Her Hidden Falls Anti-Hero Cowboy

by Taylor Hart

  Angela untangled her scarf and held it out to her mother. “Here, use my scarf.”

  Her mother took it and breezed to the other end of the alley that opened up to the next street. She grinned at Charlotte, and Charlotte couldn’t help how happy it made her to see her mother smiling and looking carefree.

  Her mother held the scarf in the air. “Ready.”

  Charlotte felt Ryan put one foot back and hunch, getting into race position. A strange, nervous sensation coursed through her. He wanted to win. She hung on tighter. She really wanted to win, too. “C’mon, Ry, you got this.”

  “Set.”

  Every part of Ryan tensed.

  Sara let the scarf drop. “Go!”

  Charlotte felt the bolt of energy beneath her. It wasn’t like a jolt at the start of something. It was like a shot gun—like superman himself. She laughed in her mind at her own joke and hung on for dear life. She had known the man could run, but she was still unprepared for his speed.

  As it turned out, there really hadn’t been a need for a judge at all. Ryan won by almost more than half.

  Her mother whooped when each of them passed her and even did a jig when she awarded Ryan and Charlotte the hot pink scarf.

  “You know I want that back, right?” Angela asked her when Charlotte attached the scarf around her neck.

  She stuck out her tongue at Angela. “Spoil sport.”

  Angela laughed. “You better watch it, or I’ll put a spell on you.”

  Ryan had taken a “victory lap.” He laughed louder and louder each time that Beau, with Star still on his back, tried to collide with them.

  Finally, the boys put the girls down and helped her mother carry in the pastries.

  Charlotte, Star, and Angela went to work preparing them all lemonade. It felt good to be standing in her little kitchen with her two best friends. To be hearing her mother laugh at some joke the boys told her. To be holding a glass of lemonade and looking out of her small kitchen window at the sunshine.

  It was a good day. A very good day.

  Then she saw the burnt orange of Nathan’s hummer pull up behind her mother’s SUV.

  The day was about to change.

  Chapter 34

  Ryan didn’t pay that much attention when Charlotte walked out the back door of the store. Sara was in the middle of one of her stories, and he and his brothers were a captive audience. He sipped his lemonade. He didn’t mind being captured by Sara. He’d always thought she was beautiful and kind and what every kid would want in a mother. She’d always been so lively, especially in comparison to his own mother.

  A surge of regret went through him as he thought about how the cancer had slowly eaten through her. He couldn’t bear to think of the last time he’d seen her. How she’d gently, calmly touched his face and whispered that he should come home as soon as he could.

  Now she was gone.

  So fast.

  Faster than he could come back to her.

  He blinked back the sudden urge of tears that fought to bubble up.

  “Ryan?” Sara touched his forearm.

  Pulled back from his thoughts, Ryan put his lemonade on the counter and shook his head. “Sorry, what were you saying?”

  The corners of Sara’s eyes creased. “Are you okay?”

  Beau snorted and stood. “Ahh, he’s just thinking about my bronc that needs riding.”

  Ryan chug laughed. “That’s right.”

  Sean pulled him away and cleared his throat. “Ry, we can get you help if you need some.”

  Ryan waved his hand in the air. “I’m not doing this. Don’t start me on this path. I’m fine. It’s just everything lately has brought up some stuff.”

  Sara reached for Ryan and pulled him into a hug. “You’re a good boy. You always have been.”

  It felt like Ryan never had a choice when Sara decided to hug him. He simply had to take it and hope he could keep a clamp on his emotions. All the recent crying had begun to change him. He could feel it. He wasn’t sure he liked it.

  “Oh boy.” Star clanked a glass onto the table in the kitchen. “Guys, you better come quick.”

  They all rushed for the back of the store. The emotions Ryan had kept hold of suddenly wanted to implode inside of his chest.

  Nathan stood next to his hideous Hummer, pointing a finger in Charlotte’s face.

  And she was cowering. She was literally cowering away from him.

  Ryan reached for the door. “What the…?”

  Sean put a hand over his. “We better let this be, bro.”

