Page 56 of Outlawed

“You don’t need to. We know. It baffles me that you’d take the word of a man who was dismissed from his job in law enforcement for assault, harassment, and behavior unbecoming of a police officer, impeding an investigation, and tampering with a crime scene.”

The marshal looks shocked. “Who are you?”

“I’m Jackie Andrews. Derek was my son before I disowned him. Would you like to know why I did that? Because he beat the crap out of a woman and tried to frame Calliope for it. His hatred for Calliope knows no bounds. You’ll be a goddamn fool if you listen to him.”

“I’m sorry to inform you, Mrs. Andrews, that Derek is missing too. He hasn’t checked in, and he didn’t arrive at our prearranged rendezvous point.”

Jackie laughs. “Because he’s done what he needed to do. He put the cat among the pigeons and ran away before he could get into trouble. My son is missing because he chooses to be, and I hope for his sake he stays missing.” She points at him.

I grab her arm gently to stop her. The last thing we need is Jackie getting carted off in cuffs.

“Jen and I will head back to the ranch. Can you let the guys know what’s going on, and then give David a hand with Hannah? I don’t want her coming back to the ranch until they’re gone. She’s been through enough.”

“You’ve got it, Calliope. I’m so, so sorry about all this. That boy…I swear I never knew his father had his claws in so deep.”

“None of this is your fault. It’s all on him.”

“I’m still sorry.”

I hug her as Sarah and Henry walk over. “What’s going on?”

“Jackie can fill you in. Any chance you could pack up my stall for me? I hate to ask, but…”

“No, of course. You go do what you’ve got to do.”

“Thanks.”

Jen takes my hand, and we head down Main Street as people start booing and jeering. My heart plummets until I realize they’re not booing me, they’re booing the marshal. For once, I’m stunned silent.

The marshal ignores them, opening the door to his car and nodding for me to get in. “Just you.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so. Either we ride together in your car, or we ride together in mine. My client is not under arrest, and you’ve already fucked up with this bullshit warrant. Let’s not make it any worse by denying my client counsel,” Jen snaps before climbing in the back seat ahead of me.

I grin before I climb in and rest my head on her shoulder.

“You okay?” she asks softly.

“Yeah. Just worried.”

“They can’t do fuck-all to you.”

“No, I know. That’s not what I’m worried about.”

“Well, what’s bothering you then?”

“How postal my guys are gonna go when they find out what’s happening.”

“Ah. Well, I have space on my roster for a couple of extra clients. We’ll figure it out.”

And despite the clusterfuck this day is ending in, I don’t doubt her for a second.

Chapter Seventeen

The ranch is already surrounded by people when we arrive, but not a single person has entered the house. I have to fight back my grin, feeling how pissed-off the house is with these people. They have no idea how lucky they are because I’m not the only one whose powers have grown since my return. The house has gotten stronger, too. I wouldn’t have been surprised to find a rocket launcher emerging from the roof, aiming at them all.

As the car comes to a stop, I focus on a mental image and push it toward the house. I’ve been working on this a lot over the last few months, mostly to train my brain. I can’t keep giving myself headaches and nose bleeds without doing some permanent damage, and I figured practice makes perfect. Perhaps subconsciously, I always knew it would come to this.

The wind swirls around my hair as I step out of the car. A soft caress, like a hand on my chin, tells me the house understood the assignment.