Chapter 36
thirty-six
Cash
T he circular driveway of my parents’ house was packed with side-by-sides. As usual before one of Dad’s tours, the Duprees and Bishops had gathered to see him off. Everyone except Charlie and, strangely, Bowen.
I stood on my lawn, fighting the disappointment. She really wasn’t coming. Not even to hug me goodbye.
Theo’s face twisted with empathy. “I don’t know. Her bag’s all packed in her room, ready to go.”
“She must’ve changed her mind.” Liam tossed a football to Griffin.
James’s lips pressed together. “You don’t say.”
Eyes dead and dull, Griff caught it and lobbed it half-heartedly back to Liam.
The two tour buses were running, waiting on me and Dad to board. Just like always, my younger cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents were in the house, listening to The Lecture—the same one Mom gave every time Dad left on tour.
“Don’t you even think of looking at another woman,” Mom was probably saying right about now. “Do you hear me, Ford? If some hussy sneaks into your bed after a show, you better walk yourself right back off that bus or out of that hotel room. Or so help me, I will leave your sorry, cheating behind and take your children and all your money with me.” Next, my dad would pull her into his arms. “It’s not even a temptation, baby. I could never be satisfied by anyone but you.” Then he’d give her a kiss that would last her until she flew out to our show in Oakland in a few weeks.
I wished Charlie was here for me to kiss.
James jammed his hands into his pockets. “Do you want me and Theo to drive down to the house and see if she’s running late?”
“Let’s give her a couple more minutes.” I really wanted her to show up on her own. Not go hunting her down, begging her to come. I looked at my watch and saw a notification. I tapped the screen. Make that five notifications—that Charlie’s heart rate was up above 150 bpm. “What the…?”
James stepped over to me and read the message. “That can’t be good. Do you think she went for a run?”
My watch buzzed with an incoming audio message. I pressed play. But she didn’t say anything. The puppies barked in the background. “She must be at the barn.” My stomach clenched. What was she doing at the barn when I was about to leave? For a second, I thought she’d sent this by accident, but then someone started talking.
“Enough of this!” a man shouted. There was a loud bang that sounded awfully like a gunshot.
“Who’s that?” Theo said, coming closer.
“You just put a hole in the ceiling!” Bowen barked on the message.
The three of us shared a look.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” the mystery man said. “I need to be back in Sin City by tomorrow night.” More puppy barking.
“Why are y’all huddled around Cash’s watch?” Liam asked.
“Be quiet!” Theo hissed.
Liam and Griffin jogged over.
“The rules are simple, Charlie,” the man said. That meant those bullets weren’t aimed at her. “We’re not leaving here without the twenty-five thousand he owes. Don’t care how you get it, but get it, you will. And you’ll do it quietly, without alarming anyone. You do that and no one gets hurt. You have thirty minutes or Lorne-o-graphic here gets the?—”
“ Lorne ,” Theo and I breathed at the same time.
“Get’s the what?” Griffin whispered.
“Shhh,” I ordered. We all tipped our heads, listening for more.
“Then we’ll move on to your boyfriend,” the man said.
“I’m her cousin,” Bowen scoffed.
“I don’t care.” The man released a dastardly chuckle that made my skin crawl. “But you better help her figure out a way to make it happen or else.”
“Or else what?” Theo’s hands were locked at the back of his neck, eyes wild.
“You can have your guys put the guns away,” Charlie said, her tone tinged with terror. My chest tightened at her fear. “We’ll coopera—” she screamed, and my airways tried to close up permanently.
“Son of a—” someone shouted.
Another man cackled. “That coward just passed out.”
“And pissed himself,” the first man added. “Just wow.”
Then the message ended.
“Who passed out and pissed himself?” Theo asked. “Bowen?”
James shook his head like Don’t be idiotic . “Lorne. One hundred percent.”
“They’re at the barn on Dupree Ranch,” I said, checking Charlie’s location to be certain, heart in my throat. If those thugs hurt Charlie…. I couldn’t think it. “I’m going.” It wasn’t up for discussion. I took off for the nearest side-by-side.
