by Cassie Cole
First things first: I didn’t even know what I was going to do with my life. I’d lost my job minutes ago, and although I intended to walk into the First Bank of Austin and beg for my job, I doubted I would get it back. I had enough in my savings account and crypto portfolio to live unemployed for years, but that wasn’t the kind of life I wanted to live.
But what was?
“I… I don’t know what to say.”
“Let’s go back to the basics,” Landon said. “Put aside all other complications. You’ve intended to sell the ranch from the start. We want to buy it. It’s that simple.”
“We’ve moved our money around,” Daniel added. “We can call your lawyer and have him here with documents today.”
He was right. The simple sale was all that really mattered right now. Especially since we were on a time crunch, with the foreclosure auction a day away. All the other stuff? We could figure it out later.
Before I could open my mouth to agree, the world exploded.
43
Landon
The explosion happened in the living room, a sudden flash. The air took on a viscosity like soup; it hit me in the chest and ears and throat, a concussive force that I felt more than heard. I slipped from my chair, and the ground came rushing up to hit me in the head.
It was like someone had pressed the mute button on the ranch. I could feel the thumping of my brothers hitting the ground or jumping up, but there was no sound to accompany the vibration. I blinked rapidly and pushed up on an elbow; Chase was looking right at me and his lips were moving, but no sound came out.
He dropped to the ground, but not to help me: to grab Cindy. She was on her side and not moving.
Alarm jolted me to my feet like every shot of espresso I’d ever had combined.
The room spun and I nearly teetered over, but I reached Cindy and Chase. She was breathing, thank God, but her eyes were closed. One eyelid fluttered gently.
Chase put his lips close to my ears. “I said: that was a grenade.”
“A—what?” I said, though I could barely hear my own voice. “No way.”
“I may have dropped out of boot camp, but I remember grenade training,” he said. Already his voice was becoming clearer.
As if to add an exclamation point to his statement, a window shattered in the next room and an object bounced heavily across the floor. Before I could look at it very long Chase was smothering Cindy and me with his body.
I covered my ears just as the explosion THUMPED, another concussive blast that made my chest and eyeballs ache. Splinters of wood flew through the air and smoke roiled through the doorway from the kitchen to the living room.
“Fucking piece of shit motherfuckers!” I heard a voice call outside. “You wanna see my arsenal? Here it fucking is.”
Another explosion boomed somewhere far away.
“Holy shit,” I said. “It’s Francis Honeycomb.”
Daniel crouched next to us. “Psychopath. She okay?”
Cindy was stirring on the ground, eyes fluttering open and groaning. “Hit her head on the ground, but that’s it,” Chase said.
“We need to get her out of here,” Daniel insisted. “And, you know, us too.”
I looked across the kitchen to the phone on the wall. “I’ll call the sheriff…”
But Chase was shaking his head. “He’ll take 10 minutes to get here. We won’t last that long. But there’s guns in the barn…”
It was stupid. We were under attack from a madman. We were cowboys, not soldiers. My every instinct told me to cower in the corner of the room and wait for all this to go away.
Daniel said, “I’ll carry Cindy out the back. We can hide behind the shed to the south.”
Chase nodded. “You go with him. I’ll make for the barn.”
“I’ll go with you,” I insisted. “He’s on the north side of the house, so to get to the barn you’ll have to run right in his view. If there’s two of us…”
I left the rest unsaid. There wasn’t much logic to both of us going into danger, but I couldn’t bear the thought of Chase going alone.
“Let’s do it.”
Daniel lifted Cindy off the ground and went out the back door, hugging the outside of the house until he disappeared from view. Chase and I ducked down and scrambled to the side door. The open yard from the door to the barn seemed much longer than it had before. I could still hear Francis yelling unintelligibly around the right, out of view.
“Ready when you are,” I lied.
Chase took off like a sprinter at the block. I was only two steps behind him, my feet pounding across the ground like my life depended on it. Which, you know, it might. I kept the barn in my view as I ran: a quarter of the way there. Halfway.
I stole a glance to the right. Francis Honeycomb stood in front of the house like an angry soldier, wearing a kevlar vest over camo clothes. He wore what looked like a SWAT team helmet, which explained why his voice was so muffled. I didn’t see a gun, but his fist was clenched around what I assumed was another grenade.
Chase crashed through the barn door and rolled across the hay; I threw myself to the ground behind him. He paused, cocking his ears.
“Don’t think he ever saw us,” he said, panting. “Helmet blocks his periphery.”
I went to the barn door and slowly peered out. Francis faced the house, shouting something taunting. He pulled back his arm and hurled another grenade, this time into one of the upstairs windows. The explosion sent dust cascading off the roof and walls.
Chase appeared next to me with a bolt-action rifle. It was even rustier than the one he’d taken to get the cattle back from the Honeycomb ranch. “He still doesn’t see us.”
“Yet,” Chase said. “We’ve gotta do something.”
“He’s only got grenades.”
Chase shook his head. “That looks like an AR-15 on the ground at his feet.” He handed me the rusted rifle. “I think I can get close, take him out.”
I gawked at my little brother. “Like, tackle him?”
