The Cowboy's Branded Betrayal

Prologue Savannah

Prologue

Savannah

Perfect moments are dangerous. They make you believe you’re safe right before the entire world shatters around you.

My heart thrashes in my chest, body tingling with aftershocks from our secret sexcapade out here at Lover’s Bluff. I shiver and pull the thick blanket up to my chin. Blaze pulls me close, and I lay my leg on top of his, resting my head against his thick, muscled chest.

“That was incredible,” I murmur, nuzzling his neck.

“Yeah,” he finally says after way too long a minute.

I crack open an eye to find him staring up at the ink black sky. “Don’t sound too enthusiastic,” I say, a little stung by his seeming indifference. I mean, the sex was otherworldly.

As usual.

I guess that’s the thing about forbidden fruit, though. It’s supposed to taste the sweetest, but you’re not allowed to actually eat it.

Well, I’ve eaten it. Thoroughly enjoyed it too. And feeling this amazing is absolutely worth the risk of my older brother finding out that I’ve been sleeping with his best friend for the past six months.

Not that he ever will. We are beyond careful about covering our tracks. Nobody knows about this secret affair, not even Mom, my best friend in the world, and I tell her . . . almost . . . everything.

“What’s up? You’re distracted tonight,” I say, tracing a finger over the cuts of muscle on his chest. He squirms a little because he’s ticklish, but he barely smiles. “Did something happen at home?”

I know there’s been some static between him and his dad lately. He doesn’t ever bring it up, but I’ve heard a few things here and there from Mom. My parents were always close with the Hartman family, and they still spend a lot of time together, even though Blaze’s mom passed away years ago.

“Just got a lot of things on my mind,” he says, his attention still focused on the bright stars above.

“Anything you want to talk about?” I gently graze his pec with my lips. “Or can I interest you in a distraction from—?”

He suddenly leans up on his elbows, forcing me to roll onto my side. “Stay with me tonight. Don’t go home.”

I roll my eyes. “I can’t stay. You know that. We have to be careful, Blaze.”

“I know, I just . . .” He rakes a hand through his dark hair. “I want you to come home with me.”

“You’re insane. That would cause absolute chaos if Nash ever caught wind of me sneaking in or out of your house.” I trace the outline of his lips with my finger. “You’re just going to have to pine for me until our next tryst,” I say in what I hope sounds like a playfully seductive tone.

After Nash saw me and Blaze flirting at a party one night, he made me swear to stay away from Blaze, telling me that he’s too much of a playboy to commit and that I deserve better.

So even though I’m eighteen years old and perfectly capable of making my own decisions, I told him that I’d never get involved with his best friend.

That lie has gnawed at my heart ever since, but I can’t seem to help myself when it comes to Blaze Hartman.

He snakes an arm around my waist and tugs me near, the blanket pooling around my waist. My skin sizzles under his demanding fingertips.

“Let’s get back to that ‘distraction,’” he says, his lips trailing a determined path down the slope of my neck. “I can’t let you go yet.”

My nipples peak between his hungry lips, fingers tangling in his hair, tugging it hard as he slides his fingers inside of me. I gasp at the delicious intrusion, arching my back, beckoning him to delve deeper. He crooks his fingers, reaching me on a level that makes my mouth sing and my heart swell.

My God, I am so in love with him. So in love and so screwed because if my brother ever found out . . . if he ever even suspected—

Blaze’s ringtone pierces the air. But he doesn’t answer it. Instead, his mouth captures mine, his tongue pushing through my lips like a raging coil of desire. I buck my hips, riding his hand, my skin prickled with sweat when the ringtone slices through the air again.

“Shit,” he mutters, pulling away to grab the phone. My heart stutters when Nash’s name flashes across the screen. I immediately grab my shirt and pull it over my head as he stabs the Accept button.

“Where the fuck are you?”

I whip my head around at the sound of Nash’s panicked voice, so loud it’s almost as if Blaze put him on speaker. I drop my sweatpants, my pulse jumping into my throat.

“What’s wrong?” Blaze asks in a low voice. “I told you I’d be over later—”

“Fuck later,” Nash screams, his voice echoing in the open space. “There’s been an accident. Everything . . . it’s all gone . . . they’re all—”

Nash’s voice cuts out. A click follows.

And then . . . silence. Deafening. Suffocating.

“What was that about?” I choke out, pulling on my sweatpants. “What accident?”

Blaze shakes his head. “I don’t know.”

“I have to get home,” I say, slipping my feet into my boots before jumping off the flatbed. I fumble in my pocket for my keys, my throat tight.

Blaze puts a hand on my wrist. “I’m driving. Come on.”

I’m in such a twist, I don’t even argue. Something happened. An accident. But where? Who was involved? And why would he call Blaze and not me?

