Chapter 8 Sam
SAM
When I get back to Moonlight Ranch late on Sunday night, the house is spotless.
“God bless you, Lolita.” I pause in the living room to send her double the usual amount with a hefty tip. She deserves every penny.
I drop my duffel bag of dirty clothes in the laundry room before making my way to the kitchen.
She usually stocks the fridge and pantry for me with food, and I’m glad to see she knew to do that again.
My stomach rumbles at the sight of homemade enchiladas, breakfast burritos wrapped in foil, and meal prep boxes with Mexican casserole for me to take out to the fields.
I’m weeks behind on work at the ranch. My grandfather’s—shit, my ranch—has a foreman and thirteen full-time hands, but they all need overseeing.
Part-time day laborers come when we have big jobs to get done, like branding and vaccinating new batches of spring calves.
My grandfather didn’t like having hands living here, so I’m the only one who stays on the ranch, aside from the foreman.
Billy lives in a small cabin on the far side of my property, where it actually backs up to the Redford Ranch.
Moonlight Ranch is larger than Redford Ranch, but it doesn’t have as many natural water resources so I can’t run as many head of cattle as they do.
The Redfords split the work and profits between all five of the kids, but I’m the only one left for Moonlight.
I have more money than I know what to do with.
Well, I do now. I won’t for long if I keep neglecting my ranch, wallowing in a shallow pool of self-pity. I should go to bed and get a good night’s sleep to start early tomorrow, but instead, I pour myself a glass of bourbon and stand in the doorway of my grandfather’s office.
The rich brown leather of his chair has held up against years of use, with a faded indentation where he used to sit. The wall behind his oak desk is red brick, all the way to the ceiling, with oak bookshelves on either side.
Memories trickle into my brain as I study the worn spines.
He used to bend Duke and me over his knee and spank us in this office for stealing his cigarettes and watering down his bourbon after drinking half the bottle.
Duke’s dad, Pops, and my grandfather had an understanding that either one was free to whoop our asses when need be.
Pops has always liked me. He and my grandfather did business together for years, and Pops reassured him on many occasions that if anything were to happen to him and my grandmother, I’d have a room at Redford Ranch.
When Duke’s mother died, my grandparents helped guide the Redford boys in their first few years of taking over the ranch.
Pops nearly drank himself to death from grief.
My grandfather is the one who stepped in and helped Cash keep things running when Holden went to prison for murdering Cain Dixon for trying to rape Dolly.
Even when I think back to that night, my muscles tighten. If Holden hadn’t put a bullet in Cain’s head, I would’ve been the first in line to enjoy the honors. I don’t know exactly how old Cain was, but he was in his thirties, and Dolly was only eighteen.
My phone starts buzzing in my hand. I look down to see Duke’s name. I swipe to answer it and put it on speaker.
“Yello?”
“Hey. Mark called. They have a fight coming up next weekend. Thought you might need the distraction.”
After the events of the night Holden killed Cain, Duke joined The Ring, the underground MMA-style fight club in Star City—a town a few hours away that’s filled with dirty cops and is the epitome of small-town politics.
I’ve always had a lot of rage to get out of my system, so I’ve been in The Ring since I turned eighteen. It seemed like the healthiest way to do it at the time without anyone recognizing me. Duke blamed himself for what had happened to his sister and for Holden going to jail.
He was the only one who knew Dolly and Cain had been talking, and he let it happen. He obviously didn’t know what kind of man Cain was, but he should’ve been more cautious.
“Yeah, I reckon it would feel good.”
He chuckles. “Well, I’m not fighting you again. My face was fucked up for weeks.”
“You looked better than ever.”
“Women loved it—that’s for sure.”
When he joined, we ended up going head to head at The Ring, beating the shit out of each other until the old cowboys who run it stepped in and stopped us. They were afraid one of us might die if they didn’t.
I was pissed about what happened to Dolly, and Duke blamed himself. Like typical emotionally stunted men, it was all we needed to do for our relationship to return to normal.
After that, we put it behind us and agreed that no one would ever be good enough for Dolly.
“I’ll fight whoever they want me to.”
“They said the bets are starting at five hundred, which means the winner will walk with at least ten grand.”
