Kody laughed. She put a hand on her belly and used the other to wipe away a few tears that squeezed out of her eyes. “You don’t think I’m jealous that you’re hooking up with him, do you?”
I frowned. “I honestly don’t know what to think. You called me in to save him in the middle of the night and he’s very protective of you. I never stopped to work my way through what all of that may mean when I started to have very confusing feelings toward him.”
It was Kody’s turn to reach out a hand and comfort me. Her gaze went soft and sincere as she told me, “Shot and I are friends. We’ve always been friends. He was there when I needed help with the bar. He was there when I was lost and lonely and needed someone to lean on. We both knew it was never going to be anything more than a very close friendship with an occasional benefit from the start. The benefits ended up being less important to both of us than the friendship. He means the world to me, but I always understood that he is a dangerous man who is fully capable of doing really bad things.” She smiled a little as she added, “He’s also a very good guy who can and will do great things for others—it just depends on the day. He’s not who I would’ve imagined you falling for.”
I lifted my shoulders and let them fall in a helpless shrug. “Truthfully, I’ve never fallen for anyone before. I can’t even say for certain that’s what happening. I didn’t think he was my type.” I frowned. “I still don’t.” But there was no denying that I’d been fully invested and engaged in what happened between us the previous night. I one hundred percent wanted him, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that being intimate with him once would never be enough.
No one other than him had ever stayed in my mind long after they left the room. No other man made me moan and ache when touching me the way he did. There had never been anyone in my orbit who made it easy to forget all the reasons they were so wrong for me, and instead forced me to look at all the reasons why I couldn’t stay away. No one who was seemingly right for me had me as confused and confounded as Shot had me.
Kody’s pretty features turned into a frown as she stared at me with evident concern on her freckled face. “How have you never fallen for anyone before? You never had a crush on a classmate? You never had to suffer through an unrequited love?” She leaned forward, gaze intense and probing. “I’m going to sound conceited, since we look so much alike, but you’re unbelievably beautiful, and you’re smart. Even if you weren’t interested, I can’t believe you didn’t have the opposite sex chasing you everywhere you went.”
I lifted my eyes to the ceiling, memories of endless lonely and empty nights flitting through my mind.
It might seem odd to her, but there was a very logical reason why I’d been such a late bloomer.
“In high school, I skipped several grades. So I was younger than everyone in all of my classes. No one really seemed to know what to do with me. I was like an alien in their midst. I was too quiet and too serious to make friends. Plus, my mom was sick. There wasn’t any money to participate in normal school activities, and any free time I had was spent taking care of her. Dating was out of the question. College was a little better. I dated some, but I was clueless and clumsy with it, since I was still younger than most of the guys I went out with.”
I shook my head and sighed. “I never realized it back then, but anyone who was interested in me, or anyone I was even slightly attracted to, Ashby made it her mission to run interference between us. I would go on a date with a guy, then find out she slept with him. If I mentioned I liked someone, she immediately knew a reason why he would never be interested in me, but then I’d find out later she was seeing him behind my back. It honestly didn’t matter to me—I was focused on getting through school as quickly as possible so I could start working because my mom’s medical bills were out of control. But I hated feeling like I failed at something everyone else around me did with such ease.”
I shifted my gaze back to Kody’s and frowned in a way that I was sure was almost a mirror image to the one on her face. “When I started working for the ME’s office I met a detective. He was the first man I was really, truly interested in. He was smart, ambitious, and his father was battling pancreatic cancer, so I thought we had a lot in common.”
Kody practically climbed on top of the table, she leaned so far forward as I spoke. “What happened with him? Did Ashby have an affair with him as well?”
I slowly shook my head. “No. But she did tell me that he was married, and that there was no father with cancer. She told me he was playing me big-time. After everything Ashby was doing to deter me from taking the promotion when it was announced I was the front-runner became clear, I actually looked the man up to see if he had been another victim of her lies and manipulation. Lying about what he’d done to me would be the least of her crimes, but it was all true. He could tell I was lonely and used my mother’s illness as a way to get close to me quickly.” I made a disgusted face and told her flatly, “It was the first time in my life I acted dumb over a man and I swore I would never do it again.” I sighed again. “Then I met Shot.”
Kody got to her feet and walked over to me. She hugged me in a similar manner to how I’d hugged her earlier and whispered, “You didn’t have it any easier than we did, did you?”
I let myself melt into the comfort of her hug. “No. It wasn’t easy.”
However, I knew my mom loved me, and even as sick as she was, she did her best to make sure I never doubted how much. It wasn’t until she died that the full scope of what she’d done to make sure I was provided for was revealed. I hadn’t grown up under Conrad Lawton’s corrupt tyranny like my siblings had, but his misdeeds had found their way into my life regardless.
“You do realize that whatever you have with Shot isn’t going to be any kind of walk in the park, right? No matter how casual or serious things are between the two of you, it’s going to be complicated.” She gave me a look that was hard to decipher. “Case and Crew aren’t very fond of him, but they are both growing incredibly fond of you. Maybe just keep that in mind moving forward.”
