Wrangled Mess by Reese Madison Page B

spent the next hour or more telling Goat everything I could remember about Jackson. I looked up his addresses, phone numbers, resume, and everything else I could find.
    When Trace finally walked through the front door I ran everyone over in my path to go to him, and I’m big enough to do it. I stopped short of crashing into him and began my search for damage to my man.
    “Oh God. Oh shit.” I looked up, “Trace. I’m so sorry.”
    He looks slightly drugged as he touches my cheek. “Not your fault. Cookie. I’m hungry.” He slipped his arm around my shoulders and led me back down the hall. “What’s everybody doing here?”
    “Slider says the guy who shot you was hired by Jackson from a rival club back east. He’s pissed because there’s been peace for a while now, and this could quickly get blown out of proportion.”
    “Chardonnay. Fuck.”
    “You want wine?”
    “No. Turner’s sister. She’s the rival club back east.” He explained getting a hug from Slider. “Hey bro.”
    “You okay man?”
    “I’m good. Can’t kill me that easy. Who shoots long range with a .38?”
    “Someone young and desperate for money. We’ll leave you two for now. Keep your phones handy. Joe has the place wired, pick up the phone and we’ll have ears on. Church tomorrow at nine. We need to figure out how, and if, we’re going to return this muther fucker.”
    “I’ll be there.”
    “Bring Celeste, and pack a bag. I may be putting you two in hiding until we get this Jackson asshole strung up in front of my sister.”
    “You talk to Turner yet?”
    “Nobody talks to Turner, you talk to his old lady, Georgia, and no. I left her a message, but last I heard he was dragging her up to Montana to do some hunting with Cord.”
    “How’d you catch the guy who shot me?”
    “I didn’t. Salina happened to be driving past you in AJ. She honked and waved when she saw you sitting in your truck at the light by the bank. That’s when she said she heard the shots and saw you slump over. She was on the phone with 9-1-1 when she saw a man running. Well, you know my wife. She ran him down like a police dog. I think he’s more afraid of her than Goat.”
    Trace looked at Salina. “I remember you honking now. Thank you for seeing me.”
    “You’re hard to miss handsome.” She waved everybody towards my front door. “Let’s go guys. We’ll hit this in the morning. Night Doc!!”
    “Night!” I’m trying to see how bad he’s really hurt. They can see themselves out.
    Trace lifted my chin when I touched his arm sling. “Stop. I’m fine.”
    I put my arms around him carefully. “I’ve never been so scared in my life. I knew in my heart you were alive, but I couldn’t stop screaming for you to come home on the inside. You don’t know how happy I am to see you. To hold you.”
    He put his good arm around my shoulders. “I love you too. I’m okay. Just hungry. Do we have anything to eat?”
    I laughed and resisted the urge to hug him as hard as I can, “No. You ate everything. And what your firefighter friends didn’t eat the other night, your biker friends and family ate tonight. Seriously. I think I’m tapped out.”
    “Go check the oven. Ten bucks there’s a casserole dish in there.”
    “What?”
    “Just go check. I’m going to go clean up and get comfortable.”
    “Okay. Can I get you anything?”
    “Just some water in the bedroom. I need to stretch out.”
    “I’ll be right there.” I got a quick kiss before he headed off down the hall to my room. Our room. Looks like we’re living together now. I should be nervous, instead I’m relieved, and a little excited at the idea of waking up to his kisses every morning.
    Sure enough there’s a lasagna in the oven. I turned up the heat from warm to 250 and went to feed Bits. It’s still early, but after today I want to shut out the world. I used the remote to close most of the drapes darkening the room to a nice secure cave.
    I did the same thing in my bedroom