“All right.”
Lucky hung up, already dreading the meeting. Willa was too innocent to understand the sexual side of the club. Worse still, she was going to be disgusted and angry that Sissy had found out. It was a good thing their engagement wasn’t for real, because he had a feeling she was going to throw that cheap-ass ring at him.
When his cell phone rang again, he promised himself, if it was Train again, he was going to change his fucking number. Looking at the caller ID, however, he saw it was Knox.
“What’s up, brother?”
“I have some good news. One of the investigators found the kids’ relative, and he’s flying in from Texas. I’m going to meet his plane in Lexington in the morning. We’ll be in Treepoint by noon.”
“He’s willing to take the kids?”
“Yes, he owns a ranch and has a housekeeper. I checked him out, and the state will, too, before they give him custody of the children, but I don’t see a problem. He’s a bounty hunter who works his ranch until he’s called out on a job. He said he’ll take a couple of months off to get them settled before he goes back to work. He’s used to catching felons on the run and has staff working on his ranch, so he doesn’t think the kids are going to give him any trouble. Your ass is off the line.”
“Willa’s going to take it hard. She’s grown attached to them.”
“I agree. You want to tell her before I bring him by to meet them?”
“I’m meeting her tomorrow at one. Give me an hour to tell her.”
“Will do. What about you? You still going to keep your bet with Shade?”
“Yes, I made the bet, and I’m going to keep it. Besides, I don’t trust Sissy. She’ll find a way to hurt Willa.”
“I’ll see you around two.”
Lucky set the cell phone down before he was tempted to break it like he had the last one. He sat down on his chair, expecting to feel relief that the engagement would be broken, and Willa’s conscience would be off the line for caring for the children. Instead, he was hurting so badly it was everything he could do not to find out where Willa was and go to her, check into the nearest motel, and show her exactly how he felt about her. He buried his head in his hands, breaking out in a cold sweat.
He couldn’t listen to his heart and take the chance Willa would be hurt. He would tell Willa tomorrow. He would also check out the relative himself. It should only take a couple of days, and then he could finally tell Train he could come home as soon as he found a new pastor to take over.
Everyone would be happier in the long run—everyone but him.
Chapter 17
“You’re early,” Willa stated, opening the door at Lucky’s knock. Her hand went to Ria’s head as the dog sat down next to her.
“I wanted to get it over with,” Lucky stated coldly.
Her smile slipped when she saw the grim look on his face, and she opened the door wider for him to come inside. He walked into the living room then waited for her to join him, but her footsteps lagged. She could tell whatever he was going to tell her was bad.
Yesterday had been one of the best days of her life, losing herself with Beth and Lily by pretending for a short time that Lucky would marry her, help her keep the children, and in time fall in love with her. Miracles happen every day, so it could happen, she had told herself while Sex Piston had worked on her hair.
“Bitch, who’s been working on your hair?”
“I’ve gone to a couple of different beauty shops, and I experimented with color myself a few times,” Willa apologized, brushing her hair away from her face.
Sex Piston ran her hands through her long hair, surveying it critically.
“Can you fix it?”
“I can try. I’m good, but some of it’s going to have to be cut. It’s all different lengths from you going short too long.”
“Cutting it is fine,” Willa said miserably, knowing she kept it in a bun most of the time, anyway.
“We’ll see what I can do. What color were you trying for?”
“I wanted blonde, but it washed me out and was hard to keep up. My brown is boring.”
“I’m going to give you a mix of the two. It’ll look hot when I’m done.”
Willa had been skeptical, but Sex Piston had come as close to hot as she was going to get. Her newfound confidence was sinking fast under Lucky’s gaze, though.
“You cut your hair?”
“Some. Sex Piston evened it and layered it for me.” She didn’t constantly have to brush it back from her face.
Lucky didn’t remark that he liked it like a normal fiancé would. Of course, there wasn’t anything between them, so why should he be considerate of her feelings?
“What did you want to talk about?” Willa prompted him, beginning to think he disliked her hair.
Lucky cleared his throat before taking a seat on her couch. Willa felt tactless for not asking him to sit immediately. Her mother would criticize her lack of manners, like she criticized most things she did.