Chapter Thirty-Three
MATO
SITTING AT a red light, not far from the gym, I glance over at Koda in the seat next to me. The rattling of his little black toolbox got my attention. He’s taken the ball out of an old computer mouse and is unscrewing the screws that hold the yellowed plastic bottom to the top.
I haven’t seen a mouse like that since I was in high school. “Where’d you find that?”
He doesn’t look up; his focus is on putting the screws into one of the tiny compartments in the box. “Found it by a dumpster after school.”
His school is about five blocks away from my gym. I offered to pick him up when I dropped him off this morning since it’s getting cold outside, but he said he’d be okay. Not wanting to push too hard, or change the familiar parts of his life too much, I agreed. For now.
Even though my gym is in the older part of town, he’s lived here all his life and has basically been taking care of himself for a long time, so I’m not as worried about his safety as I am about him freezing.
But I’m not sure that’s possible after Breanna and Marley layered a scarf, winter hat, and gloves with his new coat this morning.
The scarf, hat, and gloves were in his bag when he got to the gym.
With the construction in full-swing, I’m happy to spend half of my day at the ranch, and with the dust and noise, I wait until they are gone in the afternoon to do my bag drills and exercises.
This morning, Gray asked me if I wanted to move my stuff from the garage apartment I barely stay in to stay in the cabin on the ranch until construction is finished. He and Mason agreed it would be better and easier while the kids are staying with us.
“Hey,” I say to get his attention.
He stops pulling the inner workings of the mouse out of the plastic case and turns his head in my direction. “What?”
“I’m thinking about moving into the cabin on the ranch for now, there’s an extra bedroom you could use if you want to stay in there with me. Or you could stay in the big house if you want to.”
He looks thoughtful for a few moments. “What about Nova?”
Always thinking of his sister.
“She would have to stay in the big house with Breanna, the social worker wants Nova to be with a woman.”
His eyebrows dip over his eyes. “Would we still have dinner and see everyone in the big house?”
“Of course, the only thing that will change is where we sleep. It’s just a way for me to be close to the ranch so I can help since Mr. Harlow got sick, and I want to move my bag and exercise stuff somewhere it’s not so dusty and noisy.”
His eyes drift to the console between us as he thinks. “Sometimes Nova has bad dreams.”
“Hey, bud,” I look between him and the road and wait for him to look at me, “you don’t have to make a decision right now. Think about it if you want to.”
The thoughtful look comes back, and he nods his head before going back to taking apart the mouse in his lap.
Half-way to the ranch, my phone rings and Connor’s name pops up on the display in my dash and I tap the accept icon. “Hey, Connor.”
His voice fills the cab of the truck. “Hey, man, I called Breanna earlier today, but I want to let you know as well that the storm earlier today stopped us from filling in some of the open holes, so the pipes and the tank itself are still exposed. We’ll wait a few days for the mud to dry a bit and come back out to complete that part.
In the meantime, keep everyone away from the area to be safe. ”
“Sure, no problem. How’s it going?”
“As expected, we haven’t run into any issues. The only thing that’s tripped us up is the rain.”
“Do you think it will extend the completion date?”
“It shouldn’t, but I’ll let you know what we’re looking at after I stop by the day after tomorrow. I’m out of town with the wife and kids tonight and tomorrow, so it will be Wednesday before I can come back.”
“No problem, we’ll talk then. Thanks, Connor.”
“Yep, see ya.”
When we walk into the house at the ranch, the smell of dinner makes my mouth water, and I hear little girls squealing and playing in the den. Koda and I step around the arched door frame together to see Nova playing with silly putty on a plastic mat with Niki and Sofi.
Stunned, we watch in silence. Her smile is big and her eyes are dancing as she laughs at the purple putty they are squeezing through a little toy that looks like it’s making spaghetti. She doesn’t even look like the same little girl with messy hair who looked so sad just the day before.
She looks up at Koda in the entryway and points at green silly putty flattened into a flat disc on the plastic with other colors of putty in different shapes sitting on top of it. “Koda, look! I’m making dinner.”