  Ryan leveled him with a scowl and forced the door open. “I think I’ve let things be for far too long.” He pushed the screen door open and let it drop behind him.

  Nathan instantly quit talking and lifted his hands into the air. “Great. Perfect. It hasn’t even been a week and he’s at your place.”

  Ryan detected the blatant jealousy. The pettiness. The tone of voice that proved Nathan Love still thought he had some claim on her.

  Charlotte pinched the bridge of her nose and didn’t look at either of them. “Ryan, please go back inside.”

  Ryan easily folded his arms across his chest and tried to show that Nathan didn’t rattle him. “Is that what you want, Charlotte?”

  Nathan spit on the ground in his direction. “I believe that’s what she asked you to do, Hardman. In fact, I believe you have no business in this conversation at all, so just go huddle inside with the rest of your lowlife brothers.”

  Ryan could understand that Nathan always felt like he had to hurl insults at him. He did. They had a history. Ryan had stolen the girl. He got that. But to always bring his brothers into it really rubbed him the wrong way—like sandpaper going against the grain. Ryan didn’t give in to the war that waged inside of him. He did what Charlotte asked. He turned around.

  Suddenly, Nathan laughed. “Ah, let’s let him stay, Charlotte. Should we? Let’s let him stay, and let’s tell him the news.”

  The ache between Ryan’s shoulder blades pinched tighter. He turned back.

  Charlotte gave him a wary look.

  The screen door shut and Ryan heard the rest of them come out.

  “Hey, Ken Barbie.” Star hurled the insult at Nathan.

  Ryan didn’t try to hide his smile.

  Angela stepped next to him. “Now, now, Star, I think he likes Mayor Barbie.”

  Nathan lifted his lip into a sneer at her. “Oh, I’m so lucky to have the town witch in attendance.”

  Star lifted her head and moved in front of Angela. “Don’t talk to my friend like that.”

  Beau butted between them. “Star, didn’t you hear? He’s Barbie Rock Star. Right? He likes to walk around here all gussied up with a cute Hummer. He likes to prance around the little people and show off his money. Too bad he doesn’t have the talent of a rock star, then he could have left town.”

  Sara moved next to Charlotte. “What’s all this about?”

  Nathan put his hands into the air and acted like he hadn’t seen her. “Oh good, my favorite mother-in-law.”

  Sara might have been a petite woman, but Ryan had always admired the way she’d demanded respect. She lifted a stern eyebrow. “Watch your tongue. I never liked the way mother-in-law sounded out of your lips.”

  Nathan chug laughed. “Well, Sara,” he said, taking care to pronounce her name with suffered deliverance, “you should be nicer to me. I have a solution to your little dilemma.”

  Ryan didn’t normally get too upset when someone thought they had the upper hand on him. In fact, he’d learned to take most things in stride and adjust. But his body was giving him a warning something bad was coming.

  “Could you just get to the point?” Beau stood stiff beside his brother.

  Charlotte grinned at Beau. He did have a way of cutting through the crap when it came to her ex.

  Nathan gave Beau a measured stare and then shrugged. “I’m saving her.” His eyes flashed superiority. “That’s right. I’m saving her, as usual. It�
��s the role I seem to be saddled with.”

  Charlotte’s heart pounded, and she glanced at her mother.

  Sara frowned. “What do you mean?”

  The tip of Nathan’s tongue ran across the front of his teeth. “Since you have found yourself at a point of impasse, I’m giving you an option. Instead of losing your land, you can be my partner.”

  Sara stumbled back and Charlotte reached for her. “You’re what?”

  Nathan watched Sara get her footing with measured patience. “I seem to have a cool million in accessible money that I can pay the government. In return, since I can’t buy the land,” he nodded at Charlotte, “I am offering my partnership.”

  Charlotte scoffed. “No.”

  Sara brushed her hair out of her face and let out a light laugh. “Over my dead body.”

  Charlotte focused all of her attention on Nathan. “Just leave.”

  Nathan didn’t react. “You need this. If you don’t take this money, you’re going to lose the whole thing. Is that what you want?” He stared at Sara.