“Sure. Cover me from here. If he reaches for the gun, shoot him.”
“He’s wearing body armor!” I protested.
Chase kept his eyes focused on the maniac next to the house. “Yeah, but the shot will still knock him down. Maybe.”
“You’re gunna risk your life on a maybe?”
He looked me in the eyes. “If it means keeping Cindy and Daniel safe, then yes.”
Goddamnit. I knew that look in his eye: he was determined. Just like that night in this very same barn, when he wanted to go retrieve the cattle. There was nothing I could do to stop him.
And just like that night, I had to be the brother that backed him up. Even if it was a stupid mistake.
Before he could, we heard the distant wail of police sirens. Francis Honeycomb heard them too; he turned away from us to stare in the direction of the driveway. Two tails of dust rose into the air as the sheriff and another car pulled up to the house. The sheriff hopped out of the cruiser, took one look at Francis, and ducked back inside.
Herald Honeycomb’s wide shape appeared from the second car. “Francis! What in the marmalade-eatin’ world are you doin’?”
It was like someone had flipped a switch. Francis pulled off his SWAT helmet and said, “Uhh. I was just…”
“Sheriff, forget all this,” Herald quickly said. “The crime we called you out here for is battery. That blond one, Chase, punched my son…”
The sheriff reemerged from his car, using the driver door as a shield. I saw the matte paint of a pistol aimed with both hands. “FRANCIS HONEYCOMB. Drop whatever’s in your hand and get on your knees.”
“I didn’t mean…” Francis said as he obeyed, placing his hands behind his head. “It was just a joke…”
With his pistol still aimed at Francis, the sheriff reached back in the cruiser. “Dispatch? We need the fire department out to the Jameson Ranch. The address is two-oh-two…”
I took my eyes off Francis for the first time si
nce we’d entered the barn. Smoke poured out of the windows on the bottom floor, with occasional licks of flame visible through all the haze. Smaller tendrils climbed out the upper window as well.
“Aww, shit,” Chase said as the house burned down.
44
Cindy
I woke up underneath a blue sky with the worse headache of my life.
“Ugh,” I groaned, putting a hand to my temple. Three sets of faces appeared above me.
“She’s up.”
“I can see that, Chase.”
“Are you okay?” Daniel asked, smoothing back my hair.
Sirens wailed somewhere nearby, with other sounds of commotion. I pushed myself into a seated position and looked up.
We were sitting behind the fertilizer shed. In front of me was my house, the house I’d grown up in, the house with all my memories of my dad and momma.
It was burning down.
I could see the tip of a fire engine sticking out on the other side of the house and the spray of water from their tank, but it was immediately obvious that it was a losing effort. Deep black smoke rose from every window on both floors, so much that I couldn’t see any actual fire.
“Oh,” I said.
The three brothers rubbed my back as we watched the house fall apart. It didn’t take long. The far section of the roof caved in, bringing with it the back wall of the house. For a few moments I could see the inside as if it were a doll house: the floor splitting the two levels, and the master bedroom on the ground floor. Then the smoke returned, concealing it again.
I felt numb as I watched the fire take the last remaining piece from me. I didn’t have it in me to cry. I’d done enough of that already. The tank was empty.
The firefighters couldn’t save the house, but they did keep it from spreading. By the time they were done nothing remained except a smoldering pile of charred wood and half the chimney standing tall like a black-stained obelisk.
The sheriff asked us some questions before taking Francis away. One of the firemen checked out my head and determined I didn’t have a concussion—just a bruise on the side. Then we spoke to the fire chief. “Surprised it went up so quick,” he said, sounding apologetic. “Most of these old ranch homes have flame-retardant asbestos in the walls.”
“You don’t say,” I said.
He had me sign some documents and then their truck rolled away, leaving us alone.
“They didn’t even ask me about punching Francis,” Chase said.
“Yeah, ya think?” Daniel said.
Landon grimaced. “To be fair, you did tell him to bring his whole arsenal.”
“Aww shit, I didn’t expect him to do it.”
“This feels like a fitting end to the week,” I said. I was still numb to it all. “The last few scraps of my life going up in flames.”
“Oh!” Daniel said, running to grab something from behind the shed. He came back with my laptop in his hands. “I did save this!”
“I don’t think she meant the laptop,” Landon said.
“Actually, I’ve got all my crypto wallets on here,” I said. “You saved me from having to recover them all from my paper wallet backups.”
All three of them stared at me. “I don’t have a clue what any of that means,” Daniel said.
“Maybe I’ll sit you down and give you a crash course in cryptocurrency some day.”
“So does that mean there is some day? In the future?” Landon said.
I turned to face the smoldering remains of my house. “Well, that’s unlikely, unless you want to buy a ranch that’s missing a ranch house.”
I meant it as a sarcastic joke, but Daniel shrugged. “Honestly, with all the problems the house had, it’d be easier to rebuild from scratch.”
“Especially if we press charges against the Honeycombs,” Landon said. “I still want the ranch if you two do.”
Chase blew air out his nose. “Are you kidding? This makes me wanna buy it more. Now we’ve got a history.”
