Hot Pursuit (34 page)

Unfortunately, Ben couldn’t help Micah with his current situation. Micah would be in hiding for the rest of his life.

“It sounds good. I’ll make sure Wolf buys it.”

“I know,” Micah said, nodded once, and placed his hands on the steering wheel. “Good-bye, Ben.”

Ben got out of the car, shut the door, and stood in the highway for only a moment as the Taurus drove off. As Wolf got out of his Escalade, Ben made himself switch gears just as fast as Micah had in the car. Ben wouldn’t see Micah again. Maybe he would see Zoey. There wasn’t time to dwell on either thought, both of which really upset him. Right now, he needed to pull off a convincing act so Wolf wouldn’t give the man he’d seen driving that Taurus a moment’s thought.

*   *   *

Angel stared out the window at the pale blue sky over the buildings downtown. It was the first time she’d had a breather all morning. News traveled fast in her town. Everyone had found an excuse to come in and buy a book just so they could learn firsthand what all the excitement had been about the night before. She had told each and every one of them the truth.

“Drama sure is good for business,” she murmured, fingering the new, shiny lock Wolf had installed on her front door. The locks had been changed on the storage room door, too, for good measure.

Angel rubbed her lower back, knowing she’d be too sore to move before the day was out. Wolf had also helped her put her store back together. She managed a smile remembering how he’d grunted when he had realized putting the mess Cortez had left for her back to order had entailed more than simply uprighting bookshelves and sticking books on them. She still had an inventory nightmare to sort through.

Turning her back on the cool, calm day outside, she stared at the stacks of destroyed books behind her counter. Maybe she should have a Cortez sale, in the man’s honor, and sell the books that now had bent covers, or torn pages, or both at a serious discount. At least then her damaged books wouldn’t be a complete loss.

Angel forced herself to keep working. Wolf had left an hour ago, telling her simply that he’d unraveled some new leads on his investigation and would be back soon. He had made sure there were bullets in her gun she now had by her register.

“And you better use it,” he had told her, then had made her promise before kissing her senseless and leaving.

The gun made her nervous. It bothered her that she had to have it in her store. But she knew, even without Wolf making her promise before he left, that she would definitely use it before letting anyone lock her out of her bookstore again.

She didn’t end up having much time to dwell on damaged books. Or where Wolf had disappeared to. Customers kept coming in, which made the day go by fast. Angel had made a list of everyone she knew who was being persecuted by Cortez in one way or another. If the people on her list didn’t show up at her store, Angel called them. She was done being bullied. Zounds wasn’t going to take Cortez’s crap any longer. Not if she could help it.

“Detective Lassiter,” Angel said, writing
San Francisco PD
on her notepad. “My name is Angel Matisse and I own a bookstore in Zounds, California. I want to know if you have any warrants for an Emilio Cortez. He has lived here in Zounds for the past ten years and has slowly managed to take over our bank, own our police department, and bully every shop owner I know in my town into illegal leases and shares of our profits. Honestly, I don’t know how to stop him. So I’m calling every city in California and surrounding states and asking every law enforcement agency that will talk to me if they have anything on this man. If you could call me back, I’d really appreciate it.” Angel repeated her name, left her number, and hung up.

She smiled in delighted surprise when Maggie and Zoey walked into her store.

“Come to get the scoop firsthand on the latest excitement?” Angel asked, feeling the caffeine rumble through her system as she downed the last of her coffee in her mug.

“I’m not sure I want any excitement,” Zoey said. There was good color in the girl’s face, but the solemn look in her eyes was a dead giveaway.

Angel turned, noticed she’d managed to drink the entire pot of coffee, and hurried to start a new pot. “What’s wrong?” she asked, taking in both women when they moved to the end of her counter. “Now you both have me worried. Is it because of my store? We managed to get it back together before I opened for business this morning, and I have all new locks.”

“What are you talking about?” Maggie asked, glancing around her.

Angel felt a wave of pride that her friends couldn’t tell that her entire bookstore had looked as if an earthquake had destroyed the place less than twelve hours ago.

“You changed the locks?” Zoey also looked around her, her expression suddenly masked with fear. “Was it my father or Wolf?” she demanded, snapping her attention back to Angel.

