Thirty-Nine
Than
“You going to go back to the cabin, or do I need to assign someone else to stay with Montana?” Linc asked gruffly from behind his desk.
He’d sent me a text that he wanted to see me. I’d gone to the distillery today and handled things there while Ransom stayed outside the cabin for me. I needed a day to get my head on straight and figure out how to handle things with Montana. Lying in bed with her tucked up against me wasn’t ideal for thinking my shit through.
“I’m going back. I just needed a break,” I told him.
He put the cigar he had clenched between his teeth in the ashtray on his desk. It wasn’t lit. He no longer allowed smoking in the house now that he had a daughter and wife living here. Not even in his office. But he’d often hold one in his teeth just out of habit or addiction—I didn’t know.
“Talked to Levi today,” he told me. “Blaise plans to handle things himself if we have another breach on the property. What we know is that the Louisiana branch is pretty stable. Thaddeus’s son was engaged, but called off the wedding days before, causing a bit of a ruckus. The fiancée was the daughter of Homer LeBlanc, a distant cousin of the Kingstons. The Louisiana LeBlancs have been a part of the family since 1957. The shitstorm seems to have settled down. Levi said Wayon is an easygoing guy, and he can’t see him stalking a female or breaking onto family property. But Blaise isn’t writing it off just yet.”
Linc stood up. “He’s looking into other members there, and he said he’d send us any new information as it comes up. If this is family, then it can be handled within. We don’t have to worry about the governor’s bastard get—”
“Don’t call her that,” I bit out.
I fucking hated it when he called her that. When anyone called her that.
He didn’t get angry with my outburst, but he studied me, and I hoped like fuck he couldn’t tell the shit going on in my head by my expression.
“The governor’s secret daughter,” he continued, “getting splashed all over the news. A member of the family won’t go that far. They would know that the repercussions for something like that would come directly from the boss. And no one wants to piss Blaise off.”
He walked around the desk and leaned against the front of it, then crossed his arms over his chest as he stared at me. “I just want to make sure you’re clear on a few things,” he began. “When we find who it is, if it is family, then Blaise handles him. Not you. Understood?”
I nodded, but didn’t speak.
“Baskin wants her gone sooner, if possible. He said he’ll give her a payoff, if she’ll take it. I told him we’re handling an issue that concerns her first, and once it’s done, if he thinks that paying her off will work, then I’ll take it to Blaise and let him make that call.”
“What about her finishing high school? That’s what she asked him for. She has a scholarship and needs to graduate in order to—”
“I’m aware of her scholarship. She can finish the virtual school anywhere. There are only weeks left as it is, and if she wants to, she can finish early.”
This morning, I’d needed to get away from her, but right now, I was fighting the urge to run back to the cabin and lock us both inside. I couldn’t let them just toss her out. She’d be alone. She was nineteen years old. Didn’t they see that? How did Baskin not give a shit about her? She was his daughter. Did the man not have a goddamn soul?
“And then what? She is supposed to figure out life on her own? No family? Nothing? Just maneuver it all by herself?” I asked bitterly.
I fucking hated Baskin.
“She’s an adult,” Linc said.
“She’s nineteen!” I shot back angrily.
He raised his eyebrows, but other than that, his expression didn’t change. “Yet you’re fucking her.”
I glared at him. I needed space. This office was closing in on me.
“You seem to think she’s old enough for that.”
“She’s five years younger than me,” I tried not to snarl, but I failed. “Branwen is what, sixteen, seventeen years younger than you?”
That was a mistake. Although he’d not reacted to my angry responses before, I’d now mentioned his wife. He straightened and stalked toward me so fast that I didn’t have time to prepare for the impact of my back slamming against the wall. I heard the bottles in his bar rattle as he bared his teeth at me.
“Don’t ever mention my wife again,” he sneered, then slammed me back against the wall, holding the neck of my shirt in his fist. Something on his wall crashed to the ground, but he ignored it. “Now, you can get your head on straight, or you can keep forgetting that you don’t call the fucking shots and end up on the other end of Blaise Hughes’s barrel. I can assure you, that’s a place no one wants to be. There is no fuck worth that. If she’s a cunt to get off in, then there are thousands to take her place. If she has managed to own you in this short amount of time, then you need to prepare for the fact that you will lose her because you can’t have her. Not while her father is in office.”
His grip tightened, and breathing was becoming difficult for me.
“Can you do that, or do I need to assign someone else to stay with her? Hale is my friend, and I’d hate for him to lose his youngest son.”
I swallowed and sucked in the little oxygen I could.
I nodded. “Yes,” I croaked out.
He released me, then shoved me toward the door. If I had been a smaller man, I’d have ended up on my ass. I didn’t look back at him as I went to get the hell out of his office.
“If you care for her at all, you’ll make sure to just be her friend. That’s all you can be. At least for now.”
I paused, then nodded again before opening the door and walking out.
Jayda was in the hallway, and her eyes were wide when she looked at me. She’d most likely heard the crashing in the room and come to see if everything was okay, but knew better than to go in there, uninvited.
Are you okay? she mouthed silently.
And again, I just nodded.
Oz was sitting on the porch steps with a bottle of whiskey between his feet and texting something on his phone when I drove up.
Where the hell was Ransom?
Not that I had to worry about Oz flirting with Montana. His crazy ass had fallen so hard for a woman that he’d had to kidnap her and hold her to draw out her brother, who had stolen money from the family. When it was over, he stalked her for months—as in went into her apartment and watched her sleep, went through her phone to read texts, and even cleaned up some. Luckily, by the time she found out about all that, she’d been in love with him. Winslet wore a diamond rock on her hand, and their wedding date was set for the fall.
Oz saw no other women. His eyes never wandered.
I’d always found that amazing, even with Bane and Halo. As hot as she was, I still didn’t get how he was blind to other pieces of ass.
The fact that I was beginning to get it scared the shit out of me.
“Where’s my brother?” I asked, and Oz didn’t even glance up from his phone.
“Had stuff to do,” he replied. “You back? I’m on duty in an hour, and I’d like to see Winslet first.” Then he finally glanced up at me.
“Yeah, I’m back.” I stared at the cabin, not sure I could go inside yet. “Has she been inside all day?”
I could have asked Ransom this today at any time, but I hadn’t. I’d tried to rewire my brain to not care about what she was doing. To not worry about her. It hadn’t worked.
He shrugged. “I’ve just been here since four. She’s not been out since then,” he told me as he stood up.
“Leave that, would you?”
I nodded to the bottle of whiskey. He’d gotten it from us anyway. Probably free.
He put it back down, then headed for his vehicle. I stared at the bottle, trying to decide if I was going to sit out here and drink or go inside and face this. Tell her that last night had been a mistake and we could only be friends.
Leaning down, I picked up the bottle of whiskey and took a long drink, then decided to have a seat. I wasn’t ready to face anything. Not yet.