Justice for Boone: Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes, Book 6 (11 page)

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Can it wait until I go and get us refills?”

She grinned at him. He needed to know about Dana, but they were in a public place, she wouldn’t dare do anything. She had time to tell him about his crazy ex. “Yes.”

Boone smiled down at her again, then looked up at Moose. “You got this?”

“Got it.”

“Got what?” Hayden asked, confused, looking between the two men. It was like they spoke their own coded language.

“He wants to go get refills, but doesn’t want to leave you here alone. So I’m lookin’ after you until he returns,” Moose told her, taking a sip of his beer as if he hadn’t just thrust them back into the wild wild west, where men could steal women and carry them off.

Hayden turned to Boone, hands on her hips and a frown on her face. “That’s crazy. I’m perfectly able to look after myself, Boone.”

He leaned in. “You might be able to take care of yourself in a dangerous situation, or when you have to tackle and subdue a drunk, but here, where every man in the place has been eyeballing you for the last two hours, waiting for his opportunity to put his hands on you, I’m not leaving you alone for a second, Hay.”

Hayden rolled her eyes and waved a hand in the air at him. “Whatever, Boone. Just go. I’m thirsty.”

He grinned at her. “Be right back.” Then he leaned down and brushed his lips against the skin behind her ear and whispered, “Keep my chair warm for me, would ya?”

Hayden shivered at the warm air of his breath moving over her ear and nodded. Then scooted up on the chair Boone had been sitting in after he tapped her on the nose with a finger and left to go to the bar to get them refills. Loving the way he made her feel, Hayden pushed it down and turned to his friends. She didn’t beat around the bush. She had just a moment to talk to his friends before Boone would be back. She wasn’t going to keep what Dana had told her a secret from Boone, but she made the split second decision to tell him when they were home, not when they were out having a good time.

She turned on her serious-cop voice and looked each man in the eyes before she spoke to the group in general. “Look, I ran into Dana in the bathroom. She’s bat-shit crazy and she’s not going to give him up. I think you all know it, even if Boone is in denial. She already tried to get Boone arrested by hurting herself and saying Boone did it. You guys,” Hayden looked at Bub and Tommy, “need to be alert and focused. If you see anything off at the ranch, call it in.”

Hayden turned to Moose. “And I’m serious. Talk to your friends at other stations. I don’t trust her to stay away. She’s planning something, and I don’t like it. I can talk to my law enforcement friends and the others at Station 7…the more people that are on the lookout, the better, as far as I’m concerned.”

The men around the table nodded soberly.

“He won’t defend himself against her. I don’t know all of it—shit, you guys probably know more than I do—but because of that, he’s opening himself up to being seriously hurt, or worse. I’ve seen way too many people on the job who swore up and down they could take care of themselves, only to end up on my friend Calder’s table while he tried to figure out exactly how they died. Promise me you’ll be on the lookout.”

“We will. I’ve worked at Hatcher Farms since Boone was a kid. His dad was a great boss, but he ignored the abuse his friend was dishing out to his wife under his nose for years. Boone is better than his old man. He cares about every single person that works there, he wouldn’t allow anyone under his watch to be harmed like Chris did to Lizzy, and I’ve never seen anyone so good with the cattle before.” Bub’s words were heartfelt and earnest. “And, unlike Chris, he’d never,
ever
hurt a lady.”

Hayden nodded, liking how his employee defended him and feeling a bit better about the Dana situation, knowing these men would have Boone’s back. The hair on the nape of her neck was standing up, and she’d learned never to ignore that feeling. Something wasn’t right, but she couldn’t see Dana anywhere and she had no idea what else it could be. She could see Boone at the crowded bar, but again, Dana wasn’t anywhere near him.

Moose leaned closer. “I swear I’ll do what I can to make sure he’s covered.”

“Thank you. Seriously.”

“So…you’re a cop, huh?” That came from Tommy.

Hayden smiled. She knew how to navigate
this
conversation. “Yup…been a sheriff’s deputy going on ten years now.”

