Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
HUNTER
Song- Afraid Of The Dark, Motionless in White.
I check the time on my watch and huff. My son Wyatt will be home from school any minute. I took him this morning and managed to head into town. I try to stay out of there usually. But my son wants cookies after he finishes school, so I had to go and get them.
I live and breathe for that boy. Everything I do is for him. To give him a legacy. To keep him safe from assholes like this dead one on the floor.
Taking one last drag from my cigarette, I flick it onto the body we’ve just dumped into the freshly dug hole in what I like to call Sterling Ranch’s graveyard.
“What are you gonna do about this Greek problem?” Ace, my youngest and most reckless brother, asks as he kicks dirt into the grave.
“I’m calling a meeting with Nikos after I speak to Enzo,” I tell him.
The Greek mafia wants our attention, but sending their men snooping around my land ain’t the way to get it.
As this little prick found out with a bullet through his skull.
Yeah, we’re mafia. But first, we’re cowboys. Born and bred. It’s in our blood. This ranch has been in our family for generations.
You don’t trespass on a cowboy’s land.
Not when my son lives here. Not when my father’s last words were to protect not just our land, but my three brothers, too.
He told us, "When you kill a rattlesnake with a stick, make sure you also burn the stick." We take that to heart and have been taking care of this land, no matter what, for generations.
But a few years ago, my father got the Sterling family tangled up with the Mafia.
Enzo Testa’s organization, no less. The most powerful organization in the world.
It was a mutually beneficial deal, which meant we protected our Ranch and got the power and money that came with the mafia.
I was at my father's side when he cut the deal. He trained me to see it live out.
We hunt for Enzo. We bury bodies. We move product. And it makes us enough money that the ranch never has to carry the weight alone.
But it comes with sacrifices.
Because when you work for Enzo, he owns your fucking soul.
But he’ll also protect you like family. And I’d rather be on his side than against him.
Apart from the fact that being in the mafia brings its own host of issues.
Just like we’re starting to see now. The Greeks in LA want in and Enzo ain’t interested.
And I’m waiting on the green light to remind them you don’t fuck with a cowboy.
And you sure as shit don’t fuck with Enzo.
Pete and the other ranch hands pile dirt over the body.
“You’re quiet today,” Colten, the second youngest of us, says beside me.
I tip my hat lower over my face. “You know why.”
He sighs, and we both watch Ace throw dirt like a feral animal. It’s nice to have him around more. He’s taking a few months off from pro bull riding to help me out. Well, that’s what he tells everyone. The fact is, the fucker got bucked off so hard he fucked his arm. A small smile tugs at my mouth.
“I thought it was meant to get easier with time,” I mutter.
“That’s bullshit,” Colten says. “You just get busier. I don’t know. I miss the old man.”
The pain in his voice matches mine.
I glance up at the sky, hoping Dad’s somewhere up there, watching over us. That I’m doing him proud, despite the fact that half the time I don’t have a goddamn clue what I’m doing. He trained me for this moment, but I never wanted it to become real.
I’d give up all of it to have him back with us. And all I can wonder is whether this life is what I want for Wyatt. Do I train him to take over like my dad did with me?
“Come on, Ace. We gotta go,” I call, already heading toward Tornado, my stallion.
Ace never ignores me. Growing up, Beau, the brother closest to me in age, always picked on Ace. And I was the one who stood in the middle and kept the order. I looked after my little brother, and he knows I’d die to protect him.
He and Colten mount up and follow as we ride back toward the ranch house.
The sunset cuts through the mountains, and peace settles over me.
Even if it’s only for a second. Even with blood on my hands.
We do everything to protect our family. And that’s probably why I’ve never dated after Wyatt’s mom left.
Not because I’m heartbroken. But because I don’t believe there is anyone out there who could deal with this life.
The fireflies drift through the tall grass, just normal bugs in daylight, their beauty hidden until dark.
In New Falls, monsters hide in the night sky. But there’s always something beautiful disguising them.
By the time I tie Tornado outside the house, Beau’s truck is rumbling up the drive. Permanent stick up his ass. And a useless fucking cowboy.
I love him, but fuck me, the man fights authority like it personally offended him. I swear he’d rather find new ways to tie up his man bun than work cattle some days.
The front door bursts open.
“Dad!”
Wyatt barrels into me, and I scoop him into my arms. He grabs my hat and drops it onto his own head. He’s the spitting image of me. My blue eyes, dark hair. But he has a cheeky grin and a light in his eyes that I don’t.
“Good day at school, little man?” I ask Wyatt while nodding at Beau as we head inside.
“Yeah. We played soccer. And boring math.”
I chuckle.
“I just wanna work here with you,” he says, pouting as I set him down.
“One day you will. But you gotta get through school first. You know the rules.” I tell him. I’m doing this for his own good. He needs to have options; he loves the cowboy life, I know that. But, he’s gotta have the brains to run this place if he wants to.
I pull snacks from the fridge while he climbs into my dad’s old chair at the table. Two years today since we lost him. And this house still feels emptier for it.
I slide Wyatt’s sandwich in front of him and take my hat back, sitting beside him.
“Dad… I think I saw Mom outside the school,” Wyatt says nervously, looking at me with sad eyes.
Rage crawls up my throat. She hasn’t bothered with him since she slept with the mayor’s son and ran off. Left Wyatt behind. I fought like hell for full custody.
She shows up sometimes. Just enough that he remembers her.
But her crux was always the booze, and that always comes first to her.
I was with his mom for a long time; she was desperate for a family because I wouldn’t marry her.
I couldn’t give her the Sterling name, it felt wrong, because she was so against everything the name stood for.
But I gave her Wyatt. Hoping that, finally, that would be enough to help her see sense.
But it just made it worse. She drank more. She didn’t come home. She threw glasses at my head. And then she left the son she begged me for.
I loved Wyatt with my whole heart from the second he was cuddled in my arms. And my love only got more fierce the more she fucked up.
Wyatt was never a mistake. Ashley was.
My fists clench.
“She’s not gonna take me back, is she?” he asks quietly.
Christ. A five-year-old shouldn’t carry that fear.
I ruffle his hair and force a smile. “No one’s ever taking you away from me, son. Ever.”
He smiles and takes a bite. “Okay. After this, can I go feed Gary?”
I huff a laugh.
That damn goat hates me. Headbutts me every chance he gets. But with Wyatt? Soft as butter. Only reason he’s still alive.
“Yeah, we’ll go feed him. Then Matilda’s coming to watch you while Daddy goes out with your uncles tonight. I’ll put you to bed first. Won’t leave till you’re asleep.”
He nods, happy again, and I just watch him eat.
Balancing a ranch, the mafia, and being a dad is hard as hell, but I wouldn’t change a single thing.
Tonight, though, I’m just Hunter—a man drinking whiskey with his brothers.
Grieving our father, the only way he’d have approved of at his favorite bar in town.