by Brynn Paulin
Sully nodded and started out of the room.
“Are you okay?” Cord called. Everything was obviously not okay with Sully, and Cord looked confused and a little hurt as Sully went into one of the rooms adjoining the family room then closed the door behind him without answering.
“Do you have any idea what’s up?” Pete asked him.
“No.” Turning to Moon, Cord gently kissed her. “Thank you for the best lunch I’ve ever had on this ranch, Miz Moon.”
“My pleasure,” she answered. “Really…my pleasure.”
The three of them laughed, but there was no ignoring the thread of tension that tugged at all of them because one of their four was obviously distressed.
Chapter Six
It was mid-afternoon when Moon finally remembered to check her phone. Her purse had been left in the front room, far enough away that if it rang she wouldn’t have heard it.
Her stomach clenched as she saw Ree had called. Not yet. Not yet!
Shaking her head, she decided to ignore the call for now. She was entitled to at least a week and she was taking it.
Scrolling down, she saw that her sister, Sun, had also called. Unlike Ree, she elected to call Sun.
“‘Bout time you called me,” Sun chided her.
“What’s up?” Moon asked, not rising to her younger sister’s bait. She had plenty of years of experience at it. Sun had been picking at Moon since she’d been old enough to talk. There’d been no older sibling hero worship in their house.
“Well, Robert and I took the liberty of checking you out of your hotel in Gillette—where, by the way, they asked surprisingly few questions about your whereabouts. Once Robert handed them his Visa black card, it was all over. They didn’t care where you were—so nice choice in accommodations there.”
“Sun…”
“Okay, okay, don’t get your panties in a twist—that is if you’re wearing panties. I know a few cowboys who were off the radar for a bit today.”
“Sun…” Moon warned a bit more emphatically this time. The last thing she wanted was her little sister speculating, and probably correctly, about Moon’s sex life.
“Fine. I have your luggage. Would you like me to come and get you—we also returned your rental after it was fixed.”
“Come and get me? Why can’t you just bring it to me?”
“Because…” Sun drew out the word as if her sister were simple. “I want to hang out with you before you take off for another year, but I need to be in the office, too. So I need you to come here.”
A pang of guilt hit Moon, and she was pretty sure that was what Sun had been going for, but she couldn’t hold it against her. The Szuzman family had always been close. So close, in fact, that they’d all moved here to BFE when Paisley had first come here to work at the Laurel Ridge Ranch. It was well known that they felt a little betrayed that Moon had broken ranks and gone off to Los Angeles.
“Okay. When will you be here?”
“I’m out front.”
“What?”
“Geez, chill out. I got in the car when you called. The main house isn’t so far from the Red House.”
Well, fuck me, Moon thought as she looked in the mirror in the front hallway. She’d gotten fully dressed after the guys had gone, but she needed to do something about her hair. There was nothing to be done for her clothes, but she was on the far side of casual and edging toward homeless.
“I need a few minutes,” she said, digging in her purse for a hairbrush.
Sun made an annoyed sound. “Really? It’s not like your adoring fans are out here and gonna take pictures. Get over yourself and get your ass out here.”
“Why do I love you?” Moon sighed.
“Because I’m your favorite sister.”
“Then I have a sad, sad life,” Moon retorted as she stepped out of the house. She hung up the phone then locked the door behind her. Based on the sketchy things happening on the Flying D, she didn’t dare leave things open.
After slipping her cell into her pocket, she sprinted down to Sun’s Jeep Cherokee—a perk of the job—and climbed into the passenger side.
“Wow, your hair does suck,” Sun proclaimed as Moon pulled on her seatbelt. She grabbed a brush from the cup holder and handed it over.
Moon reached for it. Sun didn’t let go. “What do you say?”
“Thank you?”
Sun cleared her throat.
“You are so juvenile,” Moon said.
“And I have the hairbrush.”