They chatted about what she’d seen and the most extreme situations she’d been in, until Boone came back to the table. He had a beer and another screwdriver for Hayden. She scooted off the barstool and settled back into Boone’s lap, at his urging, once he’d sat back down.

“Welcome back. Any issues?”

“What issues would I have getting two drinks?” Boone asked, with one eyebrow raised.

Hayden tried to shrug nonchalantly, not sure how well she was pulling it off. “None, apparently.”

The five talked about nothing for another twenty minutes or so, until Hayden started feeling queasy.

“Hey, I think it’s time I got home,” she told Boone.

He looked down in concern. “You all right?”

“Yeah,” Hayden reassured him, not feeling all right at all. “I just don’t feel that good.” She loved the way his hand lingered on her back and rubbed in circles, trying to make her feel better.

“Okay, no problem. It’s late anyway. I’ll see you guys later?” Boone asked his friends.

“Yeah, we need to get together more often,” Moose told him.

Boone shook his hand. “Definitely.”

He gave Tommy and Bub a chin lift. “I’m going to take Hayden home, but I’ll be back at the farm afterwards. I’ll see you guys in the morning.”

Hayden liked that Boone wasn’t assuming he’d be spending the night at her house, or that he’d be taking her back to his. Even though they had crazy intense chemistry, he was still taking things slow and not presuming anything. She liked that too.

“Sure thing, boss. See you later.”

Boone helped Hayden stand—and frowned when she immediately doubled over. “Hayden?”

All thoughts of how impressed she was with Boone disappeared at the intense cramping in her stomach. “God, my stomach hurts. It must’ve been something I ate. I’ll be fine.” She tried to wave off Boone’s concern. “Seriously, as soon as I get home and lay down, I’ll be good.”

Boone ignored her obvious lie and lifted her. Hayden would’ve protested, but it felt so good to be in Boone’s arms, to be taken care of for once, and her stomach really did hurt. She wasn’t sure she’d have been able to walk all the way to the car on her own.

Moose put her purse in her lap and Boone shouldered his way through the crowd to the door. They exited out into the cool night air and Hayden sighed in relief. God, it felt good to get out of the smoky bar.

Boone held Hayden against his chest, enjoying the feeling of her body against his. She really was a little thing compared to him. Her weight was akin to that of one of the calves on the farm that was a couple months old. She probably wouldn’t like the analogy, but it was true. He hitched her higher and winced when she moaned.

“Hayden?”

“I wanna schleep on the foor.”

“What, honey?” Boone leaned into Hayden so he could hear her better.

“The foor. Carpret is fluffy and crean.”

“Oh shit.” Boone’s words were dismayed. She sounded way out of it and her words weren’t coming out right. Something was seriously wrong. “Hayden, look at me.” Boone shifted her in his arms. “Can you look at me, Hay?” When she met his eyes, Boone could see her pupils were dilated. She tried to put one of her hands on his face, but it fell uselessly into her lap before it reached his cheek.

“Where are the sows? They’re so crute. Baby sows. I wanna see baby sows.”

Boone opened the truck’s passenger-side door and carefully placed Hayden on the seat. She immediately leaned to the side and continued to babble nonsense as she lay there. Boone took his phone out and texted Moose, knowing his medical training would come in handy right about now.

Need you outside at my truck. Now.

Moose’s response was immediate.
On my way.

Boone reached in to Hayden and pulled her upright. “Come on, Hay. Look at me.”

She rolled her head his way. Sounding completely lucid, which was scary since she’d just been slurring and jumbling her words, she announced, “I’m gonna puke.”

Boone quickly stepped out of the way and helped Hayden lean over. She threw up all over the ground by his truck as Moose jogged up to them.

“What’s up?”

“I think her drink was drugged.”

“What?” Moose asked incredulously. “What the fuck?”

Hayden looked up at Moose. “Moosh! Your panchs are black and your shrrrt ish too.”

“Jesus fucking Christ. How did this happen?” Moose asked, not saying anything about Hayden’s random comment, leaning over to look more closely at her. The firefighter lifted up each of her eyelids as Boone answered.