I don’t care about the money, and he knows that.
“Are you gonna fight?” I ask.
“I guess so. Can’t let you do it and get the girls for the night.”
I snort before I finally turn away from the office and start heading up the stairs to shower and go to bed.
“Keely said you didn’t touch her at the lake and you didn’t invite her to come over to the ranch afterward.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t invite her; you did. Why are you so damn concerned with my sex life?”
“I know you too well. You’ve never gone this long.”
“And?”
I don’t even know how long it’s been, but I guess since Keely and I split up, it’s been my longest stretch of celibacy since I was a teenager. She thought she’d be sleeping in my bed at the lake house, but that didn’t happen.
A set of pale gray eyes, a freckled nose, and rich ebony hair infiltrate my imagination. For the first time since I’ve known her, I can’t get her out of my head. The sound of her breathy exhales in my ear as she came undone on my lap is going to haunt me for the rest of my life.
I won’t let it happen again.
“I’m not into her anymore. Don’t do that shit again.”
“I won’t, trust me. She was crying to me about you rejecting her. But how was I supposed to know this breakup between y’all was different? I don’t care if it’s Keely or some girl at the fights, but getting laid is what you need to feel like yourself again.”
“Maybe.”
I’ll never let my best friend find out that the only person I can think about getting into bed with right now is his little sister. I’ll never act on my impulses for her. Even though I don’t view her as my sister, I care too much about her to let her be shackled to a man like me.
Which means I need to get a thousand times better at ignoring her existence, like I’ve been doing for the last ten years.
“Call.” Duke sets his cards face down on the table.
We’ve been playing Texas Hold’em at Holden and Rosie’s house in Holden’s man cave every Friday night for the past few months, while the girls have their night in the living room.
I missed the last two Fridays after the funeral, and Duke’s been guilt-tripping me about it all week.
I’ve been swamped with ranch work, putting in twelve-hour days to catch up.
Cash lays his hand down and lifts his bourbon glass to his lips.
He’s the second-oldest brother, and he just got back into town after a trip to New York City with his fiancée, Monroe Blue.
She’s a world-famous country singer, but they have a house on Redford Ranch, where they spend six months out of the year.
Cash is her full-time bodyguard. He works on the ranch when they’re here, and she writes music and spends time with Rosie and Dolly.
The three of them became fast friends when she stayed at the ranch to try and get away from a man who was stalking her obsessively.
“Hey, Cash. Been meaning to ask you about something.” Holden sets his cards down on the felt-top table and stands.
He exits the room and returns with an envelope in his hand.
He tosses it on the table. Cash picks it up, pulls out the paper inside, and reads it. His brows narrow after a few beats.
“What is it?” Duke asks.
Cash’s jaw tics as he sets the letter on the table in front of Duke. He picks it up and curses under his breath before handing it to me. The letter is typed up on a standard piece of printer paper.
Redfords,
What you did to Cain Dixon will not go unpunished.
One of you ended a man’s life only to serve a few short years in prison.
One of you deserves to die. Your sleeping every night, thinking your safe.
But I’m watching you and your family. I’ll find a way to make you pay.
You took everything from me and one day one of you will loose everything you love.
My blood starts to heat to a boiling point. I grip the letter, reading it over and over again. Several of the words are misspelled, and the grammar and punctuation are all off.
“Whoever wrote this is borderline illiterate,” I say.
I’m not a genius, but I know the difference between you’re and your and lose and loose.
“And clearly deranged. Who gave enough fucks about Cain Dixon to want revenge for his death?” Cash says, leaning back against his chair.
Holden’s cold glare studies the back of the letter I’m holding. He’s ruthless, and I can see in his eyes that whoever is threatening his family had better plan on taking him out, too, if they want to live to see another day.
“I don’t know, but I figured with the resources you have with being on Monroe’s protection detail, maybe you could help me figure out who this freak is.”
“What does Rosie think? He was her uncle. Does she know who it could be?” Duke asks.
I set the letter down. I know I’m not technically being threatened by it, but Dolly clearly is. She’s a Redford, and whoever this illiterate psychopath is could be targeting her for being the reason Holden killed Cain.