“I’m coming with!” Liam hooted, football tucked under his arm. James was right behind him.
“They’ve got a gun! We need guns!” Griff yelled, pointing to the house, where my dad had a slew of pistols and rifles locked in his safe.
“Yeah. Sure.” Theo snorted. “How’re we getting those out of the house without our parents noticing?”
“Besides, do you wanna have a wild west showdown?” James asked like Griffin was insane.
“Shouldn’t we tell our parents, at least?” Griff responded.
“No,” I growled. “Charlie and Bowen need us now . There’s no time for a phone tree or for a decision to pass through a committee.”
“He’s right,” James said. “They’ll just tell us to sit tight and wait for the cops.”
“Agree,” Theo said. “I don’t know about y’all, but I’m not waiting a half hour for Sheriff Anderson to mosey over here.”
The Seddledowne Sheriff’s department response time varied from three minutes to three hours. We couldn’t take that gamble.
“Let’s go!” I said, breaking into a sprint.
“I’ll draft an SOS text to the Dads while you drive,” Theo said. “Then we just have to hit send when we’re ready.”
I dropped into the driver’s seat of Blue and Anna’s six-seater Polaris. It was the fastest ATV here. Like the Dukes of Hazzard, my cousins slung themselves in from every direction. I cranked the engine and flipped us around, pedal smashed to the floor as we flew over the hills.
Riding shotgun, James shouted over the wind, “We can’t pull up right to the barn. We’ll have to park a ways off, so they don’t hear us coming.”
“That’ll take more time though!” Theo yelled.
“James is right!” I agreed. “We’re in good shape.” Thanks to Spartan Race training. “We’ll just have to run the rest of the way.”
“What if we park at the obstacle course and run up the hill?” Liam hollered.
James nodded.
Even though Theo was older, James had always been our leader. He was level-headed, brilliant, and could Macgyver himself—and us—out of the worst situations. James was who you wanted with you when the zombie apocalypse happened. If he thought it was a solid plan, that was good enough for me.
“We can use the stock office entrance,” he said. It connected directly to the barn and had access to the hayloft—a perfect vantage point. “A couple of us can go up top.”
“What do we do after that?” Liam asked.
James’s forehead furrowed, thinking. In the rearview mirror, I caught Liam and Griffin wearing similar expressions. Theo was typing on his phone like mad, hopefully drafting that text to our parents.
I glanced over, about to ask James to say a prayer, but his head was already bowed, eyes closed, lips moving.
As we crossed the footbridge that connected the ranches, it felt like every board screamed our arrival. We had to stall so Liam could open the gate and close it again. We didn’t have time to chase cows today.
When we got to the obstacle course, it felt twice as far from the barn as normal. But it was the best choice. I knew that in my gut.
“I cannot get hurt,” Liam whisper-shouted as we jogged up the hill. “This is not in my contract, y’all.”
“You say that like the rest of us are expendable,” Theo said with a huff.
“That’s not what I meant,” Liam said.
“Chill, guys.” James took charge. “Cash, any idea what we’re doing when we get there?”
I glanced at him, heart in my throat. “I thought you had a plan.”
He brought his chin down, eyes laser-focused on the barn that had just come into view at the top of the hill. “The plan is…we wing it.”
“That’s not a plan!” Griffin said in a suffocated voice.
“God is the plan,” James said.
“Wake that fool up!” Someone shouted in the barn.
We came around the end of the building on tiptoe and paused by the stock office entrance so I could type in the code. 1990. The door unlocked and we soundlessly stepped inside. An argument leaked through the wall.
“You can’t have it both ways,” Charlie said, and I relaxed the tiniest bit, knowing she was okay. For now. “If I ask my dad or uncles for that much money, they’re going to want to know why, they’ll check my location, and head over here. There’s no way?—”
“Stop screwing around!” one of the thugs yelled. We all froze. “I know you both have trust funds or whatever. Wire me the money or else!”