  Sara waved her hand in the air. “We don’t partner with the devil.”

  Charlotte crossed her arms and glared at Nathan. “Agreed.”

  Nathan glowered at them. “Do you even hear yourselves? You are out of options.” He moved his eyes to Charlotte. “Be reasonable, woman. Talk some sense into your crazy mother.”

  Before Charlotte could think about what she was doing, before she could stop herself, before she could even think about how awesomely good it would be to do this—she slapped him. Square across the face. “Don’t call her crazy.”

  Nathan’s nostril’s enlarged to a place of no return. Rhinoceros large. “I . . .” He put his hand to his cheek. “You’ve never hit me before.”

  The funniest thing about the whole scene was he was right. All those years. All those times he’d hit her. For nothing. For sometimes only breathing. She hadn’t struck back.

  But she did now.

  Nathan turned to Sean. “You’re an officer of the law. You have to report that.”

  Without missing a beat, Sean lifted a shoulder and looked away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He grabbed Angela, pulled her to him, and swiftly kissed her. “Distracted by a woman—man’s greatest weakness.”

  The way the blood completely drained from Angela’s face, and the way she reached for her head like she could barely get her senses, made Charlotte almost laugh. In any other circumstance, she would have laughed.

  Angela sucked in a breath. “Yeah, what he said.”

  Beau let out what could only be described as a hyena yip and high-fived Sean. “Yeah, now that’s what I’m talking about.”

  Nathan clenched his fists and did, what Charlotte had affectionately called when they’d been married, his two-year-old fit, complete with the foot stomp. He gave Charlotte a leveled glare. “This isn’t over. You have no idea what I’m capable of. I could sue you for assault.”

  Star moved next to Charlotte. “I’d like to see you try, Barbie Rock Star.”

  Even though Charlotte was shaking—from slapping Nathan, from thinking about the ranch being unloaded to the government, from everything in her life that was changing—it felt good to stand up for herself. Dang good. “I promised myself that, unless hell froze over, I would never need another man to save me. If I’m not mistaken, hell hasn’t frozen over yet. Leave.”

  Ryan moved next to her. “I believe the lady asked you to leave.”

  Nathan grimaced at him.

  Ryan crossed his arms. “I think you better start paying attention when the lady asks you to do something.”

  Nathan held his fist in the air, but walked toward the Hummer. “You better have an exit plan out of this, Hardman, because this just got personal.” He swung to Charlotte. “And you’ll partner with me.” He narrowed his eyes. “You know you will.”

  Ryan moved next to the Hummer and put up his hand to stop Nathan from going.

  Nathan rolled down his window. “What?”

  Ryan moved closer to the window. “I just want you to know that I may have left her to fend for herself before, but this time . . . I’m not leaving.”

  Nathan snorted. “Bring it on.” He peeled out of the parking lot.

  Ryan moved back beside Charlotte and put his arm around her and her mom.

  Sean moved closer to him. His jaw was clenched tight. Nothing of the pretend-kiss playfulness was left behind. “So what’s the plan, Ry?”

  Ryan stared at Charlotte. “Rule one-oh-one of escaping a terrorist camp.”

  Beau stood next to Sara. “What’s that?”

  “Look for weakness and then fight like hell.”

  Chapter 35

  Later that afternoon, Ryan pulled up to the house. Their house. His house.

  “Something to get used to.” Ryan got out of the truck and wondered why Lorna hadn’t come out yet. He heaved open the screen and pushed the door back.

  The kitchen was immaculate, as usual, but Lorna wasn’t anywhere in sight. He looked out the back window and noticed her red truck was missing. He also noticed his brothers both walking to the side of the new barn.

  He went back out the door and called out to them.

  They stopped next to Sean’s green truck.

  Beau kicked the tire and grinned. “Look at this city slicker. You’d think getting all dirty and putting in a day’s work fit you.”

  Ryan hiked up and jumped into the back of the truck. “Where are we going?”

  Sean laughed and started the engine. “To my house.”

