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The reason I was going wasn’t due to the person’s funeral, though. It was because I knew Chris Gates was going to be there, and he was going to start some trouble.

Maybe that’d be my one last act before I made my move.

Saving Black this time, instead of him bailing me out of trouble.

I just had to say goodbye to Zee first.

Nine

It’s negative fuck you outside.

—Black’s secret thoughts

Black

“Ran into your BFF.”

I looked over at Gentry, who was wearing a shit-eating grin, and said, “Who would that be?”

Though I knew.

There was only one person in the county that everyone loved to give me shit about, and she was it.

“She was at the coffee shop. Louellen Peterson called and told us that she was causing a disturbance. In reality, Louellen didn’t want her there, breathing the same air as her, so she called and lied.”

“Did you set Louellen straight?” I asked.

Louellen was one of Jessamy’s biggest haters.

Apparently, in high school, something had happened between the two, and from then on, Louellen had made it her life’s mission to ruin Jessamy’s day anytime she was seen in town.

Which, inevitably, wasn’t all that often.

“Dempsey tried to kick Jessamy out of the coffee shop she was in with Zinnia Cottonwood. But I set her straight.” Gentry took a large bite of his burger. “You might want to have a talk with Dempsey. She’s of the impression that Jessamy needs to be handled with a firmer hand than what you’ve been giving her.”

I gritted my teeth together so hard that my jaw clenched.

“What’s on the agenda today?”

Before Gentry could say anything, Dempsey came into the room with a frown on her face.

“You need to deal with Jessamy Darling.”

I inwardly sighed. “What did she do this time?”

She held out a slip of paper.

I looked at it with a frown. “She called in an animal cruelty case?”

“She did,” Dempsey said. “I went out there and checked. Jessamy said the horse didn’t have any food or water when she called it in. That the horse was tied up to a fence. When I got there to check it out, the horse had plenty of food and water, as well as free roam of an entire pasture.”

I pinched my brow.

“Jessamy doesn’t call us unless she has to,” I found myself saying. “She likes to stay as far away from us as she can get.”

“For good reason,” Dempsey muttered.

“What’s your problem with her, exactly?”