22
“W ould you look at that, Country Boy?” With her face a bright beam, Reese points a finger at the laptop screen. At her own checking account and the small sum that sits there. “Two paychecks.”
“Two paychecks.” It’s not enough. Not for her.
“I’m rollin’ in money now,” she jokes. “Might even buy some Louboutins.”
“You’re doin’ it, baby,” I say, proud of her. She contacted one of Bosko’s lawyers. Ammunition on her side for when she needs it. “Every day you’re closer.”
“I am.” She squints at the screen. “How do you do this again?”
She leans in and I catch a whiff of her peaches-and-cream scent. Fuck, I want to kiss her again. I want to hear that little whimper that pops off her lips every time I spank her ass.
Focus, asshole.
Clearing my throat, I tear my eyes from her face and show her how to track her checking account.
I stay still, watching her face, and loving the way she’s so happy. Loving the way she’s taken control of her life to get it all back.
It’s been three days since I found Reese in her chalet. Three days of keeping a close watch on her. She seems happy, back to her life on the ranch. She gave me bits and pieces, but I’m annoyed I still don’t have the full story. Girl’s locked tighter than a fucking safe.
Hell, I’m the one doing the talking, baring my soul. It feels damn good. I’ve told her everything. Well…almost.
“Ford,” Reese squeaks. “He’s here.”
The two of us watch Bosko stride toward us, wearing his usual look of murderous indifference paired with a suit and tie.
He slides into the seat across from us. “I come bearing updates,” Bosko says. He drums the table. “I have good news and bad news.” His gold tooth flashes as he grins. “Which one do you want first?”
Reese sits straight. “The bad.”
“Good choice.” From out of his shabby briefcase, he pulls a shit ton of documents. Charts, banking statements, and colorful graphs. “Gavin’s stealing from you.”
“Christ, man,” I grumble, unhappy with his blunt tactics. If he upsets Reese he’s going to have to deal with me.
“Are you sure?” Reese’s voice trembles.
He pushes the papers toward her. “Take a look.”
Reese bows her head, reading over the documents.
“You can see he’s moving money back and forth between several accounts. The money always starts in yours and ends up in his. We went back ten years. You made six million on Hell or High Water and records show you only received three hundred thousand. Even after you paid out your crew, you should have had at least a million left.”
Her bangles rattle as she shuffles through the papers.
“How is this legal?” I snap. Fury pulses through me. This girl’s been used her entire life.
It’s a nightmare.
Bosko looks to Reese, who nods. It makes me respect the guy more that he honors her privacy. I just fucking wish she’d tell me.
“As her guardian, he controls finances. Which was fine when she was ten years old. As her beneficiary, if anything happens to her, he gets it all.”
My stomach churns.
“Beneficiary?” Reese asks.
Bosko wiggles his brows. “The good news. I found your real contract.”
Reese gasps. “How?”
“I have access to shady people a nice girl like you doesn’t need to know about.”
I don’t even want to know what kind of creepy shadow-network Bosko has in his back pocket. As long as it helps Reese, I’ll keep my mouth shut.
A contract’s slid across to us. I pull it closer. I want to see this damn thing.
Bosko’s finger lands on the contract like X marks the spot.
“Here. Clause 8 of your contact,” he says. “ In the event of my death , I, Reese Austin, give all my tangible personal property and monetary income to my manager, Gavin Cross . Yada, yada, yada, you get the point.”
Reese swears. “Bastard.”
I drag a hand through my hair. Every cell in my body screams at me that this is wrong. Dangerous.
Reese lifts her head. She’s pale, but there’s fight in her eyes. “How do I get my money back?”
“I like you, Reese. You ask the good questions.” Bosko pauses, then says, “I can steal it.”
I sigh, casting a glare in Bosko’s direction. The last thing I want is Reese mixed up in this. “Birdie, maybe we should—”
She elbows me and looks at Bosko. “Don’t listen to him. Tell me. Steal it?”