“You kidnapped the wrong Duprees, bro,” Bowen said with a huff. “My dad’s a high school principal and my mom teaches yoga. I don’t have a trust fund.” He conveniently left out their full-service gym that did quite well and their herd of cattle. But yeah, all of that combined didn’t add up to an income that provided trust funds for four kids.
James mouthed, we’re heading up . He pointed to me, then gestured for the others to stay put. We climbed in silence, every step a gamble. I wished I came equipped with floorboard sonar. Somehow, we made it to the top unnoticed.
I’d never been so thankful for a set of grandparents who couldn’t part with anything. The loft was cluttered with boxes and containers of Granny and Gramps’s old books, VCR tapes, holiday decorations, and cookware. James and I peered around a pillar of storage totes full of plastic easter eggs.
Dead center in the aisle below, Lorne lay lifeless, facedown on the ground. In a clown costume. I would’ve guffawed if the situation weren’t so tense—and if I didn’t loathe him so much. Dead or still passed out, I didn’t know. Right now, I was hoping it was the former. He’d brought danger down on Charlie’s head twice now, so…
On Lorne’s far side, Charlie and Bowen sat together, hands bound behind their backs from the looks of it. Charlie’s shoulders were curled in, eyes darting like she was calculating a way out. Bowen, on the other hand, looked too fiery for his own good.
A bald man in a button-down prowled between them and Lorne, his eyes flicking back and forth. Two more men, one tall and lanky, the other stocky and stout, stood on each side. And they were armed. My eyes shot up to the ceiling where, as Bowen had said, there was a hole in the roof, letting the sunlight in.
Gramps is going to be ticked , James mouthed.
But that was the least of our worries.
“My parents don’t make as much as you’d think,” Charlie said. Besides…they just paid off all my medical bills,” she lied, her tone laced with accusation. “I was in the ICU for weeks, remember?”
The stout guy swore. “She’s right. She did almost die. It’s ’spensive to almost die. Remember that time I got shot in the stomach?”
“Your parents are famous authors, though,” Baldy said to Charlie. “Their books were made into those spy movies. Your family’s loaded.”
“You’re the daughter of Ashton and Tally Dupree?” Lanky asked giddily. “Like your parents wrote the Spy vs Sigh series?” With a gun hanging loosely in his hand, he made the mind blown gesture.
“Yes, idiot,” Baldy said brusquely. “And her uncle is Ford Dupree, the country singer who plays Jack Steele. That’s why we’re here. These people are dripping with money.”
“Do you think you could, like, maybe, get me your parents’ autograph?” Lanky asked. “My daughter and I loved reading those books together.”
James and I exchanged glances—equal parts disbelief and disgust.
“You must be the dumbest human to walk the planet,” Bowen barked. “She almost died because of you.” James and I looked at each other again. These were the same guys who threw acid on Charlie and left her for dead? Oh, they were so going down. “You’re currently holding her hostage and you want her to get her parents’ autograph? Do you even hear yourself?”
James pointed at the stairs. We need to hurry . Before Bowen gets himself killed .
Once again, we crept down like ninjas in a world where squeaky floors were the enemy. Theo, Liam, and Griff’s eyes were wide with questions.
Find a weapon , James ordered. Theo was two steps ahead of him, already holding the dart gun that Gramps used to sedate horses and cows when necessary. He shook his pant leg, causing a soft jangle, letting us know he had extra CO2 cartridges in his pocket. He was the right one for the job—skeet shooting champion of the Dupree family.
James snagged Gramps’s horse whip off a nail. Griffin grabbed the lasso next to it. Oh, heck yes. Those boys had been roping since they could hold a sippy cup. Uncle Silas—who’d gone to college on a roping scholarship—made sure of that.
Liam held up his football like that was going to do some kind of damage. Then again, he’d done plenty of damage on the football field in high school as the Seddledowne Stallions quarterback.
I looked around for something I could use. James held up an electric cattle prod. He tossed it and I snatched it from the air.
