I Caught Him in the President's Office, So I Painted My Own Name novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Church

Rafe's POV

The post had been up for forty minutes when I read it, and it had already been shared nine hundred times.

Kendra Mabry had put it on her page with a picture of the two of us at Haskell's counter, taken through the truck stop window.

My hand was near Stephanie's. Hers was holding a flap.

The caption said: "Funny how the new boyfriend turned up before the divorce was even signed. Some women wait for the paper. Some wait for the man the club threw out for stealing."

Under it, the comments ran down the screen.

Stephanie read it standing at the bench, with her face white and her jaw set.

"It was a Tuesday," she said. "I'd been in that room two days. I'd never met you."

"I know."

"Everyone in Pine Fork is going to read that and believe it."

"Not everyone."

My phone rang.

The caller ID said Dutch Telford, a number I had not seen in ten years and still knew.

"Evening, Brasher," he said. His voice was easy, the room voice, with the whole bar behind it. "You got my sweetheart's message."

"I did."

"Funny thing. The club saw it too. Forty patches saw it." He let that sit. "Church is called tomorrow night at nine, to ask what a Nomad is doing in our county with another man's wife, and whether the man who stole from us gets to keep his patch."

"Norman called that?"

"The club called it. Norman will sit where he's told."

"I'll be there."

"Bring a lawyer," Dutch said, and hung up.

Stephanie was watching me.

"You're going to Pine Fork," she said.

"I'm going to walk into that room and say one word they've never heard me say. Saddlebag."

"You can't go alone."

"Norman said you'd be at the Run. In church, in front of everyone, with the doors shut. That's yours." I said it carefully. "Tomorrow night is mine. Dutch is trying to get to the Run first."

← Chapter 16 · All chapters · Chapter 18 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend