Branded as Trouble

by Delores Fossen

  The answer quickly came to mind. Arwen. Tate could be protecting the girl. Of course, maybe the only reason her name came to mind was because of that conversation Roman had had with Waylon. Still, it was easy to believe that Arwen was troubled and could therefore act out.

  Roman handed the principal back his phone. “What makes you think Tate did this?”

  Doug huffed, and Roman could practically hear what was going on in his head. He thought Roman was dismissing the possibility of Tate’s involvement. He wasn’t. His son might indeed be involved if he was trying to cover up something for Arwen.

  “I found a can of black spray paint in his locker,” Doug answered.

  Damn. That was certainly a big-assed clue. But it wasn’t necessarily a clue left by Tate. “Did you put the can in your locker?” Roman came out and asked Tate.

  “No,” Tate said without hesitation. “I don’t know how it got there.”

  All right. That was a dead end so Roman turned back to the principal. “How’d you know the can was in his locker? Did someone actually see him put it in there?”

  Doug’s mouth went into a flat line. Perhaps because he was remembering all the other times Roman had challenged him when he’d gotten in trouble. That was too bad. Because Roman didn’t want his past coming back to haunt his son.

  “No, I didn’t see him do it,” Doug answered, “but it was there when I opened the locker.”

  “So, who tipped you off?” Mila asked.

  Good question, and apparently Doug didn’t have an especially good answer because he did that flat mouth thing again. “I don’t know. It was anonymous, but that doesn’t mean Tate didn’t do this.”

  “That’s exactly what it means,” Roman argued. “The person who gave you that tip could have set Tate up.”

  “And why would anyone have done that?” Doug fired back just as fast. “To the best of my knowledge, Tate hasn’t made enemies here. In fact, everyone has gone out of their way to be nice to him.”

  Because he’s a Granger.

  Doug didn’t actually include that, but Roman could almost hear him saying it. Yeah, some people were nice to the Grangers and their money. Others didn’t feel the same way, though.

  There was another possibility, too. That the person who’d done this hadn’t intended to get back at Tate but rather Arwen. Roman nearly brought up the girl’s name, but he figured that wasn’t going to lessen the steam that he could practically see coming out of Tate’s ears. Best to try to resolve this fast before both Tate and he said something that would only make this worse.

  “How do we fix this?” Roman asked. And he hoped like hell that Doug wasn’t going to start talking about suspending or expelling Tate.

  Doug glanced down at Tate’s school records, which he had opened in front of him. Records that no doubt included the problems Tate had had in San Antonio.

  “It’s his first offense here,” Doug said. “So, I can go easy on him. A week of detention and he’ll have to pay for the lockers to be repainted. He’ll have to pay,” the man emphasized. “Tate won’t learn his lesson if you give him the money.”

  Tate got to his feet, his hands clenched at his sides, his face tight and flushed. “I didn’t do this, and I shouldn’t have to pay for it or go to detention.”

  Roman’s knee-jerk reaction was to get just as mad, tell Tate that he would indeed pay and get him out of there. But he stopped and rethought this.

  “You really didn’t do this?” he asked Tate.

  “No! I didn’t.” Again, no hesitation.

  This was a gamble since Tate had lied to him before, but Roman thought it was a gamble worth taking. “Here’s what I want you to do,” Roman said. He put his hands on the principal’s desk, leaned in and put his badass expression to good use. “Ask around and find out who gave you that tip. Then call the hardware and grocery stores and find out if any student recently bought a can of that brand of black paint.”

  “The pharmacy, too,” Mila provided. “They sell spray paint, as well.”

  Good point. “And the pharmacy,” Roman added. “If none of that gives you a name, then call me, and you and I can talk. Maybe I’ll even hire a PI to get to the bottom of this. In the meantime, there’ll be no detention for Tate, and I’ll pay for the locker to be repainted.”

  Roman took out five twenties, all that he had in his wallet, and put it on Doug’s desk.

