Chapter 35
THIRTY-FIVE
Hazel
When I get back to the house from my dinner with Amelia, Ramsey’s sitting on the couch in Chaos sweats and a tee with wet hair, watching football on TV. I tilt my head in curiosity as I notice an ice pack pressed to his face. As I round the corner and get closer, I can see his knuckles are scraped and scabbed, highlighted with purple bruising. I feel my stomach tumble with worry.
“What happened?” I move between him and the TV. He hits the mute button as one of the announcers loudly analyzes the previous play and takes in the sight of me in my sundress and cardigan with a smile. His lips twitch with amusement, but he doesn’t comment.
“Some guys were in the pole barn, and Bo and I ran them out.” His face sobers as he explains.
“What guys? Bo was here?” I feel my heart skip in my chest, and I have a million questions now .
“I don’t know what guys. They were in the pole barn snooping around. Have you had any issues like that before?”
“No. Things are usually pretty boring around here. When was Bo here?” I didn’t see my brother’s truck today, and I’d just been over at the inn getting work done before my dinner with Amelia.
“He dropped off my bike from the garage. They finished up the work this week. He walked out with me to park it, and we heard voices. So we went in to check it out.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal, and I reach for his hand, turning it over so I can get a closer look at his knuckles. He lets me examine them for a moment and then pulls them back, giving me a dismissive grunt like I’m overreacting.
“You fought with them? Did you call the police?” I pull the ice pack away from his face gently next and cringe when I see the bruising and swelling on his cheek. His eyes narrow when I mention the police, and I realize what a stupid idea that is. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking about the parole and all. This looks terrible.” I click my tongue at the sight of his cheek.
“Thanks,” he grumbles. “One of them hit me. It’s fine. Just bruised.”
“Did you put something on the cuts?” I move toward the kitchen because we might still have something there.
“I took a shower. Cleaned up. Got the ice on my cheek. I’m good.” He takes a deep breath, and I can tell I’m agitating him with my mothering. I try to remind myself he’s spent the last five years on the field getting beat up like this on a daily basis—to him, it really is nothing.
“You’re lucky they didn’t have guns or something though. You should have called me. You and Bo going after them; that’s not smart. You’re both so hotheaded sometimes. Is Bo hurt?”
“Bo’s fine. It was a split-second decision.” Another grumble.
“Why the hell would anyone be in that pole barn?” I frown pacing back to the window to look out at it, as if somehow seeing it will give me answers.
“That’s my question. Does anyone know we’re storing stuff in there? That there might be something of value?” He gives me a curious look.
“I mean… just family and, of course, Sam when he’s doing groundskeeping. He goes in there sometimes for equipment and to spray for bugs and set traps and things.” I walk back to Ramsey and sit down next to him on the couch, pulling the ice pack back again to look at it while he gives me a grumpy look.
“What about Curtis? Could he have told someone in passing?” Ramsey asks, looking past me to the TV like he’s not particularly concerned with the answer or excited about discussing my fiancé in exile.
“Curtis? No, I don’t think so. I keep it locked up. I know there are some valuables in there, and I don’t want inn guests or ranch visitors wandering in on accident,” I add, just so that Ramsey knows that I do my best to keep the things still entrusted to me safe.
“I don’t know how someone would know to try to break in there then.”
“Maybe they were just snooping around?” I offer.
“Maybe.” He doesn’t seem reassured by my answer. “Do you still have cameras on that building?”
“We should. But I haven’t checked them in a while. I usually let Elliot or Sam handle the security stuff for the barns.”
“You have kids handle security?” Ramsey doesn’t like that answer.
“We don’t usually have a need for it. It’s just the stuff left over from your parents. Sam checks it every so often to make sure it still works, and sometimes Elliot checks the one to the stables to keep an eye on the horses, especially if one is sick. Otherwise, it’s pretty quiet around here. ”
“You should be having Bo or someone handle that for you. You need to take it more seriously.” His green eyes are bright with concern, and I sigh.
“It’s not like it was when you and your parents lived here. It’s just old ladies on vacation and people from the city who want to board their horse or get riding lessons. There’s nothing to worry about.”
“There’s always something to worry about.” Ramsey sits up straighter and drops the ice from his face. “You’re out here exposed by yourself. Anyone could come out here—if those guys could…”
“Ramsey… I promise you. It’s been quiet. And I’m not by myself. I have you.”
His eyes soften at that and search over my face for a moment before they go back to the TV. The flash of it illuminates all the perfect angles of his cheek and jaw—the side not covered in an ice pack—and I’m distracted by how pretty he is.
“I just want to make sure you’re safe. I can’t be here all the time.” I can see the stress in his shoulders, and I lean over, rubbing them gently. I know he’s thinking about his parents and the fact that he wasn’t here when they died. He still carries so much of that guilt with him, even though he was barely an adult himself when it happened.
“I’m safe. We’ll check the cameras. We’ll put more up if we need to. I’ll talk to Anson and Bo about what options there are.” Anson works in construction, but both of my older brothers run businesses that require a certain amount of security.
“I think you should see about Cade coming to live in the bunkhouse. He needs a place. You’ve got one. You need more family around here. People you can trust.”
“I’ve got Kell and Elliot in the bunkhouse. Kit’s out in the gardener’s cottage. Usually, I have—” I stop short because I don’t think he wants to hear about Curtis. I see the flinch in his face at the name I don’t mention.
“I’d feel better if one of your brothers was here to keep an eye out on you. Someone I know can throw a punch,” he explains.
“Well, Cade’s been talking about bull riding lately anyway. He was asking about seeing if he could train on the ranch—if he could pull the resources together,” I answer Ramsey absently, thinking about my younger brother’s latest foray into danger. Cade always needs to be in one kind of thrill-seeking, life-altering adventure or another to feel alive it seems.
“I thought he was going to school? Had that athletic scholarship?” Ramsey’s distracted glance turns on me, and he frowns as he considers Cade as a bull rider.
“He graduated in the spring, but he didn’t get drafted, and he’s a bit lost at the moment for what to do next. He’s been helping Bo out at the garage and staying at Bo’s house. I think Bo’s getting tired of him moping around, though, wanting him to figure his shit out.” I’m worried about my younger brother, too, but I go a little easier on him than Bo does.
“All that just so he can come back and get thrown around by a pissed-off bull?” Ramsey frowns.
My eyes follow his to the TV, and I raise my brows as the lines collide and bodies go flying across the turf.
“Is it really all that different from you bull-rushing into three-hundred-pound, seven-foot-tall linemen?”
“There’s a difference,” he grouches, slouching back into the couch.
“Oh yeah? Explain it to me,” I sass back at him with a smile creeping onto my lips.
“I’d rather do other things with you.” A boyish grin spreads on his face as he side-eyes me over his ice pack .
I kiss his temple and run my fingers over his bicep. “Let me get my shower really quick, and we can discuss your options.”
“I’ll be here waiting.” His eyes slide over me in a slow perusal, and then he leans over to kiss the side of my neck. He hits a tender spot with his lips, and I close my eyes as I imagine them elsewhere. “So hurry up.” He dips his hand beneath me and gives my butt a squeeze that has me up and out of my seat.
I’m trying to remember Amelia’s sage advice as I trudge up the steps, but when I look back at my husband, all I can do is wonder if it’s possible to fall in love with the same person twice.