Chapter Twenty-Two
York
Something had changed between us with coming to Wyoming.
The guards that Runa had kept mostly in place between us had completely lowered. I suddenly found myself allowed in—to her thoughts, her feelings, her bed at night.
After hooking up in the living room, we’d eaten half our body weight in freeze dried candy before taking turns showering in her en suite bathroom.
I checked the house again. We both looked in on a sleeping Denali. Then we tumbled into her childhood bed, getting lost in each other for hours, until our bodies were as spent as our minds.
We slipped back into our clothes in case Denali came looking for us, then Runa fell back against the pillows, laughing.
“What?”
“My grandfather was always worried about boys in my room.”
“Bet he never imagined he’d have to worry about a bearded, tattooed biker.”
“Actually, that was pretty high on his list of worries,” she said, shooting me a big smile.
She curled into me afterward. All the stress of the past few days caught up with her, knocking her out in minutes.
As for me, I stayed up, listening to the unfamiliar sounds of the house as I finally let my own worries surface.
I’d kept them tamped down, wanting to be a calm voice of reason and a steady shoulder for Runa.
But I couldn’t help but wonder what it meant now that she was a wealthy woman. One who wouldn’t need to rely on me for anything. One who could buy Denali anything she wanted. Who could hire babysitters and nannies. One who wouldn’t have any use for me anymore.
I wanted to believe I had a place in their lives, in Runa’s future. But I didn’t know what that kind of money would do.
Would she want Denali to grow up on the ranch like she had? What would my visitation look like with my daughter then? My life was in Florida. Those men and women in and around the club—that was my family too.
Eventually, I had to force the thoughts and worries away, ignore the black hole in my chest, and let sleep claim me.
I wasn’t sure how long I got to sleep, but it wasn’t nearly enough before, out of nowhere, I felt the whole bed shaking.
For a split second before I could fully wake up, I wondered if Wyoming had earthquakes.
But as soon as my eyes opened, I realized what was making the world—no, bed—shake.
Denali.
In her princess-printed pajama set, her hair all crazy from sleep.
Jumping up and down on the bed.
“You are way too energetic for this hour,” Runa grumbled, folding up to grab our daughter, then pulling her down between the two of us. “How’d you sleep?”
“Good.”
“Have you been up for a while?”
“No.”
“Once I’m awake, I’m gonna make pancakes for breakfast.”
That was the wrong thing to say because Denali apparently woke up with an appetite and wouldn’t stop talking about pancakes until a tired Runa climbed out of bed and stumbled downstairs to get the food started.
I took a few minutes to text Huck, letting him know that we would be staying for a few days to sort things out.
Then I made my way downstairs to find Denali at the giant kitchen counter, eating freeze-dried strawberries right out of the giant can as Runa stood at the stove pouring batter into a hot pan.
There was a sharp feeling in my chest, so strong it made my step falter, made me lift my hand and rub at my chest.
Because I liked the image more than I would admit. I could picture thousands of ones just like it.
“Daddy, do you want strawberries?” she asked, reaching into the can and producing a pink-powder-coated hand and a few pieces of sliced, dried strawberries.
I took one to humor her before walking up behind Runa, swiping her hair to the side, and pressing a kiss to the side of her neck.
“Looks pretty good for thirty-year-old pancake mix.”
She chuckled at that as she let herself lean into me for a moment.
“I think, if we are staying the full day, a trip to town to get a couple of fresh foods might be necessary. And coffee.”
“Denali and I could take a trip, if you want. Give you some time to yourself to explore. You didn’t get a chance to check out your old outdoor haunts.”
“You don’t mind?”
“Nope. But I take no responsibility if Denali throws a bunch of snacks into the cart.”
“So long as you also throw some fruits and veggies in.”
“And sauces,” I said.
“Can never forget those,” she agreed.
“What do you say, princess? You wanna head into town with me after breakfast to pick up some groceries?”
“Do they have little carts?” she asked, hopeful.
“Last time I was there, yes,” Runa answered. “But I can’t make any promises, so don’t get your hopes up too high, okay?”
She slid a plate in front of Denali, who put way too much maple syrup on them. Add that to the grocery list.
“Can I bring a toy?” Denali asked.
“Sure,” I agreed.
“But no more than three,” Runa said. Then to me, in a lower voice, “Trust me, you need to set limits.”
While I cleaned up after breakfast, Runa took Denali upstairs to shower when she got herself an unreasonable amount of sticky from her syrup.
“What are you doing?” Runa asked when I stepped into the shower with her after the kitchen was spotless again.
“Saving water.”
“Denny—”
“Is down in the library with her books again,” I said, reaching for her hips and pulling her back against my chest.
Her round ass pressed against my hard cock, making both of us groan.
My hands moved over her then—teasing over her breasts, over her stomach, between her legs.
She sparked at the touch. She always did.
It wasn’t long until her hips were riding my hand, until her whimpers were filling the shower niche, and she was reaching back to stroke my cock.
“Fuck me,” she demanded.
And I couldn’t turn down that invitation, could I?
I slammed deep inside her, taking a moment to enjoy the sensation of her hot, tight walls, before the need to move overtook us both and I was fucking her—fast and deep, the sounds of our bodies crashing together filling the bathroom almost as fully as Runa’s moans.