  Doug huffed. “I told you it wouldn’t be a good lesson for Tate if you paid for it.”

  “True. It wouldn’t be a good lesson if Tate had done it, but he just said he didn’t. And I believe him. The person who did this can pay me back when you find him, or her, but I’m sure you’d rather get that painted before the kids show up for class tomorrow.”

  The man glanced at the money, then slid his gaze to Mila, Tate and Roman. It gave Roman a good jolt of déjà vu because he’d had to wait other times to learn his own fate. The difference was his father had never once stuck up for him. In fact, his father had always suggested something even harsher than the principal had.

  “All right,” Doug finally said. “I’ll do some checking and get back to you. But no PI. I won’t allow someone questioning these kids.”

  Roman didn’t care about him blowing off the PI suggestion or even that this might be a temporary fix. It still felt like a victory. It must have to Mila, too, because she made a soft squeal and hugged Tate. Tate didn’t exactly hug her back, but some of the venom had faded from his eyes. He picked up his backpack and headed out with Mila following right behind him.

  “Call me the minute you have anything,” Roman added to Doug.

  “You do the same. Because I think Tate knows more about this than he’s saying.”

  So did Roman, but he didn’t confirm that. Old habits. He just thanked the man and hurried to catch up with Mila and Tate. They’d covered a lot of distance in those couple of seconds because they were already out of the building by the time Roman spotted them. They were headed to Mila’s car, which was parked on the other side of the school. Roman hadn’t even noticed it when he’d first driven up, but then he’d been in the semipanic mode.

  He still was.

  They’d dodged a bullet, but if the principal didn’t follow through on this, Tate might end up with detention. Roman figured that could send Tate to a whole new boiling point that wouldn’t be good for anyone. This called for something drastic. Something he’d sworn he would never share with anyone.

  “When I was your age, I saw my dad with another woman,” Roman threw out there.

  Tate turned around to face him. No venom, just plenty of surprise. Maybe because he had no idea where this was going.

  But Mila wasn’t surprised.

  In fact, she glanced away, which meant she knew about this. How, he didn’t know, but Roman would find out later.

  “Long story short,” Roman went on, “I did what I thought was right and told someone, and I got in trouble for it. It wasn’t fair, it sucked, and I’m still pissed off about it. That doesn’t mean I get a free pass to do something stupid. Understand?”

  He wasn’t certain Tate would. Nor was he certain Tate wouldn’t point out that Roman had indeed done plenty of stupid things. That’s why it was a relief when Tate nodded.

  “What kind of trouble did you get into for doing the right thing?” Tate asked.

  “I got grounded and had something taken away that I loved. A horse.”

  Tate stayed quiet a moment. “Did Grandma ground you? Is that why you’re so mad at her?”

  Roman considered lying, but since he was in this deep, he just went for broke. “My dad grounded me, but she knew about it and didn’t do anything to stop it.”

  “Maybe because she was scared to tell the truth,” Tate said.

  Now, it was Roman’s turn to have a couple of moments
to consider that. His mother certainly hadn’t been afraid that her husband would hit her or anything. But there were other kinds of fear.

  Like losing someone she loved—her husband.

  Funny, that it’d taken his thirteen-year-old son to point that out to him.

  Funny, too, that Mila picked right up on how she could apply this to the current situation. “Are you protecting someone you care about?” she asked Tate.

  It wasn’t a good time for more quietness, but that’s what Tate did. Hell.

  “Did Arwen paint those lockers?” Roman pressed.

  “No,” Tate snapped. Then he paused again. “But I think her sister, Chrissy, could have done it. She’s mad because I won’t come over to her house and because I’m hanging out with Arwen.”

  Roman was ready to march right back into the building and tell the principal that, but Tate caught on to his arm. “If Chrissy gets in trouble over this, their dad might take it out on Arwen. He’s not very nice to her, and this could make it worse.”

