Chapter 25 #2
Even West, though he practically vibrates from where he stands a dozen yards away.
Don’t you fuck this up on me.
My eyebrows hike. “What West found? Do you know something about it, Tripp?”
Tripp clears his throat unconvincingly. “Well, I might have handled the bottle, see, and my prints are all over it, which makes me look a bit, well, you know.” He attempts a shrug and a weak smile, both of which fail pitifully.
“Really?” I keep smiling but let a frown work its way into my expression, pretending to think back. “When did you need to handle the tranq bottle?”
“Maybe the night of the rodeo?” His grin grows wider, faker.
More desperate.
“The night I was nearly killed.” The words leave my mouth, bitter and harsh. My smile dies.
Lanie hides her face into my chest, her hands knotting in my shirt. Nails dig into my skin, but I’m okay with the extra bit of pain right now. I shake my head, slapping a hand on my thigh. The sharp sound ricochets across the silent yard.
Tripp jumps. “Well, yeah—”
“I wanted to talk to the police about a deal. You know, the keep-yourself-out-of-jail type deal. ’Cause, Jed. Hell, I want him to fall for this. I’ve got the pull,” I muse out loud.
And fall silent.
Wait.
Tripp looks around the yard, but no one’s coming to save his scrawny, backstabbing ass.
He twists back to me, his face rippling somewhere between white and red as words fly from his mouth. “Jed asked me to inject the bull, all right? To ruin your ride. I didn’t know how much to use! I’m not a vet. I didn’t know what it would do!”
“Jed asked you to, huh?” I rock back on my heels, inhaling slowly.
Off to my side, West shifts. His restless frame finally stills.
“He told me to, Rand. He’s the problem. That rich rancher really wants your land, put his cattle on it. Maybe get yours, too.” Tripp’s mouth digs him a deep, jail-sized hole.
“And you thought it would be okay to try to kill me?”
Tripp stops talking. I expect him to look around again, but his brain finally appears to have caught up with the conversation.
“No, I didn’t want to kill you, Rand. Make you lose, uh—” He freezes in place.
West doesn’t shift this time as a frigid wind ripples around us. Even the mountains behind the homestead watch Tripp as he finally seems to understand how far he’s just fucked up.
“Fight, flight, or freeze. There’s three responses. Did you know that?” I lean forward, wrapping my arms around Lanie, and smooth her hair with steady hands.
“Fawn,” murmurs Lanie.
I glance down at her and smile.
“And fawn,” I agree, while Tripp looks confused. “You wanted me to lose my entire ranch, put everyone and everything on it under Jed’s influence? D’you think he’d care for this land, Tripp?”
“Jed did! He wanted to ruin your rodeo, you know, make it so you couldn’t hold on to it, and you—”
“Me, what? I’d be injured? Paralyzed? No wonder Jed wanted me to sign away indemnity.
” I snort, tipping my head back to studying the graying sky.
Maybe it’ll snow tonight or the next day.
Tripp has neatly explained the missing fences and gates as well in his desperate little diatribe. “You got all that?”
“Yep,” West answers me, his tone light as he holds up his phone and presses stop on the record app.
“Good.” I eye Tripp, wondering if I can get away with punching him.
“But you said a deal! Rand, you promised. I told you, it was all Jed. He was the one. He wants everything!” Tripp steps forward into my space, into Lanie’s.
I lose my chance as West claims the honor I crave. His fist slams into the weedy backstabber’s face so that he’s left flailing in Coyote Falls’ hard-packed dirt. The dirt that bears all the sweat and tears of the men who deserve their place on this land.
“Stay down,” West spits, looming over the thinner man.
Blood oozes from Tripp’s nose.
I ignore him, keen to get the girls inside and away from the scene. Especially Sally.
“Rand, you promised!” Tripp’s voice rises octaves as West puts in the call to the sheriff’s office.
Turning back, I stare down at the young cowboy I hired last season, remembering his enthusiasm at working on a large ranch, being part of the community at Coyote Falls. “I lied.”
The sheriff’s car meanders its way along the drive, dodging potholes I still haven’t fixed. Tripp glares at the ground, his back to a fence post. West stands close enough to grab him if he moves, but he has nowhere left to run.
“Only waiting on one more person.” I tug Lanie close. She hasn’t been more than a step away from me all day. I’ll make that up to her later, with wolves or maybe in another way.
A second car turns into the drive. I roll my shoulders, waiting. So much waiting as the air grows chill, but the clouds that shadowed the house earlier have held at bay, for now.
“I want to take you somewhere after this. Like I promised. Okay?”
Lanie nods into my chest. “As long as I’m with you. Especially after that.”
I swallow. It took prying her hands from my shirt and convincing her that Tripp was under West’s care for her to let go of her death grip earlier.
I still can’t believe my luck that she’s staying me after everything.
As a reward I’ve already planned out what I want to do with her, and I refuse to allow Jed to screw with my life any longer.
“Well, this is a … sweet gathering,” Jed announces, stepping from his too-clean black Cadillac. The badge has been replaced with a longhorn hood ornament.
A man in a pristine suit sits in the passenger seat, making no move to leave the vehicle.
“Your lawyer?” I nod to the man.
“Arnold is very particular.” Jed surveys the scene, his eyes settling on a cuffed Tripp being herded into the back of the police car. “Did you call me here for this?”
West waves, smiling as he passes his phone to a uniformed man.
