Chapter 11
“Afraid being a cattle rancher is in my blood.” Brax appreciated the offer and he could immediately sense that she was only half joking based on the serious look in her eyes.
“I figured as much,” she said with a wink. “It was worth a shot.”
“I do know a thing or two about balancing books. And we have an accountant who takes a look at everything. I could have him review yours,” he offered.
“Yes, please. I don’t want Wade to think that I don’t trust him but…” She flashed eyes at Brax. “I don’t trust him.”
“Give me his information. I’ll have our person contact Wade directly.
Might get a faster response that way.” Most people who weren’t qualified to do a job reacted poorly to a little outside pressure.
Brax had a feeling Wade was probably dropping the ball and afraid to come clean about his mistakes at a minimum.
It wouldn’t make sense for him to be the bomber because he’d be out of a job if anything happened to Raleigh.
She took a screenshot, asked for his phone number, and sent over the requested information.
Brax forwarded the shot to his accountant, Manny Ortega.
He watched as Raleigh bit back several yawns in between bites of food.
“It’s been a long, intense day. You must be tired,” Brax said. “Let’s get you upstairs and to bed.”
He heard the way that sounded and couldn’t help but laugh.
“Not exactly what I meant,” he clarified.
“You can’t take it back now,” she teased as a male voice cleared his throat.
They both turned to the hallway.
“Kenny, what are you still doing up?” she asked, trying to come off as breezy. The atmosphere in the room changed and her shock at the interruption came across loud and clear.
“Came down for a glass of water,” he said, looking none too thrilled to find Brax and Raleigh alone in the kitchen. His sour expression could be attributed to walking in during the tail end of their conversation.
“Glasses are in the cabinet,” Brax motioned next to the sink. “Help yourself.”
“I’d hate to interrupt whatever it is you got going on in here,” Kenny said. Brax had seen a similar expression in his teen years when the opposing high school lost the biggest football matchup of the season on their mistake.
“We had a late dinner.” At least Raleigh held her ground. “I’m not sure if the two of you have been properly introduced. Brax is one of my dearest friends from back when I lived in Lone Star Pass and we were just reliving old times.”
“Must not have been very great, seeing how you couldn’t wait to get out of here,” Kenny mumbled as he walked over to the cabinet.
Brax had half a mind to call the guy out on his immature behavior, but it wasn’t his place. He didn’t have any designs on Raleigh. She’d been clear on that point. And he didn’t figure she would appreciate him being rude to someone in her band.
“There’s a big difference between running from and running toward,” he said by way of explanation.
“She told me all about it when we dated.” Kenny’s tone set Brax’s blood to boiling.
But this wasn’t high school and Brax could be the bigger person here. Besides, Raleigh would never go for someone who didn’t respect her. She might have made a mistake with this guy once when she was much younger. She was far too savvy now.
In fact, he respected her even more for her mental toughness. She’d always known what she wanted and wasn’t one bit afraid to go for it. The trait was admirable.
Kenny, on the other hand, sent up red flags.
Would he tamper with the stage? What would he have to gain? Did he believe he could frighten Raleigh into a relationship? Be her shoulder to cry on while on tour? Weasel his way back into her life?
It might be a stretch but was worth considering.
Brax figured the FBI would cover that ground if they hadn’t already.
There was probably no way to get an update from them.
Meeting the other band members and crew one-on-one became his next priority.
He also needed to ask if she had meet-and-greets with fans before shows.
Would he be able to speak to the venue manager? Get a sense of what security protocols were in place. She’d been playing larger venues but that didn’t necessarily mean safer.
Finally, he wanted to meet Wade. Brax could tell a lot about a person by looking them in the eye.
Raleigh rinsed off the dishes as Brax fired off a few texts to see what he could get going on his end. The last name Firebrand was capable of moving mountains in Texas. Brax had never thrown the family weight around until now. He sent off a text to the family lawyer to get him riled up.
Time to shake the cage and see what fell out. In the meantime, he planned to stick as close to Raleigh as she would allow.
“You could make an attempt to be nice, Kenny. After all, this family is important to me,” Raleigh whispered. The exacerbation in her voice told him she was tired of going down this road with the man.
“What did I do?” Kenny threw his arms up.
The man was no threat to Brax. Whoa there. Where did that come from?
Brax ignored it and moved on. Kenny had burned Raleigh once. She had a long memory and a short fuse when it came to putting up with someone’s antics. Break trust with her and it was game over. He’d seen it at school, and he was guessing that it was the same now.
He waited patiently as she finished up and then turned on the dishwasher.
“Don’t leave your glass lying around for someone else to pick up, Kenny,” she said. “This isn’t the tour bus and there are other people living here.”
“Fine. Maybe we should go back to your place or the tour bus,” he quipped with a side glance toward Brax. “Who says this place is safer anyway?”
“I do, for one. Hardy agrees,” Raleigh said.
“But look, no one can keep you here. If you think you’d be better off on your own, take off.
Wade can text you once it’s safe to get back on tour and you can join us on the road.
The feds did a great job of taking down everyone’s contact information after the interviews.
They know how to find you if they have more questions.
” She crossed her arms over her chest and turned toward Kenny like she was daring him to go.
“Nice, Raleigh. So…what? Now, you just don’t care what happens to anyone else?” Kenny asked, sounding like a broken-hearted teenager.
“Interpret it however you want,” she fired back. “You will anyway.”
“Why don’t you spell it out for me,” he taunted. “Do you want me here or not?”
“Are you part of the band?” She turned the tables.
“You know I am.” He shot another one of those sideways glances toward Brax. Was he checking to see if Brax intended to interfere?