  Yeah. Roman had heard some of that in his chat with Waylon earlier. However, that didn’t mean he was going to let Chrissy skate. If the girl was anything like her father, then she was not only capable of this, she also needed to be held accountable. This shit could have set Tate back in the worst kind of way.

  “Arwen came by the bookstore earlier,” Mila said. “I got the feeling she wanted to talk to me about something. She left, though, without saying much.”

  Roman wondered if Arwen’s visit had anything to do with Waylon stopping by his office in San Antonio. That was something he needed to find out, as well. But for now, he just wanted to get Tate home. Plus, he had to make sure Valerie wasn’t already at the ranch.

  “My truck’s over there,” Roman said, tipping his head to it.

  Tate nodded, hugged Mila and started in that direction. Roman wanted to hug her, too. Actually, he wanted to kiss her, but he wasn’t sure how things were with them so he settled for thanking her before he turned to leave.

  Roman didn’t get far, though, because Mila’s and his phones rang at the same time. He doubted that was a good sign.

  “Clay,” Roman said, showing her the screen.

  “Your mom,” she said, showing him hers.

  They answered them together, but it wasn’t a long conversation from Clay.

  “Sophie’s water broke,” Clay said. “Get to the hospital now.”

  * * *

  ROMAN CERTAINLY HADN’T forgotten about his sister being close to the time to give birth to her twins, but with everything going on, he had pushed it to the back of his mind. Well, it wasn’t there now.

  This was a huge day for Clay and Sophie—for the entire family—but it was also a worrying one, too. Valerie had had some complications with Tate and had needed an emergency C-section. Things had been touch and go there for a while, but Roman remembered the terror of not knowing if they were going to make it. Of course, that terror had vanished when he’d held his son for the first time, and it’d been replaced with a new fear.

  Worry that he would screw it up.

  Soon, Sophie and Clay would get to go through all those emotions, too.

  Tate, Mila and he hurried into the hospital, and Roman looked around for his family. He spotted one member, Belle, and she wasn’t hard to miss. That’s because she was wearing a bright red ball gown that took up a significant amount of space. Billy Lee was next to her in a tux.

  “Fantasy date,” Mila whispered to Roman.

  That. He hadn’t forgotten about that, either. “Gone with the Wind?”

  “Pretty Woman. It was your mom’s idea,” she added when Roman glanced at her.

  He’d glanced at Mila with what had to be a strange look considering the character in that movie was a hooker. But then, his mom often made weird choices.

  “Where’s Garrett?” Roman asked while Tate and Mila were hugging his mom.

  “He’s with Clay and Sophie,” Billy Lee answered. “He won’t be back there much longer, though, because they’re getting ready to take Sophie to delivery.”

  Already. Things were moving a lot faster than they had with Tate.

  “Nicky’s on her way,” Billy Lee added. “She just had to get somebody to watch her little girl first.”

  “I’m sick with worry over Sophie,” Belle volunteered the moment Billy Lee finished his explanation. “In fact, I need to go back to the bathroom again.” And she scurried off as fast as she could scurry considering she was dragging fifteen yards of fabric.

  “Belle’s been throwing up,” Billy Lee admitted.

  “She threw up a lot when Tate was born, too,” Mila said.

  Roman wasn’t surprised that she remembered that since she’d stayed at the hospital the entire time. In fact, Mila had been the second person to hold Tate. Valerie had been too woozy to even see him until he was several hours old.

  “Did you just get out of school?” Billy Lee asked Tate, and Tate nodded. “Then let’s go to the snack bar so I can get us both a bite to eat. You want us to bring you back something?” he asked Mila and Roman.

  Both shook their heads. And Tate and Billy Lee started walking, leaving Mila and him there alone. Roman debated if he should bring up what’d happened between them. Debated asking her about her peachy text and that smiley face, but in the grand scheme of things, that seemed trivial so he decided to go with something more important.

  His visit with Waylon.

