“Our side? I didn’t know I was on a side in this. Oh God, how did this happen?”
Justin stroked her hair, and Brandon squeezed her hands.
Brandon’s kind eyes eased some of her worry, but only some. “Shelby, you’re not under arrest yet. Byrd doesn’t have enough evidence to do much. We just have to act fast before he comes with his warrant.”
“Warrant? Am I going to jail, Brandon?” She was terrified by the prospect of that.
“Only for a few hours and only after he finds you,” Brandon said.
“What do you mean by that?” Justin asked.
“I’m taking her to our family cabin. Byrd won’t know to go looking there. I doubt he knows it exists since it is in this county and not Elko.”
“Good idea, bro.”
“This isn’t breaking the law, is it?” she asked.
“Breaking? No. Bending? Maybe. As far as I know, Byrd still doesn’t have a warrant for you.”
“You can trust Brandon,” Justin told her. “He won’t let you down.”
“It’ll only keep Byrd at bay for a little while but hopefully long enough for us to get our ducks in a row.” Brandon turned to Justin. “I need you to go find Trixie. She might know what really happened that night when they met Shelby and Alex—and maybe even who Lucille’s real attacker is.”
“Great plan, bro.” Justin touched her cheek, urging her to look at him. “I told you he was the best.”
Shelby was beginning to believe him, though her mind was racing with images of what it would be like standing behind bars. “What about Alex?” she asked. “Is he still in Elko with Lucille?”
Brandon’s cell buzzed. He looked down at its screen. “You must have a sixth sense, Shelby. It’s a text from him right now.”
“What does it say?” She saw him frown. “Please, Brandon. Tell me.”
He put his cell away.
“Answer her,” Justin said, clearly frustrated as much as she was at being left in the dark.
“Bad just turned to terrible,” Brandon said. “Lucille is back in surgery. Alex is trying to save her.”
She couldn’t believe this was happening. “That poor girl.”
“We’ve got to double our efforts,” Brandon said strongly. “If Lucille doesn’t make it, this case won’t be a matter of just an attack. It will be about murder.”
“Oh God.” Shelby felt her world crumbling under her feet.
Chapter Eleven
Brandon opened the door to the family cabin for Shelby, the woman who had turned his world upside down. In his deepest voice, he said, “Welcome to Champion Getaway, Shelby.”
“It’s a nice place.” She walked in, and he followed behind, unable to move his gaze from her perfect, curvy ass.
What was it about her that made his jeans suddenly too small and his mind too crazed? Keep your head in the game. She’s on Byrd’s shit list. I’m only her attorney. Nothing else.
The truth was Shelby impacted him more than anyone had in a very long time. Why else would he cancel all his appointments for the next few days? She was in trouble. She needed him. She was the best sugarcoated treat he’d ever seen in his life. When he’d seen her at the ground breaking ceremony, he’d been intrigued. At the diner, interested. Back at her home, fascinated. Here at the cabin, completely and utterly captivated. He felt a possessive streak exploding inside him.
“Justin lives here?” she asked.
“Now he does.”
The place looked exactly the same as it had last year during the annual pilgrimage he and his brothers and dad observed. Justin was living here now during his sabbatical from rodeo. Otherwise it would’ve been filled with dust and cobwebs like it was whenever they came on their mother’s birthday. They’d started the practice after her death and had continued it every year since. He wondered if his dad would come this year.