Chapter 25
CASSIDY
Placing a pack of frozen peas to my side, I leaned back in the kitchen chair. Stitched up, cleaned up, bandaged, and ready to go, Sheriff Jones sat opposite of me as Briar quietly climbed into my lap. Despite the insanity and confusion, and the completely pressing matter at hand, my mind focused on nothing but the beautiful woman who leaned her head against my chest.
Here she was, mindlessly cuddling up in my lap. She’d sought me out, again, wanting my touch, my comfort, and there was little that I could do to stop the roaring heat rising in my stomach. I needed a distraction, or this would go in an uncontrollable direction quickly.
“So, who was that guy?” I asked, breaking the silence. My fingers found Briar’s braid, and I slowly tugged the tie out from the end of it. She didn’t stop me as I twisted the ends around each of my digits and gently began to unwind her silky strands.
“The drunk driver that hit you the other night—Levi Jenkins. He was out on bail after being arrested for another DUI,” the sheriff began.
“Wait, what?” Briar gasped as I sat up a little higher, my fingers tensed against her hair. Silky hair that was drawing what should’ve been my undivided attention away from Sheriff Jones.
Clearing my throat, I narrowed my gaze toward the officer. “I don’t get it. It was just an accident. Wasn’t it?” I asked, working her braid completely undone as her eyes widened, frightened.
“There’s more.”
“More?” she exclaimed, squeaking, and her fingers suddenly dug into my thigh. The ache from her nails was merely a dull thud combining with everything else hurting at the moment. Though, there was a usually dormant side of myself that didn’t mind. In fact, I was relishing that she latched onto me tighter.
“More.” He nodded. “Look, I’m not going to lie to you, even if there wasn’t this little detail I’m about to share with you, my suspicions are raised.”
“Go on,” I encouraged, slowly combing my fingers through her tresses.
“You remember the trespassers that we assumed were there either illegally hunting or looking to poach some cattle?” Sheriff Jones hesitantly began.
“’Course I remember that,” I answered. “They came after us. Never before in my life has that happened.”
“Exactly. Why would people doing illegal stuff on someone else’s property attack the very people who could get them arrested.” He raised his brows and crossed his arms.
“Where you going with this, Sheriff?” I questioned, seeing his eyes narrow.
“Well, a guy showed up last night around eleven in the evening with an infection in his shoulder. Cause of the infection: a poorly treated gunshot wound. You told me that you were pretty sure you nailed one of them in the shoulder.” The sheriff closed his eyes, running his hand across his clean-shaven face. “He was alone, and completely out of it, but he matched the brief description you gave. And in his delirium, he mumbled a name.”
“What name did he say?” I stated.
“The guy in the hospital said the name of our drunk driver. Once we got both of their identifications, I saw they’re both flagged as being suspected members of a poaching ring. The next wild thing is the fact that Levi apparently decided to use his momentary time out of jail to try and come back here, and, at least in my assumption, to try to kill you.” He paused and pulled his lips through his teeth. “Cassidy, I’ve known you and your family my entire life. But the coincidences are too glaringly in my face to not raise questions. So, this is not me accusing you, but last time there was something strange going on, Carly happened,” he finished, and his eyes darted from mine to Briar’s.
Keeping my gaze as steady as possible, I clenched my jaw.
“We’ve got the guy in the hospital, Marcus Jones, in custody, and we’ll be interrogating him once he’s more conscious, as well as this perpetrator, but if you know something, anything, now’s the time, Cassidy. Especially if you’re in danger,” Sheriff Jones added.
Briar’s fingers loosened around my thigh, and she slowly sat up. “I’m sorry, Cassidy,” Briar whispered just to me. “But I won’t be the reason you get hurt anymore.” I closed my eyes, knowing her suspicions and these incidents brought her to the same conclusion as they had for me. What worried me more was the fact that I wasn’t the final target. I feared I’d just been in the way, and his entire goal was to get through me to kill Briar; otherwise, that knife wouldn’t have ended up just in my arm.