“He stole it first.” Bosko shrugs. “How’s he going to argue that in court?”
“Okay.” Reese grins. “Let’s do it.”
“If you’re privy to a password he would use, that would speed up the process.”
“I don’t know. I don’t think…” Her nose scrunches, then her eyes light up. “Wait. Try ‘shiny little shooting star.’ It’s what he calls me.”
Making a note in his notepad, Bosko nods, then places a hand over the contract. “You signed this when you were sixteen. Under duress. We can fight that in court, but that’s court, and it takes time. But luckily, you don’t need time.”
Reese swallows. “What do you mean?”
“You’re twenty-six now?”
Reese tilts her head in confusion. “I’ll be twenty-seven on August 30th.”
“That’s the key. This contract is for ten years. It expires on your twenty-seventh birthday.”
“Really?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely.”
Reese sits shell-shocked. “That’s why he’s trying to get me back,” she whispers. “Because he wants me to sign it again.”
I try to avoid thinking about what I’d do to Gavin if I saw him again, because it would only end in a jail cell and an orange jumpsuit.
“It’s also why he hasn’t sued your ass for breach of contract,” Bosko says. “Because he’d open himself up to scrutiny. He doesn’t want you to know time’s almost up.” Bosko nods. “Once it expires, he’ll no longer be your guardian. He’ll no longer control any aspect of your money, your career, your—”
A shuddering gasp escapes her lips. “My life.”
“You’ll be free,” Bosko says.
A tear slips down her face. “Free.”
“My advice is stay here. Do anything you can to put him off. Whatever commitments he’s made for you, can be ironed out after your birthday.” To me, Bosko says, “Is the ranch secure?”
The grim worry in his eyes pinches hard in my gut.
“What aren’t you telling us?” I ask.
“I’ve dealt with men like this my entire life. When you take things away that they want, they get it back. Whatever way possible.”
Declan Valiante. The mental image of Aiden King with his arm around Dakota, a knife to her belly. I picture it happening to Reese. Gone. Hurt. Scared. I squeeze my eyes shut, willing it away.
“Ford?” Reese’s worried voice cuts through the fog in my head.
When I open my eyes, they land on Reese. “He won’t get near you,” I tell her. “Not with me around.”
With those words, we stand and shake hands with Bosko.
She turns to me and sighs. “I don’t believe it. I’ll be free.”
I wrap her in my arms. “You deserve it.”
Tears fill her eyes, and her small hand lands on my cheek. “I’ve never had anyone do anything like this for me. Thank you. Grady knew what he was doing sending me your way.”
What he did for me. Sending me a goddamn angel.
My throat swells tight. “Nothing to thank me for. Just a cowboy helping a…”
She hikes up an eyebrow. “A friend?”
“Yeah.” I tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. “A friend.”
But do I believe those words anymore? Do I even want to?
She touches a finger to my mouth and smiles. “Well, Country Boy, come get your benefit.”
As she presses up on tiptoes, I twist my baseball cap to the side. Then I angle my lips to hers and breathe in her sweetness and light.
Smiling as she pulls away, she says, “All I have to do is wait him out. And then I can do anything.”
A pang slices through me.
I still feel like I don’t know a goddamn thing about her.
Emptiness. Cool sheets. I lift my head and blink. Reese isn’t beside me where she normally sleeps. My stomach roils.
“Reese?”
Silence.
I wait.
One minute.
Two minutes.
She’s not here.
I draw in a breath and tear out of bed. Worry has me in a chokehold as I shove on jeans, boots. I hurry across the room, grab my wallet and my keys. Wherever the fuck she is, whenever I find her, she’s getting a fucking talking to.
Just as I’m reaching for the doorknob, it opens.
My heart skips a beat when I see Reese in the doorway, soaked from head to toe. Water sluices from her damp hair, running over her silk sleep shirt. At her feet, Mouse meows, her slinky body weaving between Reese’s legs.
