Chapter 51
FIFTY-ONE
Hazel
“Wait… one pit stop,” I mumble as Marlowe tries to keep me on track to the door.
“What’s that?” Marlowe looks at me perplexed when I wander toward the truck Ramsey’s been driving since he got here.
“I have to take care of something…” I rifle through my purse, extracting the switchblade I keep there in case of emergencies and pull it out.
“Um!” Marlowe lets out a little yelp of worry. “What are you doing?”
I slam the blade of the knife into one of Ramsey’s tires.
“Making sure he can’t get away. Obviously.” I walk to the back side of the truck and stab another one.
“Hey!” There’s a loud shout from the other side of the barn, and I hear footsteps across the gravel as I go for the third tire. I look up, and it’s my six-foot-four brother’s frame hovering over me and keeping me from the next tire. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Hazel?”
“Cade! Get out of my way. I’m busy!”
“Doing what? Making us pay for another set of tires?” His brow sinks into a frown.
“Haze. Please… inside! You have a mission to carry out inside, remember?” Marlowe sneaks her arm around mine and starts to tug me in that direction. Cade goes for the knife in my hand, and I jerk it back. His eyes go wide.
“Hey!” I hold the blade up in the air. “Don’t start with me. My house. My rules. If I want to stab truck tires, you just mind your own business.”
“How many has she had?” Cade looks past me to Marlowe.
“Three, but Dakota was watering them down. She’s more emotional than drunk right now,” Marlowe answers like I’m not even here.
“She watered them all down? That hussy!” I complain, not that anyone cares how I’ve been wronged in this.
“What’s wrong?” Cade looks at me for a moment but then back to Marlowe, and I frown at the way the two of them are communicating past me.
“There was a little mishap with some paperwork, and Ramsey might be leaving,” Marlowe answers.
“Oh fuck…” Cade groans.
“I’m fixing it!” I argue. “Hence taking away his getaway vehicle.”
Cade takes my other arm, and between the two of them, I’m corralled away from the car, stripped of my weapon of choice, and hustled in the door.
“Go fix it.” Marlowe motions for me to hurry off, and I glare at her but thank her anyway for getting me home. “Of course. Now go get your man.”
“I was gonna go in and get some food,” Cade mumbles .
“I wouldn’t recommend it. I think the two of them are about to tear the house apart one way or another,” Marlowe muses as I pull off my shoes.
“I can still hear you,” I mutter through the screen door, but they ignore me.
“Would you mind running me up to the Snack Stop for a slice of pizza? My friend’s got my car tonight on a date, and since Haze has decided to take out the one car that I have keys to…”
“Sure. I’ve got some leftover sandwiches at the bakery, though, if you want?” Marlowe’s voice grows softer as they walk away.
I shake my head. Marlowe’s always talking someone into more food. Might as well be the bottomless pit that is my younger brother.
I get to the bottom of the stairs and stare up at the top floor. I can do this. Somehow, in fourteen steps, I was going to figure out the right words to get the love of my life to stay, even though I’d stupidly forced us into a divorce. I trudge up them, taking my time, and when I reach our door, I stare at it for a moment before I turn the knob.
I can do this. I’d beg if I have to. But when I open it… he’s gone. There’s no sign of him, and all of his things have been cleared off the dresser. I hurry into the bathroom and whirl around, checking the counter and then the shower. His razor and his body wash… all of it is gone. He’s left. During the short while I was gone at Dakota’s bar to try to figure out how to fix this, he already ran.
He was probably doing the same thing Curtis always did—driving up early to stay in the city so he didn’t have the long commute to the airport in the morning. One of his brother’s probably took him—and I’d fucked up the truck, so there was no chasing after him. Unless I could get Bo to take me. Except… Bo would probably take his side. Tell me to let the poor man go and live his life. Find a woman that doesn’t take him for granted.
I collapse in a heap on the rug in front of the tub, and the tears start to pour out. My lungs are racked with sobs as I try to pull in more air, and I can barely catch my breath. I can’t do this again. The last time, it felt like I was dying, but somewhere… some part of me thought there might still be hope. That maybe somehow, someday—maybe not until we were old and gray and twice divorced with grown kids of our own, we’d find each other again. That somehow, I’d get more time with him.
