Chapter 15
Leah
I was mucking out a stall when there were footsteps stopping right behind me.
“Hey, little Leah,” a deep voice called.
Of all the people in the world I dreaded seeing when I was dirty, dusty, and probably not smelling so fine, this was one of the few people I didn’t worry about. There wasn’t a judgmental bone in Alec Hawk’s body. He was the absolute antithesis of his brother.
A ray of afternoon sunlight hit the same dark hair he shared with Kade. He leaned his shoulder against the stall door as he smirked. There’d always been a string of women trailing after the Hawk brothers, and for obvious reasons. The gene pool in this family was like rolling a hard eight over and over again. It just shouldn’t happen .
“I never thought a chick could look so hot mucking out a stall, but here you are.” He waved a hand at me.
Alec flirted like he breathed, all day long and effortlessly. Kade’s intensity had always been my undoing, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate the work of art that was Alec.
“Alec Hawk. What the hell are you doing here?” I leaned my shovel on the wall, perching my gloves on top of it and dusting my hands off on the back of my old jeans. From his look, you would’ve thought I’d done a twirl in a thong bikini and stilettos.
“I’m related to the asshole who owns this place, remember?”
It was impossible to forget the owner of this place.
“And you’ve been running away from here ever since I’ve known you,” I said. “I didn’t think you even liked to visit.” From what I’d heard, he’d made his final escape the day after their father’s funeral.
He shrugged, his smile setting me up for whatever well-oiled line was to follow. “Once I found out you were here, I cleared my schedule.” He waved me out of the stall. “Come on, let’s go take a ride away from all the onlookers.”
That sentence alone would get the onlookers chatting, and he hadn’t tried to whisper it, either. If someone else was in the stalls, the chatter would start up fast.
I laughed. “You still love stirring up trouble.”
As much as Alec might talk a big game, he’d never gotten close enough to blow one of my hairs out of place. We might appreciate each other’s looks, but that’s as far as it ever seemed to go. Maybe it was because I’d always been too busy staring at his brother and he’d been too busy with the always-waiting lineup of easy girls that didn’t require any additional effort.
“Come on,” he said.
It wasn’t the work that was holding me back. I’d already finished my assigned chores for the day and was just helping out. Problem was, as much as I wanted to take off for a little while, do some catching up, I didn’t need more grief from Kade when I was actively avoiding him.
“I’m not sure I can do that. My boss is a bit of a dick.”
“I’ll handle the boss,” Alec said, jerking his head for me to follow.
Screw it. Kade would find something to be pissed at me for no matter what I did. I left the stall and followed after Alec. We had the ATVs revved up and left the smaller garage a few minutes later. We drove them to the edge of the ranch property, and one of the highest peaks. This spot had always been part of Hawk land, and it was still as captivating as ever.
I got off the ATV and just sat there, staring at the mountains for a while without speaking, and Alec followed suit. That was one other thing the brothers had in common: they were okay with silence, not feeling the need to fill every moment with some useless chatter. They could just be.
Alec held out a flask to me a few minutes later, and I waved him off.
“No? If I can’t get you drunk, how am I supposed to get any answers out of you?” he asked, then took a sip himself before pocketing it.
“Is that what this is? An interrogation? You know you’re supposed to bring people to a cell or somewhere unpleasant for that sort of thing. Not a place that makes you relax.” I wasn’t quite relaxed, but I was about as close as possible under the current conditions.
“Yeah, well, I’ve never been one to encourage a woman to talk. You’ll just have to take pity on me for not knowing the correct protocol.”
There was nothing shocking about that coming from him. Shellfish had a longer expiration date than the women he dated.
“Pity you? You’re the last person I’d pity.”
He smiled again. “Stop it with all the sweet talk or I might try to add you to my roster.”
“Thanks, but I think I’ve got enough problems already.”
“You sure? I get good reviews.” He tilted his head with a devilish grin.
“Please. You don’t stick around long enough to know your reviews.” I dropped back onto my elbows, watching as the sky turned those beautiful colors of a spent day.
“That’s okay.” He laughed and bumped his arm into mine. “I wanted to keep my balls anyway.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“Nothing. Just being silly.” He shook his head. “What I really want is to know what happened with that painting. I’m not buying the story I’m reading in the news, and the one I’m hearing sounds just as stupid.”
Gone was the flirt, who used his pick-up lines like armor, replaced by the man I knew was always right there underneath. The one who saw too much and always had.
If there was anything worse than going down for a crime I didn’t commit, it was having to convince the people around me that I was a lowlife scumbag that would steal a painting from victims of the Holocaust. In that way, Kade was easier. He’d convicted me of all wrongdoing before I said a word. When I’d gotten here, he hadn’t even asked me about it. And for some reason, Kade’s judgment hurt worse than anyone’s, like our prior relationship gave him a pre-targeted kill shot right to my heart.
“Do I really need to convince you I committed a crime that a jury has already convicted me of?” Alec needed to take the bait, because defending this lie was getting old.
He made an exaggerated face, as if he were contemplating it, before he said, “Yes, I believe you do.”
I laughed, the sound hollow even to my ears. “You should talk to your brother, then. I’m sure he could bend you to his way of thinking.”
“Is he being the same hardass he’s always been?”
“He’s definitely giving it his all.” The Kade I used to know had been the one I turned to when the rest of the world was beating me down. Now he was leading the charge.
“I won’t press you on it, but for the record, I know it’s bullshit. I just can’t figure out what happened. You’re too smart to get jammed up like this, which means only one thing—you’re falling on your sword for someone.” He was staring at me, watching for a reaction.
I sat up, letting my hair fall forward and do some of the heavy lifting instead of worrying about schooling my features. “I thought you weren’t going to push me?”
“I had to try a little bit. The suspense is killing me.”
“Then all I can say is I hope you have your affairs in order,” I said.
He smiled but let it go.
We sat there for another few minutes as the light began to fade. As it was, we’d probably be driving part of the way back in darkness.
Right before I went to get on my ATV, Alec said, “I know Kade can be rough, but he’s still the kid you knew. Those feelings run deep, no matter what stupid shit he says.”
“Deep as in fifty miles down? Because if you tell me he was born in hell, that I could believe.”
He laughed again. “Okay, you two will have to work it out on your own. Let’s get back, though. You want to see brimstone? Let him not be able to find you tonight.”
I climbed onto my ATV. “Oh, I know. He spends all day waiting for me to screw up so he can make my life miserable.”
Alec squinted but didn’t refute what I said.