“Where the hell have you been?”
She laughs nervously. “Keeping tabs on me?”
I rip a hand through my hair. “Yeah, I am. Especially when you’re sleeping in my bed.”
Edging around me, she shrugs a slender shoulder. “I went out.”
“Out?” I exhale my frustration. Mouse meows, dropping a furry ball near my feet. I ignore it. “Reese, it’s two in the morning,” I snap. The fact that Reese is out on the ranch in the dead of night has fear creeping into my gut.
Towel in hand, she runs it over her damp skin. “Ford…I’m tired, okay?”
I grit my jaw. I don’t want to do this. Fight with her. What I want to do is peel those wet clothes from her body and fuck her senseless. Only worry, anger rise up in me. A determination, a desperate need to understand this girl.
“C’mon,” she says, taking my hand. “Let’s go back to bed.” She stands on tiptoes. Kisses my throat.
I grit my teeth. Those big green eyes, those heaven-sent kisses—I know what she’s doing. And it won’t work. Not anymore.
I step away. “What are you doing in the woods, Reese?”
“Chicken check,” she jokes. But I’m not going to let her do this. Not anymore.
“Are you going to the lake?” I push. “Are you swimming? Is that what you’re doing?”
She freezes. “No strings, remember?” Her eyes plead with me to let it go, but I can’t. Not anymore.
Staying detached is a fool’s errand. I’m getting soft. In over my head. But if I had the chance to go back, I wouldn’t.
I want this girl’s life story. Unabridged.
“Baby, you don’t have to hide from me.”
Laughing lightly, she turns her pale face to the window.“Hiding is what I’m doing here, Ford. You have to respect that.”
I do, but it also pisses me off. Because she doesn’t trust me. I don’t blame her after what she’s been through, but I want her to come to me when she’s sad. Or mad. She doesn’t have to fake it or lie,especially in the middle of the night.
“The last thing my mom said to me before she gave me away was, ‘Be brave, Reese.’ I’m not brave enough to do this. Not tonight.”
“Then when?”
She flinches. “Please, Ford, just let me—”
“Lie?”
Her eyes widen. “I’m not doing that,” she says in the softest tone. “It hurts that you’d think that.”
I shake my head, not knowing what to think. All I know is she’s pushing me away. She’s doing what Savannah did those last few weeks—hiding from me.
The burn in my chest clenches.
It’s too close. This feeling of having everything, right before losing it. My hands ball to a fist, and I feel like punching that goddamn jukebox all over again.
“You are. You’re not telling me the truth and you’re pushing me away.”
Our gazes burn. Fire on fire.
“If you think that’s what I’m doing, then you’re an idiot.” Nostrils flaring, she glares at me.
“Maybe I am.” I clear my throat. “Maybe we should call it. Take a break.”
She swallows. “You’re serious?”
“Yeah.” I shove my hands in my pockets, hating myself. “I am.”
I don’t know if I can do this again. I don’t know if I can give my heart to someone and have them take it from me.
Fuck. I don’t know if I’m strong enough for that.
Her lower lip wobbles. Her face softens momentarily before going hard again. “Fine. I get it. You got your rocks off with the famous country singer and now you’re done.”
I close my eyes against the sting. It would hurt less if she slapped me. “That’s a bullshit thing to say and you know it.”
I watch as Reese grabs the small bag she’s been keeping here and furiously stuffs clothes and belongings inside. “What are you doing?”
Long, damp hair obscuring her face, she doesn’t look up. “Going. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
No.
I shake my head. “Reese…”
Tears in her eyes, she glances up. “I’ve played games all my life with Gavin. I won’t do it with you.” She inhales a shuddery breath. “You’re right. We’ll take a break. We’re just friends, after all.”
And then she’s out the door, slamming it so hard I jump.
Mouse glares at me as if it’s all my fault.
I tear a hand through my hair. “Fuck.”