How are you doing? Theo asked. Their eyes were all on me, like they were bracing for another panic attack. I waved that away. But the truth surprised me—I wasn’t unraveling. I only spiraled when I thought about Charlie not being with me and that wasn’t going to happen today.
James found a notebook in the desk drawer and drew a diagram of the situation and how we were going to remedy it. Then he wrote the words:
This needs to be a synchronized attack. Keep your fingers ready. When we play the sound, it’s go time. Immediately. No hesitation. We have each other’s backs. Got it?
We all nodded and pulled our phones from our pockets.
“Enough of this B.S!” Baldy raged in the barn. “Five minutes! You don’t pay, I send him back to Canada in pieces! And your mouthy cousin is next!”
The five of us exchanged a glance, each expression lit with the same fierce resolve.
Send the text, James told Theo. We watched as Theo pressed send, alerting my dad, uncles, and Blue to what was happening. There was no going back now. We had less than four minutes to get this done before they arrived.
James gave us three sharp hand signals like gunshots in the air— Go. Go. GO! Griffin and Liam went outside to come through the door on the far end. James stayed with me while Theo headed upstairs alone.
James looked at his phone, waiting for their “ready!” texts. A moment later, Liam and Griff were in place. James mouthed the countdown. Three… two… one. We pressed the buttons together. I tried to brace for it, but the SOS alarm still made me jolt like I’d been shocked.
James threw the door open. At the other end, the sliding door slammed wide revealing Liam and Griff. We sprinted into the room, and the thugs looked around in surprise. Maisy bucked and neighed, kicking the wood of her stall, adding to the confusion and chaos.
Lanky and Stout raised their guns.
“Now!” James shouted.
Everything happened simultaneously. Liam’s football snapped through the air knocking Lanky’s gun from his hand. At the same time, the tranq gun popped with a shot. Stout stumbled, a dart sticking out of his right peck, his pistol falling to the floor. James threw the lasso, looping it around Baldy, yanking back with a hard cinch, knocking him off his feet. He hit the concrete with a smack.
Stout reached for his gun and Griff’s whip licked him in the arm, making him recoil with a shriek. Lanky was going for his gun too, so I ran over and zapped him with the cattle prod. He bit out a string of curse words and reached for the gun a second time. I zapped him again and again and again, until he finally got the hint. Liam kicked his gun away. It skidded across to the other end of the barn.
Bowen was on his feet, hands flapping behind him, zip-tied. “That’s what you get! You messed with the wrong family!”
All at once, our phones silenced.
“Seddledowne County 911,” a muffled female dispatcher sounded from James’s pocket. “We received an emergency SOS activation from your device. If you’re in immediate danger, do not speak. Remain on the line. Law enforcement is en route.”
“You hear that?” Bowen laughed. “They’re coming for y’all.” He walked over and nudged Lorne with his foot. “You too, you little weasel. I know you can hear me. You’re gonna be in jail for a very long time.”
Baldy spat another curse at James, his cheek smooshed against the floor—but it was hard to take him seriously with his hands and feet hog-tied behind him like a Thanksgiving turkey.
Charlie looked up at me, her big, brown eyes pools of melted milk chocolate. “Thank you.” Her bottom lip quivered.
I tossed my cattle prod to Griff and dropped to my knees in front of her. “I swear, woman. You’re going to give me a heart attack one of these days.” I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her tight against my chest. “Man, I love you.”
“I love you ,” she cried. “IloveyouIloveyouIloveyou. You’re everything. You’re my miracle—and I’m going to stop being so stubborn and insisting I do everything on my own. And I’m going to let you take care of me, and I’m going to take care of you, too.” The words were interspersed with kisses all over my face. “And I was coming on tour. I was. I just—I wanted to make you sweat. I thought I was being clever, but turns out I’m the dumbest dummy that ever lived. But you still came for me. You saved me. You always save me.”
“What about the rest of us?” Theo broke up her monologue from the loft.
“Thank you,” she said to everyone else. “All of you.”
“Yeah,” Bowen said, looking at Griff specifically. “Thank you.”