“Wolf? God, no,” Angel said, laughing. “You should have seen him. He had me hiding on the floor of his SUV. I know looking up was stupid and I could have been shot. I’ve already heard about it from Wolf, but ladies, he was my hero last night. I swear I thought he was going to kill Brutus. And I’m not ashamed to say I wish he had. But when he shot his foot—” she said, and covered her mouth when uncontrollable giggles threatened. It was adrenaline and exhaustion taking its toll.

“Okay, stop. You’re scaring me.” Zoey held up her hand. “I think you better start at the beginning. But first tell me that none of my father’s men are on their way over.”

“I seriously doubt it. Haven’t seen a glimpse of them all day.” Angel beamed and glanced at the time. “Let me close the store. Then we can go upstairs and get comfortable. I’ll tell you the whole story.”

“How about if the three of us go out to eat?” Maggie suggested. “My treat. It sounds as if we’ve all had some excitement in the past twenty-four hours. Let’s go spoil ourselves a bit and catch up.”

*   *   *

Less than an hour later, Angel sat facing Zoey and Maggie in a tall-backed dark-stained wooden booth. She stared over her plastic menu as the waitress brought their drinks.

“You had the strawberry margarita, no salt, right?” she asked, her smile friendly as she slid the large fishbowl-sized drink in front of Angel.

“Good grief,” Angel commented, shaking her head at the drink, then at Zoey’s and Maggie’s frozen margs across the booth. “We drink these it won’t matter if we have salt or not.”

Maggie laughed easily. “We all deserve a night out. Everyone know what they want?” she asked on the waitress’s behalf.

Several sips of her drink later and with orders of lobster and shrimp in with the cook, Angel finally agreed this might have been a good idea.

“I can’t believe neither of you has heard about the store,” she said, leaning back against the wooden back of her side of the booth and getting comfortable. “I swear I’ve had more business today than I’ve had all year,” she continued, laughing and taking a long tug on her straw. Her drink was sweet and the tequila strong. It tasted really good. She took another drink.

“I’ve decided to give Zounds a break for a while.” Zoey’s sentence was loaded with emotion, but she also grinned. When she sucked down more of her drink, then ran her finger along the salted edge and licked it off, her laugh was musical. “We should have done this a long time ago.”

“I come up with amazing ideas from time to time.” Maggie tossed her hair over her shoulder with a proud smile. “We discovered this place a while back. The food is amazing. Just wait.”

“Tell me what’s happened with you,” Angel asked, shifting her attention from Maggie to Zoey and trying not to stare at her bruised face too much. Angel was proud of Zoey escaping her father and had to admit her two dear friends were smiling more than she’d seen either of them do in a long time. Maybe it was the alcohol, but so be it. Angel agreed with Zoey. They should have done this long before now. “What happened with you and Ben?”

“Oh no,” Zoey said, wagging her finger in the air. “You don’t tell us we’ve missed out on the best gossip in Zounds and then ask what’s going on with me. Spill all, Angel. What happened? And don’t spare us on any of the details.”

Angel took that to mean Zoey didn’t mind hearing about her father’s latest criminal activity. So, not sparing any details, Angel told all. The food arrived. She continued her story between bites and all of them raving, and her and Zoey giving Maggie repeated kudos on how good the food was.

“I was supposed to be lying on the floor of Wolf’s Escalade,” Angel continued, waving a plump shrimp in the air between all of them while sitting back comfortably on her side of the booth. “But of course I looked up and peeked over the back of the seat. That’s how I know Wolf shot the guns out of each of their hands without any of them noticing he’d pulled his gun yet. I didn’t even see him pull it. That’s how good of a shot my Wolf is,” she purred, and reached for the straw in her drink and slurped the remaining contents down noisily. “I don’t think these drinks are that strong. Do you think these drinks are strong?”

“We need another drink.” Zoey pulled her straw from her empty glass, and remnants of her margarita dropped from the end of it onto the table. “Oops,” she said, giggling.

“I’m starting to think both of you are sloshed,” Maggie accused, but laughed with Zoey and plopped a napkin onto the spills.

“And you’ve appointed yourself designated driver,” Angel noticed, and waved her shrimp at Maggie’s over-half-full drink. “Which is a damn good thing. Because you’re a damn good friend,” she pointed out, grinning at Maggie and then Zoey.

