Brody (Texas Boudreau Brotherhood Book 3)

Beth’s numb fingers, crashing to the floor. She heard Brody’s voice calling her name, but the words were distant, muffled beneath the ringing in her ears. The words she’d heard reverberated in her head, repeating over and over. Evan escaped. Evan escaped. Evan escaped.
Jamie!
She had to get to her daughter. Protect her. Make sure she was safe. Every instinct screamed at her to run, run as far and as fast as her legs would carry her. Race away from Shiloh Springs, because Evan knew they lived there now. Find some place where Evan could never find them. The careful life she’d created for her daughter crumbled into a thousand brittle shards, charred and ruined, and she wasn’t sure she could put them back together again.
Brody’s arm snaked around her waist, which was good because her knees felt like limp noodles, ready to collapse beneath her. Her gaze centered on his face, reading the barely restrained anger as he spoke to the official from Huntsville. How could this happen? The illusion of safety she’d cloaked herself in lay in tattered ruins around her. Would she ever feel safe again?
With his arm tight around her, he led her to the sofa and eased her onto it, the whole time talking with the warden. His arm loosened from around her, and immediately she felt its loss. Without his touch, she felt encased in ice, cold and numb to everything around her. Staring down at her hands, she bunched her fingers into fists, marveling she could move them at all, because she felt frozen. Numb. Trapped in a cocoon of icy despair, because her illusion of happily ever after fragmented with one phone call. She’d deluded herself into thinking she had a shot, a chance at making a new life, finding a new love with Brody.
Her gaze lifted to Brody’s as he knelt beside her, his strong hand wrapped around the cell phone. Now he’d realize it wasn’t good to be around her. Nobody needed to be stuck with her. Her life was jinxed, it had been from the day she’d met Evan Stewart, and fallen for his lies and deceit.
“Sweetheart, they’ve got everybody looking for Evan. They’ll catch him. I promise, he’s not getting anywhere near you or Jamie, okay? Let me call Rafe, find out what he knows.”
“I need to see Jamie.” She hated how her voice quivered, nearly cracking toward the end. She tried to sit a little straighter. This had to stop. She wasn’t some crybaby, some weak, lily-livered wimp. When Evan had tried to manipulate her after he’d been arrested, she’d grown a backbone and stood up to him. Divorced him and moved on, making a new life for her and her daughter. She wasn’t about to let him break her now. “She’s going to be scared when she hears about her father.”
“As soon as I talk to Rafe, we’ll head to the ranch. Couple of minutes, tops.”
She rubbed her upper arms, trying to feel warm again. Without a doubt, Brody was right. They needed to find out what Rafe knew, and take the appropriate steps to protect not only Jamie, but Tessa, too. Evan wasn’t above going after her sister, since she’d been a huge part of him being behind bars.
“Do it. Because I want him as far away from my daughter as humanly possible. If we’re lucky, maybe he grew a brain while he was incarcerated, and is across the border in Mexico.”
Brody’s crooked grin at her words made the invisible layer of ice surrounding her heart start thawing. Evan better watch his back, because if he was stupid enough to show up in Shiloh Springs, she’d be ready.
Hanging up after talking to the deputy warden, Brody’s thoughts were spinning a mile a minute. He still didn’t understand how Evan Stewart managed to slip through the cracks at Huntsville, but he was on the loose, with a full manhunt in progress. They’d been searching for several hours, the warden said, but he and his cellmate were in the wind. Apparently, they’d had outside help, and the police were looking for Evan’s cellmate’s girlfriend, but hadn’t had any luck thus far.
Biting back a curse, he laid Beth’s phone on the coffee table in front of her. He’d managed to get her seated while he’d finished the call, but knew she’d retreated into her thoughts. Didn’t take a genius to figure out exactly what she’d do. The minute she got herself together, she’d head to the Big House, grab Jamie, and hightail it out of Shiloh Springs as fast as she could load herself and her daughter in their car. No, he wasn’t about to let that happen, not if he could stop it.
He yanked his cell phone out of his pocket and hit speed dial for Rafe’s number. He paced across the living room floor, agitated his brother didn’t answer on the first ring.
“Hey, Brody, what’s up?”
“Why didn’t you call me the second you heard about Stewart?” Brody’s tone sounded overly harsh, but he was pissed, and didn’t really care who knew it. He kept his voice low, because Beth didn’t need to hear this conversation. She’d been blindsided by the news about her ex. Somebody better have some answers for him, ones that made more sense than the little he’d been able to pry outta the deputy warden. Otherwise, he might not be responsible for his actions.
“Stewart? Are you talking about Evan Stewart?”
“Why didn’t you tell me he escaped? How come you don’t have somebody watching Beth’s house?”
“Whoa, hold on. What are you talking about?”
Brody took a deep breath, trying to quash down the rage coursing through him, which wasn’t easy. Every second Evan was free meant Beth and Jamie were in danger. He might not be a cop, but he’d protect them both with his life.
He took another steadying breath, focusing on the facts. Rafe was a good sheriff; he wouldn’t let anything happen to Beth or Jamie. His gut tightened at the thought