“Not even close. Then again, I got nothin’ to say to the man so I don’t usually call him.”
Tate thought that was likely the fucking truth.
“Why Arnie? He did this, it would be a serious fucked play.”
“Arnie hates Ty Walker.”
“Think that’s been established, Chace, but the man’s not dumb. I’ll repeat, he did this, it would be a serious fucked play. He’s already a national pariah and he’s an ex-cop. He wants to do everything he can to avoid jail time, not buy himself more.”
“Arnie hates Ty Walker, Tate, but he hates Irving Walker more.”
Tate spotted the exit sign, one mile ahead, he processed that but his mind was on the conversation.
“What?”
“For Arnie, black doesn’t mix with white, ever. And, for Arnie, black definitely does not mix with Reece Rayner, the woman he had his eye on, the woman whose pants he wanted into before or after he put his ring on her finger, the woman who said no to him more than once and the woman who ended up knocked up by and married to a black guy.”
Tate stared at the road and whispered, “You are fuckin’ shittin’ me.”
“Nope,” Keaton told him. “Ty Walker never committed a crime in or around Carnal that I knew of but he had a file in the office, in Arnie’s desk, thick and always gettin’ thicker. Arnie kept his eye on Ty while Arnie nursed his vengeance and bided his time. He wanted to fuck father and son, put both in their place and remind Reece of her mistake all at the same time. What happened to Walker was not random. Not by a long shot.”
Tate knew what this meant. And Tate knew this was not good.
“So, Ty bests him, publicly humiliates him in a huge way, he breaks and now he’s unpredictable,” Tate deduced.
“My guess, yes. I don’t put anything past my father but he usually throws money at shit so this is not his style. If Rowdy Crabtree has one working brain cell, he’s in Brazil by now. Arnie Fuller is fucked, his brother is fucked, both are goin’ down and both are goin’ somewhere they do not want to go and very well might not make it back from. He has nothin’ to lose.”
Arnold Fuller had nothing to lose but Alexa Berry Walker and her husband Tyrell had everything to lose.
Including the child Ty told him a couple of days ago his wife was carrying.
Fuck.
Chace spoke in his ear. “Tate, I’m tellin’ you this and not Walker because he’s on his way to Dallas. My opinion, what Fuller’s already done to him coupled with this, that may be the best thing while we round Fuller up and get Lexie. Give him time to cool down before he gets back. Wouldn’t matter if it was Fuller or anyone did it, gives him time to cool down. But it is not my pregnant wife who’s missin’ and you got experience with that so I’m handin’ you the ball to make the call. Whatever you decide, you take that man’s back, I’ll do what I can to take it too if he hits Carnal and he’s close when we get her back to him and catch the fucker who took her.”
“I’m callin’ him, Chace. No fuckin’ way I’m sittin’ on this. Anyone did that to me with Laurie or Jonas, they’d buy what I dished out to whoever hurt ‘em.”
“Like I said, you make the call. Now, I got work to do.”
Tate pulled off at the exit and decelerated, saying, “Me too.”
Then he heard said quietly, “I’ll find her, Tate.”
“Do it while she’s breathin’ and that baby’s still safe.”
“Right.”
Disconnect.
Tate flipped his phone closed, flipped it open and did this while he maneuvered the overpass and re-entered the highway going the other way.
Then he called Ty.
*
Lexie
“You like black cock?”
I stared at him.
I was freezing. So fucking cold. So fucking cold.
His arm flashed out, he caught me with the butt of Ty’s gun and I went flying to the side.
“You like black cock?” he screamed.
I pushed myself up on a hand, feeling the blood seeping into my eye; I turned my head, looked through the red and locked eyes with Arnold Fuller.
Then I whispered, “I love it.”
Then I watched him lift the gun and take aim.
*
Irving
“You like black cock?”
He heard it.
That motherfucker. That fucking motherfucker.
That fucking motherfucker.
He burst through the door, Arnie Fuller turned on him, gun in his hand already up; he didn’t hesitate to fire.
Irving took the bullet but he was on the move. All six foot six, two hundred and twenty pounds of him, he tackled Fuller who went flying back, hit the wall at the side of the hunting cabin and Irv heard the gun go flying.
He grappled with Fuller but his eyes went to his bleeding daughter-in-law.
“Go,” he ordered.
She scrambled to her feet, eyes on him and started, “Irv –”
“Get the gun and go!” he shouted.
She moved.
He fought Fuller until the blood leaking from him meant he couldn’t fight anymore.
But before he slumped to the ground, took five boot kicks from that fucking motherfucker and lost consciousness, he knew Lexie was gone.
*
Lexie
The keys were not in Fuller’s truck so I had no choice but to run.