Chapter 12
“W ay I see it, Leia, it’s simple. You look the bastard square in the eye and you say, ‘ I don’t love ya. I ain’t marryin’ ya. ’ In fact, I’ll come with ya and say it for ya. I think I might just enjoy it.”
I smirk to myself as I buckle up my belt and watch Leia pull herself back together.
“It’s not that simple, and I’m not expecting you to understand. This all goes way beyond love. My father needs me to marry Caleb. I don’t know why, but I know it’s important.”
I go toward her and pick her up off her feet again, pressing her hot, little body back onto the beam I just fucked her against.
“Then we figure out why and we fix it.” I kiss her again because I fuckin’ can. After years of wanting and wondering what it might be like, I can kiss her lips whenever I want.
“It’s not gonna be that simple, whatever it is has my dad spooked. He wouldn’t ask me to do this if it wasn’t important.”
She holds me back and I hate the negative look she’s got on her face.
“Old man Mason’s an asshole. This is what he does.
He blackmailed Aubrey into marryin’ Joe.
He’s doing the same thing here. I ain’t sayin’ it’s gonna be simple, but I am sayin’ I will fix it.
” I mean every fuckin’ word I say. Mason’s on borrowed time as it is, and there is no way I’ll let him stand in my way.
“Wade, don’t you think we’re running before we walk?
This…” The way she looks down between our bodies is irresistibly cute.
“…it’s new. I still haven’t got my head around it yet.
” She looks bewildered, maybe even a little scared, and I wanna tell her that all this ain’t new to me.
I’ve been in love with this girl since the day I first saw her, but I can’t risk having her run scared on me again.
I know this girl well enough to know we have to go at her pace, and while we do, I’m gonna figure out what the fuck Mason has on the mayor and what he stands to gain from this shit show of a marriage he’s forcing.
“I won’t put my daddy’s life in danger, too much has happened in this town lately for me to not take this seriously,” Leia tells me.
The tears filling up her eyes have my head nodding back at her.
For now, I’ll at least let her believe I agree.
But if she thinks there’s any way in hell I’d let her marry into that family after this, she’s fuckin’ wrong.
“So, in the meantime, what do we do?” I raise my hat a little and grin at her.
“I guess we should explore what this is.” She smiles back seductively, making me want to take her all over again.
“Ain’t gonna be easy sneakin’ around in a town like this one,” I tease her, sliding my nose up her cheek. I wish I could take her to my bedroom, lay her out on my bed, and do all the things I’ve been imagining for so long.
“And what if it doesn’t work out? Right now, this is hot, it’s exciting, but we’ve been friends for years.
Why hasn’t this happened before?” She still has her doubts and as much as I wanna scream ‘Because you didn’t fuckin’ see it’ at her, I don’t.
I’m just as much to blame for holding on to my feelings for so long.
Hell, I’ve waited long enough for this. I can wait a little longer and make it right.
“We’ll figure it out, and have a whole lot of fun while we’re doin’ it,” I promise, stroking my hand through her hair.
Fun is exactly what she needs right now.
This girl is prepared to put her own happiness on the line and marry an asshole to pull her father out the shit.
I can’t imagine what that pressure must feel like.
We may be busy with the ranch, I may have a helluva lotta digging to do before I figure out what this shit between the mayor and Mason is, but I will find the time to be the person who puts the smile on her face while I’m doing it.
She’ll learn that us, being together, is what’s right.
“You really think you can fix it?” she asks with bright, hopeful eyes that make failure not a fuckin’ option.
“For you, I’ll fix anythin’.” I kiss her forehead and enjoy how good it feels to have her in my arms.
“This has to stay between us,” she whispers, pushing me back and looking all worried. “I love my dad, I can’t risk anything happening to him. If we’re gonna go up against Mason…”
“You leave the worryin’ to me. I’ll figure it out,” I promise before I kiss her, softly, slowly and a lot like she’s fuckin’ mine.
“I gotta get back. When will I see you again?” Leia asks after I’ve placed her back on her feet.
“Whenever you wanna see me.” I shrug my shoulders and try my best to act cool.
“It’s gonna be strange, acting all normal around each other now.” She blushes and it makes me cling to her tighter.
Yeah, it’s gonna be strange, but more than anything it’s gonna be hard not to put my hands on her.
“Wade, I really gotta go.” She giggles when she tries getting away from me and I tug her back.
It don’t matter how many times I’ve heard it before, her laughing is still my favorite sound in the whole damn world, and when she comes back at me and places a kiss on my lips, like she’s been doing it her whole life, I can’t describe the feeling of contentment it gives me.
“I’ll be seeing you, Wade Carson,” she tells me, scraping her nails along the back of my neck and giving me chills as she backs away and heads toward her car.
