Chapter Eighteen
MASON
AS SOON as Sloane fell asleep the other night, I sent a text to Callum and Spits to tell them everything she told me. I need more info on her brother, more specifically who he has contact with. That piece of shit has made it to the top of my list.
When she told me her brother sold her to traffickers, it took all I had to keep the anger off my face. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her and stop her from telling me everything.
He must be one of the lowest forms of humanity, but based on what Callum told me about him, he sounds like a spoiled rich boy with a chip on his shoulder and no regard for anyone other than himself.
Our team has had our fair share of run-ins with the skin trade, and I’ve never been able to understand what gets into a person that makes them think that hurting another person the way they do is okay. Something has to be seriously missing inside for it not to affect them.
I haven’t been able to stay away from her since she came to my room. The next night I was at her bedroom door as soon as all the lights were out and I feasted on her perfect body, every part of her like undiscovered territory that I want to claim.
From the time I get up, all I think about is being close to her. The last time I was with a woman more than once, much less thought about one, was when I was a horny fucker in high school. I don’t know how she got so much power over me, but I’ve felt it since I first saw her in that bar.
Something in me wants to wrap her up and keep her safe, it comes from the same place that wants to make her mine and hurt anyone who has hurt her in the past or wants to hurt her now. A voice in my head says ‘she’s mine’ and my dick wants to be buried in her all the time.
Since her brother saw her with me last weekend, I’m almost positive that the people who want to take her are already sniffing around the area, so I need to talk with my dad to let him know how serious the situation is.
I’m still a little pissed that he didn’t say anything to me or Gray, he had to know it would get dangerous at some point.
It’s been a little over two weeks since his heart attack, so he has declared himself fit and is back in the stables.
The smell of the horses and the hay are such a part of the happy memories of my childhood that stepping through the big barn doors makes all my worries feel lighter.
No wonder Dad spends all his time down here.
When I remind myself that it has been fourteen years since I was forced to leave my home and enter the service, or go to jail, I find it hard to believe I’ve been away for so long.
It seems like it’s only been a couple of years since I spent my days taking care of the horses and cleaning the stalls.
The stable has ten stalls, five on each side, and in the middle on one side is the wash stall, and across the aisle from that is the tack room and Dad’s office. Some of the horses watch me as I walk by and some of them are out in the attached paddocks.
As I get closer to the wash stall, I hear Lainey Rai’s voice and when I look around the door, I’m almost shocked to see her grooming one of the stallions. Not because she can’t handle it, but because I can see Gray flipping his lid with worry over her being too close to one of the larger horses.
The stallion is hobbled, and Wilson is sitting to the side watching everything.
She is murmuring sweet nothings to him as she stands on her step stool and brushes his neck.
Her stall coat and stocking cap are so puffy with insulation that she looks tiny.
The stallion is wearing his own quilted jacket that is fastened in the front.
He seems very affectionate with her, rubbing his nose against her hand, but I still need to ask, “Does your dad know that you are brushing that stallion?”
She keeps brushing but doesn’t look at me, “Daddy’s in town getting some feed for the mare that Marley took in.”
Cocking an eyebrow and sliding my thumbs into my pockets, I chuckle, “That didn’t answer my question, little lady.”
“I’m watching her.” Dad’s gravelly voice booms behind me and I turn to see him in his office across the aisle.
Turning back to Lainey Rai, I point my finger at her, “You be careful with that guy.”
She rolls her eyes in nine-year-old girl fashion, “Ugh, he’s probably sweeter than you, Uncle Mason.”
I jerk my head back, feigning insult, with my hand over my heart. “I’m sweet.”
She giggles, “But you don’t give soft, fuzzy nose nudges.” She scratches and then rubs the horse’s nose with her gloved hand.
The temperatures dropped again this morning, and a chance of snow is in the forecast, so Dad’s heater is on in the tack room. The big door is rolled open and when I cross the threshold it feels about twenty degrees warmer than the thirty degrees in the rest of the stable.
I don’t beat around the bush, I walk up to his desk and say, “We need to talk.”
He leans back in the squeaky desk chair from the mid-nineteen hundreds and links his fingers in front of him, “Okay.”
“About Sloane.”