Blaze speeds down the mountain and heads toward our ranch. I cradle my phone in my hand, desperate to speak to Nash, but every time I call, it goes straight to voicemail.

Panic claws up my spine. Blaze doesn’t say a word, but he wraps his fingers tight around the steering wheel, his jaw tense.

I grip the door handle, a choked cry knotting in my throat.

We’re still about half a mile away from home when I see bright-orange flames dancing fifty feet in the air above our ranch.

They plunge into the night sky, billowing plumes of smoke snuffing out the tiny twinkling stars that we just made love under.

Blaze pulls into the drive, screeching to a stop when Nash runs toward us, his face and clothes covered in soot.

I push open the door and jump to the ground.

The entire front of the house is engulfed in flames.

Glass shatters, the front windows exploding from the intense heat.

Horror consumes me as the porch collapses inward, the columns on either side of the front steps buckling and cracking under the heat.

My lungs burn with every breath, the noxious smell of sulfur making me gag.

“Mom . . . Dad . . .” I rasp as Nash staggers toward us.

Sirens scream in the distance. But they’re too far away to help.

“Where are Mom and Dad?” I yell, shaking my brother. Aunt Marg staggers down the drive away from the flames. Her clothes are in tatters, everything stained black. Tears streak the soot covering her face.

“What the fuck is happening?” I scream, fisting my hands. I push past them and run down the drive. Blaze runs after me, pulling me back just before another explosion vibrates the ground under my feet. The equipment room, the barn, the animals.

“Oh my God,” I cry out, wrestling out of Blaze’s grasp. “Mom! Dad!”

“Savannah,” Nash yells. “Stop.”

I twist around, cold spreading through my chest at the anguish pooling in his wet eyes.

He takes a few steps toward me. Aunt Marg is right behind him, clutching the sides of her shawl around her shoulders. Fear crystallizes in my gut.

“Mom, Dad, and Uncle Aaron were inside.” His voice is hollow. Broken. “They didn’t make it out.”

“What?” I whisper. I heard the words, but it’s like my brain refuses to register them.

“They’re gone, Savannah.” Nash’s face crumples. “They’re dead.”

My legs give out. Blaze catches me before I hit the ground.

“No.” I’m shaking my head. “No, that’s not—they can’t be—”

Nash’s eyes focus on Blaze as he holds me. Something dark flickers across his face.

“You were together?” he asks.

“Nash,” I say, choking on a sob. “Don’t—”

“You were together.” It’s not a question this time.

“And our parents are dead.” His voice cracks as he glares at Blaze.

“Everything went to shit tonight. Your father never showed up. And I couldn’t stop any of it.

The propane tanks exploded. My parents and uncle were in the house.

I couldn’t get them out before the whole thing went up. Now they’re dead, and you were—”

He paces in front of us, fisting his hair, eyes wild with anger. “They were burning, and you . . . you . . .” With a sudden turn, he glares at us both, his eyes wet with tears. “How fucking long?”

I open my mouth to speak, but the words knot in my throat.

“Six months,” Blaze says in a low voice.

“Six months of lies,” Nash yells, picking up a rock and hurling it at Blaze’s windshield. He falls to his knees and slams his hands against the ground.

Aunt Marg inches closer and kneels down next to him. “Nash, honey, please—”

Nash’s shoulders quake. His eyes are vacant as he looks at Aunt Marg, almost like he doesn’t recognize her. He turns back toward the house, then to me and Blaze. “I can’t . . . I can’t do this.”

He staggers to his feet and lumbers toward Blaze. He shoves him backward, hard enough that he stumbles. “Fucking bastard. You knew to stay away. You promised me. You son of a bitch. Get the fuck out of here.”

I’ve never seen my brother so angry. It shatters me even more.

But he doesn’t say anything to me, doesn’t look at me. He just turns away and stalks toward his truck.

Blaze takes a step toward him. “Nash—”

“Don’t.” Nash’s voice is void of any emotion. He just keeps walking.

Blaze turns back to me. His expression, etched with fear and guilt, makes my stomach free-fall into my boots.

“I should go,” he says, his voice tight.

“What? Just because Nash said so?”

“Your family needs space. I shouldn’t be here.”

“Blaze, please—”

But he keeps moving toward his truck, his eyes in every direction but mine.

“I’m sorry,” he mutters, scraping a hand down the front of his face. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

Seconds later, his truck backs out of the drive.

Just like that. Gone.

I watch his taillights disappear, Aunt Marg’s arm around my shoulders while sirens scream in the distance.

Aunt Marg guides me toward her car, her sobs mingling with my own. Nash sits alone in his truck, his forehead pressed against the steering wheel, hands gripping his hair.

Blaze is gone. My parents are dead. And amid all the devastation surrounding me, a painful realization claws at my brain and my heart.

Nothing will ever be the same again after tonight.

Not my life. Not my family. Not Nash and me.

This is how everything ends.