Bounty

7. Jude

Chapter Seven

JUDE

Christmas Day

My phone vibrates.

Cain: We're ten minutes out. She’s still sleeping the sedative off. Want us to wake her up?

Me: No. Let her sleep. She’ll need her rest.

Cain updated me as soon as he could about the attack. I didn’t think they would go so far as to hurt her, assuming they would rather take her alive.

But leveling a building with explosives sends a message. They want her dead or alive. Unfortunately for them, they won’t get her either way.

She belongs to us.

I pace my office, stopping at the mirror to fix my navy sweater and run my hands through my coppery-red hair. What will she think of me? She could barely stand me before she left, and then after what I did to her…what I said to her…

It’s no use thinking about the past. Wisteria Jean is going to have to learn to like me, whether she hates me or not. Her safety depends on it.

I hear the alert for the gate opening, and make my way to the front of the compound. My house is toward the back, so they’re just parking when I arrive. My boots crunch the gravel, and my heart is caught in my throat.

Wisteria Jean spent six years on her own, without us. I’m not sure what to expect. She didn’t have any social media accounts, keeping a low profile for the most part. I haven’t seen her face in years. Colin and Cain always offered to take me with them when they’d visit to check on her over the years, but I always declined. Their text updates had to be enough…

Seeing her—whether in a picture or from a distance—would have been too much of a temptation, regardless of how long we were apart.

I stop at the car’s back door, peering in to find her asleep with her cheek pressed on the glass. Even in such a ridiculous pose, she’s breathtaking. Beautiful dark blond hair. Pouty lips. Perfect skin and teeth. Wisteria Jean could choke me with her beauty, and I’d give up every last breath just to get an eyeful of her.

“Wake up, Wisteria. We’re home,” Colin says as he leans over the seat and gently strokes his thumb over her cheeks.

She yawns, blinking the sleep from her eyes. She smiles at Colin, and jealousy hits me like a sack of bricks. She always wanted him. Even Cain. Them, but never me. I want to break his fucking thumb off, but I restrain myself, keeping calm and controlling my emotions.

I open her door, and she whips her head around, flinching when she sees me. Her mouth drops, as if she’s shocked to see me…on my own farm. I offer her a hand, and she hesitantly takes it, wincing when I tighten my grip and pull her out of her seat. Her violet eyes spark with fury, and I look forward to stomping that ember out. She’ll know her place soon enough, and who’s in charge.

The blanket falls to the gravel lot, revealing her luscious curves, the swell of her breasts. Even under a truck stop hoodie, I can tell she’s going to be trouble.

“Welcome home, Wisteria Jean Flowers,” I say as I kiss the back of her hand. “ Sister , you’re a sight for sore eyes.”

She picks up on the sarcasm, the barb behind the greeting. I’m not her stepbrother anymore, technically , but my dad still considers her one of his children. On the farm, we’re all his children.

“I wish I could say the same,” she sighs, looking at everything but me, avoiding my gaze like the plague.

I squeeze her hand harder until she winces again, trying to get her to look at me. She rips her hand from mine and angles herself away from me.

“Come on, let’s get you settled,” Colin says, ever the peacekeeper. “You can sleep for a couple hours and get cleaned up before dinner.”

“You’ll be staying with us in our house,” I inform her.

Our house is where she’ll be safest. And it will serve as a sign to every other man on this compound that she’s off limits.

Grabbing her elbow, I pull her along the road. She drags her feet at first, but when I grip harder, she picks up her pace. The house I had built after she left is right by the lake tucked into the tree line, one of her favorite spots growing up. I look down at her, and I can’t help but smirk when she meets my eyes, as if she felt my gaze bore into her.

Will she know I built this house for her? That I never lost hope she'd return to us?

She stops walking, her posture rigid as she finally makes eye contact with me. “Why am I here, Jude? You made it perfectly clear that I mean nothing to you. I’m the weed you ripped out of the garden. Why not just let me wilt?”

Hearing my own words hurled back at me shouldn’t hurt so badly. It’s as if my own heart is being ripped out of my chest. I crack my neck, dispelling the unfamiliar feeling. I’m not going to let this woman weasel her way into my heart again.

Her brows and mouth slash downward, and her eyes are blazing violet orbs of fury. She’s distraught . My note must have wrecked her.

“Because it’s the season for family and good cheer, Wisteria. Merry Christmas and welcome home. I’ll tell you everything in good time, but first the four of us will eat dinner here. Get reacquainted with each other.”

“I would rather know before I settle in, in case I don’t end up staying,” she grouses.

Wisteria thinks she can leave? She has no clue what she’s in for…yet. We make our way to the cabin, and her face lights up in recognition. She remembers the lake. How the four of us would go swimming here. How we all sat in the sand and ate lunch out of a cooler we packed.

How I’d follow her here when she’d sneak out late at night and sit with her, most of the time in silence, enjoying the moon shining off the water.

“There’s a house on the lake now…” she said, half question, half statement.

“Yes. It’s where the three of us live. You’ll stay here,” I responded.

“The guest room has a really nice view of the lake, little flower. Much better than the view from your old room in Father Mannix’s house,” Colin said in an effort to make her smile.

Wisteria stays quiet, assessing the house and the surrounding trees. Her gaze focuses on the lake’s waves crashing into the shore.

“I’m not agreeing to stay here,” she insisted. “I’m here to find out what the fuck is going on. Why have you two–” she gestured toward Colin and Cain’s direction, “Been following me. Why am I allowed back here after being labeled a traitor and given a death threat. Does your father even know I’m here?”

“You’ll be staying here until further notice,” I correct her. “If the bomb threat didn’t make it obvious, you’re not safe anymore. Come in and eat, and you’ll get answers to all your questions,” I assured her.

Opening the door, I ushered her in with my hand on the small of her back. Even through layers of clothes, I could feel the heat of her skin and hear the hitch of her breath. She can hate me all she wants, but she is just as affected by me as I unfortunately am by her.

The moment she walks into the cabin, it feels like a chess piece finding its place on the board. Now all I have to do is move that piece to the perfect place so I win the game.

And I always win.