Chapter 25
25
Hudson
H udson hunched over at a bar, a seltzer water with lime in his hand. He needed to blend in if he wanted to be here and ask the sort of questions he needed to ask. The cowboys in this smaller town didn’t seem nearly as chatty as the ones closer to home.
So far, Hudson had gone to three different towns asking about odd jobs—doing anything if the price was right. He even made it clear that he was willing to do the questionable just so long as everything was laid out right in the beginning.
Dead end after dead end. He was running out of towns to hit. Soon, he’d have to start asking around in Colorado Springs. Something told him that he wouldn’t have any luck there, either. From everything he’d put together, the people targeting Rachel didn’t have much to lose. City folk cared too much about their homes, their cars, and their reputations unless they were part of the local gangs.
Nope, the men who had broken into the house were cowboys. It was smarter to search for people in ranching towns. He swirled the cup a little, then glanced down the bar at a few of the cowboys who had just entered.
It was too dim to be able to see their faces. Only one of them seemed even remotely familiar, and that might be due to Hudson’s current state of exhaustion. He hadn’t slept well at all since the fire. If he wasn’t having nightmares about the event itself, he couldn’t sleep because his thoughts continued to dwell on Rachel and just how disappointed he was about what she’d decided to do with the property.
There still might be a chance he could help her save it. But he was quickly running out of time—if he hadn’t already.
His phone buzzed. But that wasn’t uncommon. Between the calls from his brothers and sisters, he’d gotten a handful from Rachel as well. Her voice messages were the pleading sort. She never raised her voice. He could practically hear the defeat in the undertones, and they were what hurt the most.
The Rachel he knew was strong and independent. She was hard to break.
And yet these monsters had done it. They’d broken her, torn her to shreds, chewed her up like she was nothing, and now she was walking away from her vision of a wild horse sanctuary.
If nothing else, he was going to find the men responsible and hold them accountable in whatever way he saw fit.
His left hand curled into a fist, and he resisted the urge to slam it down on the bar. He couldn’t lose his cool. That wasn’t an option. He wasn’t going back home until he figured it out. Even still, his curiosity got the better of him, and he pulled his phone out to see who he’d missed a call from this time.
Disappointment weighed him down when he saw Henry’s name populating the screen. Henry was one of the worst. Every time he called or left a message, his anger seeped through. He blamed Hudson for the current state of things back home—with Athena, Rachel, and the sanctuary. Too bad. Life was tough right now and he’d have to accept it, just like Hudson had.
“… yeah, I got another call about that, too. You think it’s gonna sell?”
“I hope not. We’re getting bank with that gig.”
Could be anything. There were three cowboys huddled down a few stools from where Hudson sat. One of them pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit it before drawing in a deep puff and letting it out through pursed lips.
“Yeah,” he murmured, “none of the other gigs pay as well as that one. I’ll be sad to see it go.”
“You think we’ll find anyone willing to pay as much as them?”
“Not likely. They come from money. You can tell by the way the guy talks. It’s in his voice,” the smoker slurred. “He demands respect.”
“Yeah, but don’t you feel like he couldn’t care less if something happened? What if we’d been caught?”
The smoker laughed as he extinguished his cigarette into the nearby ashtray. “We’re too smart for that. It’s the reason we’ve gotten so good at what we do.” He turned his head in Hudson’s direction, but Hudson dipped his head down to avoid being seen.
The things these guys were talking about were too vague for Hudson to be able to connect with the string of issues out at Rachel’s property. He would have to follow them and dig a little deeper. The worst thing he could do was find the wrong guys, then have word get out that he was looking for people so he could turn them in.
He strained his ears to hear the group, but when he couldn’t get anything, he glanced up only to find that they had left.
Shooot! How had they slipped out without Hudson hearing their chairs and the thuds of their boots?
It was the blasted music that played in the bar. While he’d been able to drown out most of it while he eavesdropped on conversations, it was the one thing that drowned out the other basic sounds from a bar in this part of Colorado.
Hudson swiveled around, but the men weren’t in the building. They weren’t at the billiards table nor at the darts. They’d up and left entirely.