“I have no idea. It had to have been that last drink I got her. She was fine before that.”

Moose looked up at Boone. “She told us she ran into Dana in the bathroom. I don’t know what was said, but I’d bet all the money I have, that bitch is somehow behind this.”

Boone’s fists clenched, but he didn’t react outwardly more than that. “Dammit. When I was at the bar, some chick ran into me and almost fell. I put our drinks on the bar to make sure she was all right. She was really drunk and thought I was coming on to her. I quickly got her on her way again, but there was a minute or so where I didn’t have eyes on our drinks. Dana wasn’t anywhere near me, but she could’ve gotten someone to put something in her drink while I was preoccupied.
Fuck.
What do you think she was given? Oh shit, watch out, Moose!”

Hayden leaned over again and the men barely got out of way before she vomited once more. Boone leaned in and grabbed Hayden’s hair, holding it back as she spit and gagged. She moaned and Boone’s eyes narrowed in fury.

“Boo? I don’t geel food.”

It took Boone a second, but then he realized she’d just transposed the letters of the last two words. He ran his hand over her head gently. “I know you don’t, Hay. We’re gonna fix that.”

“If I had to guess, I’d say probably GHB,” Moose told Boone matter-of-factly as he pulled out his phone.

“So she wasn’t roofied?” Boone asked in concern, looking over at his friend but not losing contact with Hayden.

“I doubt it. Rohypnol seems to act much faster. She sat with us talking for at least twenty minutes before feeling any effects, and roofies typically don’t make the victim throw up as violently as she’s been doing. Vics usually pass out quicker than this…that’s why it’s called the date-rape drug. GHB can make someone speak improperly, throw up, and even sometimes hallucinate. In small doses, people use it to get a sort of high, but it can be very dangerous in high doses.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah. She’ll eventually lose consciousness and be out for a while, and she most likely won’t remember a lot of what happened tonight, if anything. GHB is a lot like Rohypnol in that way.” Tucker held the phone up to his ear and Boone could hear him talking to the cops. He leaned down to Hayden again.

“Hay?”

She looked up at him. “I don’t feel goosh,” she repeated miserably, tears leaking out of her eyes.

He ran his hand over her head. “I know, Hay,” he crooned. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you.”

“You will? No one’s shaken mare of me before. I kin shake myself.”

Boone understood what she meant just fine…and it hurt his heart. “I know you can. But tonight you don’t have to. Okay?”

“Kay. Do you have Ellie?”

Her words were surprisingly clear. “Ellie?”

“Ellie. My elephone.”

“No, but I’ll get her for you.”

“Home.”

“Ellie’s at home?” Boone wasn’t sure who or what Ellie was…elephone didn’t make any sense. But if she wanted Ellie, whoever or whatever that was, he’d do whatever it took to get it for her.

“Yeah. Wanna skate to home.”

Moose hung up and said the paramedics were on their way, along with the cops.

Boone nodded but didn’t take his eyes off of Hayden. “I’ll take you home in a bit. Okay? The paramedics are gonna take a look at you first though.”

Hayden rested her head back on the seat and Boone ran his hand down the side of her face. She was sweating and breathing fast as the drug worked its way through her body. God. Fucking Dana. It was one thing to hurt
him
, but to hurt someone else because of her delusions that they were still a couple? No fucking way.

“Kay. Boo?”

“Yeah, Hay? I’m right here.”

“Like.”

“Like?” Her speech was getting harder to understand. “What do you like?”

“You.”

“I like you too, Hayden.”

Her grand announcement was ruined by sudden coughing and more vomit that ended up in her lap and on his seat.

Boone sighed in relief at hearing the ambulance sirens in the distance. Thank God.

H
ayden rolled over and groaned
. She felt like complete shit. She had no idea why she felt so horrible. She opened her eyes and shut them quickly. Damn, it was bright. Was she hungover? She couldn’t remember.

She squinted her eyes open this time and looked around.

