Free Last of the Red-Hot Riders by Tina Leonard

Trace spending a lot more time away from the training center with his new bride, working on that family thing.
    Me? I got a dog.
    “Look at the crowd,” Saint said, leaning up between the seats as they approached the Honky-tonk. “Holy smoke, Cameron and I were just here a few hours ago and it wasn’t this crowded. What’d she do, run a two-for-one sale?”
    Steel peered out the window. “I don’t know, but Judy would have a fit if she could see how much traffic Ivy gets. Judy’s trying to grow Hell honestly. Ivy’s got her beat cold.”
    Cameron glanced back at Saint. She was worried about Judy, and Saint was too. But Steel didn’t act like a man who’d received bad news about his girl. Saint swallowed hard, shrugged at Cameron. She turned back around to look out at all the people milling around in the parking lot. The music was loud and fun, and some couples were dancing or making out under the trees, lost in their own sexy world, seemingly oblivious to the fact that some poor soul had met his maker. The lanterns and lights illuminated the darkness, but not obtrusively so. There was an ambulance and the coroner’s car parked right in front, and a pack of people stood around a black-covered body on the ground.
    “Oh, hell. Poor bastard. The last place I’d want to die is the Honky-tonk,” Saint said.
    “I don’t know,” Steel said. “Depends on the kind of fun you’re looking for. Me, I’m just happy to sit in front of the TV or grill out with the missus.”
    Cameron glanced back again, her eyes wide and distressed. Shit, this wasn’t going to be easy. He didn’t know how they were all going to act normal around Judy, when all they wanted to do was help her.
    “Let’s get this done.” Steel opened the door, peered back in at Cameron in the front seat. “You sure you’re okay with this?”
    “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”
    Saint got out, and Cameron took the puppy from him. “I’ll hold the pooch, you back Steel up.”
    Saint nodded, told himself he wasn’t taking two steps away from Cameron tonight. There were too many people here, too many strangers. He was bothered by the whole setup. It wasn’t like Ivy attracted the highest-quality customers, although he supposed that wasn’t fair—she did get a fair amount of the college crowd, which drove in from the city for a wild time outside the city limits; the sheriff could probably throw a rock and hit five MIPs—minors-in- possession—without any trouble. Ivy wasn’t worried about anybody busting her; she was too far out in the county to be bothered by troublesome laws that got in the way of making money.
    “On second thought,” Cameron said, “I’m going to leave you right here in your comfy box, Lucky. A honky-tonk is no place for a sweet pup like you, especially after your busy day. You stay right here and protect the sheriff’s cruiser.” She put the dog down in the box, and he settled nicely into a corner, burying his nose under the towel.
    “Let’s go,” Saint said, and Steel locked up his cruiser.
    They went toward the crowd. Saint glanced around for the deputies; he didn’t see that they’d arrived yet. He’d have felt a whole helluva lot better if Steel had waited for them, but on the other hand, Frick and Frack were a bit green. And Saint supposed the sheriff had brought him along to serve the same purpose, anyway. He glanced at Cameron as they edged through the crowd gathered around the coroner and the body, and she gave him a small smile. In spite of the unpleasant circumstances at the Honky-tonk, he liked having Cameron with him.
    “What have we got, Cartwright?” Steel asked the coroner.
    Jerry Cartwright lifted the dark plastic. “Male, thirty years of age, approximately. It’ll take an autopsy to know for sure, but my first guess is he took something he shouldn’t have.” He pointed to the vomit around the body. “No wedding ring, but that doesn’t mean anything necessarily. We’ll have to run