I shook my head, twisting the loose hair around my fingers even tighter. “Don’t apologize. I wish it wasn’t true. I wanted to believe that they were all separate incidents and had nothing to do with Wayde,” I answered quietly, and I felt her collapse into my chest again.
The sheriff cleared his throat, and I opened my eyes. “We have no substantial evidence to support the claims that I’m about to make,” I began. “This may be better off the record until we get some results back we’re waiting on.”
Sheriff Jones pulled out a notebook and flipped it to a blank page, clicking his pen. “Fair enough, now tell me what’s going on.”
As I shared one last glance with Briar, she gave me a tight smile and faced the cop. “The name you should look into is Wayde Jenkins.” She balled her hands up, but it did nothing to stop them from trembling, and her eyes darted back toward me briefly. “I haven’t even told you everything, and I’m sorry. I should’ve, but I thought there’d be more time, I just…” Her voice trailed off as tears brimmed against the edge of her eyes.
“It’s fine, Goldie.” I gave her a tight smile and continued to braid her hair, making sure not to fumble at all in hopes that it gave her the reassurance she was seeking. Especially since there was definitely a connection between Wayde and Levi—they both had the same last name.
“Wayde Jenkins bought the farm across the street from my father and I around five years ago. It’d been foreclosed on and sitting vacant for a while, so it was exciting, to say the least, thinking someone would start fixing it up. But he did nothing of the sort. From the moment he arrived, there was something…off about him. He did really well hiding it for the first few years, but eventually every abuser slips up. Anyway, my dad called any and every authority under the sun that would listen to us in Idaho about his animal abuse.” She paused and inhaled deeply. I let the hair unravel on its own and simply began gently raking my fingers through her tresses. “Nothing ever stuck. I don’t know how he managed, but he would dissuade any and all of the officers that ever came out from pressing charges. Part of me thought it was because he was in a suspected poacher ring. My dad heard rumors and such about that. But I mean, this is a small town with mostly older couples who had kids that didn’t want the property left to them. So, I think that the authorities deciding to look the other way was a last-ditch attempt to keep some economy going.”
Sheriff Jones nodded, his pen scratching across the notebook was the only sound filling the tense space around us. “Why do you think this man is the cause of what’s happening now?” he asked without looking up from his pad.
Her entire body shuddered, and her stare distanced, glazing over as it locked against the blank wall. “He found out who was reporting him and came around threatening my dad. But Dad was a big man and didn’t scare easy. Wayde knew this, so he changed tactics.”
My heart pounded against my ribs so hard, I swore they cracked upon impact. She wasn’t about to say what I thought she was. Please tell me she wasn’t…
Taking a deep breath, her lashes fluttered over her eyes, closing off sight from her beautiful, tortured gray gaze. “He came after me. First, it was just creepy letters, then it escalated to flowers and little presents. I didn’t even know about them for a while since my dad would let the officers know and then throw it all away. But when that didn’t change anything…” A tear slid down her cheek, and she quickly wiped it away. “I was walking home from Rooney’s house one night. We’d borrowed his tractor since we were waiting on a part to fix ours and I’d dropped it off. Wayde was drunk. It was late and dark. And I was…I was alone.”
Everything fell into place. Her fear of being vulnerable with me, accepting her feelings for me had nothing to do with me. Swallowing stiffly, as quietly as I could, I placed the bag of peas down on the table and gently rested my now free hand against her thigh.
“My dad told me he had no idea why he had the thought to come get me that night since I’d walked home for years by myself, but he showed up just as Wayde managed to shove my face into the dirt.” She suddenly whipped her head toward me, a waterfall of tears streaming down her face. “I fought really hard; I promise I did. I’m not weak. My daddy raised me to be strong, not a coward and—”
“You did so good, baby,” I whispered, raising my hands and quickly wiping away the tears. “You did good.”
She nodded over and over, then locked onto my eyes, silently begging for reassurance. Reassurance that she must have found as she spun back around to the sheriff and lifted her chin. “He hadn’t actually been able to hit me or anything like that yet, just tackle me to the ground before my dad showed up. Rooney, for whatever reason as well, looked out his window and saw what was going on and stopped my dad from going too far. Then a week later, my dad was dead.”