What the fuck? Where was she? The room looked vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn’t place it. Hayden sat up in a panic and looked around.

She was on a king-size bed and had been covered with a dark green fluffy quilt. She looked down and saw that she was wearing a large T-shirt with a cartoon cow on it. There was a speech bubble over the cow that said,
Think Chicken
.

Hayden was confused, and it almost hurt to think. She knew she didn’t own a shirt like the one she was currently wearing. She wasn’t wearing any pants, but had her panties on. Her feet were bare and her hair had been pulled back into a low ponytail on the back of her neck. She felt grimy and her mouth tasted like something had crawled in there and died.

Hayden moved her legs to the side of the bed and sat there for a moment, trying to get the energy to stand up and get out of there, wherever
there
was. She looked back to where she’d been lying—and saw Ellie the Elephant. She reached over and grabbed her precious stuffed animal and held it to her chest.

Oh my God…what the ever loving
hell
was going on?

Hayden heard a noise from across the room and looked up quickly, ready to do…something. She had no idea what, but she wouldn’t sit around and be a victim.

“Hey, Hay. How do you feel?”

It was Boone. He was leaning against the doorjamb, legs crossed at his ankles, looking cool and relaxed, but when Hayden looked again, she could see dark bags under his eyes and the concern in them as he gazed at her.

“Confused.”

Boone nodded. “I expected as much. Feel like a shower?”

“Uh huh.”

“Okay, go ahead and jump in,” Boone told her, gesturing to a door to the side. “There’s stuff for you to put on when you get out and a new toothbrush by the sink. When you’re done, come on out. We’ll talk after you get something to eat.”

“I’m at your house?” Hayden asked the question, but realized why it had looked familiar to her when she’d first opened her eyes. She recognized it now from that first day when she’d taken a look around trying to find proof Dana had been lying.

“Yeah.”

Hayden eyed Boone. He hadn’t moved, and was going out of his way to try to make her feel at ease. She wasn’t sure it was working, but she appreciated the effort. He looked tired, and anxious, and he sure as shit wasn’t relaxed.

“Hayden?”

She looked up. “Yeah?”

Boone paused and ran a hand over his head before he looked back up at her and asked carefully. “Do you mind if I give you a hug?”

Hayden could only shake her head. No she didn’t mind. A hug sounded wonderful. She
needed
Boone’s arms around her.

He came toward her slowly and sat on the mattress next to her. He reached out and carefully pulled her into his arms. Hayden melted into his embrace and wound her arms around his waist. Ellie fell to the ground, but neither of them seemed to notice.

Boone buried his head in the side of her neck and squeezed her tight. His arms easily wrapped around her back as he pulled her tightly into him. Neither of them said a word, Hayden because she was a big chicken at the moment. She was scared to death to figure out exactly what the hell was going on.

Finally, Boone pulled back. He framed her face with his big hands and smiled at her.

“Take your shower, Hay. I’ll see you out in the kitchen when you’re done.”

He stood, leaned over and picked up her stuffed elephant, and held it out. Hayden took it, embarrassed. Boone ignored her embarrassment and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “Don’t take forever.”

Hayden glared up at him. He’d been so nice up until then. “I won’t take forever. Jeez.”

Boone only smiled at her and walked backwards to the door. “I’ll get some food on.”

“Boone?” Hayden called when she lost sight of him, feeling loathe to be away from him for some reason and trying to think of something to say to prolong his presence for just a moment.

He stuck his head around the doorjamb just as he was about to close it. “Yeah, Hay?”

Hayden grabbed a bit of the material of the T-shirt she was wearing and pulled it out as she asked. “Think Chicken?”

She loved the relieved smile that crept across his face. Relieved that she could make a joke? She wasn’t sure. But he simply shrugged. “It’s appropriate for a cattle farmer, don’t you think?”

Hayden nodded and watched as he shut the door behind him, and then she grinned. She was totally stealing his shirt. She got up on shaky feet and made her way into the bathroom. It wasn’t exactly how she envisioned getting to spend time in Boone’s wonderful shower, but she’d take it.

