56. Like a Ranger Mafia
LIKE A RANGER MAFIA
brAXTON
“Grab a cup of coffee with me?” I ask Eli. “Be right back,” I say to the room and then head out the door for the hallway.
Eli follows, and we talk as we make our way to the cafeteria, clearing out half of their snacks and grabbing more water and drinks than we can manage.
Without trying, we created a ton of work for Eli. He asks about the shiner on my cheek and I relay the second visit I had with Wainwright Carrington. The punch being offset by his tipping us off about Bronwyn’s visit. Or at least he attempted to.
We’re both on the fence about the order of protection.
On the one hand, intentionally breaking it twice and physically assaulting me within four days of being served indicates he has zero intention of honoring the Court.
His blatant disregard and multiple violations plus the bodily attack means we could make it all permanent…
the ranch, Colt, Emberleigh, me. He could be eliminated easily and swiftly from our lives.
I’m certain it’s warranted and it’s definitely what he’s earned.
The flip side, and fuck if it’s not a catch-22, is that I believe he’s genuine in not wanting to lose Emberleigh. And I can’t imagine without her, and without Bronwyn, that he wants sole, physical custody of Colt. And I want Colt to have him if—and that’s a big if—he can control his temper.
The question is not what he brought upon himself, but what he deserves. We have seventy-two hours to decide.
If that was all I laid on Eli, it would be more than enough, but the delivery guy’s death on our property is more.
Add to that an almost kidnapping and a dead body from that encounter.
Brighton needs legal guidance there. She can claim self-defense with that fucker pulling a gun on her. I cannot claim the same with Bronwyn.
“Does Bright need legal representation?” I ask as we make our way back.
“Maybe. It can’t hurt.” He hedges, before continuing, “Got to say, though, me representing Bright, you, Emberleigh, and Colt has got to look fishy to anyone on the outside. It’s like a Ranger mafia all needing attorneys.”
My feet grind to a halt and I turn to face him. He continues a pace before recognizing I’m not with him and he stops, turning back to me.
“Emberleigh?”
“I misspoke.” He turns to walk away, but I stand there knowing he’s lying.
“Eli, Emberleigh?”
“Braxton.” The one word is his only reply.
He’s said too much and can’t unsay it. He changes the subject.
“If Brighton wants counsel, you know I will. But that’s up to her.
She has an eyewitness, two actually, and Colt was in her charge.
The man was trespassing on private property, and I’d bet we’ll find financial records that he was paid for a job.
No one would breach the ranch without a huge payout.
Bright wants me, I’m there. Or I can recommend someone, if she’d prefer. ”
He walks away, the conversation over, and returns to Pop’s room. Within minutes of my joining them, Eli and Bright leave, mentioning they’ll both be back tomorrow.
“You’re dead on your feet.” Exton claps me on the shoulder as I sit in Pop’s room. I may have dozed under the warm weight of Colt’s napping body. “Take the condo. Willa and I will stay here tonight. We’ll head there tomorrow sometime. That work?”
“Would rather be in my own bed.”
“Would rather you not attempt the drive after the last couple of days.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“We can regroup tomorrow or the next day,” he continues. “Just do me a solid and skip the long, dark drive back when we have a place in town. Keypad code is 726437.” His eyebrows stay raised in question. My returning nod confirms his suspicions.
“Dragon slayer?” he says loud enough for Willa to hear but not so much as to wake Pop. “Sending Brax and Emberleigh to the house. Want to sleep here with me or in your old room?”
Her eyes go soft and a small smile plays on her lips. “With you. Can’t believe you’d ask.”
He turns back to me. “Seriously, she’s perfect.”
“You set a date?” I look from him to her and back again.
“Soon.” His reply is cryptic. “But we have time.”
“Soon,” I reply and wave to Willa. “Make an honest man out of him, would you? This whole stringing him along thing…” I let it trail off, but give Willa a genuine smile. She’s the best thing to happen to Exton, and I love her for it.
“Yeah, yeah,” she says and might as well add, Ba-dum-ching, though Exton imitating the drumroll-cymbal thing negates the need. I’m the butt of the joke and so okay with it.
I tip my nonexistent hat, so she knows I appreciate it. “Well played, Willa, well played.”
I extend a look to Emberleigh who’s been exceptionally quiet. “Ready, baby?”
She nods and rises from where she sits, not having let go of Pop’s hand since before he fell asleep. She kisses his cheek and then reaches for Colt.
“I’ve got him,” I say.
She grabs the bags, and I slide my free hand over her shoulder to her neck and give her a quick squeeze.
