Chapter 7
“A ll I’m saying is that you should hear her out.” Raised voices are coming from the office when I get home and I head on in to see what's going on.
“She ain’t got nothin’ to say that I wanna hear,” Garrett tells Maisie.
“You're being stubborn. She’s your mom and there’s no harm in getting the answers to all your questions.”
“Darlin’, can you at least sit down while ya yellin’ at me?” Garrett pleads with her, and they both turn their heads to face me when they notice I’m here.
“Speak some sense into him, Wade.” Maisie rolls her eyes as she waddles out the office, and Garrett bites on his fist outta frustration.
“Selfish bitch showin’ up here after all this time. I’m tryin’ to keep everythin’ calm and steady for Maisie, and now we’re fuckin’ fightin’.”
I listen to what he’s saying blankly, but I can’t stop thinking about last night… How perfect everything was. Why did she run out on me like that?
“I slept with her.” The words blurt out of my mouth and turn the agitated look on Garrett’s face into shock.
“What?”
“Leia, last night. We went out for some drinks, we got wasted and we had sex.”
“So, why the fuck are ya lookin’ like someone put your saddle on the wrong way?” Garrett sniggers back at me.
“Because, when she woke up this mornin’, she ran out on me.” I slump into the chair, tossing my hat at the desk before sliding my hand over my face.
“Why would she do that?” I can see Garrett trying to wrap his head around it and failing, the same way I have.
“Because what we did clearly doesn’t fuckin’ change anything,” I growl back, suddenly sharing my brother's frustration. Life was much simpler when all we had to deal with were horses and cattle.
“Did ya tell her bout how ya feel?” he checks.
“Well, we didn’t really get round to that part. We were drunk and it just kinda happened.”
“Don’tcha think you should have told her before ya fucked her, or here’s an idea, not fucked her while you were drunk, at all?” My brother slams his palm on the desk.
“I get that, but we were there in bed and I had everything I wanted, so I took it. It meant nothin’ to her, Garrett. She woke up and literally ran.”
“This is the last thing I fuckin’ need.” Garrett shakes his head and blows out a breath.
“What d’ya mean, this is the last thing you need? How the hell does this affect you ?” I stand up, just about ready to lose my shit with him.
“Because, Wade, you just fucked my wife’s best fuckin’ friend! And in case ya haven’t already noticed, Maisie tends to take on everyone else’s problems and make ‘em her own. Could ya not have just met her for a drink and told her ya fuckin’ loved her?”
“Well, that was the fuckin’ plan, Garrett, but it fell through when we got to the motel and started takin’ off our clothes.” I picture her perfect, pert tits in my palms and wish I could go back to that room where we shut off the world.
“You're gonna fix this.” Garrett shakes his finger at me. “I can’t have Maisie worryin’ over this shit,” he warns, looking real serious.
“I know, and I’ll keep it to myself. But I don’t know if Leia’s gonna tell her. Maybe she won't. She looked pretty ashamed when I was chasin’ her across the damn street.”
“ You chased her? ” Garrett’s eyes stretch even wider.
“Yeah, I chased her. I wanted to talk about it. Tell her how I felt, but she sped off and, well, now I’m here.”
There’s a knock at the door and when Tate steps inside he’s looking real worried.
“What now?” Garrett snaps at him.
“I think you better come look at this,” he tells us, dashing back out the door. We both let out a heavy sigh as we glance at each other before we follow him.
Out at the bunkhouse, we find Dalton bruised and bloody, holding a packet of frozen peas against his split lip.
“What the fuck happened to you?” Garrett asks, looking between the semi-circle of men standing around him.
“Got jumped leavin’ a bar last night,” Dalton tells us, dropping his eyes as if he’s ashamed.
“By who?” I launch forward, resting my hands on the table in front of him so I can assess the damage.
“Some guys I was playin’ poker with. I cleaned ‘em out pretty good.” The clever smirk he pulls on his lips makes him wince.
“Where’s Mitch?” Garrett looks around the room.
“He left with Finn early hours, to collect from your uncle. He doesn’t know yet,” Tate reminds him.
“Right,” Garrett shakes his head while he tries coming up with a plan. “You need stitches?” He grabs Dalton's face roughly and looks him over.
“Nah, I’m good. I’ll pop some Advil and be out in the yard in twenty,” he assures Garrett, who nods his head.
“What bar were ya at?” I ask, feeling that fire inside me starting to stoke.
“Some dive bar called The Shack. It’s over at Columbus,” Dalton tells me, and I nod my head before turning around and heading for my truck.
“Whoa, where ya goin’?” Garrett chases after me.
“I’m goin’ to The fuckin’ Shack to find out who these bastards are.” I open my truck door and check that the baseball bat, I keep under the passenger seat, is still there.
“You're looking for a fight ‘cause of what happened with Leia last night.” He speaks under his breath. “Gimme some time, let me go make nice with Maisie and we’ll find out who these fuckers are together. When Dalton’s feelin’ better, we’ll head out with him and make the next fight that happens more even—”
“Nah, I’m takin’ this one.” I start the engine and shift into reverse. I won’t admit it to him, but he’s right. I need something to take the edge off, and this is fuckin’ perfect.
“Wait! Ya don’t know who these guys are or how many of ‘em there were,” Garrett calls after me as I start pulling off.
“Nope, but I’m about to find out.” I skid out the yard and head toward Columbus.