  However, Mila spoke before he could say anything. “When you were a kid, I heard you tell your mother about your father cheating. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I was in Sophie’s room, and the window was open.”

  That explained why she hadn’t looked surprised when he’d told Tate.

  “Sophie didn’t hear,” Mila quickly added. “And I didn’t say anything to you because I didn’t know what to say. That’s why I left that picture of Lobo on your bed.”

  Now, Roman was certain he looked surprised. “I thought my mom had done that.”

  She shook her head. “I had taken the picture a couple of months before, but I had it printed out at the pharmacy. I’m sorry I sneaked into your bedroom to leave it, but I thought sneaking was better than giving it to you in person. I swear, that’s the only time I went in your bedroom.”

  Roman couldn’t help it. He smiled. Only Mila would apologize for doing such a thoughtful thing. Before he even realized he was going to do it, he pulled her to him and kissed her. It wasn’t one of those long lingering kisses that would lead to thoughts of sex, but it was enough to remind her that kissing was an option for them.

  Maybe sex was, too.

  She looked up at him, their eyes connecting, and it seemed as if they had an entire conversation without saying a word. She wanted to know what was going on between them. He wanted to know that, too. But he also wanted to tell her that he was glad he had these moments with her. Since this nonverbal stuff was going pretty well, he decided to tell her with another kiss. He pulled her closer for this one. He also lingered a little longer.

  It lasted until Roman heard someone clear their throat.

  Belle.

  And she wasn’t alone. Nicky and Alice, the housekeeper, were next to her.

  If Roman had planned on keeping this—whatever this was—solely between Mila and him, he’d blown it. But he figured the gossip had already made it back to his mom and everyone else in town.

  Or maybe not.

  “Are you having s-e-x with Mila?” Belle whispered. She didn’t sound as if she would approve of that, either. Probably because she thought Mila deserved something better. Or maybe just deserved someone who wasn’t a badass screw-up.

  Thankfully, Roman didn’t have to answer because from the corner of his eye, he saw Billy Lee and Tate hurrying back toward them. Garrett was only a few s
teps behind them, and Roman’s heart went to his knees.

  “Is Sophie all right?” Mila asked, and he was glad she had because Roman’s throat had clamped shut.

  “She’s fine. She had the babies. Fast,” Garrett added. He looked as shaky as Roman felt. “They’re all crying.”

  Well, hell. That didn’t sound good, and then Roman remembered that babies cried, and Sophie had been shedding tears at the drop of a hat these days. The other day he’d caught her crying because she’d seen a puddle of water that was shaped like a puppy.

  “Sophie’s okay,” Belle whispered. “My baby’s okay.” With Billy Lee’s help, she sat down. Good thing, too, because his mom didn’t look steady on her feet.

  “The doctor shooed me out.” Garrett went to Nicky and kissed her much as Roman had kissed Mila a few moments earlier.

  “So, what did she have?” Mila again. “I know one’s a boy because Sophie accidentally saw something on the ultrasound—”

  “The other’s a girl,” Garrett answered. He no longer looked shaky. He was grinning from ear to ear.

  “No C-section?” Roman managed to say. “No problems?”

  Garrett shook his head. “They’re all good. Except for Clay, but the doctor said a lot of men throw up in the delivery room.”

  Poor Clay. That wouldn’t help his tough guy image as the town’s top cop. Still, he had to be on cloud nine.

  “It might be a little while before we can see them,” Garrett went on, “so if you all want a bite to eat or something, I’ll wait here.”

  Roman wasn’t going anywhere. Apparently, neither were the rest of them because they all found their way to seats. He ended up between Mila and Tate.

  “It’s all coming together,” his mother muttered. “Just like Vita said it would.”

  Everyone turned and looked at her. “Vita?” Roman questioned.

  Belle nodded. “She said Sophie would have a boy and a girl, someone to carry on Granger Western.” She made eye contact with Roman. “And she said you would have an encounter with someone shortly after that happened. An encounter with someone you shouldn’t be with.”