by Dahlia West
Willow laughed and apparently thought it was wonderful. “Again!” she cried, but Court swung down from the saddle instead.
“What’s going on?” he demanded.
“I…” Rowan blinked up at him. “Nothing.”
“Where’s Dakota going?”
Instead of answering, she glanced guiltily at Sawyer, who was advancing toward them, more slowly than Court had. “Um…” she dithered. “I think…I think she went to see Cassidy.”
Sawyer frowned, and Court, realizing that it didn’t have anything to do with himself or anyone he cared about, took hold of BlackJack’s reins, slipped Willow out of Rowan’s arms, and walked the horse into the barn while carrying his chattering daughter.
Alone in the driveway with Rowan, Sawyer felt awkward…and dirty…and impatient.
“I saw her at the Feed and Seed,” she told him.
Sawyer pretended not to care.
“She’s working there now.”
That got his attention. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said.
“Nope. Mr. Reese hired her as a cashier. Sawyer,” she said, moving closer to him. “She’s hurt again. She’s got a brand-new black eye.”
“What?! God damn it!”
Rowan eyeballed him closely as she spoke. “She says she’s okay, though. She said she left home and she’s not going back. For what it’s worth, I believe her. And I offered her a ride after her shift ended, but—”
“A ride to where?”
“The Dusty Rose.”
“The fucking motel?”
Rowan nodded. “She’s living there now. And her car is gone.”
The front door of the Big House opened, and Walker stepped outside. He eyed the two of them curiously and started down the wooden steps.
“How long has she been there?” Sawyer demanded.
“Dakota said since the first night. She was with her when she checked in.” Rowan frowned. “I don’t think it’s been that easy for her, working at the Feed and Seed. People gawk at her.”
Walker stopped next to them, silent but listening.
Sawyer couldn’t stop the smirk that crossed his face. “Well, she’s not exactly humble. She’s haughty as hell and walks around Star Valley like she’s always wearing a tiara on her head. She’s even rude to the people who try to help her, like Jill, at the hospital. She could use a dose of humility.”
He believed that. He truly did. The black eye, though, that bothered him intensely. Something about it niggled at his brain. It just didn’t make sense.
“That was for me,” said Rowan.
“What?”
Rowan rolled her eyes. “Jill was being her usual charming self. She was poking fun at Cassidy, hinting that she’d deserved to be smacked around and basically accusing her of drinking and driving.”
Sawyer winced, knowing Cassidy’s mother had died that way. He wondered if Jill knew.
“She took it all with a smile,” Rowan told him, “until Jill started getting testy with me. That’s why Cassidy told her off. She wouldn’t stick up for herself, but she did it for me.”
He turned to Rowan fully and pinned her with a sharp gaze. “Did she tell you why Palmer hit her this time?”
Rowan’s eyes widened, and she bit her lower lip.
“Don’t screw with me, Rowan. If you know, tell me.”
“I don’t know. She didn’t say,” she said, shaking her head.
“Did she tell you if Palmer had ever hit her before? That night I brought her to the medical center? Was that the first time?”
Palmer had said it’d been agreed to from the start, that it was all part of the plan. But if that was true, why hit her again? Palmer had to know that Sawyer and Cassidy were finished, that he wouldn’t be fooled by another set of injuries. Was it punishment for choosing Sawyer over Walker?
“Sawyer, I’m not going to tell you anything. It’s my job, and I take it seriously. I didn’t tell Dakota anything confidential. I won’t tell you, either.”
Something niggled in his brain, a tiny spark that caught and spread like wildfire to the far recesses of his mind. Something, a memory, a gesture, and a look. “Did…” he began, still only grasping at the edges of the thought. “Did Palmer do something to her? Something else?”
Rowan gaped at him.
“Did he…hurt her arm?”
Cassidy always rubbed her arm whenever they talked about Palmer. He’d thought it was a nervous gesture, but now that he really thought about it, he remembered that Rowan and Cassidy had been in that room for a long time and that there were other x-rays in that file Rowan had held in her hands. Older ones.