His facial expression doesn’t change, if there is anyone in this world who has a perfect poker face, it’s my old man. It’s also where I learned it. He doesn’t say anything but waits for me to continue.
“You know all about the issue with her brother?”
He takes a deep breath and nods his head.
Just talking about it is making me angry, I lift my hat to let some cool air in and set it back on my head, “When we went into town last weekend, we bumped into her brother at the gas station by the tracks. The fucker actually followed her out of the store, but when he saw me, he went back in.”
Dad takes his hat off and tosses it on his desk before sliding his fingers through the thinning dark hair. “I wondered when he would catch up with her. To be honest, I’d hoped they just wouldn’t find her.”
Setting my hands on my hips, I say, “Why didn’t you tell me, Dad?”
He leans forward in his chair and sets his elbows on his desk.
“Well, I’ll tell you, son. You’re never here.
” He pauses and guilt squeezes my chest. “Gray has enough on his plate with running this place and being a single father to that little girl out there.” He points his finger across the aisle to Lainey Rai.
“An opportunity to help someone who needed it crossed my path and I’ll be damned if I was gonna leave her there with no place to go and no one to care for her.”
As angry as I am with his withholding information even after I asked him, I’m grateful that he found her and took her in.
I shake my head and close my eyes for a second, “Dad, I’m not sayin’ you shouldn’t have helped her, but you should have told me. I deal with traffickers all the time.”
He takes the defense and stands up, his hands on his hips “How would I know that? You never call or come home, you’re too busy playing when you’re not working to care about what’s going on back here.”
Every word is like a gut punch, but I deserve it.
Before I get a chance to respond he narrows his eyes and points his finger at me, “I know you’ve been hanging around her and I’m telling you right now that if you hurt her just to get your cock wet, you and I are gonna have a problem.”
Another fucking gut punch, but this one gets a reaction.
I step up to his desk and drop my hands to my sides, “Sloane and I met before I knew she worked here, it started casual, but things have changed.” I pause because I wonder what it is that I’m trying to say, and it comes out so easily that I surprise myself, “I care about her, and I want to make sure she’s safe. ”
Would I go so far as to say I care about her?
Fuck yes, I do. I think I might go one further and say I think I love her.
I wasn’t lying to her when I told her that I think about her every day, she’s on my mind all the time. When she told me that men from the skin trade were after her I wanted to kill every last one of them, I will kill any one of them that try to put a hand on her.
He looks over my face and drops his hand, “Yeah, we’ll see about that, but in the meantime, we need to figure out what we’re gonna do if we get any visitors here.”
“I’ve called my team and some of them are on their way here now. We need to tell Gray and Tucker,” I scrunch my face since I know the rest of my suggestion is going to be the hardest part, “we also need to make Kinley stay in the main house for now.”
Dad’s shoulders slump and he slaps his leg as he looks at the opposite wall, “God damn it, you may as well tell me to make one of the damn horses drink.” It’s a mumble that isn’t really aimed at me and a smirk crosses my face.
He grimaces and asks, “Do we know what we’re up against?”
I nod my head, “It’s a small outfit that covers Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri.
I’m not sure of the extent of her brother’s involvement, but I’m sure if there’s money in it for him, he’ll be involved.
If he got my plate number at the gas station, it’ll track back to my address in Tennessee, but I’m sure they’ll connect my name to the ranch. It’s just a matter of how long.”
He tilts his head and looks at the wall, “Hell, I’m sure they already have.”
Taking a deep breath, I look across the aisle to see Lainey Rai unhooking the stallion to take him back to his stall and she is still talking to him, I hesitantly say the next part, “Dad.” His eyes move back to me.
“I hate to say this, and I know you’re gonna hate hearing it more, but we need to keep a close eye on Lainey Rai. I don’t think I have to tell you why.”
His eyes narrow practically to slits and his mouth tightens into a line, rage crosses his face and he points his finger at me again, his voice is lethal and low so Lainey Rai can’t hear him, “Any one of them bastards even touches my granddaughter and not only will I cut their hands off, I’ll cut their fucking dicks off and watch ‘em choke on it.”
The memory of the fuckers in Oregon crosses my mind and I press my lips together to keep from smiling.