Twenty minutes later, she emerged with no better idea of how she’d gotten to Boone’s house and what had happened the night before. She remembered being at the country and western bar, vaguely, but not much more than that. More alarming was the fact it was two o’clock in the afternoon. She’d about had a heart attack when she’d looked at her watch lying on the counter in the bathroom. The big black hole in her memory was more frightening than facing an armed thug bent on escaping prosecution.

She’d never done drugs in her life, she’d never had the urge to try them to see what the big deal was. She’d seen the way drugs destroyed people’s lives, and she had no desire to even try the stuff. It was a slippery slope that too many people thought they could navigate with just one hit, one joint. Hayden didn’t like losing control of her faculties and had stayed away from any kind of mind-altering substance…so she couldn’t understand what was going on now.

There was also the question of how her precious stuffed animal had gotten to Boone’s house, as well as how a pair of her jeans and a V-neck T-shirt—with a clean pair of panties and a bra—was waiting for her in Boone’s bathroom. Hayden didn’t have a good feeling about it all.

She headed out the door and down the hall and put a hand over her stomach when it growled at the smell of bacon cooking. She entered the kitchen to see Boone at the stove turning pieces of sizzling bacon on the hot grill. On a plate next to him was two pieces of bread with lettuce and tomato slices.

“BLT, huh?”

“Yeah. That work?”

“Oh yeah. I love BLTs. But aren’t you having one?” Hayden asked.

“Already ate.”

Hayden nodded and pulled out a chair at the small table in the kitchen. She watched as Boone finished cooking the bacon and set a couple of slices on the sandwich.

“Mayo?”

“Ranch if you have it, please.”

Boone nodded and reached into the fridge for the dressing. He put the plate down as well as the bottle of ranch. He went back across the room and grabbed a cold bottle of water from the fridge, and placed that in front of her as well

When Hayden didn’t reach for the food, but merely eyed him, he told her, “Go on. Eat. Then we’ll talk.”

“You know you’re completely freaking me out, right?”

“It’s fine, Hay. Trust me. We’ll talk after you get some food in you. I know you’ve got to be hungry.”

She looked at him for another beat, then nodded. Hayden snarfed the sandwich down, thinking it was one of the best meals she’d ever eaten. She drank half of the water, and as Boone carried her empty plate to the sink, he told her to take the remaining water and go and sit on the couch. He’d be there in a moment.

Hayden wandered into the other room, trying to take as much of it in as she could. She’d been in his house before, of course, but this time she could take her time and satisfy her curiosity.

Boone’s couch was dark brown leather. He had a coffee table in the middle of the room and a large television on the wall. There were two framed pictures on the walls, both of cows. There were a few more pictures in frames on the bookshelves along another wall, most likely of his parents. In one photo, a young couple was standing near the barn on the Hatcher Farms property. They had their arms around the other’s waists and were gazing at each other with enough love that Hayden could almost feel it just by looking at the picture.

It was hard to believe Boone’s dad could look at his wife like that, and allow anyone around him to abuse someone else.

In another photo, a little boy was standing between the couple; it was most likely taken a few years later, and he was looking at the camera smiling with the kind of unfettered happiness that only kids can have, and his parents were both looking down at him, smiling as well.

“Have a seat.”

Hayden jerked in surprise, disgusted for allowing herself to be distracted enough to not hear Boone come into the room. That totally wasn’t like her.

She sank down onto the surprisingly comfortable couch and balanced her water on her knee.

“Please, Boone. Tell me what the fuck happened last night. How’d I end up here? And did we…?” Hayden let the sentence trail off, feeling stupid for even having to ask.

“What do you remember?”

Hayden was afraid he was going to say that. “I remember being with you at the bar. Your friends were there…” She couldn’t say what they’d talked about though.

“Do you remember seeing Dana?”

“Dana?” Hayden scrunched her eyebrows in concentration. Dana had been there? Nope. Nothing. She shook her head.