Then I had him—with plenty of time left, and I squandered it.
“Haze?” I hear the quick padding of feet across the carpet, and suddenly, he’s there. Standing in the doorway to our bathroom, shirtless in a set of Chaos sweats that leave nothing to the imagination. Like I conjured him to torture myself, except the disgruntled tone he has when he speaks wouldn’t be my first choice. “Fuck. I thought you’d gotten hurt or something. Are you okay?”
I stand and march over to him, closing the distance so rapidly he takes a step back and tilts his head like he’s bracing for impact.
“No, I’m not okay! I thought you left without saying goodbye. Everything was gone, and you were nowhere to be found.” I shove at his chest but he holds his ground.
“I just got my stuff packed so I can leave early. I’m sleeping in the guest room. I figured with everything… it’s best we keep our distance.” His brow raises as he takes my emotional state in. The fact that he’s not even shedding a single tear right now pisses me off.
“Distance.” I shake my head, wiping the tears from my cheeks. “Well… good luck getting to the airport. I slashed all the tires. Most of them, anyway. Until Cade stopped me.”
His face screws up with confusion, followed by a strange combination of irritation and amusement.
“Well, that was silly. Bo’s taking me.”
“That fucking traitor!” I screech. “I knew it.” I make a mental note to punch my older brother in the stomach the next time I see him. He’ll know why.
“Is he though?” Ramsey looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.
“I’m his blood.”
“And I’m his brother.” Ramsey counters.
“Were his brother.”
Ramsey’s face hardens at that correction, and I feel my heart skip when he starts to turn away. I reach for his arm, wrapping my fingers around the crook of his elbow, and he halts in his steps.
“But we could fix it,” I add quickly. “If you want him as a brother again, I mean.”
Ramsey’s eyes slide to the side and drift over me.
“I think it’s a little late for fixing things now, Haze. We only manage to hurt each other.” I can hear the skepticism in his voice and it hurts.
“Just hear me out,” I plead.
He lets out a beleaguered sigh, but he doesn’t move to leave again.
“You could still go to Cincinnati. Play for the Chaos and finish out the season. It’s just a few more weeks, right?”
“Not if there are playoffs. Which there could be,” he counters, but I can tell by the way his brow softens that he’s interested in where I’m going.
“I could follow you. I might have to come back a few times here and there to make decisions about the ranch, but… Bo and Cade and the staff, they could handle things. I’d have to figure ou t how to hire an extra person or two… but maybe, if you’re playing again, you might be willing to give a loan to your ex-wife?”
“The check for the million is already on the nightstand.” He nods toward it, and I frown, but he jerks his chin like he wants me to know that he made good on his promise in black and white. I walk over, and sure enough the check is sitting there just like he promised it would be months ago. His flourished signature on the dotted line.
“You were serious…” I stare at it. “I don’t know whether to be flattered or insulted.”
“Flattered. I would have given you two million if it meant I could have you in my arms again, Haze. That’s all I wanted. I thought if you remembered how good we could be when we aren’t fighting… maybe you’d give us another chance. I didn’t realize how dead set against it you were. I would have never pushed you like that if I didn’t think somewhere deep down you might still want us.”
“I would have been back in your arms again for free. It was the letting you back into my heart part that felt like it should have a high price tag. You broke me, Ramsey. When you left… I know I said I was okay. I wanted you to believe that because I wanted you to chase your dreams the way you encouraged me to chase mine. I wanted to see you out on that field, free from all the pain that this ranch represented for you. But… I laid on this floor, night after night, wondering how I could go on without you. Imagining you happy and free of me and all the other bad memories here… When all I wanted to be was yours. All I wanted was some way that I could be the one you ran to.” A sob breaks free even though I thought I was done crying for the night. How I have any tears left yet to spill is a mystery.
“Haze…” His lower lip quivers the slightest bit as his eyes travel over me, and I watch the ensuing tears that stream down hi s cheeks. “I wanted you to run with me. I wanted you. But it’s like I said… I didn’t want you in a place where I thought my being there could hurt you or hold you back. I wanted to play… yes. I thought it would give me the ability to give us a better future, one where we didn’t need Stockton money or Stockton land to make things work. Where it could just be the two of us, deciding our own fate.”