I let out an uneven-sounding laugh. “Now who’s being the annoyingly reasonable one?”
She laughed at my flippant comment, and some of the heavy tension from the conversation lifted. “It doesn’t happen often, so appreciate it.”
I did. And I appreciated her.
Talking with Kody about the things we were afraid of, about the mistakes and memories that lived within us, felt good. Felt cathartic and healing.
It felt like I’d finally found a forever family and maybe even my place within it.
Chapter 13
Shot
To what do I owe the pleasure, gentlemen?”
I asked the question as I leaned against my bike, which was parked on the side of a remote back road. I didn’t take my sunglasses off, as both the sheriff and the Texas Ranger made their way toward me.
Case and Hill were dressed casually in jeans, boots, and plain T-shirts. They both wore cowboy hats; Case’s was black, Hill’s a light gray. It was almost as if their choice in headwear was meant to indicate which was playing good cop and which one was playing bad. Neither had his badge showing, but both wore their service weapons in plain sight, reminding me that, while Case might have called this clandestine meeting, they weren’t my friends nor were to be taken lightly.
Hill and Case moved the same, both full of purpose and authority. They held themselves the same, both alert and aware. They reminded me a lot of my brothers and the guys I’d served with. It made sense, since both had been in the military before coming back to Texas and taking up careers in law enforcement. In a different world, the three of us probably would’ve gotten along just fine. At our core, we had a lot in common, but I wasn’t one to walk the straight and narrow. Also, I’d dated Case’s little sister, who just happened to be the love of Hill’s life, so any bonds of brotherhood between us were bound to be unlikely.
Hill pushed the brim of his hat up and gave me a narrow-eyed look. “Did
you come out here alone?”
I shrugged and waved a gloved hand around the barren and deserted landscape. “You see anyone else hanging around, Ranger?”
“Doesn’t seem like a smart move. It’s empty and isolated. Anything could happen out here.” Hill’s drawl was slow and smooth, making the threat sound less serious than I knew it was.
I rolled my eyes, even though they were covered, and pushed off the bike. I crossed my arms over my chest and asked, “Really, why did you ask me to meet you out here? I’m busy and have shit to do.”
And I didn’t like being so far away from Presley. Top threw a fit when I asked him to keep an eye on her while I rode out to meet the boys in blue. He still hadn’t wrapped his head around the lengths I was willing to go to for her, and he made it pretty obvious he wasn’t totally behind me starting something with her. For Top, the club came first, foremost, and always, much as it had with my father. It was hard for men wired that way to grasp how caring about someone could suddenly take precedence over the brotherhood. In their mind, love, or any faint traces of it, equaled a kind of betrayal.
“We want to talk to you about Presley. We know you’ve been spending time with her, hanging around her, and keeping an eye on her.” Case didn’t lift his hat the way Hill did, so I couldn’t tell if he was looking at me. He copied my pose with his arms across his chest, and I could see an irritated tic moving in his tanned cheek.
I sighed and moved to push my sunglasses to the top of my head. “You already did the big-brother thing and warned me to stay away. Clearly, it didn’t work. Bringing backup isn’t going to make a difference.” I gave Hill a pointed look.
Case swore and took a step toward me, only to be pulled back by his friend. Hill huffed out an annoyed sound and scowled at me. “You obviously haven’t been doing a good enough job protecting her if she was nearly abducted in a room full of people.”
Ouch.
Hill was more laid-back and less volatile than Case, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be as cruel and ruthless as the sheriff when called for.
I practically growled my response. “That was a mistake that won’t be repeated.”
I wasn’t about to explain I’d been busy getting answers for Presley while she was in danger. That was a can of worms no one needed to open. “I’m not going to let anything else happen to her, so why don’t the two of you do your damn jobs and find the lunatic who’s trying to hurt her?”
“Do you really think we’ve been sitting around with our thumbs up our asses?” Now Hill was the one taking a step forward. “I’ve been all over this damn state, chasing even the smallest lead in search of Ashby Grant. I’ve been away from home, away from Kody, for weeks on end. Not only am I worried about Presley, but I’m worried about my woman. Kody has grown incredibly attached to her, and if something happens”—Hill shook his head, his expression shifting from anger to stark concern—“I don’t know that she’ll be able to handle losing someone else she cares so much about.”
Kody had lost her mother when she was a teenager. Then her first love committed suicide right before they were supposed to get married. On top of that, Hill had come back into her life because he had been involved in finding out who murdered her father. It was a lot of loss, no matter how you looked at it, and I agreed Kody would take it exceptionally hard if anything tragic—well, more tragic—happened to Presley.
“I still don’t understand how whatever it is you’re doing, or not doing, has anything to do with me.” If they tracked down Ashby Grant they would put her behind bars and run her through the legal system. If I found her, I wanted to put her in the ground where no one would ever find her. Would I? Unlikely. I didn’t operate that way, but the desire was there and strong enough that I had to fight against it. That was what really separated me from the two men standing across from me.