“Did he break it?” Sawyer demanded. “Did Palmer break Cassidy’s arm?”
Rowan shook her head, tried valiantly to deny what he already knew. “This is not my place, Sawyer. And she honestly didn’t say.”
Sawyer nodded to himself “I think so. When they were kids. I know you can’t say, but he did. I’m sure of it.”
“Why would he do that?” Rowan asked.
“Because he’s an asshole. And a bully. And I’m fairly certain that Christopher Conroy uses his son to do his dirty work for him. Conroy had a plan for Cassidy, and when she wouldn’t follow through, when she stood up for herself, Palmer tried to smack her back into submission.”
“Jesus,” Rowan said softly.
“I mean, I knew he slapped her that night, the night she came here, but I didn’t think things were that bad. She just had the one bruise. When she told me, I thought her father would’ve put Palmer in his place for raising his hand to her. At the time, I didn’t know Mr. Conroy was masterminding the whole shit show. Palmer tried to say Cassidy was in on it, but if she left home, gave up her car, if she’s living at the Rose…and if Palmer hit her again…” That last part made him want to hunt Palmer down.
Rowan pressed her lips together tightly.
“What?” Sawyer demanded.
“Um…”
“Rowan.”
“She had more than one bruise. She had them on her arms. One on her hip. I saw them when I examined her.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?!”
Rowan threw up her hands. “You were sleeping with her! I thought you knew! How could you not see them?”
Sawyer groaned. “We didn’t have sex for a while. At least a few days, and I was on the range for a lot of it. I didn’t want to push her.”
“And her brother beat her?” Rowan asked. “I still don’t understand why. What does Mr. Conroy want from her?”
“More land,” said Walker. “And he’s got ideas about using Cassidy to get it.”
“But she left,” Rowan pointed out.
“She did,” Sawyer mused. “I guess she did.”
Part of him was proud of her for taking a final stand against her rotten-to-the-core family. But he was raw as hell that she hadn’t come back to Snake River. Then again, he’d made it clear she wasn’t welcome back. Snake River (and Sawyer) would be the last place she’d ever come to for help again, he suspected. He passed Cash’s reins to Rowan and turned to the bunkhouse.
Walker followed, matching Sawyer’s brisk pace. “What are you doing?” he prodded.
“Going to take a shower, and then I’m heading into town,” Sawyer snapped.
“You want to think this through?”
Sawyer cut him a sharp look. “Are you going to try and stop me?”
The oldest Barlow shook his head. “No. But I’d like to keep you out of jail tonight. If you go looking for Cassidy but find Palmer instead, there’s going to be hell to pay.”
Sawyer stalked toward the bunkhouse door as a grim determination set in. “You’re for damn sure right about that,” he snarled. As soon as he had the camp-stink washed off himself, he was going set off to either find the woman he loved or the man who’d hurt her. One was coming home with him tonight, and the other, well…God help the other one.
Chapter Thirty-Four
‡
CASSIDY
HEARD A knock at the motel room door and for a moment considered just crawling out the bathroom window. Just as she rose, trying to decide what to do, she heard a familiar voice through the door.
“Hello? Cassidy? Are you in there?”
Dakota didn’t sound angry, but Cassidy still cast a furtive glance to the bathroom door. She doubted Dakota would ever get over the fact that she’d thrown herself at Walker. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that the girl was here to blacken Cassidy’s other eye. A matching set would serve her right, though, she supposed. She left the chain on the door, not because she was afraid of Dakota but because she might not be alone.
She cracked the door an inch and peered out.
Dakota sighed. “Open the door.”
No one else was visible through the small opening, but Cassidy had had a long day on her feet, and she only wanted to fall into bed. “I’m tired, Dakota. And I don’t want any more trouble, really. Can’t you just let everything go?”
“I’m not mad.”
Cassidy raised an eyebrow at her.