Shoot, shoot, shoot! How was he going to follow them and see what they were up to if he didn’t know who they were or where they lived? For all he knew, they didn’t even live in this town. What if they were passing through?
This was the epitome of one step forward and two steps back.
He shoved away from the bar and threw down a twenty. If he wanted to find these guys, his best bet would be to come back again and again until they showed.
Hudson’s sour mood followed him all the way to the camper trailer he had set up in a nearby abandoned parking lot. He marched up to the small living space and climbed inside, his disappointment heavier than it had been in days.
One by one, he pulled off his boots, then climbed onto the full mattress, locked his hands behind his head, and stared at the plain, fiberglass ceiling. If Rachel knew what he was up to, he knew exactly how she’d respond. She’d tell him it was too dangerous and that he needed to come home. Thankfully, she seemed to only be aware that he needed his space from her—from everything that had happened.
He missed her more than he would have missed his beating heart. The empty ache he felt had only continued to grow with each passing day. It didn’t help that he had left Odin behind. The dog had whined when Hudson had told him to stay on the porch.
Take care of Rachel . That’s what Hudson had told the animal, and some part of him believed that Odin knew what that meant. The dog didn’t follow him to his truck. He didn’t bark and make a scene. It was just that squeaky whine.
Odin shrank in Hudson’s rearview mirror as he drove away from the house.
Who had become the bad guy now?
Hudson, that’s who.
He’d done the one thing he’d sworn he never would. Not only had he left Rachel, but he’d left the one creature whose loyalty was his only weakness. Hudson didn’t doubt that the dog would have followed him to the ends of the earth if Hudson had allowed it.
Closing his eyes didn’t help detract from the betrayal Hudson felt he’d bestowed on the two individuals who mattered most to him. He was never going to live this down.
But he wasn’t the only one to blame. Rachel had left. Perhaps she hadn’t left physically, but she’d left mentally long before Hudson had. She’d already gotten it in her mind to run away from things when they got hard.
Hadn’t he said that would happen? He’d even tried to prepare himself for it. Hudson had told himself that Rachel was no good because she was just like her sister, and both of them were capable of leaving just like anyone else—more so because of their background. Athena was a runner out of necessity. Rachel was one due to her upbringing.
The endless number of wealthy people who were willing to quit when things got hard was ridiculous. Unfortunately, Rachel had lumped herself into that group.
Hudson rolled over onto his side and stared at the darkened wall, his thoughts shifting once more to those cowboys in the bar. Maybe he should head back to the bar and ask about them. If they were regulars, then he’d have a better starting point. He sat up. Duh, why hadn’t he thought of that before?
Before he could get to the door, his phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket to see Mateo’s number filling the screen. That was a new one. Was something wrong with Odin? Hudson shot to his feet, his worry flooding his stomach. Without a second thought, he answered the phone.
“Please tell me you’re not calling about the dog.”
There was a brief silence, and then Rachel’s quiet voice came through as if she was standing right beside him. “Hudson, you should come home.”
“Has something happened?” he demanded. “Are you hurt?”
“Well, no, but?—”
“I’m not coming home,” Hudson shot back. “I don’t know what possessed you to use my friend to call me, but you shouldn’t have.”
“Hudson—”
“No. I’m not coming back, not until… I figure out a few things.” Careful. He couldn’t give away what he was trying to do. Best case, she chastised him and told him he needed to be smarter and just do as she said. Worst case? She’d call the local law enforcement and get him in trouble. That was the last thing he needed. He could already see Wade’s judgmental stare if he had to get bailed out of county lockup for something.
“There’s nothing to figure out,” she said, that usual defeated tone coming in loud and clear. “You need to come back, if not for me, for your family.”
He huffed. His family didn’t need him. Rachel needed him. “You know what’s ironic? You’re calling me to come back when, at the exact same moment, you’re preparing to leave. How does that make sense, Rachel? How can a quitter ask that of someone when they’re not willing to stick it out?”
The deafening silence on the other end of the phone was all he needed to know he’d struck a chord. “I’ll come back when you can guarantee that you’re not going anywhere.”
“I can’t do that,” she finally whispered.
“Then I can’t come home. Goodbye, Rachel.”