* * *
I park up outside The Shack and take the bat from under the seat, rotating it in my hand as I march through the doors. It’s pretty dead in here, considering it’s lunchtime, and when the barman sees me coming, he instantly looks worried.
“Last night, a friend of mine was here playin’ poker.” I tip my chin at him and wait for a response.
“I don’t know nothin’ about no fight.” He shakes his head back at me, and I slam the bat at the bar before I lean over it and get right in his face.
“I never said nothin’ about no fight. But, seeing as you mentioned it, I wanna know whose ass I’m gonna be kickin’” I look at him sternly and when he don’t find no words for me, I step round the bar and swipe my bat across the row of stacked-up glasses.
“Wait. Wait…! There were some boys in here playin’ poker last night, didn’t take to losin’ all that well. I saw them follow the kid out.”
“And, who were they? ” I ask again, already becoming impatient.
“Three brothers, the Holtons. They work on the Chesterfield Ranch. It’s about three miles—”
“I know where it is.” I turn round and march out, nodding my head at the startled-looking couple who are having lunch in one of the booths as I pass.
I drive toward the Chesterfield Ranch thinking about Leia and how I fucked it all up.
I should never have had sex with her while we were drunk.
I should never have jibbed out on telling her how I fuckin’ felt in the first place, and what I find even more frustrating is the fact that none of it would have made any difference.
All I can see is history repeating. Cole lost Aubrey because she married a Mason brother, and look how that turned out.
I pull up outside the ranch and picking up my bat again, I head over toward the cowboys that are gathered near one of the stables taking instruction from their boss.
“Oh fuck!” Larry Chesterfield mutters when he sees me coming. “Look, Wade, we don't want any trouble. We’re—”
“You won’t get no trouble if you tell me where those brothers are,” I cut him short, scoping the yard and wondering which of the cowboys looking back at me are gonna be eating this fuckin’ bat.
“What? I… I don’t know what you're talking about,” Larry stutters.
“I’m talkin’ about the three boys ya got here that jumped a branded man last night. Carsons ain’t gotta problem with ya, but there will be one if ya don’t tell me which of your yellow-bellied men beat the shit into one of mine.”
Larry strokes his hand through his beard before he nods his head toward the two burly men, standing on the opposite side of the yard.
“You!” I scowl across at them. The Chesterfield Ranch ain’t a small one, and already, quite the crowd has started to build.
“You know the rules of a fair fight, right?” I chuck the bat, I’m holding, at the ground when an idea on how to teach these sorry fuckers a lesson springs to mind. They don’t answer, instead, they just stare back at me with neither sense nor fuckin’ fear.
“I think ya need remindin’, ‘cause not only did ya both beat on one of my boys, but I hear ya came at him from behind.” I undo the buttons on the cuff of my shirt and start rolling up my sleeves.
“Where’s the other brother?” I look to one of the ranch hands, who’s perched himself on the top of the corral to get a good view of the ass-kicking I’m about to hand out.
“Your guy had been cheatin’ all night,” one of the sorry fuckers speaks up and interrupts. I turn my head back to face him and shake it. “You ain’t never gonna meet a more honest man than Dalton Hudson,” I assure him.
“Let me tell ya how this is gonna work. I’m gonna take ya on, one by one, face to face, and show you, and all these folk watching, what happens when you put a hand on a branded man. Now, which one of ya wants to go first?”
The bigger of the two takes off his hat and tosses it at his brother, rolling his shoulders like he might be handy for something before he comes at me.
I take the first punch he swings, straight to my face.
I don’t have a temper as bad as my brothers do, and even with all the Leia shit in my head, I need a little winding up to get me into a fight.
I wait for him to throw his fist again, this time ducking it, hitting him with an uppercut as I come back up.
Growing up, Mitch always taught us that the bigger they are, the harder they fall, and he’s yet to be proved wrong.
The senseless asshole pulls himself back together and comes at me again, this time charging at me like some kinda fuckin’ gladiator.
I wait until he’s close before I slide to one side, spin my body onto his and grip his neck so I can slam him face-first into the stable.
“Now I know why ya work in threes,” I laugh in his ear, smashing his face into the wood again before releasing him and letting him stumble around.
He throws his fists around in his daze as I grab the front of his shirt and hold him steady, so I can land a punch directly at his temple, putting out his lights.
“You ready?” I turn to face his brother, noticing how pale he is. He shakes his head back at me and I laugh, picking up my bat from the floor.
“I figure you guys are new around here, so I’ll let this be a warnin’.
You tell him and your brother, that ain’t here…
” I step up in front of him and watch him flinch in fear when I use the end of my bat to push up the front of his hat.
“The next time ya lay a hand, or so much as look at a branded man again, I’ll fuckin’ kill ya.
” I spit at his boot before I make my way back to my truck.
“See ya at the auction, Larry,” I call back before I leave.
I drive back toward home wondering if I should stop by Leia’s place to try and clear the air.
The last thing I want is for things to be awkward between us.
She’s been around the ranch a lot lately keeping Maisie company.
I may have slept with plenty of women, but I don’t know all that much about ‘em. Maybe I need to give Leia her space, she was pretty freaked out this morning and I don’t wanna pressure her.
Right now, I’m in a real shit situation, beating the shit into that Houston brother hasn’t made me feel any better. Not like it should have, which makes me wonder why all I’ve been able to focus on since she ran out, is the fact I didn’t get the chance to kiss her.