“Okay, I’m still a little mad. But I don’t want to argue about it. Not tonight.” She lifted her arm and held up a bottle of Fireball. “We should have a drink.”
Too many years spent looking for traps that Palmer had set made Cassidy ever wary. She couldn’t bring herself to open the door.
“I’m still pissed at you,” Dakota admitted. “But you’re also my friend, so…”
Cassidy took a long moment to consider her words and figured if she opened the door only to get beaned in the head, it was worth the risk to try and keep the only friend she had in Star Valley. Tentatively, she took the chain off the door and opened it.
Dakota stepped inside and curled her lip at the state of the room.
“I think there’s supposed to be a maid,” said Cassidy, “but I’ve never seen one.”
“What happened?” Dakota asked quietly, scrutinizing Cassidy’s face.
Cassidy blew out a harsh breath and smiled sadly. “My life happened,” she replied with a shrug.
“Who did that?”
“Sawyer didn’t tell you?”
She watched as Dakota shook her head slowly. “He hasn’t said much. He went out to camp early on the day you guys broke up. He only just came back. Honestly, from what little I saw of him, he looked like he was in a hell of a mood. I’m glad I didn’t have to share a tent with him.”
“I never meant for that to happen. I never meant to hurt him.”
“Well, you managed it. He’s never been torn up over a woman before. Never once. What happened between you two?”
“My father wants Snake River.”
Dakota’s jaw dropped, then her eyes narrowed. “He’ll never get it.”
“Well, not now. Not now that they know, Sawyer and Walker, about the plan. About…” She looked at Dakota sheepishly. “About why I made a pass at Walker.”
“Even if he’d said yes…” The girl looked physically ill just saying it out loud. “Even if, Walker would never turn over The Snake to anyone. Not anyone.”
“Maybe,” Cassidy conceded. Walker certainly seemed strong and independent. “He might’ve held out. But Dad doesn’t start out with the big things.”
Dakota looked at her curiously.
Cassidy sighed. “It starts off small. A favor here, a random task there. And you don’t mind doing it because it’s just a little thing. Then little things become bigger things.” Cassidy wrinkled her nose. “Being nice to the Horvaths at church turns into sitting with Wayne at the Fourth of July picnic. And that turns into a date. Just one little date. And then…”
She trailed off, embarrassed to admit how easily she’d been manipulated by the one person left in her life who was supposed to love her.
“You don’t even notice,” she told Dakota. “Not until you wake up one day and everything you do is for him, because that’s what he wants. You don’t even know what you want. You don’t matter anymore.”
“Is that who hit you? Your dad?”
“No. My brother, Palmer. He was furious when I chose Sawyer over Walker and ruined all their plans. And he’s still mad that he can’t use me anymore. He’s not smart enough to do anything but run Conroy Cattle straight into the ground after Dad dies. We all know it. The only way to even keep it in the family, to keep Palmer from pissing it all away is to add to it, make it so large that even if he loses half—which he will, he’s that dumb—there’ll be some left to leave to his sons.” She shuddered. “Assuming he can find a woman to provide them. He probably will. Some meek, mousy little thing who’ll bend over backward to try to please him. But it won’t be enough. It’ll never be enough. It never is. Men are like that. They take everything you have until there’s nothing left. Then they’re not interested in you anymore, and they leave you to raise the kids while they bend the secretary over the desk in the office.”
Dakota scoffed. “They’re not all like that.”
“Yes, they are. I know you like Walker, and I know right now it seems like everything will be perfect once he finally notices you. And it will be for a while. But then someone else will catch his eye and you’ll do anything, everything, to get him to look your way again. But he won’t.” Cassidy sighed. “You know, I know it doesn’t seem like it, but…maybe you’re lucky that he doesn’t see you. Because I guarantee you it’ll hurt less when he eventually starts looking at someone else.”
“Oh, come on, Cassidy. Walker would never do that. And neither would Sawyer. Just because Court cheated on Rowan—”
Cassidy blinked at her. “Court cheated?”
