Page 150 of Unexpected Shot
I look up at him, still shaking away the disbelief of all the information thrown at me. “You’re not going tobelieve this shit.”
“No fucking way.”
“Way.”
“You’re lying.”
“I promise you I’m not.”
“Chad. Chadwick. Chadwick Ashcroft. Is a loan shark?”
“Apparently so.”
Beau shakes his head, clearly not able to grasp the information I’ve barely wrapped my mind around. “That motherfucker still owes me a hundred bucks from a dinner four months ago.”
“Well, maybe if you tell him you’re down on your luck, and that I’m extorting you for money, he’ll give you a loan plus the hundred bucks.”
Beau doesn’t laugh at my joke, even though it’s funny as hell. But I get it. This is a whole lot of information to process in thirty seconds.
“Did you look at the USB drive?”
I shake my head. “Not yet. I’m not…I know the guys I talked to. I don’t need to see the skeletons in their closet that made them sell their souls to Chad.”
“Same,” Beau says. “Hell, looking at Ricky all day tomorrow is going to be hard, especially with Chad next to him. Also did you see how he was looking at me today?”
“Yes! It was creepy. He couldn’t stop staring at you, but in like a…longing way?”
“Longing? Shelby. I tried to kill him a few nights ago.”
I throw my hands up in defense as I sit down on the couch in our hotel room. “Maybe he wasn’t, but that was the vibe I was getting. Like he missed you. Oh! I meant to ask you. What was he asking you, I think it was on hole number ten? He was whispering something to you. You were clearly annoyed, and I was very jealous I couldn’t hear what he was saying.”
Beau rolls his eyes as he sits next to me. “He thought that particular moment was the best opportunity to ask if we could talk later. That things had clearly escalated, and he wanted to know if I’d meet him for dinner so we could ‘clear the air.’”
“He did not,” I say, unable to hold in my laugh.
“He absolutely did.”
“What did you tell him?”
“Nothing. I was up. Guess you could say I was saved by the tee. I tried to stay as far away from him for the rest of the round as I could. Hell, if I had a choice in this, he’d be forced to leave the course and I wouldn’t have to keep wondering if that was the moment he was going to try and sabotage me. Especially after I finished the day in second place.”
Beau’s right. Chad’s unpredictable. If he’s pissed at Beau for the two times he kicked his ass, or anything to do with me, there’s no telling what he’d do to try and ruin Beau over the next few days.
And the worst part, if he does anything, they won’t be big, noticeable things. There are too many eyes around. It’ll be small things. Little digs. Hidden meanings of old stories that would mess with Beau. Whispers about me. Things that will fuck with Beau maybe worse than something big and splashy.
No, Chad needs to leave. He needs to leave this course. This state. Our lives.
And it’s going to happen tonight.
“I have an idea,” I say, fully turning my body to Beau. “I came up with it thirty seconds ago, and I’m going to need you to blindly agree with me and possibly do some weird shit.”
“Shelby,” Beau says, shaking his head. “I don’t know exactly what’s going through your head, but I can tell it’s something that’s going to make Ethan, Kat, and Grayson stressed. I’ll only be playing with Ricky, and therefore Chad, one more day. I don’t think he’s going to make the cut, which means Chad will have to leave. I’ll be okay.”
“Nope,” I say flatly. “He’s fucked with us too many times and I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him. I’m done with his shit. It ends now. You’ve always been my hero, Beau Devereaux. It’s about time I returned the favor.”
I don’t know if I’ve ever made Beau blush before, but seeingthe redness creep onto his cheeks, I know whatever we’re about to do is going to be worth it. “Alright wife. What do you have in mind?”
I smile and lean in for a quick kiss. “First thing you’re going to do is call Chad. I think it’s time for the two of you to clear the air.”
