20. It’s Over
It's Over
Colt
My bones and muscles ached with every step, dog-tired. The only thing energizing me was Ivy’s ass in front of me heading up the stairs behind her shop to the apartment above.
She brought me up here to talk. The door at the top opened into a spacious loft, designed completely and unmistakably by her.
A large brown leather couch, a quilt thrown over one arm, and a coffee table fashioned from a wagon wheel took up most of the living room.
Boots were lined up by color on a bookcase.
Books were stacked sideways on the windowsill.
The most important detail of all was her, standing in the middle of the room, arms crossed, chin up but wobbling, composure breaking down. I’d been running on fumes for two straight days. But I recognized fear when I saw it.
“What’s going on?”
“Seth—”
Just hearing the name made me bristle. “What? What did he do? Come here.” I drew her into me and over onto the couch.
She told me about Seth walking into the shop.
About the recording she’d started on her phone before he saw her do it.
She even played it for me. It was all there, the fence-cutting, the bribery of the county officials, and more, all of it coming out of his mouth like a man who didn’t think she’d be able to tell anyone—because he didn’t plan on leaving her behind. A chilling fact that set me on edge.
Next, she told me he’d grabbed her, blurting it so quickly, like she wanted to get through it before I could react.
My control snapped. “He put a hand on you? Show me where,” I gritted through clenched teeth.
“I’m fine. Really. It doesn’t hurt anymore.” She took her arm out of her sweater sleeve. The bruising was already showing. Four distinct black and blue marks were where his fingers had been.
I had to calm myself down, breathing in and out, because if I didn’t control the rage inside of me I felt for Seth, if I unleashed it and went ballistic around the county looking for him…
“The next time I lay eyes on him, someone had better be there to hold me back.”
“Colt, no. He has a gun. I saw it when I searched his room. I can’t have you hurt or worse. Seth isn’t worth it.”
I tore my eyes away from her arm, back to her face, making no promises. “Keep going.”
She told me about the bracelet. About the threats he made against her sisters, unless she left with him, and that he intended to make her pay for sending him to prison.
“There’s no way he’ll get away with this. You have the recording. It’s time to go to Sheriff Patrick with everything you know,” I urged.
“I agree, but how can I be sure my sisters will be safe?”
I stood and paced, taking out my phone, the adrenaline refueling my body. “There’s only one place I trust for you and your family to be safe, and that’s on the ranch. Call your sisters right now. Tell them we’re coming to collect them, and they need to be ready to go. No arguments.”
She blinked. “Poppy’s at college—”
“She’s outside Silver County, so she’s the safest one right now. Focus on Daisy and Sage first. I’ll call Ash and get the plan mobilized. But you need to get on the phone with Sheriff Patrick now and turn over everything you know. It’ll be okay, Ivy. It’s time.”
She nodded, and we both followed through.
Ash understood the assignment immediately when I called. Pissed when he heard Seth admitted to cutting fences, he vowed to watch over the sisters.
“Send Knox for Daisy. We’ll pick up Sage and be there within the hour,” I explained.
“Done. I’ll have men posted at the front, and watching every building.” He hesitated. “Is Ivy okay?”
I glanced across the room at her, talking to Sage, trying to be brave, her voice only slightly rough at the edges. “She will be.”
She set the phone down and laid eyes on me. “They’re getting ready.”
“Good. Now, the sheriff,” I prompted.
We called Gavin together.
I let Ivy do the talking—it was her story to tell. I supported her, sitting beside her on the couch. She walked the sheriff through the basics of everything she knew on speakerphone. He listened without interrupting.
When she finished, he said, “Send me that recording right now.”
She did.
There was a brief silence while he checked the playback after receiving it. “Ivy, you did well. It should be enough to get a warrant and put out an APB tonight. Seth Brewster will not leave this county under my watch. We’ll find him and bring him in. Where are you now?”
I spoke up. “At her shop. But I’m taking her and her sisters to the ranch where we can protect her.”
“Good. I’m sending two patrol cars to escort you. They’ll be there shortly. Wait for them before you leave. Understood?”
“Yes. Have the officers pull into the alley,” she instructed.
“I’m going to see justice done on this. You have my word.”
They hung up. For a moment, we squeezed each other’s hands, our foreheads touching. The entire weight of the last few hours settled on our shoulders.
“Pack a bag.” I kissed her head, eager to get her out of here and to the safety of the ranch where I knew I could protect her best.
With the patrol cars escorting us, we collected Sage and reached the ranch with no trouble. The officers remained vigilant at the entrance to the ranch throughout the night.
Ivy and Sage reunited with Daisy once Knox brought her to the barn. While Ivy finally started telling them everything, I checked on Silver, stroking his neck, as much for soothing him as for me.
This entire situation was fucked, with Ivy’s ex going off, stirring up all kinds of trouble. As much as I wanted in on the hunt for him, Ivy needed me, and that protective side of me had to be here to watch over her myself.
As Ivy retold the events, Daisy held her hands with the particular grip of a scared woman who was furious about everything Ivy had gone through. Sage sat pale and quiet through it. Knox and I gave them privacy to talk and checked the perimeter of the barn. Ash rolled up on the ATV.
“I sent Jake and Anson down to Bozeman to pick up Poppy,” he reported.
“The Settlers’ Cabin is ready. I had already stocked it with supplies, preparing it for hunting season, so you’ll have plenty of firewood for a few days and food, too.
