filled in.
“Yep,” Lock agreed. “Had to be done.”
The drive to the ranch was mostly silent. Seemed like the rest of the men were just as eager to get back and have this all be over with. For my part, I wanted to see Hannah and make sure we were all right—thatshewas all right.
I shouldn’t have been worried about Hannah. She was standing on the porch, one shoulder against a post, her arms crossed, all attitude. As soon as we were out of the truck, she made her way down the steps, peering at each of us.
“Looks like you’re all in one piece.” She raised her chin. “Did Christine bring out her gun?”
Lock chuckled. “You know it.” Then he hooked her around the neck and planted a kiss on her forehead. “It’s over, Hannah. What’s done is done. You’ve no cause to be mad. Let it go.”
She frowned at him. “And what if today had been the day Christine decided to unload that shotgun?”
“It wasn’t,” he said steadily. “No reason to live in the what-ifs.”
Caleb walked by, tousling her hair. “Granddad better not have eaten all the pie.”