Boone leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, but kept his eyes on Hayden. “The two of you apparently had words when you went to the restroom.” When no recognition lit in her eyes, Boone continued. “We don’t know what was said, you didn’t really say when you warned Tommy, Bub, and Moose to have my back.”

Hayden shrugged and gestured for him to continue. She could tell he was irritated, but she’d do it again in a heartbeat. She’d wanted to get with his friends since he’d filed the restraining order. If she’d said something to them last night, all the better.

“Apparently Dana had been watching us, and wasn’t too happy. She had to have paid someone to put something in your drink. I’m so sorry, Hay. I was distracted at the bar when I got our last round of drinks and took my eyes off them.”

Hayden sat up straight and exclaimed unbelievably, “This isn’t your fault, Boone. Seriously. And really? Dana spiked my drink? That fucking bitch!”

Boone almost laughed. Almost. There wasn’t anything funny about what had happened to her. “I’m happy to see you almost back to normal.”

“What did the doctors say? Did she roofie me?”

“Moose and the doctors at the emergency room said it was GHB.”

“The emergency room? Jesus. I can’t remember any of it.” Hayden’s face dropped, obviously not remembering anything about visiting the hospital.

“Yeah.” Boone’s voice dropped as well. “I got Tucker to come out and take a look at you and we called the cops. The EMTs took one look at you and brought you in. You’d puked three times, which actually helped get the drug out of your system faster than it would’ve otherwise, and your words were all jumbled up. You were in the ER until around three this morning. I took a look at your phone and saw you had Mackenzie programmed in. I called her, and got Dax. He was none too happy that you’d been drugged. Even though it was the middle of the night, he and Mackenzie went over to your place and got some stuff for you. When you were finally released, and the doctors assured me you’d be fine and you’d sleep off the rest of the drug, I brought you back here, got you comfortable…and here we are.”

Hayden considered what Boone had told her. There was a lot there, none that she particularly liked. “Did they find Dana?”

Boone shook his head. “Yeah, but she said she had no idea what the cops were talking about. She had dozens of witnesses who said she was on the other side of the room. Apparently she was easy to identify because she’d been dancing with any guy who’d asked, grinding up against them on the dance floor. And since there was no proof she was the one who arranged for your drink to be spiked, they couldn’t do anything.”

“What about whoever spiked the drink? Couldn’t that person be identified?” Hayden asked, frustrated. “What about cameras at the bar?”

Boone tried to relax, loving that she was herself again. Seeing the detective side of her come out relieved him and reassured him she was getting back to normal more than anything else she could’ve said or done. “No go. The owner said he’s been having problems with bartenders and theft, so they were aimed behind the bar at the alcohol and the cash registers…not at the patrons.”

“Well, shit. Even if the cops questioned everyone in the bar, there’s no guarantee whoever did it was even still there. If he or she was smart, they would’ve left right after they did it. I’m sorry, Boone. Catching whoever Dana hired would’ve gone a long way toward making sure she was prosecuted and stayed away from you.”

Boone nodded in agreement, but was amazed Hayden only seemed to care about his issues with Dana and not with what the woman had done to
her
.

Hayden looked up at Boone. “GHB, huh? Did I say anything weird?” She didn’t like the small grin that crept across Boone’s face. She totally had said something weird.

But he didn’t elucidate. Instead, an intense look washed over his face and he said, “I was more concerned about the fact you couldn’t stop throwing up.”

“Oh Lord.” Hayden put her face in her hands in embarrassment. “I’m so sorry.”

“For what? For being drugged? That I allowed myself to be distracted and stupidly gave someone an opening to spike your drink? For me having a psycho ex-girlfriend?
I’m
the one who should be saying sorry.”

“Thank you, then.”

“Again, I ask, for what?” Boone asked, shaking his head on disbelief.

“Well, for everything. Calling the cops, staying with me in the hospital. Calling Mackenzie. Bringing me here…although I would’ve been fine at home.”

“I wasn’t going to take you back to your place and leave you there!” Boone’s voice was horrified and even a little pissed. “You weren’t even conscious. I can’t believe you’d even think I’d do something like that.”