  The truck jolted and Ryan sat back into the corner, putting his legs out. Sean’s house? He thought both of his brothers lived here. They’d both stayed at the house last night. He surveyed the property as Sean took the old road to a small, forgotten church that had been put there before the Hardman’s ever bought the property. The road wound behind it and then crested over the top. Ryan held his breath. He’d forgotten how beautiful it was here, how just being here made him feel better, more himself, more grounded. He could see the falls across the valley.

  Sean stopped and Ryan saw the frame of a house that stood on the tallest part of the hill.

  He jumped out of the truck and sucked in a breath. The frame was high and grand. He could see the foundation—strong, solid.

  Beau and Sean stood on each side of him.

  Ryan smiled. “It’s going to be awesome, Sean.”

  Beau snorted. “When he came to me with this design he found off of the Internet I thought he was crazy to think that we could build it.” He reached across Ryan and slugged Sean playfully on the shoulder. “But he is persistent, kept coming out here at night in the dark and hammering nails.” He spit and gestured to the spotlights rigged up on the ladders. “I finally gave in and hauled these things out here to give him light.”

  Sean let out a laugh and turned to Ryan. “He talks tough, but I can’t tell you how many late shifts I’ve come home from and found him out here hammering the night away.”

  A tear fell down Ryan’s cheek. It seemed his body had to make up for all the years he couldn’t produce a drop of tears.

  Beau shook his head, but smiled at him. His voice was soft. “Look at this, Sean, no wonder they captured him—the softie.” He slung an arm around his shoulders.

  A deep laugh bubbled out of him. “That’s right.”

  They stood there, staring at the beauty of the falls, at Sean’s house.

  Ryan wiped his eyes, his phone buzzed. He moved away from his brothers and pulled it out of his pocket.

  Alan.

  He ignored it.

  Beau went back to the truck and pulled some cold waters. He tossed one to each of his brothers and stared at Ryan. “The boss, I presume?”

  Ryan cracked open the beer and sucked some down. “Yep.” He wandered over to the house.

  His brothers followed.

  Sean leaned against a supporting beam. “What are you going to do, Ry?

  Ryan li
ghtly pressed against a beam and noticed a pile of sheet rock on the ground, ready to be hung. “What do you mean?”

  Beau crossed his arms. “Give it to us plain, bro. You know we don’t want to see that land be sold, especially to a developing company.”

  Ryan ignored their direct questions and moved around the framed house, checking and pounding to see how secure it was.

  They followed.

  Beau moved in front of him. “And you better not tell me that you’re going to let Nathan partner with them. I, honestly, would rather see that ranch burn then have Nathan Love up my backside every second.”

  Ryan moved out to the back of the house’s framed porch.

  The wind picked up and the smell of wood and earth flowed into him. Who would have guessed three days ago he’d be standing here. With his brothers. Having something to live for. Fight for. Having some purpose inside of him other than just trying to get his runs in.

  He put his arms around his brother’s. “So, I’m still a partner, huh?”

  They both nodded.

  Sean sighed. “Kent is too, but he’s off trying to get his mind right clear across the world at the moment.”

  Beau nodded. “Yeah, he has his own demons.”

  Ryan wanted to hear more about Kent, but he didn’t feel like now was the right time to ask. He stared at the house.

  Beau nudged him, but pulled his arm back. “So, what are we going to do about Nathan Love?”

  Sean moved away from them and threw his beer can in the trash. “If it’s illegal, don’t tell me.”

  Ryan took a sip. “I can’t lie, illegal has gone through my head.”

  Beau shifted to him. “Hey, there’s got to be some other solution than getting the land sold to a developer.” He frowned. “I was looking forward to kicking your butt just for bringing that up.”

  Uncertainty stirred through him and he thought of Alan. What would he tell him? “I’m not sure.”

  Sean picked up a hammer and a nail. “Whatever you do, make sure the Talon’s next partner is not Nathan Love. That guy doesn’t think his own crap stinks.”

  Beau pointed at Sean. “Finally, a line a brother can quote.”