“I thought you might like to have your attorney present when you were arrested. Good form and all. Save you that phone call.” I don’t turn my back on my neighbor for a moment.
That he hasn’t been in my yard, hanging over the fence and socializing with my boys, since the night of rodeo is telling enough.
Jed’s gaze drops to Lanie. “Remember my offer, sweetheart.” He winks lewdly.
She shudders beneath my arm. I clench my teeth, willing myself not to assault the man in front of local law enforcement, his lawyer, and my boys, and I haul her closer.
“It’ll be fun without you, Jed.” I smile, and my expression isn’t forced.
The short, round rancher laughs in my face. “You think they’ll take me away with that pathetic excuse of a human?”
I check where Tripp sits in the back of the police car. His head hangs, and I have to admit that he does look pitiful.
“Why would I expect anything less?” My head cants as I stare past Jed to his passenger. The lawyer taps at his phone, his features drawn tight. Jed, still staring at Lanie, his face growing redder as he lusts at her, doesn’t seem to notice.
“Ahhh, but, you see, I’ve paid him. That’s the thing about loyalty. It has that little dollar sign right before it. And you, my dear Rand, didn’t pay him enough.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Your reasoning could knock out a bull.”
“These men aren’t loyal to Cord because of money, Jed,” Lanie says. “But I think that’s too much for you to understand. I hear you’re sharing a jail cell.”
Jed scoffs, still leering at her. I wrap her tighter into the circle of my arms.
The middle-aged cop with ruddy cheeks West spoke with earlier approaches Jed, fidgeting with his handcuffs.
West steps up beside us, leaning close. “He’s reasonably excited.”
The small man fumbles the cuffs on Jed’s wrists under duress.
His lawyer finally moves his ass out of the car.
He approaches Jed with mincing steps, leaning in to speak quietly in the rancher’s ear.
Jed’s eyes bug out, his red face swelling, though all that comes out of his mouth are a few disjointed syllables.
The cop finishes his process, tugging at the cuffs.
Billy joins us. “You reckon he’s ever used those before?”
West exchanges a glance with me. “No chance.”
Jed splutters as he lets himself be towed away by the cop, glaring at me over the other side of the car before he sinks into the back seat beside Tripp.
“You know he’s gonna get out.” West folds his arms and dips his chin.
“Yeah, but it’s the thought of him and Tripp together for the night. The perfect bromance waiting to happen.” Billy grins, feigning reminiscence.
“Lanie, the dire wolf thing. In Valiant Peak. This guy”—West throws a thumb at the cop settling into his car with Jed and Tripp coddled like two eggs in the back—“also had a chat with your Pollux Jenkins. Apparently, the con artist has admitted setting up the dire wolf hoax. Did some minor damage to a few homes, stole some food. He got a choice to remove himself from town and not set up again in Montana, or serve time.”
“So he’s someone else’s problem now.” She sighs her disappointment. “I almost hoped it was real. Is that… safe, that he goes somewhere else?”
I laugh, nestling my chin on the top of Lanie’s head as the pair of cars retreat along the drive.
“Dunno if it’s safe. But he’s gone. Ma’am.” West tosses the fake tranquilizer bottle and strides off toward the house, where Winnie and Sally are finishing up their giant chalk drawings.
Lanie rolls her eyes at West as if she expects nothing less. I take the moment to draw her aside as Billy gets the hint and finds himself a box of busy by the opposite side of the yard to occupy himself.
Lanie stares up at me, her gaze tracking my face. I can see her cataloging all the parts of me that hurt already. “Are you okay? You’ve been on your feet for so long. We can do stretches and—”
“Lanie, stop. I’m good.” I touch the tip of my finger to her lips. Not shushing her, exactly. I just want her panic to diminish. I am good.
A whole lot of stress releases from my chest after the cars leave the yard. Coyote Falls is ours again. Just us. The only people who remain are family I can trust. Family I love.
There’s no room left for lingering resentment toward Jed, and Tripp will be dealt with. McCullins will see to that. But something else niggles in my mind.
“Jed’s comment, before. He mentioned an offer. What was that about?” I strive for a casual tone. On a day of revelations, I wanted to be sure of everything, of everyone. But as I gaze down at Lanie, memorizing every line of her face, I know I trust her every ounce as much as I trust West.
My girl shifts against me, uncomfortable.
I wind our fingers together, stroking my thumb across the back of her hand.
“Before you walked away for your ride, he made a comment. About… being in his bed.”
My teeth set. “Jed asked you to sleep with him? I don’t remember punching him.” I frown, thinking back.
“It was right before Jesse’s ride. I’m glad you don’t remember.” Her hands tremble in mine. “He sickens me. And I didn’t want to make you angry or make you think that I—” Tears well in her eyes as she wraps her arms around herself, pulling away from me.
“Easy,” I murmur. “You’re okay, Lanie. You’re safe here.” I stroke tears away from her cheeks and regret not punching the asshole, lawyer presence be damned.
“I don’t have the words for the disgust I feel around him. Cord, I can’t believe there are men like you”—she presses a hand to the front of my shirt—“and then men like him. I thought for so long that I didn’t fit into your world.”
I covered her hand with my own. “And now?”
“Now I know how extraordinary you are and how lucky I am.”
“I’m the lucky one.” I lean down and breathe in her coffee-and-spice scent. “Now, throwing Jed and his obvious issues aside, I want to do something special with you.” I wait until she leans into me, giving me her trust, and then blow hers apart.
“Have you ever driven a six-wheeler before?”