Knox, do you recall where it is? East end of the ranch, deep in the pines? ”
“Yes, sir.” How quickly we all were to revert to our military training, responses like this coming automatically.
“I have two men posted in front and two behind,” Ash finished.
“We’ll be there, too.” I checked the back of the ATV, where he had gestured. Rifles and ammunition were there. We’d use them if needed, but hopefully we wouldn’t.
We reentered the barn and stood about ten feet from where Ivy had finished telling her sisters everything. Knox stood, jaw set, watching Daisy with the expression of a man who had been worried out of his mind and was doing a terrible job trying not to show it.
Daisy suddenly broke away from her sisters. She walked straight to him and put her arms around his neck, resting her head on his chest.
He didn’t move, shocked at first. Then his arms came up, and he held on tight, jaw unclenched, his expression more unguarded than he usually let anyone see.
Nobody said a word about it. Just let them have this moment. They said nothing, only embraced for a minute, and then Daisy returned to her sisters.
All together, we moved deeper into the ranch to the isolated cabin that very few people knew about.
It was still in good condition and could use some updating, which was the plan but lower on the list of projects and build-outs for the ranch.
It would work for now to house the sisters.
Easier for us to monitor them all in one location.
The cabin was older than most of the buildings on the property.
The logs were already lit in the fireplace when we arrived, smelling of wood smoke and pine sap.
It was quiet out here, with nature’s sounds all around us.
Sort of eerie, giving the sense that we were a long way from anything or anyone that could reach us.
I couldn’t see Seth finding his way here at all.
The sisters inspected the one-level place. Knox positioned himself with a rifle on a chair near the front door, with a view out the front window. No one asked him to keep guard; he just did it. Ash walked the perimeter one more time before heading back to the main barn.
Daisy and Sage huddled together on the couch in front of the fireplace.
Ivy and I ended up in the small bedroom.
There, she collapsed on the edge of the bed, hands on knees, and stared at the floor.
I sat beside her. Outside, we could hear one of the men making his rounds—his boots scuffing along on pine needles, voice checking in on a radio.
“I can’t believe this is all happening. All because I just had to leave town with Seth years ago. Now we’re all paying the price.” She beat herself up.
“Hey, this isn’t on you. You were young and grieving, and he took advantage of you. That’s on him. You had no idea at the time what he was capable of.”
She shifted toward me and laced her fingers with mine. “Thank you for being here, and for coming to the shop today. Seth scared me, but nothing like the fear that I might have pushed you away for good.”
“Never. I’m still here.”
“You came to Montana to pass through temporarily. That was your whole plan. Bet you never imagined getting drawn into my mess.”
“No. Everything with you has been beyond my imagination.” I stroked her hair back from her face. “It might be messy, but somewhere between that first kiss and the fake dating and you driving me completely out of my mind—I stopped just passing through Montana.”
“Meaning…?”
I brushed my lips along hers. “Meaning I’m falling for you, Ivy. In case you needed me to say it out loud.”
She let out a sharp breath. “I’ve been falling, too. But I feared I didn’t deserve you. I worried that if I opened my heart, you’d leave me for Holly Creek. My heart would break, and I’d land somewhere that would really hurt.”
“No more fears. You deserve good things. If you’re going to land somewhere, then make it here, with me. We’ll go to Holly Creek for a visit, then come right back here and stay.”
“You’d do that for me?”
“I’d do that for us. Because I found home in you.” I gathered her in my arms and lay with her back on the bed. We kissed and held each other until exhaustion crept up on me.
“So tired, Wylde. Been a long few days.”
“My hero. Let me take care of you.” She situated herself between my legs and unzipped my fly, her eyes sweet and sultry.
As bone-weary as I was, my cock didn’t get the message.
I grew hard in an instant, even more with her hands around it, stroking me.
When she added her gorgeous mouth, that little mole winking at me so sexy, I bit back my moans.
I gathered her hair to the side in my hand so I could watch, and slightly pulsed my hips into her mouth, as we tried not to make any noise for the others to hear.
“Fuck, Ivy, I won’t last,” I hissed.
“Let me swallow you,” she whispered back.
Damn, the spice was always nice with Ivy.
I struggled to hold on just a little longer, but the sweet suction of her mouth was too much.
With a growl, I came in a rush, coating her throat.
She coaxed every drop out of me, worshipping my cock, until my entire body went limp with a deeply satiated sigh.
I must have quickly dozed off. Sometime in the middle of the night, my phone buzzed on the nightstand, jolting me awake. Ivy, too. She’d been sleeping beside me. I checked the screen.
Ash: Sheriff got Seth. Arrested him for breaking and entering Ivy’s shop. And get this. They found him with tools, working on breaking through the wall between her shop and the bank. Add bank robbery to his list of charges. The idiot is in custody.
“They got him,” I croaked, and turned the screen so Ivy could read it. She blinked a few times, waking up, letting the words register. Then she closed her eyes, fell back on the pillow, releasing the longest sigh ever.
By the fireplace, Knox must have gotten the same text. We heard him read it out to the others, and they all cheered, chatting about it. I put my phone down on the nightstand.
“Seth was going to rob the bank? Oh my God. In his motel room, I saw on a map where he’d circled my shop and the bank next door.” She shook her head. Then her shoulders began shaking, the bed shaking with her. She cried, finally letting it all out.
“Hey, come here.” I pulled her into my embrace. She sobbed and sniffled into my shirt for some time. My hands caressed her back, and I held her through it all. “It’s over. For tonight, it’s over.”