Baxter liked where he was going with this. With luck, he wouldn’t have to talk them out of telling—if Dylan did that for him. “So what are you saying?”
He lowered the volume on the radio. “I’m saying we don’t know what happened that night with those two cops. We weren’t there.”
“Um, hello?” Noah said. “They were cops. Doesn’t that make them right? Sounds to me like they were trying to enforce the law, maybe take him in for drunk-and-disorderly, and he handed their asses to them instead of going peacefully.”
“Not necessarily,” Dylan grumbled. “Wearing a badge doesn’t make you perfect.”
Seeing his opening, Baxter spoke quickly. “If he’s on the run, then he won’t be staying here for long. Why not just...let it go? Let Callie enjoy her love affair while it lasts?”
Cheyenne twisted around in her seat. “Are you kidding me? You have no way of knowing how long he might stay or how that might affect Callie! He might have anger management issues. Maybe they haven’t come out yet, but that doesn’t mean they won’t.”
With a sigh, Baxter rubbed his jaw. The way Noah was looking at him, he’d guessed something was up. That wasn’t really a surprise. Noah knew him better than anyone. Well, in some respects. In others, Noah didn’t know him at all—or he just didn’t want to see what was right in front of him. As long as they didn’t talk about Baxter’s sexual orientation, as long as they didn’t acknowledge that he felt more than he should, their relationship could go on as it always had.
Loosening his seat belt so he could lean forward, Noah arched his eyebrows expectantly. “Well?”
“Well, what?” Baxter said.
“Come on. Out with it. You’re hiding something.”
That was true. He was hiding the fact that if Callie didn’t get a liver transplant, it wouldn’t matter who Levi McCloud was. She wouldn’t be around to see him go to prison. And what he’d heard her doctor say last week at the hospital led him to believe she didn’t have long.
“What is it?” Noah asked. “What aren’t you telling us, Bax?”
It was time they learned the truth. All of them. But Baxter couldn’t divulge Callie’s secret. It wasn’t his place to tell them she was dying.
“Call her,” he said. “Call her and tell her about Levi and see what she says.”
25
When Kyle called, Callie was happy to hear his voice. The past few weeks had been rough as far as “they” were concerned. She knew he’d been worried about her, that he’d blamed himself for her odd behavior. But this morning they’d gotten past all that. She hoped they’d now be able to resume their friendship. When he was at the house a few hours ago, he hadn’t seemed to mind Levi’s presence. As a matter of fact, he’d been friendly.
So she was surprised by the gravity in his voice when he said, “Can you go someplace where we can talk? In private?”
She glanced over at Levi, who was busy making dinner. He wanted to try his hand at a Mexican dish a friend of his father’s had introduced him to. He was slicing up the meat he’d been marinating while she sliced the onions he planned to grill with it.
When she hesitated, he nudged her elbow. “Who is it?”
“Kyle. He, um, wants to talk about something that’s going on with Eve. I’ll be right back.”
She was pretty sure Levi watched her leave, but he didn’t follow. As soon as she reached the living room, she said, “Okay, I’m alone. What’s wrong?”
“There’s something you need to know,” Kyle replied.
She swallowed a sigh. What now?
“Are you sitting down?”
“Is it that bad?” she asked.
“It’s not good.”
“Then why didn’t you speak up this morning, when you were here?”
“I didn’t know. None of us did.”
Us. That had to refer to the rest of her friends. What could they possibly have found out since leaving her place? Had Baxter told them?
“What is it?” She wanted to get back to the kitchen. She’d been enjoying herself. Not only had she and Levi been cooking, they’d been talking and laughing and savoring their last night together. His bag sitting by the door made the “last night” part all too clear. So did the fact that Joe had called earlier to see if he could work the coming week, and he’d said he wouldn’t be available. She hated the thought of goodbye. And yet...she was relieved at the same time. She didn’t want Levi to endure something that would set him back. What if she didn’t get a transplant? Her doctor hadn’t called with any promising news so far, meaning she had to face that probability. And Levi had made such progress. She preferred to see him continue to heal. She wanted that even more than she wanted to keep him with her.
Once she reached her bedroom, she closed the door behind her but not before Rifle squeezed inside. “So tell me.”
“Hang on,” Kyle said. “I’m going to put you on speakerphone. Eve, Baxter, Noah, Dylan, Chey and Riley are with me.”
“You’re putting them all on?”
“I am. I don’t want to be the one to break this to you.”
He was going to break something to her? But she was the one with the secret....
“Baxter, what’s going on?” she demanded when she could hear the others.
“I think it’s time, Cal,” he replied. “I’m sorry.”
Time to be honest. That was what he had to mean. For the most part, she felt the same. But this scenario wasn’t playing out the way she’d expected. “All right. So...what is it that Kyle has to say?”
She heard Eve’s voice next. “Callie, when we were there earlier...”
“Yes?”
“Dylan recognized Levi.”
Callie sank onto the bed. “He what?”
“He’s seen Levi before, Cal. He just didn’t realize it until we came over this morning.”
Absently, she petted her dog, who was resting his snout on her lap. “Where? Where has he seen him before?”
“At a tournament in Arizona about eight years ago.”
She jumped up so fast Rifle darted away. “So? That’s no surprise. I know Levi used to fight.”
There was an awkward silence. Then Eve tried again. “Did you also know his name isn’t Levi McCloud?”
Yes! She knew that, too. But it made her nervous that her friends did. They wouldn’t like the idea that he’d been using a fake name. No one would. Did they also know why?