They looked at me.
Maybe it was the almost-concussion, or maybe I was lightheaded from all the smoke, but I felt a wave of happiness come over me. Like all of this was happening for a reason.
Yeah, that was crazy. But so was my arrangement with these three brothers.
“Fuck it,” I said. “If you still want to buy, then I still want to sell.” I held up one finger. “On one condition: I’m only selling 75% of the ranch. I want to keep 25% of the estate.”
Landon arched an eyebrow above his dark eyes. “Is that right?”
“Yeah, it is,” I said. “Non-negotiable. I’ll assume 25% of the remaining debt, of course, but I have the personal funds to take care of that.”
The Hughes brothers didn’t need to talk it over. All of them nodded immediately.
“But what are you gunna do?” Chase asked. “Try to get your job back in Austin? Look for something new there?”
“I dunno,” I said casually. “I might stick around here some.”
“And do what?”
I looked at my laptop and smiled. “I have some ideas.”
45
Cindy
Two months later
I slept like a baby, as I did every night these days. It was peaceful out here. I’d grown used to that. I wondered how I ever slept in the city’s constant cacophony of car horns and ambient noise.
I rolled over and draped an arm across the body next to me. Daniel, I thought when I saw his mess of black hair. Last night was a Daniel night. It was tough to keep track sometimes. I smiled and kissed his bare arm, letting my hand play with the loose strands of hair.
“Mornin’, cowboy,” I drawled in my best country accent.
He made an adorable morning squeak and turned his head. “Mornin’, beautiful.”
“You’re not too bad to look at, yourself. Do you know what today is?”
He pulled me into a lazy kiss. His lips were sweet and warm. Unlike the other two, Daniel didn’t have morning breath. I was beginning to suspect he sneaked out of bed to brush his teeth 10 minutes before I woke up.
I let his kiss distract me for a few wonderful seconds before pulling away. “Come on. It’s time to get up.”
He groaned and grabbed my arm. “No. Stay. Bed.”
I smiled cheerfully at him. “But today’s the day!”
Daniel rubbed at one eye. “He said he’d be here at 8:00 at the earliest. They’re never on time.”
“I want to be ready, just in case.”
“Maybe I can convince ya to linger here a spell?”
“I’m listening.”
He brushed away the hair from my face and looked at me with his piercing emerald eyes. “Remember the first time?”
“What first time?” I said, playing dumb.
“That day on the ranch, after I saved ya from the runaway horse…”
“Hmm, it’s ringing a few bells.”
With shocking speed he twisted me sideways and pushed me flat onto my belly, burying me in the fluffy down comforter. I sucked in my breath as his body crawled around behind me, hands on the back of my thighs holding me down with his weight. I felt his breath on my bare ass, still nude from the night before.
He waited. Dragging it out. Admiring me.
I sighed as his tongue touched my wet slit, flicking down toward my clit. He moved his hands up my thighs to spread my cheeks wide, burying his nose in my ass as he licked up and down my pussy.
Soon I didn’t care what day today was.
*
The sun was shining by the time Daniel and I left my trailer. The sound of hammers on wood rang through the morning air, and the frame of my new house cut a handsome shape across the impossibly blue West Texas sky.
Chase had breakfast going on a skillet outside the trailer the brothers shared. Both trailers were only temporary until the house was up. I didn’t mind. The house itself wasn’t what I was excited about.
“Morning, stud,” I said. Chase looked away from the skillet of eg
gs and hashbrowns to grin at me.
“You’re bright and cheery.”
“Cause today’s the day!”
“What day?” Landon asked as he came down from the trailer. He had his riding chaps on and a cup of coffee in his hand.
“The day,” Daniel said. “Don’t you know?”
“Oh, right,” Landon said, as if he’d forgotten. “You still want to do that?”
I took the cup of coffee from his hand. “Don’t even tease!”
“Just saying, it’ll change this place forever…”
“You’d rather I keep driving to town to pay Ashley to let me use the feed store back room?”
Landon shared a glance with Daniel, then failed to suppress a blustery grin. “I mean, you can’t put a price on peace and quiet.”
I ignored the comment. The boys knew how to push my buttons and this morning I wasn’t going to let them. “Going for a ride today?”
“That quarter horse has nearly found his manners. I figure a few more days of hard riding will finally break him in.”
“You’re good at that sort of thing,” I said as I turned away. “Breaking in wild things.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Daniel frowned. “You’re not gunna help us move the herd to the west pasture? Like we talked about?”
“Figured you and Chase have that covered. You’re a better cowboy than I ever was.”
Daniel lowered his head to his food to try to hide his blush.
We ate our breakfast to the less-than-peaceful sound of construction. It was music to our ears.
I still had half a plate of hashbrowns left when a utility truck came up the driveway. “He’s here!” I yelled, practically throwing my plate at Daniel. “He’s here! He’s here!”
“Like a kid on Christmas,” Daniel muttered.
“I dunno. I was the giddiest of us, and even I wasn’t this excited,” Chase said.
I ran to greet the driver as he hopped out of the truck. “You Cindy Jameson?”