Dropping his bag at his feet, he smiles and joins them on the plastic to let her show him her game. I watch for a minute before the sound of pots moving around in the kitchen gets my attention and I move in that direction.
The house seems the same in so many ways, but it’s so different. Before I left, there were just Kinley, Marley, Gray and his daughter, and Breanna staying here. It was normal to walk into silence at any part of the day. Now the once quiet halls are filled with running, laughing kids.
Mason’s son runs past me, brushing my legs, into the kitchen with Gray’s younger boy following on his short legs.
Through the doorway, Marley and Sloane bump into each other as they move around the kitchen, and Lainey Rai disappears through the door to the dining room holding a large plate with oven mitts on her hands.
“Hey Mato. Just in time, dinner’s almost ready.” Marley smiles and turns away again.
Glancing up at the clock over the breakfast nook, I pull my phone out of my pocket to see if Breanna might have sent a text. I never heard from her after I got confirmation of delivery of the flowers I sent her. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t, but it doesn’t matter, I’ll just send more.
But I thought she would be here by now.
“Oh, Breanna said she’ll be a little late, she’s talking to the contractor at the house.”
Lifting my eyes but not my head to look at Marley, the hair on my neck stands up. I ask, “When did she say that?”
She grabs the kitchen towel from its place hanging over the handle of the stove and wipes her hands before she taps her phone. “About ten minutes ago. She didn’t give me details, just that she saw the contractor’s truck at the house and to let the kids know she’d be a little late.”
The back door in the mudroom opens, and boots are scraping across the mud mats just before Gray walks in with Mason and Jax following.
“Can I see?” I ask, holding my hand out for her phone.
Confusion crosses her face, and she hands her phone to me. “Sure.”
Jax and Mason look at Marley and then look at me as I read the text that says exactly what she just said.
“What’s wrong?” Mason is still looking between us. Gray is now watching as he picks up his boy and sets him on his hip.
Setting her phone down and scooting it toward her on the counter, I look at Mason. “I need you to come with me.”
“Wait, what’s wrong?” Marley asks at the same time Mason says, “Let’s go.”
Over my shoulder as I’m walking out of the kitchen, I say, “I just talked to the contractor, he’s out of town.”
Marley’s intake of breath is audible behind me. “Wait.”
We stop and turn to her. “That man was at the hospital last week, the one who tried to cheat her.”
My stomach drops. “And?”
Her fingers are trembling, her eyes locked on mine. “He sort of threatened her.”
Mason holds his hands up in question, anger in his tone. “What do you mean, sort of?
Fear flashes in her blue eyes. “He confronted her, said that his office was under investigation or something because of her. She wouldn’t back down and made him angrier.
After he left, I told her I was going to tell Mason or Gray, and she said she didn’t want to bother anyone while we were all worried about Dad.
She promised she would tell someone if he came back. ”
Fuck.
It has to be him. Who else would be at the site if not Connor?
I glance at Mason, and he lifts an eyebrow. “Well, let’s go kick some contractor ass.”
With a smile, Jax says, “I’m coming, too.”
Tapping my phone to connect to Breanna’s phone, I’m driving way too fast on the country road, but I don’t care. It goes to voicemail, so I hang up and tap it again.
The call goes to voicemail again. “Hey, you’ve reached Breanna. Leave a message.” I tap the screen on my dash to disconnect.
“Fuck.”
“This guy has to be out of his fucking mind. He has to know if he messes with the bull, he’ll get the horns.” Mason slaps his other hand on the dash in front of him for stability as we go around another corner.
I shake my head, keeping my eyes on the beam of my headlights on the road in front of me.
“He’s always been a hotheaded dumbass who holds a grudge.
When I beat his ass in school for messing with her, he tried to retaliate against me for years, but I put him in his place every time.
My guess is that he got caught trying to cheat her and wants to get back at her. ”
From the back seat, Jax excitedly says, “I haven’t seen a good ass-kicking in a while.”