I took it and twisted the cap off, folding the aluminum in on itself and tossing it into a can in the corner of the room.
It bounced off the top, overflowing from the red coffee can since there was no room left in the already full canister.
I watched it twist for a few seconds before it settled beside the others on the floor before continuing.
“Mercy got a letter from her ex’s lawyer. Apparently, he left her a sizable amount of money in his will, as well as the house that his mother is currently residing in,” I said tiredly, pinching the bridge of my nose between two fingers.
They blinked.
Trance was the one to come up with words first. “Is she going to take it?”
I shook my head. “No. We’re going to go up there tomorrow. She says she’ll refuse it, and/or sign the waiver saying she doesn’t want it. It’ll then go to the next person in line, which is probably the mother.”
Foster raised his brows. “I’d take that fucker. Fuck him. She deserves to have that house and all of his money. Fuck. Him.”
Eloquent, but rightly said. I’d been of much the same opinion, but it wasn’t up to me, it was up to Mercy.
“I tried to tell her that already, but she doesn’t want it. I’m going to be supportive of whatever she wants to do,” I said honestly.
They both stared at me blankly.
“And the baby? You know they’re going to ask. Hell, man, we said something and we’re your brothers. There’ll be talk about who the kid belongs to. You know that, right?” Foster finally added.
I nodded in agreement. “We know that. It’s why we did it. They’ll speculate, but it’ll never be proved. That’s why we did what we did. She didn’t want to have that always hanging over her. Over the baby’s head. And I gave that to her.”
They both stared at me hard before nodding. “Then we’ll support you. And my babies will have a new little cousin to play with,” Trance said, extending his hand.
I took it with a smile. “Damn right they will.”Chapter 11If it’s hot, wet, sticky, and not yours…don’t touch it.
-Note to self
Miller
I walked into the lawyer’s office with Mercy on my arm, worried that this was all a big mistake.
Not only would she have to see the ex’s mother, but she’d have to see the father, too. The father that looked exactly like Mitch Moose. The father that had sent her into a panic the last time she’d seen him.
“Alright,” the lawyer said once we entered the room. “We’re here to read Mitch Moose’s will. Everyone that is in this room has been mentioned in the will in some way, shape, or form. Are you all ready to proceed?”
The mother glared in our direction when we sat down in the chairs to the right of the lawyer’s desk.
The lawyer’s name was Ryan Monk, and he was an estate lawyer in Kilgore.
He specialized in wills for one’s estate once they’d passed.
Ryan started reading the will, and unsurprisingly, the majority of the ‘little things’ went to Mitch’s mother. However, then he got to the house.
“The house has been left to Mercy Shepherd. As well as the house, she will get the entirety of Mitch’s life insurance policy, as well as his…”
I didn’t hear the rest of what the lawyer said because Mitch’s mother went into a flurry of action.
She tore the papers from the lawyer’s hands and threw them against the wall.
I stood, placing myself in between Mercy and the crazy bitch, using my body as a shield.
Raine, the crazy bitch’s ex-husband, stood too, pushing the woman to the corner of the room.
I glanced at Mercy out of the corner of my eye, seeing that she was standing back from the desk, more towards the wall.
I nodded at her, telling her to stay where she was at, and turned back to the mother just in time to see her push the ex-husband away.
He fell to the ground, tripping over the expensive rug on the floor, and landed with a loud thump.
Then the mother launched the lamp across the room in Mercy’s direction in the next moment.
It missed her, but not before it caused the TV that was hanging on the wall to crash to the ground.
Mercy leapt out of the way in time for it to smash to pieces at her feet, but she stumbled and fell, hitting her face on the corner of the desk.
I was moving almost before she leapt, and was able to get to her the moment she fell completely to the floor.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw the father move to detain the crazy bitch, and was grateful.
The lawyer sat stunned behind his desk, looking at the entire thing like it was happening in someone else’s office.
“Mercy,” I said urgently, looking into her eyes.
She winced, lifting her hand to come to a rest right above her hairline.
Blood started to seep between her fingers, causing my stomach to roll.
“I’m okay,” she said softly, getting up to stand.
But when she stood, her face flashed to a deathly white and she looked down in horror.
I followed the movement of her eyes and stepped back in horror.
Horror only because she was bleeding from between her legs, and badly.
I scooped her up in my arms and started to run down the hall.
The first thing I did was place her into her seat before buckling her in. The next thing I did was rip my t-shirt off and hand it to her. “Put it over the cut on your head,” I ordered.
She complied gingerly, placing the t-shirt over her cut, and I walked around to my side of the car after closing her door softly.
I was glad we’d taken the cruiser today, because I utilized the lights and sirens as I sped frantically to the hospital.
Mercy’s jeans were saturated with red from the apex of her thighs all the way down to her knees in bright red blood.
She was staring straight ahead of her, eyes locked on the road in front of us as I weaved in and out of traffic.