Southern Comfort (Southern 2)

Glancing over to see if Olivia saw it, I decide not to say anything when I see her gazing out at the horizon. Instead, I drive straight to my parents’ house and turn off the cart. “Tell Mom I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”

“Where are you going?” she asks while she climbs out.

“I’m going to just go close the barn door.” She doesn’t ask anymore questions, and when I get back to the barn, I run in and pull up the feeds from a couple of minutes ago. I watch frame by frame until I see the man. Wearing all black, he doesn’t once look up. Instead, he stands there watching us. Then he takes a picture, and just like that, he’s gone.

I pick up the phone and call Derek, who answers right away. “Yeah, I just got the information.”

“He’s using a phantom car.” I hear him typing. “I have nothing on him. He keeps his face covered the whole time. I don’t even have a shot of his eyes. But I’ll work on it in the meantime.”

“What else do you have for me?” I ask, and he gets quiet.

“How deep are you with Dominic Albano?” he asks quietly.

“Not at all,” I answer truthfully. “Olivia was engaged to him. She broke it off.”

“It’s a good thing because this guy is beyond dirty,” he says, my eyes closing. “From what the feds got on him, he will go away for a long time.” He pauses. “But that isn’t the worst of it.”

“How can it get worse?” I close my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“A lot worse.” Derek’s tone is not to be mistaken with anything but bad. “He fucked with the wrong people. Not only did he borrow, but he also lost their money—their clean money. And you know nothing pisses off a mob like losing what he must have spent years to clean.”

“Fuck,” I hiss, shaking my head. “How much are we talking?”

“Thirty,” he says, and my heart sinks. “He also owes them ten.”

“How the fuck did he let it get so bad?” I ask while Derek laughs.

“The guy loved the private jet style. He also loved hookers and blow,” he says. “He also didn’t like wrapping it up. He has two kids that he keeps under the radar, but there are wire transfers every single month. Needless to say, their accounts have also been seized, and neither of them are happy.”

“It just keeps getting better and better.” I sigh. “Let me know if you find out anything else.”

“Will do,” he disconnects. I spend the next five minutes watching the figure over and over again, trying to see if I’ll notice something Derek missed.

When I walk into the house a little while later, I find Olivia on the couch looking up at the ceiling. “What are you doing?” I ask, and she turns around and looks at me.

“I’m dying of boredom.” She looks over, and once again, just looking at her takes my breath away. “I haven’t been out in four days,” she says. “I mean, out in public with humans.” She puts her hands up, and I can’t help the laughter that escapes now.

“Pretty sure my parents are considered humans,” I say. She glares at me, and even the glare stirs something in me. I also know when she’s sad or mad or anything besides happy, so I do something I know I’m going to regret. “Why don’t we go out?” I can’t stop the words before they come out.

She sits up and looks over at me. “Don’t toy with me, cowboy.”

“I’m not toying with you. Call Kallie and see if she wants to go to the bar. We can go out,” I say and she starts to clap her hands. “Not late.” I point at her, taking a sip of my water.

She gets up and runs over to me, surprising me by throwing her arms around my neck. My arms go around her waist automatically. “Thank you, cowboy,” she says, kissing my cheek. She looks at me, and all I can do is stare at her. There is nothing I can say. Actually, there is a whole list of words I can say, but I have to keep reminding myself that she’s leaving.

I break eye contact first and drop my hands from her waist. “Yeah, go call Kallie.” She nods her head and walks away to the bedroom. Standing in the kitchen, I put my hands on the counter and hang my head. “Don’t go there,” I remind myself. “It’s just going to hurt when she leaves.” I shake my head.

“Kallie says she’s in!” she yells from the room. “She said she’s putting on her cowboy boots, and she’s going to do some honky-tonk thingamajig.”

“Great!” I shout back at her. “Just fucking great,” I mumble under my breath.