“I’m sure I have one in my purse.” When Sun just waited, a slight grin on her lips, Moon sighed. “Fine… You are the sun and without you the universe would be dark and we’d all die.”
Sun let go and Moon started untangling her hair.
“Though I’m sure we’d find a way to manage,” Moon added.
“Sure, sure. Deny as much as you want. We’re all aware the earth would whither and die.”
“Your self-esteem is incredible, you know?”
Sun shrugged, and Moon shook her head, not pointing out that her sister’s name was Sunflower, not Sun. The semantics didn’t matter. Truth was, Moon would miss this terribly. When she’d had no one else, she’d always had her sisters.
“Are you happy here?” Moon asked.
Sun looked surprised. “I’m happier here than anyplace we’ve ever been—and you know that’s a shit ton of places.”
“But are you happy?”
Her sister was silent for a second, taking the question more seriously than she took most things. “Yeah. Yeah, I am. I was never much into country despite the communes mom forced us to live in sometimes. I don’t know, being here, this just feels like home. Real home. Riv and Paisley are close, I’m friends with Verity, the ranch’s vet, and Robert is like an older brother—or a really young uncle. Plus there’s Paisley’s husbands, and the doctor Riv works for. It feels like a big family. And it’s not just them; it’s so many people around here. I feel like I belong, not like the outsiders we were all our lives. Plus, you gotta admit, there’s no more beautiful place on earth.”
“That’s true. It’s breathtaking.”
“Do you miss it?” Sun asked.
“I try not to think about it.”
“So, yes.”
“Yeah.”
“You know, you could stay.” She’d pulled up to the house and parked the Jeep. They both climbed from the car then headed up the steps that led to the mansion’s front doors. Sure the place was called the main house, but Moon wasn’t sure how Sun didn’t get lost here.
She preceded her sister inside when Sun held open the door. “I’m not like you,” she said as Sun closed them in. “You don’t have a past like me.”
“We all have a past,” Sun countered.
“Cripes, are you still on about that?” a voice said from a doorway to their right. Apparently, Paisley had been waiting in Sun’s office. Now, she stood in the entry, her hand on her enormous stomach.
“How are the twins?” Moon asked.
Paisley scowled at her. “You know I’m only having one.”
“Well, you know, doc is old. He could have missed something.”
“I didn’t miss anything,” came a voice behind Paisley. Her sister, River, the doctor’s nurse and general assistant.
“Hey, hey, the gang’s all here,” Moon quipped dryly. Her eyes narrowed. “What is this?”
Sun shoved her toward the office as Paisley stepped back. “An intervention.”
“I’m not on drugs.”
“If you stay in Los Angeles, and continue working for that rock star, you might be. We know all about their free-wheeling lives,” Paisley said. She was the oldest and tended to mother them all—a residual habit. She really had mothered her younger sisters for years.
“That’s not how it is.”
Sun pushed her toward a chair that had apparently been brought in for Moon. “Sit. Listen.”
Paisley sat in the chair to her right while Riv sat to the left. Sun
slid into her seat behind her desk.
Paisley took Moon’s hand. “We miss you,” she said.
“I miss you too, but you know why I’m not here. My job—”
“Because you’re afraid of intimacy and when things get too close, you run,” Riv interrupted over the top of her excuse.
Moon pursed her lips, irritated.
“But if you’re going for the job excuse, we have a few ideas for you,” Riv continued.
“I’m listening,” Moon replied tautly.
“Well, obviously, I’m about to have this baby. I’ll need someone to run the office for a little while. Like three months or so, though I’m angling for a full six with this kid. The bosses and I are negotiating.”
Since the bosses were Paisley’s husbands, Moon was pretty sure she’d win.
“Cauld’s Well will need to hire an admin soon, too,” Riv added, naming another ranch. She looked at her nails. “Not that I know or anything.”
“Right. Keep telling that story,” Sun scoffed. “We all know those boys over there are after you. Even though you’re not taking the bait, you keep tabs on everything.”