Sheriff Jones looked up and his brows stitched together. “What was the cause of his death?”
“The police in Emberwood, Idaho ruled it accidental because the roads were icy that night, and he just happened to run into a telephone pole going too fast for road conditions,” she spat angrily, not at the sheriff but at the events she was recalling.
“Yeah, the timing sounds a bit suspicious. Was Wayde’s attack on you ever reported?” he asked.
She shook her head. “My dad was worried it would only make things worse and rile him up to retaliate. Do something…more.”
He gave her a gentle smile, placing his pen down on the table. “And how did you end up here at Duke Ranch?”
“After my dad died, I probably went a little overboard, but Wayde still worried me. So, the moment the sun went down, I only left the house if Rooney came over and was with me. I locked my doors whether I was home or not, and typically only went out with the herd when I knew Rooney was home. He’d go sit on his porch and just relax…” She winced. “You know, with a shotgun in his lap.”
The sheriff chuckled as I bit back my smile.
Good on you, Goldie, I thought. Man was I proud of this incredible woman.
While I worked my fingers back into her hair, she continued. “It worked. Wayde didn’t even try to approach me, so I thought I was all in the clear until three months later, and I woke up to about five steers dead, and three more looking absolutely sick. They were gone within ten minutes. Within the next three months, every single head in the herd was dead. I’d go to bed and they’d be fine, wake up and they were dead or close enough to dead they’d be gone before the vet could come out.”
“And you didn’t install security cameras anywhere?” he asked.
She sheepishly shook her head. “I was already in debt from paying for my dad’s funeral. Rooney already helped with some of those expenses, so I didn’t feel comfortable asking him for more money.”
“That’s understandable. They can be expensive. So, what happened next?” Sheriff Jones picked his pen back up and began with his scratchings again.
She inhaled sharply, chewing on the inside of her cheek for a minute. “I did something probably stupid, but I couldn’t just sit by and do nothing at all.”
I shook my head, placing a hand on her thigh knowing what she was about to confess. No, I tried to silently communicate.
But she ignored me. “I took his breeding horse. He makes, or I guess made, quite a decent amount of money off of this stallion since his papers are really nice and he does look really fancy regardless of the scars and wounds. But I can’t begin to tell you how horrible he treated this horse.”
“You did what?” Sheriff Jones stated, raising his brows as his pen stopped moving.
“I know it’s illegal, but that animal deserved better,” she muttered.
Silence. Weighted silence filled my home as my fingers increased in their speed, frantically weaving her hair together.
He cleared his throat and leaned against his elbows on the table. “And where is the horse now?” he asked her.
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and glanced at me, her eyes silently apologizing. “He’s here,” she whispered.
I stared at her, wishing she’d take all of that back, but also knowing that confessing now was probably the best option.
“And you knew all about this?” the sheriff gruffly asked me, narrowing his beady eyes.
“Yes,” I bluntly stated, swinging my gaze toward him. “Well, a brief synopsis, but yes. I was aware she stole the stallion.
“You—” He closed his mouth, cutting off whatever he was about to say, and shut his notebook. “Cassidy…” he hissed, inhaling deeply. Thoughts tumbled around behind his eyes—a gaze that was drilling into me.
Finally, he pursed his lips and put his notebook away. “Out of respect for you and your family, I won’t report the stolen horse.” He held up a finger as I opened my mouth to thank him. “But,” he cautioned. “I don’t know how long any of this will be able to stay under wraps. It’s a small town, and you know how they like to gossip.”
“We’re working on getting some physical evidence as we speak,” I answered politely.
He slowly nodded, tucking his pen into his pocket. “I’m going to look into your father’s accident.” Sheriff Jones looked back at Briar. “I’ve got some friends down there; maybe there’s something missed that could help. But you both need to be cautious about any strange activity. I’ll send deputies up to the ranch every so often and let you know when I have any news.”
“Thank you,” I inhaled deeply, feeling a sense of relief mix in with the weight of the situation. Everything was coming to a head, yet we were also waiting for something.