Angel couldn’t remember the last time she was drunk. And yes, she was sloshed. But it felt good. She felt relaxed. Zoey was glowing with her smiles. It was worth coming here just to see her so happy. Angel decided she wouldn’t mention her efforts all day to find some law enforcement agency, somewhere, that wanted Cortez for any crime. Zoey might hate her father, but nonetheless, he was her father.

“So late last night we changed the locks. We spent all morning putting the store back together.”

“I am so sorry you had to do all that work because of my father.” Zoey leaned forward and reached across the large table. She took Angel’s hand. “I want to shoot him dead myself. Do either of you have a gun?”

“The last thing you, or me for that matter, need right now is a gun.” Angel laughed, giving her friend’s hand a friendly squeeze before releasing it. “It would be just our luck one of us would miss, not kill him, then he’d live free while we rot in prison.”

“I wouldn’t get caught.” Zoey’s expression grew serious. “I’ve laid in bed more nights than I can count figuring out the perfect way to kill him and not get caught. I hate what he’s done to you!” she wailed. “And I’m so lucky that the two of you even talk to me.”

“Oh, Zoey!” Angel exclaimed before Maggie could say anything. “You have nothing to do with your father. Everyone in Zounds knows you’re the biggest victim of all.”

Angel hated the words the moment they were out of her mouth. Zoey stilled, her face going white, which only made her bruises stand out even more.

“Is that what everyone thinks?” she whispered.

“What Angel means to say—,” Maggie began.

“What I mean is all of us have grown stronger because of your father.” Angel grinned and reached across the table as Zoey had a moment before. She squeezed Zoey’s small, delicate fingers. “Yes, your dad is an asshole. I’m sorry, but it’s true.”

“Yes, he is,” Zoey agreed, her dark eyes large and not blinking.

“Sometimes I think because of the persecution, all of us are stronger women. We’ve been forced to stand up and fight for what we want. You’re fighting for your freedom. I’m fighting for my store.”

“And we’ll get what we want,” Zoey said, barely whispering.

Angel shook her head. “Enough of my store. What’s going on with you and Ben?”

“Absolutely nothing.” Zoey stuck out her lip and sliced her hand through the air. “I’m not seeing him anymore.”

“But why?” Angel asked.

“Well, first of all because he wouldn’t fuck me. And all because I’m a virgin!” Zoey wailed, gesturing madly with her hands.

Angel almost choked on the shrimp she’d just plopped into her mouth. Several people sitting nearby glanced over and smiled but quickly diverted their attention as if they hadn’t just heard Zoey loudly exclaim she’d never had sex.

Maggie laughed easily. “You don’t have to tell the world,” she said, grinning.

“It doesn’t matter. He’s an ass.”

Angel decided not to broach the no-sex issue. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“Not physically,” Zoey said, lowering her voice so only her friends heard her. “But guess what. Ben is a bounty hunter. Yup,” she snapped, and started nodding her head so that her long black hair fell around her face. “He came up here with your Wolf. They’re working together. He never was planning on looking for work!” she wailed, once again forgetting to be quiet.

Angel’s exasperation grew, but not for the same reasons Zoey’s did. “Who the hell are they hunting for?” she demanded, looking at Maggie.

Maggie shook her head, looking as serious and frustrated as Angel felt. “I have no idea,” she said under her breath. “But I think it’s time for us to go.”

Chapter Fifteen

“Oh crap,” Angel said as they pulled around the parked, dark Escalade and into the service alley alongside her bookstore. She giggled and couldn’t remember when she’d last been so happy or so drunk. “I might be grounded.”

“Are you going to be okay?” Zoey asked sleepily from the backseat.

Angel waved away Zoey’s concern. “I’m absolutely perfect,” she slurred. “Hugs. Give me hugs.”

“I had fun tonight.” Maggie wrapped her arms around Angel as Zoey leaned forward from the backseat and draped her arms around both of them. “I’m so lucky to have two such wonderful friends.”

“I was just thinking the same thing.” Zoey drew out her words in a slow drawl, then fell back against the backseat. “Except shame on you, Maggie, for getting me drunk.”

Angel gave Maggie one last hug, picturing Wolf climbing out of his SUV and standing behind them, legs spread and his muscular arms crossed against that broad chest of his. Instantly she warmed inside, and it wasn’t from alcohol.