“I still want that.”
“You won’t be happy away from this ranch or the inn.” He shakes his head, his cheeks stained red from the pain of knowing it.
“I won’t. Not long-term. But for a year or two. However long the Chaos will give you. We could move back and forth. There during the season. Back here during the offseason. I can go back and forth between.” His eyes light up as I suggest it, and I’m hoping that’s a good sign for me.
“And then we come back here?” he asks, the tears slowing as he considers my proposal.
“Yes. Then we come back here unless we decide we want to be somewhere else. I’d consider it if that’s what you really want. But I think… I think we need to stay and fight. We can’t let whoever killed your parents drive us away from our family and friends. As much as your brothers piss me off… they’re family. And they’re right about not letting awful people have the upper hand. They can’t have this ranch or this town—it’s already ours.”
“Fuck…” he curses under his breath, and he scrubs a hand over his face. “I love this ranch, sugar. There are memories that hurt, yes, but this ranch is as much you as anything else it’s ever been. Better for having been loved by you. Same as me. It’s the only place I wanted to come when I was finally free again. So I’m not about to let anyone take it from this family. ”
My heart constricts in my chest as hope creeps in. The tears welling at the corners of my eyes.
“Is that a yes?” I whisper, too scared to ask it too loudly.
“When have I ever been able to say no to you?” His hand cups my cheek.
“About as often as I can say no to you.” I risk a small smile, and he returns it. The corner of his mouth turning up just a little bit, enough that I think I might be on the road to forgiveness. My heart flutters with the excitement of a future with him, and he studies me, his eyes narrowing.
“You’re not completely off the hook. I’m still pissed about the divorce. You know how much extra paperwork that’s going to be to set everything straight again? I thought I was free of that shit with this parole over.”
“But it means all that wedding planning stuff I made you do wasn’t for nothing…” I point out.
“Oh, all of that’s still getting burned, and you’re gonna start over again. I guess we’re getting married at the casino because I’m not marrying you where you were gonna marry him. Grant will love that idea.’’ Half a smile comes and goes from his face as he considers his brother’s reaction to hosting a wedding.
“We better get the family discount,” I mutter, thinking back to how they dismissed me so thoroughly when I inquired months ago.
“We should. I’ll package it up with one hell of a bachelor party.”
“Excuse you. You are not a bachelor.” My brow drops, and I scrunch up my nose.
“I’m pretty sure the paper on the floor downstairs says otherwise…” I can tell by the way his green eyes play over my face that he’s just teasing me, waiting and hoping to get a rise out of me .
“I’m pretty sure you’re going to be too preoccupied to think about being a bachelor.”
“Oh yeah?” His brow raises in question.
I hold up the check and look between the two.
“A million dollars says you’re in my bed every night until we get the paperwork fixed.”
He scoffs and turns his head to look out the window. The devious grin that plays at his lips makes my heart take off like a racehorse in my chest. I put the check back down on the nightstand, closing the distance between us, and rest my palms on his chest.
“Deal?”
“I’m not that cheap, sugar.”
“You have a counteroffer then?” My hands drift down his chest and over his abs.
“A million dollars plus half this ranch starts sounding sweeter…” he trails off as he watches my fingers play along the top of his sweats.
“Deal,” I answer.
“I want it signed the second our lawyers draw up the new paperwork.”
“Fair enough.” I tilt my head.
“And…” His fingers tilt my chin up, forcing my eyes to meet his. “The first thing I want is you on your knees giving me a full-throated apology for that piece of paper downstairs.”
“I can do that, Mr. Stockton.” I hook my fingers around the waistband of his sweatpants and look up expectantly.
“Good, Ms. Briggs.” The use of my maiden name stings a little, like it should. His eyes drift over the Bull Rush Ranch branded T-shirt I have on and the dirty jeans, smiling at my messy state of dress. “You’re gonna have to put in a lot of work if you want to earn the Stockton name back.”
“It’s lucky for you that I like a challenge.”