Dakota paused with the glass halfway to her lips. “Yeah. A lot, actually. Sawyer didn’t tell you?”
“He said Barlows never cheat. That they’re always faithful and never divorce.” She rolled her eyes and lifted her own paper cup. “Figures. All men are alike, just like I told you.”
“They’re not,” Dakota insisted. “Sawyer and Walker and Austin and Seth, they’re not like that.”
“Because you’ve dated all of them?”
Dakota rolled her eyes. “No, but—”
“But you know every woman they’ve ever dated? Collectively?”
Dakota gave an irritated sigh. “Of course not, but—”
“So you don’t know. For all you know, every time Sawyer said he was going into town to the farm supply store, he was meeting someone else, right here in this motel. Maybe right here in this room.” She looked around with a curled lip. “Seems like a popular room.”
“Cassidy, that didn’t happen, and you know it.”
Cassidy shrugged and finished off her drink. “Doesn’t matter. It would have. Eventually.” She reached for the bottle, but Dakota snagged it and pulled it away. “I’m not drunk!” Cassidy insisted.
“Nope.”
“So give me the bottle.”
Dakota shook her head. “You can’t have another. This was just one shot of liquid courage.”
Cassidy narrowed her eyes at her one and only friend. “Courage for what?” she asked slowly.
Dakota set the bottle on the table, out of reach, and stood up. “Come on,” she said. “Grab your purse. I’ll drive.”
“Drive where?” Cassidy demanded, refusing to move.
“I’ll tell you when we get in the car.”
Cassidy pressed her lips together and looked longingly at the now-empty shot glass. She didn’t want liquid courage. She wanted a memory wipe. “I can’t go there,” she whispered. “I’m not welcome.”
Dakota shook her head. “We’re not going to Snake River.”
“Then where—?”
“Just get up, Cassidy. It’s time to put on your big-girl panties.”
Confused, Cassidy stood and picked up her purse while Dakota opened the door to the room. Outside in the warm summer night, both women crossed the parking lot of the Dusty Rose toward Dakota’s pick up. Cassidy took one long look back at the closed motel room door and thought she probably should’
ve stayed there.
Chapter Thirty-Five
‡
SAWYER STEPPED INTO The Silver Spur and scanned the packed house from front to back. Cassidy wasn’t at The Dusty Rose; that had been his first stop. He looked around The Spur carefully, hoping to catch a glimpse of her, but she wasn’t there. He found Palmer, though, pressing a girl up against the wall even as she looked like a scared rabbit, ready to bolt the moment she got the opportunity. No one was helping her, which wasn’t surprising.
It seemed Palmer Conroy got away with a lot in this town just for having the right last name.
Sawyer stormed across the dance floor, and people parted before him, skittering off to the sides like roaches who’d had a spotlight suddenly shined on them. He came up behind Palmer, grabbed him by the back of the neck, and dragged him away from the girl. Palmer’s beer went flying as he struggled to keep his footing.
“What the hell?!” he shouted.
Dragging him to the door was a fairly simple task. Palmer barely weighed more than a large hay bale. Sawyer threw him into the door, using the momentum of his body’s impact to fling it open. Outside, Palmer went sprawling into the crushed gravel of the parking lot.
Palmer caught himself and managed to stop his roll. When he finally came to a stop, he searched till his gaze landed on Sawyer, and he gaped at him. “I will fucking kill you, Barlow!”
Sawyer stomped forward again, just as the Spur’s patrons began spilling out into the lot.
Palmer scrambled to his feet quickly. “This guy’s crazy!” he shouted at the people behind him.
“That’s one word for it,” Sawyer growled.
Palmer held up his hands to ward him off. “Look, I don’t know what your problem is, but I don’t want to fight you.” Despite his words, Palmer’s fist shot out, obviously trying to catch Sawyer off guard. But Sawyer ducked easily, avoiding the impact entirely. As Palmer lost his balance on the follow-through, Sawyer grabbed his arm and threw him into the nearest truck.