Griffin said nothing, just bent down and cut Charlie loose with his pocket knife. Bowen turned for him to do the same, but Griffin closed the knife and dropped it back in his pocket.
“Seriously?” Bowen scoffed.
Griffin looked at him with a hard expression but intense love in his eyes. “I’m glad you’re alive.” His jaw clamped but we knew what he was saying. I’d die for you, but I’m still angry at what you did.
Charlie threw her arms around me. “And thank you for paying my debt. I’m so grateful and I’ll marry you tomorrow, barefoot and in the rain, with only a piece of fencing wire for a ring. We can live in a tent or your parents’ basement, I don’t care. I just want to be yours, on paper and in my heart. Forever. I want to make so much love to you and not change my last name.” She peppered me with more kisses. “And have your babies, if I?—”
I grabbed her hips and pulled her into me so hard we nearly lost our balance. Then I kissed her—deep and unhurried—like nothing and no one else existed. She whimpered into my mouth, and it undid me. I cupped the back of her head, then they went to her waist, her shoulders, her ribcage, needing to feel every living, breathing inch of her against me.
“Ahem,” James cleared his throat.
“Later, guys,” Theo called from the loft.
“We get it,” Griff huffed bitterly. “You’re crazy, stupid in love.”
I tipped my forehead to Charlie’s, noses brushing. “Me too. Barefoot and in the rain.”
“With only fencing wire for a ring?” she chortled.
“I think we can do better than that,” I said with a smile.
“But we’re broke,” Charlie said.
“Don’t care,” I said right back. “All I need is you. That’s all I’ve ever needed. We’ll figure out the rest.”
A tear slid onto her cheek but she looked so happy. And relieved. “Yeah.” I pulled her to her feet.
“Wha di you shoo me wiff?” Stout kicked out his legs, his eyes rolling around in his head.
“You’re going to take a nice long nap.” Bowen cackled. “Nigh’ night.”
Stout lifted his head off the floor and gave us one last swirly-eyed look before caving in to the sedation. Baldy was still squirming, trying to get free to no avail with James’s foot on his face.
Lanky gave Charlie a sad look. “Do you think you might consider asking for that autograph?”
“No!” all of us shouted in unison.
James tipped his head at Lorne. “He can’t possibly still be passed out.”
“Nah.” Liam flipped Lorne onto his back. “Guarantee he’s playing dead like a possum. Freaking wimp.”
“Who cares?” Griff huffed. “The cops’ll be here momentarily.”
Yup. There was the faint sound of sirens blaring in the distance.
Liam snorted. “Yo. Guys. Homeboy really did pee himself.”
James snickered, a grin breaking free.
Just then, an ATV came tearing up outside, engine cutting out sharp. Blue sprinted in first—no shock there. The man still ran a forty like he was trying out for the Combine. Dad was the next to arrive, with his pistol up like Jack Steele come to life. Silas and Ash moved in tight behind him with rifles—probably for show more than anything else. A single shot from one of those would spray buckshot like confetti and take out half the room with it. Holden jogged in last without a weapon. He didn’t need one. One look at him, and you knew: justice just showed up.
Our heads snapped around when Lorne scampered across the floor like a tarantula, fumbling for one of the loose pistols. Blue already had Liam’s football in hand. He cocked his arm back and launched it straight for Lorne’s head. But Theo was just as fast, the tranq gun popping again. Lorne squealed as the football and dart hit at the same time. He grabbed his butt cheek with one hand and his ear with the other. Dad was already there, kicking the gun away.
“What were you going to do?” Charlie yelled, full of fire. “You’ve never touched a gun in your life. You don’t even know how to turn off the safety.”
“That’s my girl.” I pressed a kiss to her hair.
We turned when a shadow fell across the doorway. Sheriff Anderson walked in looking like something out of a John Wayne movie. Hand on his holster, handlebar mustache formed into perfect curlicues. “Well, well, well. You always know it’s gonna be a good time if you get a call to head out to the Duprees.”