Testing Limits (Corrupt Cowboys #3)

Chapter 1

I stand and stare at the woman in front of me. It’s been twenty years.

Twenty. Fuckin’. Years.

Now she’s here acting as if we only saw her yesterday.

Garrett is in full defensive mode, Cole looks ready to kill, and poor Maisie has no idea what the hell’s going on. Come to think of it, none of us do.

“What were you expectin’, a fuckin’ welcome home party? You upped and fuckin’ left us. You never said goodbye. You never once checked in. Bree’s dead, did ya fuckin’ know that?” Garrett doesn’t wait for our mother to respond before he barges his shoulder against hers and marches into the house.

When the door slams, Maisie bites her lip awkwardly and she shuffles off to follow him.

“Boys?” Mom's eyes flick between me and Cole, pulling a hopeful smile onto her face.

“We ain’t boys no more.” Cole shakes his head at her in disgust while we stare into the face of the woman who abandoned us. The same woman who I spent long nights crying over after she left. I used to pray for this day to come, but looking at her now, I have no idea how to feel.

I don’t remember all that much about her. I was only a kid when she left, and Bree was only a baby, but I do remember her having a soft face and a warm smile. There don’t seem all that much that's warm about the woman standing in front of us.

“Ya didn’t answer his question. Did you know about Bree?” I do my best to keep my face blank of any emotion.

“I knew.” Her eyes drop to the ground as Cole shakes his head and huffs a vindictive laugh at her.

“Then I suggest you get back in that fancy car of yours and get the fuck out of town, coz we managed without ya then, and we sure as fuck don’t need ya now!” Cole starts walking toward the house, and I take one last look at the woman who gave birth to us before following after him.

The five-year-old boy inside me wants to go back to her and ask her why she left, but the man I had to become, real quick when I realized she was never coming back, tells me to leave her out there fuckin’ standing.

Once inside, I find Garrett pacing in front of the fireplace like a caged bear. His Stetson’s on the floor, where I’m assuming he threw it, and his hand runs through his hair while he attempts to calm himself down.

“Where is she?” He looks up at us with sunken eyes and pure fury on his face, all that happiness he had a few minutes ago when he was watching Maisie in her studio has completely vanished.

“I sent her on her way. She’s a stranger to us now.” Cole shrugs like her turning up here ain’t a big deal.

“We shouldn’t have done that,” I speak my thoughts out loud when it suddenly dawns on me that she might just do what he told her, and leave.

“No less than what the bitch deserves.” When Cole shrugs his shoulders again, a sudden surge of anger has me grabbing the front of his shirt.

Maisie screams for me to stop, and Garrett instantly puts himself between us.

“Now you listen here, I ain’t havin’ her show up and turn us on each other.

” He points his finger in my face. “When she left, we all made a promise. We took care of each other, you remember that?” He slowly eases us apart.

“Whatever the fuck we do bout this, we do it together. We make a choice and stand by it. Without fuckin’ fightin’.

” He speaks sternly, his eyes flitting between the two of us as he spreads his warning.

“Darlin’, why don’t ya go find Josie, ask her to make ya some of that tea you like.” When he turns to face Maisie, his tone softens and he offers her a smile that ain’t convincing at all.

“Sure,” Maisie accepts his help when he holds out his hand and helps her off the couch. It’s unlike her to be so compliant, but she’s clever enough to know when to pick her battles, and she can sense the mood Garrett’s in right now.

He waits until she’s disappeared into the kitchen before he allows all that anger to take over his face again.

“She knew about Bree,” Cole informs him, trying his best to get him onside, and as Garrett forces his hand through his thick black hair, he lets out an exhausted breath.

“Why now?” His head shakes as he tries to make sense of it all.

“Hell if I know, and now we never will because we all just made it quite clear that we ain’t interested.” I throw my hand in the air, coz despite what she did to us, I’m mad at myself for not hearing her out.

Cole throws me a look and growls as he heads for the drinks counter, and the sound of a throat clearing has us all turning around.

“Boss?” Dalton stands in the living room archway with his hat in his hands.

“That woman in the yard, she asked me to tell ya that you’ll find her at the guesthouse in town if ya need her.

Says she ain’t goin’ nowhere.” I can tell from the look on his face that he knows this is serious, and I wonder if Mitch has realized she’s back and clued the boys in already.

“Thanks, Dalton.” Garrett dismisses him before looking at the ceiling and making another long, drawn-out sigh.

“There ya are, you can go get your answers, anytime ya want ‘em.” Cole narrows his eyes at me as he places one of the drinks he’s carrying in Garrett’s hand, then holds the other out for me like a peace offering.

“We deserve those answers.” I snatch it from him, thinking of all the scenarios I used to come up with in my head when I made up stories for Bree.

Once, I even told her that Mom worked for NASA and had been sent on a secret mission to space.

Bree stopped buying that shit way before I was ready to quit selling it.

“There ain’t no answers, Wade. She’s a selfish bitch, and you can listen to her excuses all ya want, but I ain’t got no time for her, or her shit.

” Cole downs the drink he’s poured for himself before slamming it on the coffee table and heading out.

After the door slams, I look to my eldest brother to get his take on the situation.

“Don’t be lookin’ at me like I got the answer!” he snaps, knocking back his own drink. When he goes to throw the glass at the wall, something makes him pause, and his eyes dart toward the kitchen door making him think twice as he places the glass down instead.

“I ain’t expectin’ any answers, I just wanna know how ya feel.” I stare back at him and wait. Garrett’s about to bring three kids into this world, he’s gotta stop feeling like he’s responsible for everyone.

“I feel furious. Fuckin’ furious .” He shakes his head.

“And right now, I can’t be that way. I gotta take care of Maisie.

Her, and those babies, gotta be my only priority.

I gotta stay calm, be reassurin’, and I’ll be honest with ya, Wade…

those answers are the least of my fuckin’ worries.

” He storms off, the same way Cole just did, leaving me to finish my drink in silence.

When my phone vibrates in my pocket I pull it out to see that Leia replied to the message I sent her earlier.

Before all this shit, I was feeling brave and I’d asked her to meet me at a bar outside of town tonight.

I kept it casual so she doesn’t suspect anything because when we’re alone, I got every intention of letting her know how I feel about her.

I read her reply and suddenly I don’t know if I’m relieved or fuckin’ nervous.

Leia: It’s on!

Now ain’t the time to be losing my nerve.

Time is ticking, her wedding to Caleb Mason is getting closer and if I wanna do something about it, I gotta act now.

I can’t risk ending up all bitter and twisted like Cole.

Leia is on the same path Aubrey was, and I won’t have her end up the way she did.

Cole was grieving her long before she died and as I type a reply, telling Leia I’ll see her later, I can’t help thinking that Mom showing up couldn’t have come at a worse time.

For any of us.