Win Me Over (Cowboys of Crested Butte 5)

The man pressed a button on his phone and dropped it in the pocket of his jacket. “Are you Bullet Simmons?”

“The one and only.”

“Mr. Simmons, you’ve been served.” The man handed Bullet a folded piece of paper.

“What the hell?”

At the same time the man went out the door to the parking lot, Billy, Lyric, and King walked over to where Tristan and Liv waited.

“What’s with him?” Billy asked.

“Someone just served him papers.”

Bullet stood completely still, with a stunned look on his face. Billy walked over and took the paper out of Bullet’s hand.

“What the hell?” Billy repeated what Bullet had said moments earlier when he finished reading through the document.

“What is it?” asked Lyric.

“A subpoena,” Bullet answered.

“For what?”

Bullet turned and looked at Tristan, who hadn’t moved from where she stood when they walked in. His eyes met hers, as though he was trying to tell her something.

“My DNA.”

“For what?” she murmured.

“A paternity test. Wait,” she heard Bullet yell, but she was already through the door. She raised her hand to hail a cab. When it pulled up, she recognized the person getting out of it.

“Tristan? Are you okay?” asked Harris.

“I’m not.” She was too stunned to explain, too stunned to ignore him.

“Where are you going?”

“The hotel.”

When Tristan climbed in the back seat, Harris followed. “I’ll make sure she gets there okay,” he explained to the driver, who looked as though he really didn’t care.

“Let me see that.” Lyric pulled the subpoena out of Billy’s hand and started reading. “Do you know anything about this?”

“It’s gotta be wrong,” he told her.

“Why? I mean, how can you be sure?”

“Look at the date.” Bullet pointed to the section that said, “On or about…”

“Why do those dates sound familiar?”

“Pike Peak or Bust,” said King, who hadn’t spoken until that point.

“Then he’s right!” Lyric shouted. “He couldn’t have been with someone else. He was with us every night. And by us, I mean Tristan.”

“Not every night,” said Liv. “There was one night he wasn’t.”

Lyric first looked puzzled, then her expression changed. Instead of looking at Bullet, she looked at King. “You wanna tell me what the hell went on that night?”