Chapter Twenty-Eight Ryker
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ryker
“Good morning,” I say, answering the call from Gideon as Aiden points his horse toward the fence. I love seeing my kid on his horse. He’s a fucking natural.
“You’re not going to like this,” Gid says in my ear, and I let out a gusty breath.
“It’s Andy, isn’t it?”
“Right the first time.”
“That motherfucker.” I filled my brother in yesterday on the cops going to my condo with Mac. “They found six cameras in my house, Gid.”
“I know. I talked with a Lieutenant Matt Montgomery. How did you get a high-ranking murder cop to help with this?”
“He’s Will Montgomery’s brother.”
“Ah. Makes sense.”
“There were two cameras in my bedroom, two in the living room, one in the kitchen, and one out by the rooftop pool.”
Thank Christ there wasn’t one in my office.
“They ran fingerprints,” Gid informs me. “All Andy’s. He wasn’t even smart enough to wear gloves.”
“He wasn’t even smart enough to demand a different amount of money from what he’d asked me for not a day before he sent those photos.”
Gideon scoffs. “I never liked that guy.”
“Yeah, yeah, so you and Wills have said many times.”
“There’s a warrant out for his arrest, and he’ll likely be picked up today. I can prove that he’s the one who sent the photos, so in addition to stalking and a host of other charges from the cameras, extortion . . . hell. A ton of things—he’ll be arrested and is likely going to prison for a while.”
I think of Willow and how upset she’s been, and I can’t help but be okay with that.
“Hopefully he’s arrested before he sends those photos to the press.”
“I believe it’s happening as we speak,” Gid replies. “I’ll keep you posted on that.”
I notice some commotion at the fence, and that Aiden is talking to . . . a group of people?
“Why are there people on my property?”
“What do you mean?”
I head that way. “There are six of them. Four female, two male, and they’re harassing Aiden.”
“I’m calling the sheriff,” Gid says. “Christ, can’t you live without drama for one day?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
I hang up and urge my horse to move faster. As I approach, one of the girls squeals.
“Oh my God, I think that’s him!”
They start jumping up and down and high-fiving, but I don’t give a rat’s ass about that, because Sunflower rears up and then bucks Aiden off, and he’s in the air, falling from the saddle.
When he lands in the dirt, I know it’s not good. He moans as I dismount my horse, run over to him, and fall to my knees beside him.
“Hey, sorry,” someone calls over. “We just got excited.”
“Why the fuck are you here?” I demand, still not looking their way.
“Hey, if you didn’t want people at your new guest ranch, why did you post the address on Insta?”
I spare them a glare. “I didn’t.”
“Sure you did. We all follow you, and you don’t post very much, but you announced the new guest ranch today, and we came right over.”
Aiden groans.
The front door of the house flies open, and Willow comes running at top speed.
“What the hell happened to my boy?”
“Don’t touch him,” I order as I pull my phone out of my pocket and call emergency services. “The horse threw him because these idiots scared Sunflower.”
“Don’t hurt Sunflower,” Aiden murmurs.
“Shh,” Willow says, brushing his hair off his forehead. “No one will hurt her. What hurts, baby?”
“Everything.”
“This is Ryker James at the Triple Creek Ranch,” I say when the phone is answered. “I believe you have deputies on the way, but I also need an ambulance.”
“That’s right, we have two men on the way out there. I’ll dispatch an ambulance now. What is the injury?”
“Thrown from a horse. His shoulder is either broken or dislocated. I don’t know what else is hurt.”
“ETA is ten minutes,” she says in my ear.
“Longest ten minutes of my fucking life,” I reply as I hang up and then call Dusty. Jesus, I’ve been on my phone more in the past forty-eight hours than I have been in the last year combined.
“Hey, boss.”
“I need you by the house to collect our horses. Aiden’s been hurt. We have unwanted visitors.”
“Two minutes” is his clipped reply before he hangs up.
“I want to cradle him,” Willow says, tears running down her cheeks.
“Until the ambulance gets here, I don’t want to move him,” I reply softly and reach out to rub my hand up and down her back. “Buddy, what hurts now?”
“Shoulder,” he says. “Doesn’t feel right. Head hurts. Foot got twisted.”
“Did it get caught in the stirrup?” I ask him.
“Think so.” He huffs a breath in and out, and I can see tears gathering in his eyes. “Scared me.”
“I know.” I pat his good shoulder as Willow brushes her fingers through his hair. “I know, kiddo. It’s scary as hell.”
“Listen, we didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” one of the guys says. “We really thought it was okay for us to be here.”
“I told them to go,” Aiden says.
Two sheriff cars roll up the driveway, and the men hurry over to us just as Dusty comes riding up to take care of the horses.
It’s chaos for several minutes, and all I can think about is getting my boy to the fucking hospital.
“I want them gone,” I say, pointing to the unwanted visitors. “They’re trespassing. An ambulance is on the way for my boy.”
“Can you give us a rundown on what happened?” deputy number one asks, and I stand to give him the information. His face is grim as he turns to the strangers. “Let’s go, folks. And for future reference, if someone tells you to leave, you leave.”
As they file away, an ambulance finally pulls in, and the EMTs rush toward us with a stretcher.
“I go with him,” Willow says, not leaving Aiden’s side. “He’s mine. I go with him.”
“That’s fine, ma’am,” one of the EMTs says and then turns to me. “We’ll be at Paradise General. You can follow us in.”
I turn to Dusty, who gestures with his chin. “Go. I have everything here handled.”
I jump into my truck and immediately call Gideon, and then the PR department for the Blizzard, and they assure me they’ll get my social media handled.
Fucking Andy.
I’d bet a year’s salary it was that asshole who put my address on social media.
He’s going to pay for all this.