Since there was no custody set, and the judge refused to hear anything on it after hearing the parties involved, Tasia had just had to make do with the fact that Paydon and his parents had her child, and that was the end of it.
Paydon had taken to fatherhood like a duck to water.
We’d met up with Paydon, his parents, and baby Gibby quite a few times since they’d arrived in town, and each time it was obvious to see that Paydon loved having Gibby around.
Which was good since she was his…for now.
Tasia, I knew, wasn’t going to roll over and give the Maxwells what they wanted. She’d let that be known far and wide, and I knew that the family would have a fight on their hands.
And, I had a feeling, if she didn’t win, she’d take Gibby and run.
To where, I didn’t know. But every time that I heard what Tasia had pulled, I only got more and more convinced that things were about to deteriorate.
Like today, Logan had called me during his break to say that Tasia had set fire to Nina Maxwell’s car.
Though, that was all speculation at this point since ‘whoever’ did it, did it during the dead of night. And since the house they’d bought years back was outdated, they had no security measures in place. Nor had they thought that Tasia would stoop to the level of arsonist.
It might not have been her. Technically, it could’ve been some random man she’d hired to do the deed, too. But I was honestly betting on it being Tasia.
It was her brand of crazy.
“Apparently making a sacrifice for your mentally challenged best friend is a sweet thing to do,” he grumbled.
I rolled my eyes. “It is. But I thought that y’all weren’t sharing what had happened.”
“I wasn’t. Your dad wasn’t. You weren’t. Paydon, on the other hand, didn’t agree to that. He came by the station yesterday, and apparently, he began talking to anyone that would listen. He told Merry.”
I winced.
Lock burst out laughing.
Merry was the biggest gossip in Kilgore. The funny thing was, he was also a really good cop, but damn, give him something juicy and the man was going to spread it far and wide.
“Sucks for you,” I teased. “But it’s not breaking my heart that they know you’re a good person, Logan.”
“I don’t know about a good person,” Lock said. “I saw him take down a two-hundred-and-twenty-pound man today like he was a stack of newspapers and not a grown ass adult man.”
My eyes flicked to Lock’s.
“Really?” I drawled. “Because Logan didn’t tell me anything exciting happened today. I literally just spoke to him about twenty minutes ago when I asked what part of the block party he was on.”
Logan squeezed my hip in amusement.
“There was a robbery at the Quick Mart.” Lock grinned. “I’d pulled over to assist. Logan came about twenty minutes later right when I managed to get the guy out of the gas station. I was walking with him to my bike where I was parked at the curb when the man’s getaway driver burst out of the bushes. Logan pulled over and started running after him before he could even get ten feet away.”
“And you tackled him,” I guessed.
Logan shrugged. “Kid was fast. If I’d given him much more time, he would’ve pulled away from me and I would’ve had no chance of getting him.”
“I filmed it,” Lock said. “Or at least my bodycam did. I have Captain Morgan pulling it and sending it to me.”
Logan chuckled.
That chuckled died in his throat when Tasia came into view.
“Oh, shit,” I said, looking at the walking disaster that was about to tear into our lives once again. “Did she see you?”
Logan’s hand on my hip squeezed. “Unfortunately, yes.”
“Let’s go to the edge of the block over here,” I gestured with my hand. “That way there aren’t as many people.”
“Good idea,” Logan muttered. “But I don’t think it’s going to be far enough away.”
No, I didn’t either.
Which was why I pulled my phone out of my bag and messaged my dad to come meet us at the corner of the two streets.
Instead of shoving it back into my bag, I shoved it into my back pocket, then repositioned my large purse on my shoulder, wishing I had thought ahead and hadn’t bothered bringing it.
We managed to make it to the big building at the corner of Second and Third Street, then turned and waited, unsurprised to see Tasia barreling down on us. Well, as fast as she could barrel down on us.
She was recovering slowly but surely, but she was still in a walking boot due to a fracture in her foot.
Her mouth hadn’t suffered, though.
She’d been chatting far and wide to anyone that would listen that Logan had stolen her child from her and that Logan had beaten her up.