28. Audrey
AUDREY
Ella and I had breakfast and I threw on jeans and a T-shirt to take Ella to school.
I watched her for signs of upset — over the hurried escape from Dean the day before, our new living arrangement, the chance encounter with Graham that morning — but she sang Dolly in the car and seemed as chipper as ever.
It felt good to do something normal, to get in line at the school drop off, kiss Ella goodbye, and hand her off to the greeters who ensured the kids got from the parking lot to the school’s entrance.
I still had to deal with Dean, try and smooth things over before Ella went to his place after school tomorrow, but the new living arrangement at least seemed workable.
I wasn’t due back at the hospital until tomorrow, so I drove back to the ranch.
Graham was in one of the corrals, leading a chestnut-colored mare around in circles, his graying beard visible under the shadow of his cowboy hat. His muscles flexed as he held out the rope, and I felt again the spark of desire between my thighs.
He was so calm, and I couldn’t help wondering what it would be like to be naked with him, to feel his big steady hands on my body, his face between my thighs.
I forced myself to look away, trying to get a grip, but then I spotted Holden leaving the tractor barn, shirtless of course. Thankfully, Ridge was nowhere to be seen because temptation was everywhere and I suddenly felt like a teetotaler about to go on a bender.
I was about to navigate my car toward the path leading to the cottage, when Ridge exited his workshop with his phone in his hand, his expression shadowed with alarm.
He said something I couldn’t hear to Graham, and Graham hustled out of the corral. Then Holden disappeared back into the tractor barn, and dread flooded my veins when he emerged a few seconds later holding a shotgun.
I put the car in park and got out.
“What’s happening?”
Holden glanced my way. “Get back in the car, doc.”
All three men were heading back the way I’d come, toward the road.
Toward the gate.
I followed them, unable to help myself.
It didn’t talk long to figure out what was going on.
Dean’s Escalade was idling at the gate.
He’d obviously followed me home from school drop-off.
Shit.
I ran after the Bulls, practically sprinting to keep up with their long strides toward the gate.
“Leave it!” I shouted at them. “This is my problem!”
Graham surprised me by answering first. “The hell it is.”
Dean got out of the car. Sunglasses covered his eyes, but they couldn’t hide the purple bruise staining his right cheek, the gash on his lip that looked raw and sore.
He took one look at Graham, Ridge, and Holden and kept one foot on the Escalade, driver’s side door open. “We need to talk, Audrey.”
Ridge adjusted his baseball cap. “You should turn around before you end up with holes in that pretty car of yours.”
“This doesn’t concern you.” Dean was fighting hard to keep his voice even, proof that the beating he’d taken from Ridge at the donut shop had spooked him.
“You’re standing at our gate,” Graham said.
Dean’s expression turned mean. “Which one of the assholes are you fucking, Audrey?”
“None of us,” Holden said. “But it’s not for lack of trying.”
I closed my eyes, praying for patience, because why on god’s green earth couldn’t Holden keep his mouth shut?
I stepped toward Dean, then stopped when Graham put out an arm to stop my forward progress.
I looked down at his arm and he met my eyes, then slowly let me pass.
“Go home, Dean.” I took a few steps toward him. “I’m not talking to you about this now.”
His blue eyes flashed. “You’re living here with them.”
“I’m living here with Ella for the summer, in a separate house on the property.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Dean said.
“You don’t have any more say in where I live than I have in who you bring around Ella. It sucks for both of us but that’s the way it is.”
His eyes turned flat, all the fire of his anger gone, replaced by something colder and harder. “You sure about that, Audrey?”
Holden raised the shotgun in his hands. “It’s time for you to go.”
Adrenaline flooded my body, and my pulse raced. I forced myself to breathe. This was a situation that could very easily get out of hand, and I was practiced at dealing with situations that could get out of hand.
“Just leave, Dean. I’ll call you so we can talk about this, just you and me.” I hated the pleading that had crept into my voice. I’d spent a lot of years pleading with Dean. “We can work this out. For Ella.”
“I’d think real hard about what you do next, Audrey.” Dean glanced at the Bulls, lined up like three sentries in front of the gate. “You have a lot more to lose than I do.”
I should have been relieved when he got in the Escalade, spitting dirt and gravel as he tore down the road.
But I knew better.
This wasn’t over.
Ridge stepped up next to me. “You okay?”
“This is exactly what he wants,” I said bitterly. “Three men, one of them armed, threatening him at the gate. Ridge already beat him bloody. How do you think that looks in family court?”
“No offense, doc, but I’m starting to think this is a problem that can’t be handled in court,” Holden said.
“What are you saying?” I asked.
“You know,” Graham said.
Ridge held my gaze. “Isn’t that why you joined the Hunt?”
I looked at my feet because it was easier than looking at them, than coming face to face with the fact that I’d been prepared to have my ex-husband murdered.
“I wasn’t sure. I just needed…” I took a deep breath and looked at them. “I felt like I needed options. To keep Ella safe.” Tears stung my eyes, but I blinked them back. “Just this one time, I felt like I needed options.”
“What if I said you still had them?” Graham asked.
I thought about Ella. She loved her father, had no idea that he might be a monster.
Could I really take that from her?
I shook my head, backing toward my car. “I can’t do this. I… I’m sorry. For the trouble with Dean and just… everything.”
I closed the door and started driving toward the cottage in the meadow.
I didn’t let the tears fall until Graham, Ridge, and Holden were out of sight.