“Whatever,” Riv replied. “This isn’t about me.”
“I wish it was,” Moon grumbled. “That’s all temporary and maybes.”
“Event planning,” Sun threw out. “That’s your forte, not babysitting rock stars. You could set up an office in Gillette. It would be a bitch of a commute some days, but I know someone who’d help you with the startup.”
“Write a book. Or write online content about organizing things,” Paisley said.
“Work at the bar in Daly.”
Paisley and Riv glared at Sun who’d given the last suggestion. Sun held her hands wide. “Hey, I hear business has declined since Briar quit. The guys used to go there to see her. The owners would hire Moon in a second.”
“And Pete, Cord or Sully would shoot them. Next suggestion,” Riv argued.
Moon shook her head as her sisters named options, few of them viable and some tempting. For almost an hour, their rapid-fire suggestions bombarded her. It was dizzying.
“Or just be a housewife and let those boys take care of you,” Paisley finally suggested.
“I like that one,” Sully’s deep voice said from the doorway.
Moon’s gaze shot up from where she’d been examining her hands and trying to think of a polite way to tell her sisters to back off. She appreciated their intentions, but the pressure wasn’t helping her. She shot to her feet and practically sprinted to him.
“I thought you might need a rescue,” he said as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her temple.
“Lord, yes,” she breathed and hugged him tight. She turned in his embrace to face her sisters. “I love you guys and I appreciate this. I’ll think about what you’ve said. Sun where’s my bag?”
“It’s in the hallway closet. I’ll show you.”
A few minutes later, Sully had dragged her bag out to the truck, she’d hugged her sisters goodbye, and she and Sully were on the way back to the Red House.
“You will never know how happy I am that you showed up,” she breathed, leaning her head back on the rest. “I mean…I miss them like crazy, but they were doing the full-court press. Guilt and interference.”
He nodded. “I understand that. Do you mind if we pull over and talk for a few minutes?”
“Sure. Okay.”
Sully drove to a small grove of trees growing near one of the many streams that meandered through the ranch. After cutting the engine, he got out then circled to her door.
They rounded the truck and leaned against the grille. A cool spring breeze chilled the air as the evening closed in, and Moon shivered. Sully drew her into his chest and stretched his coat around her, too. The heat from his body warmed her quickly as she leaned her head against his chest.
“That phone call today,” he started then blew out a heavy breath. “That was my cousin.”
“Oh. You don’t seem happy about it.”
“I’m not. He was calling to tell me my brother, Brian, was in an accident. It was weeks ago and they’re just calling me now. He’s, um, paralyzed from the waist down, I guess.”
“I’m sorry,” Moon said quietly, feeling the turmoil vibrating through Sully.
“He’s kinda an ass, but I wouldn’t wish this on him.” He sighed again. “Thing is, they want me to come home. Not just to visit. My family owns a huge horse farm in Kentucky. They breed champions and my brother is in charge of it all. Now he can’t do it and they want me to take over.”
“And you don’t want to?”
“No. It’s not that I don’t want the responsibility,” he hurriedly told her. “When I left there, I said I was never going back. I’m not even sure how they tracked me down. I sure as hell didn’t tell anyone back there where I am. Well,” he surmised wryly, “maybe that’s why they took weeks to tell me about Brian.”
“Maybe,” Moon murmured, not wanting to say much so he could just talk.
He leaned his cheek against the top of her head. “Back there…being gay wasn’t accepted. Worse than that. I had to keep it a secret for fear of getting hurt. And I did—keep it a secret that is—for a long time. Then I made a mistake. I brought my boyfriend to the farm to see some of the horses. Right there, in the barn, well, we got it on. You don’t need the details—”
“I like details,” she offered.
“That’s because you’re bad and way too sweet.” He hugged her tighter. “Anyway, someone must have seen something or said something… He left and I went back to the barn to take care of the horses. I was halfway through—” His voice broke as the memory overwhelmed him.