If Kenny stayed in his lane there’d be no reason for Brax to stick his nose in band business.
Not to mention the fact Raleigh was proving more than capable of handling herself.
Unless she signaled for help, Brax was fine being an observer.
It was more fun than it should be to watch the guy strike out.
Brax pulled up the venue on his cell phone, and then studied the layout.
“Then why would I want you to go anywhere?” she asked. “But I’m not here to make anyone else uncomfortable either. If you don’t like staying at the Firebrands’ place you can go back to the bus.”
“What about us?” he demanded.
“We’re bandmates, Kenny,” she shot back.
“Is that all I am to you?” His frustration was evident in his intensity.
“Everyone in the band is like family to me,” she defended, softening her tone.
Kenny stormed off without another word. Something bigger had to be brewing with the guy. Any normal person would take the hint. Or their ego would kick in at some point. Rejection stung. This guy didn’t seem ready to accept what was plain as the nose on his face.
“What’s his problem?” Brax asked Raleigh when she joined him across the room.
“Sour grapes, I guess. He doesn’t seem to like the two of us spending time together,” she surmised.
“How about you? Do you like being with me?” he asked, and then immediately wished he hadn’t.
“I’m right where I want to be, Brax.” Her answer was the equivalent of a bonfire being lit in his chest, warming him from the inside out. And just like a campfire, it would burn out.
Raleigh stared at Brax. Her heart pounded her chest as she waited for a response.
“Too bad you have no plans to stick around,” he said.
“I’m here now,” she insisted, not backing down an inch.
“And you’re sending mixed signals.” He reached for her hand. “So, let me show you to your room.”
“Is this about Kenny?” She was getting tired of him. Her bandmate’s pressure, his constant need to argue…his insistence on the two of them being meant for each other.
“This is about me and you,” Brax said.
Well, damn. She couldn’t argue his point. One minute they were lip-locked and practically on fire and the next reality set in and one of them saw reason. To say the situation was complicated was a lot like saying Texas summers were hot.
“Just because we want different things doesn’t mean we can’t spend time together now,” she said.
“Doesn’t it?” His eyebrow shot up as he led her up the stairs.
It was infuriating how right he was.
“We already agreed no more kissing. Again,” she said on a sigh. All the reasons they couldn’t figure out a way to date flew out the window when his thick lips pressed to hers. He had the perfect mouth and when he broke into a wide smile, there was a show of perfectly straight, white teeth.
“Probably for the best,” he stated with no conviction.
It shouldn’t make her smile that he seemed just as affected by the decision. It did anyway.
At the top of the stairs, he walked her down a long hallway. Most of the doors were closed. There were two open at the end, side by side, with one across the hallway.
“How many bedrooms are there in this place?” Raleigh asked, not bothering to hide her shock.
“Too many for one man, I promise you that,” Brax said. “Yours is here.”
“Are you staying next door?” she asked. Hers was the very last one.
“That’s the plan,” he said.
She stood in front of the door, unable to force her legs to move. They should probably say goodnight, but she didn’t want this night to end.
“So,” they both started at the same time.
Both laughed.
“Ladies first,” Brax said, faking a tip of an imaginary hat.
“You’re probably tired. So, feel free to say no.
It’s just, I won’t be here for long and I didn’t realize how much I missed Lone Star Pass until I came back.
” The words practically tumbled out of her mouth.
She stopped long enough to take a breath and try to slow her racing pulse.
“I miss it here. The law will figure this out and we’ll be gone on a moment’s notice.
I was just thinking if you’re not too tired yet… well…I’m really enjoying your company.”
There. She’d come out with it. He could do with it what he pleased.
“I don’t need a whole lot of sleep, so that’s not a problem for me, but I saw you clamp down on no less than three yawns during dinner.” He caught her gaze and held it like he needed to see for himself she wasn’t too tired. “Are you sure about this?”
“Never been more certain of anything in my life,” she said. “What do you say?”
“As long as you’re always honest with me,” he said. “No secrets between us. I feel something for you that I haven’t felt in a long time but that doesn’t mean we have to act on it.”
“Open communication between friends,” she said. “And, Brax, I can use a friend like you right now. Someone who is honest and honorable.”
He waved her comment off.
“It’s true,” she insisted.
He didn’t answer verbally. Instead, he walked right past her and inside the room.
This made her happy.
Two steps inside the bedroom and she froze. “Wow. Okay, hold on. Why is there a sitting room in here?”
“The en-suite bathroom is the best. You should check it out,” he said with mischief in his eye that she promised herself she would ignore.
“Did you come to this place a lot growing up? This is my first time anywhere but the kitchen,” she admitted.
“No. None of us did. The Marshall liked his privacy,” he said.
“I’m sorry about your loss, Brax. I know he wasn’t easy to get to know, but he did hold the family together in a lot of ways,” she said.
“He was a constant all right.” He took a seat on the sofa.
“And, yes, he was difficult to get to know. I don’t really care how everything gets split so long as everyone can come to an agreement, which they need to do already and get this over with.
There’s no good that can come out of tying up everyone’s assets in court. Or arguing until the cows come home.”
“I can’t say he ever warmed up to me but he never seemed offended by me either,” she admitted. “Mostly, he kept his distance.”
“Which is funny because Adam swears he heard the Marshall whistling your songs more times than he could count,” he said.
“What about you?” She claimed the seat next to him, toed off her boots and put her feet up on the coffee table.
“Whistle? Yeah, all the time.” He winked.
It was just like him to dodge the real question. And she was beginning to realize how much she’d missed home.