I watch her drive away, then, with the biggest grin stuck on my face, I do one last check of the horses and head inside for bed.
“You’re playin’ with fire,” Cole tells me when I step into the kitchen and find him looking out the window into the black.
His palms are braced each side of the basin unit and he’s only wearing his sweatpants.
His muscles are tense, and the sheen on his skin suggests he’s had another one of his nightmares.
Maisie swears he should be seeing a shrink about what happened with Aubrey, but me and Garrett both know there ain’t no shrink that’s gonna mend a broken heart. Cole lost a piece of his soul when Aubrey died, the better part, and all that's left now are the bitter, broken parts.
“I’ll figure it out,” I tell him, heading for the refrigerator to get myself a beer.
“That’s what I told myself. Do ya have any idea how hard it is to say goodbye and know they’re goin’ back to someone else?” He continues to stare out the window into the darkness.
“It ain’t gonna be like that. We know what Mason’s like, he’s got a hold on Walker and I’m gonna find out what it is and fix it.” I don’t know why I feel like I have to try so hard to sound convincing. It’s almost as if I need to convince myself too.
“Some things are beyond even us.” Cole pushes himself away from the basin and starts heading for the door and when he stops and turns around, he’s got a real sad look on his face.
“Don’t be the other guy, Wade, you’ll always come out the loser.
” He drops his sad eyes to the floor before leaving me alone.
* * *
I choose my time wisely, waiting until breakfast has finished, and when Garrett heads out to the stables I follow him.
“Ya headin’ out to Grid 4?” I stride across the yard after him.
Couple of the new boys said they saw bear tracks when they rode out there yesterday, so I’m guessing he’s off to check it out.
“Yep.” Garrett shoves his rifle into his saddle sling and climbs on Thunder’s back.
“Mind some company?” I don’t wait for his answer before lifting my saddle and carrying it over to Hooter’s stall. Garrett waits for me as I toss it over his back and strap it under his belly.
“Do I gotta choice?” My brother tilts his head and stares back at me. I say nothing back, just hurry up and jump on my saddle, taking my reins and following him out.
“I spoke to Maisie last night, she knows about what happened with you and Leia.” Garrett doesn’t speak up until the house is just a speck in the distance.
“No wonder she was lookin’ at me strangely over breakfast. How mad is she?”
“She ain’t mad at all, but ya know she’s gonna be gettin’ all kindsa ideas, and every one of ‘em’s gonna have a happy ever after as an outcome. Ya gonna make sure she ain’t disappointed?” Garrett looks across at me with a threatening glint in his eye.
“Or die tryin’.” I smile, trying to keep things light.
“I’m serious, this ain’t a joke, this ain’t about gettin’ yourself laid. We’ve seen what this did to Cole, if ya want the girl, Wade, ya take her.”
“There’s gonna be a cost. This is history repeating. Mason wants to build himself the perfect family, and he’s got somethin’ over Mayor Walker that’s allowing him to do it,” I explain. Garrett doesn’t seem at all surprised as he rests his elbow on the front of his saddle and scratches his stubble.
“If ya love her, the cost don’t matter. We protect what’s ours.” He turns his horse so he’s facing back toward the house.
“We gotta lot to learn from history.” He narrows his eyes while he thinks.
“Leia’s scared, she thinks this thing that Mason has on her dad is life-threatening’. I gotta be smart in how I go about it,” I explain.
“ We gotta be smart,” Garrett corrects me. “And we will be. First, we need information, I figure we start with the River Boys. They work for Walker and do his deeds, they’re bound to know somethin’,” he suggests.
“They also do ours,” I remind him of the fact that all three River Boys took the brand, three and half years ago and there ain’t a day that’s gone by since, that they haven’t shown their loyalty to us. I gotta feeling that loyalty’s about to be tested.
“Find out what ya can, and while ya do I wouldn’t be givin’ the Masons anythin’ to be suspicious of. Let old man Mason think he’s gettin’ what he wants. A clueless man is a defenseless one.” Garrett turns Thunder back around and kicks him on to gallop toward Grid 4.
“We’re pretty clueless as to why Mom left. Maybe we should be buildin’ up our defenses,” I call after him, hoping he’ll take his own advice.
Pulling Thunder to a stop, he looks back over his shoulder at me and I can tell he’s pissed.
“Spoke to Maisie about that too. I’m prepared to hear her out. Just give me some time to work on Cole. We can’t push him on this.” He shocks me with his response.
“What the hell has that girl done to ya?” I shake my head and laugh at my big brother.
“Wade, trust me, you ain’t ready for it.” He kicks Thunder on and gallops away.