“What’s your father’s full name, Miss…?” he asked, raising a brow.
Briar stiffened in my arms. “Thomas…” Her voice trailed off, and she glanced at me. Fear pooling in her gaze. “Thomas Kensington, and my name is Briar Marie Kensington after my dad’s mom.”
“Kensington, I’ve heard that name before,” Sheriff Jones muttered nonchalantly as Briar kept her eyes locked onto mine.
I offered her a tender smile, but that was all I could do. There was nothing in this world that I could give her that would take away the anguish bleeding any happiness from her wounded soul.
“Wait.” The sheriff snapped his fingers as he stood up. “Laura Kensington. The labor and delivery nurse. Any relation to her?” he casually asked as he pushed his chair back under the table.
She stared at me, as still as a thousand-year-old tree rooted deep within the ground. Her mouth didn’t even open with an attempt to speak, and I could feel the confusion rolling from the sheriff’s shoulders as he paused behind his chair.
Filling my lungs with oxygen, I brushed some hair from her face and quietly answered for her. “That’s her mom.”
He chuckled lightly as her face had paled, drained of any blood. “Nice. I heard she’s helping Tenley deliver her baby and—”
“I can’t wait to find out if I have a niece or nephew. I was told the baby will be here any minute,” I quickly cut him off. She remained locked in a stupor of unbearable weight.
“Ah,” Sheriff Jones muttered, running a hand over the back of his neck, likely feeling the slick tension rolling through the house.
“Thank you again. I’ll let you know whenever we get any updates or results on our end,” I politely said, attempting to diffuse things.
“Keep yourself safe, Cassidy. Both of you,” he replied and was gone within another couple of seconds.
But Briar did not move.
And I did not attempt to rouse her from the paralysis.
She needed time to process the anxiety and reality of everything discussed. I simply wanted to make sure she knew that I was here for her, in whatever way she wanted or needed. Besides, I wasn’t too upset with the fact that she let me play with her hair and had been sitting in my lap.
My fingers slowly worked the rest of her tresses back into the skillful braid she’d donned to begin with.
Once I was done with her hair, I rested my palms against her cheeks and ran my thumbs back and forth against her delicate skin. “Share the burden with me, Goldie, please,” I whispered. “Give it to me.”
She slowly shook her head, finally indicating that she wasn’t completely trapped in a tunnel of self-deprecation. “Why wouldn’t she want me?” she cried out, collapsing against my chest.
“I have no idea. I literally can not fathom why that woman would abandon you.”
“But you’re just saying that because you want me!” she cried out and pulled her face away from my chest.
Grabbing her chin, I pushed her head up. “Which doesn’t make what I said any less true. In fact, it makes it more true than anything else I’ve ever said,” I growled.
She slowly nodded, accepting words that had never meant more than they did at that moment. And then her doe eyes ran warm, darkening beneath an understanding that shifted the situation around us. “You want me,” she whispered, the connotation and tone of her voice changing, and everything within my stomach swirled with a freshly sparked fire.
“Yes.”
That one word beat out anything I’d ever said before. That one word held more conviction and raw vulnerability to it than any others ever spoken. Her warm breath washed against my face as she met me at eye level.
“And I want you,” she quietly stated. “Not for a distraction, not out of pity or sympathy.”
My skin tingled, vibrating with anticipation of what she was implying.
“I was just scared because of…” Her voice trailed off as she climbed out of my lap.
“Because of what went down with Wayde. I get it,” I gently finished for her, watching her a little confused as she padded across the kitchen floor.
“Yes.” She reached over and lifted my cowboy hat from the hook.
My heart hammered in my chest, railing against ribs that once ached, but my entire body was ignorant to everything but what she was doing. I carefully rose from the chair as she placed the hat on her head.
“Goldie,” I growled.
“I meant it the first time I put this on,” she whispered, watching me. “No matter what I said or didn’t say at the time.”
Closing the gap between us, I paused in front of her. “Once this happens…” I cautioned, seeking full explicit consent.
“I know,” she answered, slipping her arms around my neck, and she rammed her lips against mine.