There wasn’t time to try to beat our record—not with an impatient Denali one floor below—but she came twice around my cock before I settled deep and came hard enough for me to need to slap my hand into the shower wall when my legs went weak.
I slid out of her afterward, turning her, and sealing my lips to hers for a long couple of minutes.
“Any requests, aside from the coffee?” I asked as I quickly soaped up, then moved under the spray to rinse off.
“The makings for s’mores? There’s a great fire pit out back. That’s one childhood staple Denny hasn’t experienced yet.”
With my mental list, my phone for navigation—though with how flat this area was, I was pretty sure I could see the town from miles off—Denali and I set out to town to get supplies.
“Oh! Is that Runa’s little girl?” the cashier asked as soon as we secured a normal cart and a mini one for Denali, who shoved all three of her stuffed animals inside and moved into the store at my side.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised by that. Runa told me that Greg said her grandfather had been bragging about his great-granddaughter all over town. He might even have had some pictures to bring with him. But he couldn’t have had an updated one. Right?
So much about the private investigators or… whoever he hired just wasn’t making any sense to me.
But I hadn’t had much time alone with my thoughts to try to sort it out.
“Denali, right?” the woman with her perfectly curled crop of white hair asked, her blue eyes bright and warm in her wrinkled face.
Denali looked at me, taking a step closer, uncertain.
“It is,” I confirmed, not wanting to lie to people in such a small town.
“Oh, you are just the prettiest little girl,” the woman declared. “Reminds me so much of your mama when she was little. Is she here with you?” she asked, looking around.
“No. No, she hung back. She had a lot of… ruminating to do.”
The woman’s face went sad as she gave me a nod.
“Yeah, I’ll bet she does. Well, I won’t keep you from your shopping. But tell Runa we would love to see her in town when she’s feeling less tender.”
“I will. It’s nice to meet you…”
“Barb.”
“Barb. I’m York,” I told her.
“Daddy? Can I get one?” Denali asked, pointing toward—of all things—a cantaloupe.
“Sure, princess.”
Barb’s brow lifted at the title, and I couldn’t help but wonder if Runa’s grandfather had mentioned that I wasn’t in the picture.
The grocery store wasn’t busy, but we barely managed to go down a single aisle without someone stopping us to say hello, to offer their sympathies, to beg me to tell Runa they said hello.
It was just after we checked out, and I was shoving bags into the trunk while Denali was buckling herself and her stuffed animals in that my phone started to ring.
I got the trunk closed and answered as I brought the cart back to the rack.
It wasn’t Runa, like I’d been expecting.
Or Huck.
Not even Eddie, checking in on his favorite sous chef.
It was Arty.
“What’s up?” I asked as I made my way back to the car, pausing to take the call outside my door, not wanting Denali to overhear anything sensitive.
“They’re hitmen.”
“What? Who?”
“The men who attacked Runa in Georgia. And her apartment.”
“Yeah, I kind of figured that. What with the whole trying to murder her thing.”
“Yeah, but they weren’t always hitmen.”
“They were private investigators.”
There was a pause.
“Why have I been doing all this work if you already knew?”
“I just figured it out myself.”
“Well, they worked for Runa’s grandfather. Until something changed two years ago.”
“He died.”
“Right. But the job didn’t.”
“Arty, do you have any actual information for me? Names? Connections? Motivation?”
“Money. The motivation is money. A lot of it. Half a million each year deposited into their crypto accounts.”
That was a lot of money.
Enough for small men to do something as heinous as murder a single mom. And maybe her daughter.
“By who?”
“I don’t have any proof…”
“I don’t care.”
“Sonny Cast.”
“Who the fuck is Sonny Cast?”
“You haven’t met him yet? He runs the ranch.”
My fucking heart fell to my feet.
“I gotta go.”
I jumped into the car as I dialed Runa’s number and backed out of my spot.
“Daddy! Seatbelt!” Denali scolded from the backseat.
I pulled the belt as the call went to voicemail.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I dialed again and listened to the ring as my knuckles went white on the wheel.
I wanted to press the pedal to the floor.
I wanted to fly down the fucking road all the way back to the ranch.
But Denali was in the backseat, singing that song about the magic carpet from Aladdin.
I might be willing to risk my life to get to Runa and warn her. But I wasn’t about to risk Denali’s.
So I kept it a modest ten over the speed limit all the way back to the house as the phone rang and rang and rang.
Until, suddenly, it didn’t even do that anymore.
I don’t even remember cutting the engine as I flew out of the car, rushing around, ripping Denali out of her seat, my heart cracking in two when she let out a startled cry at my behavior.
“Daddy?” she called, voice wobbly as I ran into the house, taking the stairs up to the second floor two at a time.
“Listen, princess. I am going to put you in your room. And I need you to stay in there, okay? Until you hear me or Mommy.”
I placed her down on her bed, hating the wide-eyed, panicked look on her face. But knowing there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
“Okay?” I pressed.
Her lower lip trembled.
“Okay.”
I ran back out of the room, locking the door, closing it, then running across the hall to grab the gun I’d left at home because I didn’t exactly have the right to carry it.
My heart was thunderous as I rushed back downstairs, making my way toward the doors that led onto the back patio.
And that was when I saw someone.
Walking out of the woods with a slow, dazed, zombie-like gait.
Runa.
Drenched head-to-toe in bright red blood.