Jackson, and I’d appreciate it if you’d quit yelling like a kid having a temper tantrum!”
Since he’d ended with his own yelling, the insult was ludicrous at best.
Fury colored her face and kept her eyes narrowed. “Okay, fine. Let’s just see.” And for an additional dig, she said, “Jackson will tell me the truth.”
“You’re going to call him?” That worked fine by him. She’d be the one to let her erstwhile protector know the score, and at the same time she’d learn the truth. Spencer gestured at her. “Feel free.”
“I will!” She dug out her cell phone from her back pocket and hit a speed dial number.
Because he didn’t want to miss a word, Spencer said, “Dare you to put it on speaker phone.”
“Feeling nosy?” she sneered.
“I don’t trust you to admit to my acquittal.” He almost smiled, knowing she wouldn’t be able to resist his taunt. “Or are you afraid of what I’ll hear?”
* * *
“HA!” KEEPING HER ANGRY GAZE locked on his, Arizona hit the speaker button. Her car was dead, and she knew it wasn’t by accident. She’d been around Jackson too long to miss the signs of interference.
Because she hadn’t used the emergency number, Jackson answered with a greeting, instead of silence. “Hey, Arizona. What’s up?”
At the sound of his voice, she brightened with triumph. “What did you do to my car?” Did they really think they could bully her? That she was too dumb to recognize how they worked? Fat chance. She wasn’t an idiot.
“What’s that?” A new alertness entered Jackson’s tone. “Something’s wrong with your car?”
Uh-oh. He sounded pretty sincere. “No use denying it,” she pressed. “I know you disabled it somehow.”
“Not me. Alani and I are at dinner with Dare and Molly.” And then with suspicion, “Where did you say you are?”
Crap. Was it possible that the car’s battery had died somehow? It didn’t seem likely.
“Arizona?”
Deflated, she admitted, “I’m at Spencer’s.”
“Yeah?” A smile sounded through the call. “Doing what?”
“Never mind.” Oh, this was awkward. And Spencer looked so smug. “My car won’t start. It’s totally dead. You sure you didn’t tamper with it?”
“Why would I? What are you up to— Oh, wait.”
She heard muted voices, a brief conversation, and then Jackson came back on the line. “Reckon it was Trace.” And before she could get riled about that, he said, “Why didn’t you remind me that it was your birthday?”
No! No, no, no. How did he realize it now? She groaned, long and dramatic.
“Stop that,” Jackson said. “You should have told me. More to the point, I should have remembered.” His voice deepened. “I’m sorry that I’ve been distracted.”
“Don’t.” Her throat closed up. She absolutely would not look at Spencer. “You’re getting married, for crying out loud. You’re going to be a dad. You have enough on your mind already.”
“That’s not a good excuse.”
She needed to end this, and fast. “Honestly, it doesn’t matter.”
“The hell it doesn’t.”
Time to shoot off in a new direction. “What did Dare tell you? Why does he think it was Trace?”
“Spencer talked to Trace.”
Aha! “That—”
“And Trace told Dare. But no one told me because you swore everyone to secrecy, and I have to tell you, that annoys the hell out of me.”
“Oh. Umm…” She could practically feel Spencer gloating. “Yeah, about that. It’s just that I…”
“You were supposed to be researching, hon. For me. You were not supposed to branch off on your own.”
“Well, I…”
“Don’t compound it now by fibbing to me.” He laughed as he said that, removing any real insult. “I’m glad you’re there with Spencer, and I’m doubly glad you had enough sense to get him involved rather than charging into a mess alone.”
“I’m nothing if not cautious.” Even she winced at the sarcasm.
“Yeah. Cautious. That’s exactly how I’d describe you.”
“Jackson—”
He cut her off to say, “Trace dicked with your car because he wants you to stay put, so that’s what you’ll do.” He spoke over her again before she could get started. “Otherwise I’ll have to uproot my tired butt from this nice dinner with my pregnant fiancée and friends, and you know you don’t want me to do that.”
No, she didn’t. Turning her back on Spencer, she whispered, “I can’t stay here.”
Obtuse to the bitter end, Jackson asked, “Why not?”
Almost at the same time, Spencer said, “Why not?”
She groaned again. Men! “I don’t want to, that’s why.”
Jackson discounted her reasoning. “C’mon, Arizona. You know that once you start snooping, you have to cover your ass. That means you have to alter your routine, avoid your normal stomping ground, and for certain you can’t go back to whatever hole-in-the-wall you were using to bed down. That’s not how it’s done, honey.”
Yeah, she knew that. She had planned to hop to another motel for the night. She even had her overnight bag in the car. “I’m not dumb, you know.”
“Definitely not. But you are jumping the gun. Any operation requires planning.” There was more muted conversation before Jackson laughed and came back to her. “Dare says that Trace has it under wraps, and before you feel guilty about that, he says it’s a job they’d already started before you tripped in.”
“Really?” That got her intrigued. “So I was right? It’s a cover for a trafficking ring?”
“Most likely, but it’s too soon to know for sure, and it’s definitely too soon to tip our hand. The sting is still in preliminary research.” His voice lowered. “Put Spencer on the phone.”
“No.” Hell, no.
“Arizona…”
Her shoulders were so stiff, they ached. “I don’t need anyone to babysit me. I’m fine.”
“You’ll stay