Case sighed heavily and finally pushed his hat back so I could see his face. I noticed immediately that he looked tired and stressed out. The kind of tired that went all the way to your bones and ate away at your insides. The kind of tired other people could feel. He was clearly very worried about Presley and the never-ending danger she seemed to be in.
“I hate with every fiber of my being having to admit that our hands are tied. We’ve done everything we can. We’ve put as many resources as possible toward the situation, and we still have nothing. Hill and I agree it’s time to start thinking outside the box when it comes to keeping Presley safe and finally ending all of this with Grant.” He sighed again and I could actually see how difficult this conversation was for him. “We need your help.”
I was confused, which I was sure they could see all over my face. “What kind of help are we talking about, boys?” It couldn’t possibly be the kind of help where they also wanted the person who had caused so much hurt to their loved ones in a shallow grave with no questions asked, could it?
Case groaned like he was reading my mind. “Nothing illegal. We want you to stick even closer to Presley. Make it obvious you’re in some kind of relationship with her. Be loud about it. Make sure there is no mistake that the two of you have something going on. Even better if you can make it seem like she’s head over heels in love with you.” He lifted a hand and scratched at the salt-and-pepper stubble on his chin. “A few days ago Presley told Kody that Ashby seems to be particularly triggered by the men in Presley’s life. She’s previously gone out of her way to make sure any relationship Presley tries to start or gets involved in goes up in flames. Hill and I talked it over, and we agree that if you become a constant in Presley’s life, it’s the best chance we have to draw Ashby out into the open. Plus, if you stick close to her, there’s less chance of something like what happened at the bar again.”
Hill chimed in. “Presley has been dangling herself out there as bait from the start and it hasn’t done any good. Ashby wants to hurt her, to punish her. When she doesn’t have something Ashby wants, she serves no purpose. If Presley has you, boom! Ashby suddenly has a reason to resume her plans.”
“How do you explain the trucker trying to take her out of the bar, then?” I understood where they were going with this whole plan, but the recent abduction attempt didn’t make much sense within that framework.
“I think it was a power move. A reminder she’s still here and she’s watching. It was also a really great way to throw the family into chaos.” Case snatched his hat off his head and plowed a frustrated hand through his hair. “It scared the piss out of Presley, but it made Kody, Aspen, and Della feel like they failed her. It also pissed me and Crew off and brought Hill back home. She’s playing with all of us, and Presley is right in the center of the gameboard. There are too many variables. She could go after one of us, one of the family, but there are more of us and the impact is less than if Presley’s attached to one specific person. Ashby left Presley’s mother alone for the most part until Presley got the promotion over her. But, historically, she’s always intervened with her love interests. Our best bet to end this is for Presley to be blatantly and over the top in love with someone. And the only believable ‘someone’ at the moment is you.”
I turned his words over in my head, the dots connecting slowly but surely. “I’ve been hanging around Presley a lot lately. Nothing unusual has happened.” I’d already made my interest obvious, which was why Case had warned me away.
“I think the game changer is making it clear Presley is into you. According to Kody, she’s mostly indifferent to the men who are interested in her, but she seems to like you more than just a little bit.” Case frowned even harder and muttered, “God only knows why.”
I snorted and shifted my gaze between the two men. “So you want me to be the bait instead of her? And you want me to manipulate her feelings toward me for her own good?” I shook my head and clicked my tongue. “You both realize if she finds out about this, if any of the women in your lives find out, we’re all dead men, right?”
Hill tossed his hands up in frustration. He had to know Kody would cast
rate him if any of this came to light. “What choice do we have, Caldwell? How long is this going to drag on? How long are we supposed to be walking on eggshells waiting for this unhinged woman to hurt someone we love? We have to do something, and this is the best idea we’ve got.” He grunted and looked irritated as hell. “It’s not like you don’t already have something started with the doctor anyway. You might not be formally dating now, but you’re doing something. We aren’t suggesting you pretend to like her, because we wouldn’t want to do that to her or you. We’re just saying, show the world and Ashby just how much you like her, and more importantly, how much she likes you.”
I bit off a string of swear words and looked up at the sky for a second, the sun nearly blinding me. The bright light was enough to get all the spiraling, disordered thoughts in my head in line. “She’s going to be really hurt if she finds out she’s being used, even if it is for her own good.”
I wanted to date her for real. Well, maybe not date-date. I wasn’t a dinner-and-movie kind of guy and Presley had already told me she didn’t know a good date from a bad one. But I wanted to see her, and only her. I didn’t like the idea of playing this kind of game behind her back at all. I also didn’t like the thought of making her angry enough that she might walk away from me for good if she found out what I was really up to. She was so hesitant and careful when it came to getting close to someone else, I didn’t want her to doubt my feelings were real, and if she knew what Case and Hill were scheming that was exactly what would happen. I already felt like I was chasing after someone who was reluctant to be caught. I knew I was close to catching her and didn’t want to give her a reason to slip through my fingers.
“I can deal with her being hurt.” Case’s voice was hard and unyielding. “I can’t deal with her being dead. Can you?”
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