Page 85 of Texas Kissing
“I don’t know. Something physical. Construction, maybe? A construction worker.”
I imagined him in a hard hat and—what did construction workers wear? I couldn’t picture the clothes, so I just imagined him stripped to the waist.Mmm.I took a deep breath, feeling a little calmer. “Thank you.”
He stared right back at me and squeezed my hand. “You’re welcome.”
It was mid-afternoon by the time we arrived back at Gold Lake and pulled up outside Calahan’s motel,The Stallion Inn.His car was plastered with road dust. “He’s going to be pissed,” muttered Bull as we got out.
On the other hand, getting me as a witness would be a coup for Calahan. If it meant my uncle went to jail, that was the sort of thing careers were made of. I figured he’d forgive the borrowing of his car. We strolled inside. There was a white horse in the field next to the parking lot—presumably, the stallion they’d named the place after. It ambled over as we passed by it. I stopped to let it nuzzle my palm. Funny, how I’d gotten to like horses.
When we got to Calahan’s room, the door was ajar. That set off a warning bell in my mind, but my wholebody was feeling warm and slack with happiness. I’d lost my edge.
Bull pushed the door wide and walked right in. I walked in behind him and almost collided with him when he suddenly stopped. It was at about that point that I wondered why the door was open, but by then it was far too late.
Calahan was in the corner of the room, tied to a chair with duct tape over his mouth. Three men were standing around him, pointing guns at us. I recognized all of them—my uncle’s men.
“Hello, Tessa,” said one of them.. “Time to go home.”
71
Lily
They wavedBull over to a chair that was back-to-back with Calahan’s. When he resisted, they put a gun to his head.
“Please, Bull,” I said, feeling sick. “Just do it.”
“Yeah,” said one of the guys, a young one with close-cropped dark hair. “Listen to her and you’ll get out of this alive.”
Bull looked as if he didn’t believe that for a second and neither did I. But we didn’t have any choice. He sat down and they tied him to the chair. He and Calahan had matching, murderous glares.
I was doing my best to stay strong, but I knew it was over. I was glad they’d tied Bull to a chair because he had no chance against three armed guys. They’d kill anyone who got in their way.
“You’re fucking lucky you’re the boss’s niece,” said the eldest, who seemed to be the leader. “Because if you weren’t, we’d be beating the hell out of you for what you did to Antonio. As it is, I’ll settle for you playing nice all the way back to New York. You gotthat straight? Now we’re going to walk out of here and get in the car.” He nodded towards the remaining man, who had a shock of blond curls. “And Georgio here will stay with these two and fucking execute them if you try and run. Got that?”
I didn’t miss the look he exchanged with Georgio. Bull and Calahan were dead the second I was safely in the car. But there was nothing I could do except pray I was wrong. “Okay,” I croaked. I eyed the door to the bathroom. “Can I, uh,gobefore we go?”Maybe there’s a window.Or I still had my gun in my backpack. I could go in there and come out shooting and—
The eldest one snatched my backpack from me. “You think I’m fucking stupid? You can piss yourself for all I care. Get in the car.”
The eldest one and the dark haired one started to hustle me out the door while the blond one strolled towards Bull and Calahan. I looked over my shoulder at Bull, my eyes filling with tears. I knew this was the last time I’d ever see him. He was sitting there stoically, staring right back at me, telling me silently that it was going to be okay.
And then the door closed and he was gone.
72
Bull
The blond-haired asshole started screwing a silencer onto his gun as soon as the door was closed. I’d figured they were going to execute us both but I wasn’t overjoyed to be proven right. “You damn idiot,” I muttered to Calahan over my shoulder. “You just let them walk in here and take you? Where was yourgun?”
“Mmn mny arr,”mumbled Calahan through the duct tape. He sounded pissed.
“What?”
The blond-haired asshole helpfully ripped the duct tape off Calahan’s mouth.
“In my car,”Calahan snarled. “My gun wasin my car.”
“Oh,” I said, a little abashed.
“You two got any preference?” asked the asshole, cocking the gun.