“See you in the morning,” I say over my shoulder and see Willa and Exton standing arm in arm at the foot of Pop’s bed, like parents sending their little ones off to school.
When we get to the truck, I open Emberleigh’s door to let her in before placing Colt in his car seat. I walk around the vehicle and climb in, starting the car and reaching for her hand.
“You’re quiet, Emberleigh.”
She bobs her head, her normal sass nowhere in sight.
“What if I hadn’t gotten there in time?”
“Don’t think like that, baby.” I say the words, but I’ve had the same what-if scenarios on repeat in my head for twenty-four hours.
“I almost didn’t. If I hadn’t dropped my phone…”
“Knowing what you know now, would you have spent more time when Colt was having the reaction for your phone?”
She stares out the window as the Austin city lights fire through the darkening sky. “I should’ve been more careful. I could’ve taken care of him and not lost something that it turns out was needed. And if I hadn’t needed to replace it…” She looks to the top of the cab.
I squeeze her hand and try to tamp down my anger. Not at her, but at how she’s carrying someone else’s guilt.
“You pull that trigger, baby?”
“I might as well have.” Her voice is a whisper.
“Emberleigh.” I can’t stop the growl that claws up my chest. Her name must come out louder than I think, because her head whips my way as I pull the truck into a parking spot half a block from Willa’s old house.
“This is the last thing I’m going to say on this, baby, and then we’ll go in the house and leave this conversation behind.
I wouldn’t have had you wait another second for our boy.
He’s precious to me and he’s alive, in part, due to your quick thinking.
You are no psycho, no offense, and you are no sniper.
You didn’t plot or plan to hurt anyone or rip apart a family.
You didn’t climb in a tree with a rifle and pick off innocents because you were paid to make a shitty day even worse.
“You, Emberleigh, were brave and in a fucked-up situation that we couldn’t control.
Absolutely nothing—hear me again, nothing—you could have done would have stopped your mother from paying a killer and a kidnapper to terrorize our family and no matter how fast you ran, or how quickly you arrived, you couldn’t have stopped her from shooting Pop.
That is, unless you made yourself her target, and, baby, there’d have been hell to pay if you’d done that.
I’d have burned down the world to save you and tanned your ass had you been your own undoing.
So, now, let’s get inside, get some sleep, and put this fucking day behind us. ”
Her mouth hangs open like she can’t imagine I just said that and she sits, immobile, while I unbuckle and grab Colt, coming around to open her door. I extend a hand—one she accepts—but she just shakes her head as if she can clear it that way.
“You say a lot when you say a lot. I mean, that was a lot to take in. Do I”—she pauses as we walk up the steps to the house—“get to reply?”
“Nope.” I hit the door code and swing the door open, ushering her in ahead of me, and check the street one last time before locking us inside.
I flip on a lamp in the living room and make for the guest room. With Exton and Willa in town, I’ll leave their room to them. I prop Colt between two pillows, hit the bathroom, and amble to the kitchen to figure out dinner.
“Craving anything for dinner?”
“Oh. I’m allowed to speak now?” There’s my girl. She stands, arms crossed over her chest, hip cocked out, foot tapping.
“Tan my ass?”
“Yeah.”
“As in, spank me?”
“Yeah.” I fight it, but I know my lips twitch in amusement. “That whole thing, and what you got out of it was the spanking part? This bodes well for me, baby.”
“This doesn’t bode shit for you, Braxton.” She spits out my name, but I know her. Just as she knows me. She’s not mad. She’s sad, but anger is easier.
Because I know that and I’m willing to play along, I goad her. “We’ll see.”
She charges me then, reaching out to grab for me, but I find her under the armpits and lift her, pinning her to the dining room wall with my hips. She holds herself back from me, a magnet flipped the wrong way.
“Baby.” I hold her eyes.
Then she attacks, and it’s fucking intense. Emberleigh crushes her mouth to mine, wraps herself around me, arms tangled around my neck, fingers laced through my hair. Our teeth clash, our tongues fight for dominance, and she pushes her warm core down as if she’s reaching for my dick.
She can’t get to my belt from her position and her growl of frustration makes me hard. It also makes me laugh, which pisses her off.
She pulls back, face flush with desire and red with anger “Are you laughing at me?”
“You growled. Baby, you can have my cock. You don’t have to fight me for it.”
She lifts her eyebrows as if to communicate well, get on with it then, and the smile that breaks across my face is a reflection of how Emberleigh lights me up.
“You want it here? In the kitchen? Against the wall? Or—”
“Yes.”