The Marshal's Reins

1. Chapter 1 - Cade

Unknown: Call me.

I stare at that damn text for hours. I don’t need to have the name attached, the area code alone tells me where it’s from.

Montana.

The state I’ve tried to run away from. Pretend it doesn’t exist, along with the family I left there.

Yet it’s calling me back to my fucking grave.

Dry Texas dust kicks up around my boots with every step across my yard to the barn. I may have left Black Gulch behind, but horses are in my blood.

“Hey, Bessy,” I croon to my red dappled mare, reaching into the bin for one of her apple treats. “How’s my pretty girl?” Scratching her jaw as she chews, I mull over that God forsaken text.

What the hell does he want?

It’s been at least half a dozen years since the last time I heard from him. Just to touch base now that he was a D.A., he’d said.

My ass.

He knew I became a marshall. Getting me off on all my charges way back when must make him think I still owe him something.

I hate that he’s right and he won’t let me forget it.

Even moving halfway across the country doesn’t get me away from trading favors. It happens in the office too.

It can be as basic as shifts, to full fledged cases or partners.

Lucky me, I have the stroke to be able to work alone.

“What do you say, girl? Should we go for a ride up to the spring?” I lean closer for her to nuzzle my shoulder with her velvety nose. “It’s just you and me, as usual.”

Would I like to have someone else to go with? Of course.

But one look at the scarring on my face, and women turn around then walk away.

It’s the permanent reminder of the mistakes of my past, still haunting my present.

Vibrating in my pocket accompanies the tinny bells of my ring tone.

Fuck.

I don’t even need to look at my phone to know who it is.

Montana.

My heart races, thumping in my ears as the sound continues.

“God damn it,” I mutter, pulling out my cell.

Yep. I was right.

“Pete,” I grunt into the speaker.

“Cade? How’d you know? I used my home number.” His voice is more gruff than the last time I’ve heard it.

Age catching up with him, I guess.

Shit, it’s getting me too. My face isn’t the only place on my body that still carries the mark of that accident.

Cold mornings make me stiff in all the wrong spots when I wake up.

“You’re the only asshole in that state that has this number.” I busy myself with brushing off Bessy, but my mind is struggling not to drift to fifteen years in the past.

“Maybe not for long,” he sighs, making the speaker crackle. “I hate to do this—”

I freeze, ice gripping my gut as the words leave his mouth. “No, Pete.”

He lets out another long exhale. “I have to. It’s time, Cade.”

My teeth grit as I clench my jaw. “What is it then?”

“It’s big and messy. I need you to come back.” He pauses and I can hear his muffled voice talking to someone else but can’t make out what he’s saying.

“No damn way. It’s almost Halloween. It’s gonna be winter. There’s a reason I live in Texas now.” The shiver that runs through me isn’t about the temperature though.

It’s the fact he’s calling in his favor.

Whatever it is, it has to be huge. Pete’s been a district attorney for years and never needed my help before.

If he’s calling me in, it’s too much for him to handle on his own.

“I think you’ll want to. I’m building charges against Judge Simmons.” There’s a tiny tremor in the name.

And I know exactly why.

That fucking woman has her fingers in every pot in the western half of the state.

I’m pretty sure she’s gathered enough dirt on every business owner and politician to keep herself in the clear for the rest of her life.

If Pete is going to charge her, he must have something incredible.

“How bad is it?” I ask quietly.

I know her well enough to know she won’t go down easily. Her sons used to run in the same circle as me.

Fuck. Her niece was the love of my life. Even thinking about the woman I lost makes me twinge in pain. Her brothers still probably hate me.

That’s a can of misery I don’t want to pry open.

“Every time I turn a corner, a new shit storm unfolds. I thought it was just revolving around Matt getting killed last year over a DV. But the more I dig—”

Matt? I knew that piece of crap.

That doesn’t surprise me. What does is the fact that the other Simmons asshole, Max, wasn’t the first to go.

“Cade? Did you hear me?” Pete grumbles.

“What?” I switch my cell to my other ear so I can hear him better.

Pete’s volume rises and his tone deepens. “I said, she’s been covering the tracks on a real whopper. There’s been a, uh, ranch here that’s been targeted now for a few years. Seems she might be working to keep the hounds off the right trail.”

No.

Absolutely not.

Taking a shuddering breath, I ask the question I loathe to put into the universe, knowing it’s going to make everything about this life I’ve tried to build to crumble into dust. “Which ranch?”

He clears his throat, taking an eternity of silence before he answers.

“Black Gulch.”