“You don’t need to tell me,” she said.
“I want to. I need to. I’ve never really told anyone. Cord only knows bits of it. He doesn’t know the worst. He doesn’t know that I knew all the men who cornered me in the barn. Every. Single. One of them. Men who were older than me and I’d known since I was a kid. Guys who were close friends of my brothers. A few who worked for us. At least two who were related to me.”
“God! How many were there?”
“I don’t know. A lot. I guess they meant to teach me a lesson, beat the crap out of me. They almost killed me. I don’t remember all of it. One thing I remember clear as day. My brother walked in during the middle of it.”
She felt a tear fall on the side of her neck, and her heart broke for him. Turning, she hugged him tight and pressed her cheek hard against his chest.
“He just…watched it for a minute…didn’t say a word. Then he…he walked out. He left me to the men calling me vile names and beating the shit out of me. That was the last time I saw him. I don’t know how long I lay there on the cement in the barn. I couldn’t actually walk. I couldn’t get up. Eventually, I dragged myself to my car. I managed to drive away. All I had was my car and the bloody clothes on my back. I didn’t go to the house. I didn’t take anything. I just left.” He chuckled, the sound full of sadness. “I don’t remember a lot about those first days other than pain. Pain and betrayal.”
“And now they want you back?”
“Yeah, and isn’t that the shit of it. That was ten years ago. I guess they’re more progressive now, whatever the hell that means. Maybe they just abuse people verbally now, instead of almost killing them. My cousin promises that I won’t be touched. And I feel like I need to be the better man and come to Brian’s aid when he needs me.”
“That would make you the better one,” she agreed, her stomach roiling with horror from what had happened and fear for him if he went back. She didn’t know the people in his hometown, but she didn’t trust them. People didn’t change that much. Not in a short ten years; not if they didn’t want to.
“I needed to talk to someone unbiased,” he said.
She looked up at him, knowing her emotions were probably painted across her face. “I don’t think I can be considered unbiased.”
“Okay…someone who wouldn’t h
op on a plane and go take out as many of them as he could.”
“I’d help poison their Kool-Aid. Those people are evil, Sully.”
“So you don’t think I should go help?”
“No.”
He sighed. “I think I have to.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. To prove I’m a better man? To show them all that I survived them? Because I think family is important even if they don’t deserve consideration?”
“I’m sorry.” It was all she could say. She was sorry for his pain, for his horrible past, for his dilemma, for him having a family who didn’t realize how awesome he was, for not having a real answer for him, for the fact he’d leave his friends and his lover behind to go to people who didn’t deserve him. She was just…sorry.
“I’ll tell Pete and Cord tonight. If I’m going I need to leave soon.”
Tears burned in Moon’s eyes. She wanted to tell him not to go, but she was leaving soon, too. How could she tell him to stay if she would not?
* * * *
Moon didn’t want to be part of the “family” meeting Sully called after dinner. It had been subdued. Moon knew what was going on, and Pete and Cord apparently sensed there was a problem. Cord didn’t even try to crack jokes as he often did. Sully was just sad.
“I need to…I need to tell you all something,” Sully said before they left the table.
Cord closed his hand over Sully’s as Moon pressed her lips together and willed back her tears over what was coming.
“What’s wrong?” Cord asked.
“I have to go to Kentucky.” Quickly, Sully poured out the details of his brother’s injury and the farm needing him. He didn’t repeat the story of his past. “They need me there as soon as possible,” he said. He looked at Cord, his eyes shiny with barely contained emotion. “I’m sorry.”
“Why?” Cord asked. He cupped Sully’s cheek and stroked under his eye with his thumb. “You should know by now that where you go, I go. This isn’t just a short visit.”
“No,” Sully agreed. “It’ll be indefinite.”
Pete sighed from across the table. When Moon looked over at him, his face seemed drawn. “I can’t hold your jobs for you,” he said quietly. “Even though I want to.”
