by Sable Hunter
When they exited, they found themselves in an opulent setting. No expense had been spared. It was so unlike Heath’s conservative, climate-conscious headquarters. He barely acknowledged the receptionist. “You can’t go in there,” she protested.
Heath ignored her, flinging open the double doors.
Cato was close behind.
Only Arness wasn’t in the room. Cato saw a beautiful woman standing there, as if waiting for them. “Security informed me that you’d barged in, Heath.”
“Amy,” Heath said, as if stunned. “What are you doing here?”
“The man I’m going to marry owns the company. Why wouldn’t I be here?” She crossed her arms over her breasts. “The question is, why are you here? And who is this?”
Cato shivered as Amy’s snake-like gaze settled on her.
“You know why I’m here. Arness just vandalized and destroyed Highland’s refinery!”
“Oh, no!” Amy feigned dismay. “That will cost us so much to fix when we take over.” Then she put her hand on her hip and sneered. “Caesar isn’t even in the country, so you can’t pin this on him. And why would we destroy something that will soon belong to us?”
Heath cursed and advanced on Amy. “Heath, no!” Cato cried and took him by the arm. “Let’s go.”
Amy threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, I know who you are! You’re the deaf-mute Caesar was telling me about.” She addressed Heath. “Only he didn’t tell me she actually tries to converse. How can you stand to listen to her speak? Doesn’t being with her embarrass you?” Amy laughed again. “Oh, that’s right. You have a hard time getting women these days, don’t you? After all, I left you standing at the altar.”
Cato was stunned, she’d never met anyone so horrible.
Heath’s eyes narrowed as he looked at his former fiancée. “She embarrasses me? Yea, her voice sounds funny and she talks too loud…”
That’s all Cato saw before she closed her eyes, heart breaking. She didn’t know the first three words out of his mouth had been a question, she embarrasses me? or that he continued on to add “…but I find her absolutely adorable. She’s perfect for me.”
She felt like she’d been slung back in time. She embarrassed him? No wonder he rarely took her around people he knew.
Heath wasn’t through. “You tell Arness that he’s going to pay for this. I’m going to see to it that he’s arrested. He’ll never take Highlands Oil away from my family. I’ll fight him tooth and nail!”
With a sneer, Amy came toward him, getting right in his face. “I would think you’d have enough trouble on your hands what with trying to keep your murdering brother out of jail. And isn’t Jaxson a one-legged cripple now? Seems like the McCoys have fallen from grace. You’re going to lose everything you have, Heath. Caesar and I won’t stop until we’ve drained you dry. He told me how your grandfather stole from his family. I love him, he’s twice the man you ever were. At least he satisfies me in bed!”
“Why you…” Heath clenched a fist, but he refrained. He’d never struck a woman before and he wouldn’t start with this viper. “We haven’t fallen from grace. My family is above reproach and I am so much better off without you that I thank God every day that I didn’t make the mistake of marrying you!”
“Soon you’ll be penniless and we don’t give to charities. Leave!” She pointed toward the door. “And take that stammering idiot with you!”
Cato fled. She didn’t wait for Heath, she didn’t wait for the elevator. She found the stairs and ran.
Storming out, Heath looked for Cato. She was nowhere to be found. Heading down to the first floor, he saw her pulling her suitcase out of the back of his truck. “I’ll take you home.”
Cato couldn’t say much, she didn’t want to cry. “No, you have so much on your plate. Go take care of things. I’ll take a cab home.”
Heath went to her. “No, I’m responsible for you. I’ll take you home.”
Cato stepped away from him. “No, you aren’t responsible for me. Our time is up, it’s been four weeks.” She’d been fooling herself to think they were headed for more than a sexual fling, he’d made that crystal clear when he talked to Jimmy. And now she found out her voice embarrassed him. She choked back a laugh. “Thanks for the good times. The sex was great.” Taking off the bracelet, she handed it to him. “And I won’t need this to remember you by, there are just some things that are better forgotten.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” His head hurt, his heart hurt and he was just about at the end of his rope. Everything together was almost more than he could handle. He couldn’t believe it. Cato was rejecting him. “Why?” Was it the money? She didn’t want him if he wasn’t going to be King Midas? God, she’d certainly fooled him.
Cato couldn’t believe he was asking why. “You know why,” she choked out. Twice, twice he’d said things to crush her soul. Not to be blasphemous, but she figured if she stuck around long enough, he’d do it a third time before the cock crowed in the morning.
“Yea, fine,” Heath agreed. “I know why.” Women! Why in the hell he’d ever thought this one was different was a mystery to him. “Fine. Go.”
“Goodbye, Heath.” She said the words she never thought she’d say—and this time she thought they fit.
He stood back and watched her hail a cab. He didn’t try to stop her. For him, it was déjà vu. Once more, he’d been left standing alone.
* * *
Cato cried all the way home, then she cried when she got there. All she could think of was Heath. If she checked her phone once, she checked it a hundred times. But he wasn’t going to call. God! How did things get so messed up? She shut her eyes and recalled what he’d told Jimmy. What they had shared meant nothing to him. It had all been about sex.
Dashing the tears from her face with both hands, she tried to collect her thoughts. Maybe coffee would help. So she padded to the kitchen and fixed a cup. When she’d poured one, she picked up her phone and stared at it, willing him to call. When, as if by magic, the indicator light lit up, Cato gasped. But it wasn’t Heath, it was Zane. She turned on face time, hoping he wouldn’t be able to tell she’d been crying. “Hello.”
“Hey, how are you?” His expression gave nothing away.
“I’m good.” Which was a lie.
“I won’t beat around the bush, Cato. You’ve helped us and I’m counting on you to help us again. I need you to testify in the morning.”
“About what?”
“About what you found on the thumb drive and in the email. I can’t use that unless you tell the court how you found it.”
“That will mean my job.”
“Maybe not, I’m calling Redford too. I sincerely doubt he’ll be your boss much longer.”
Cato’s stomach rolled over. She didn’t want to face Heath, but she knew this was too important. “All right, of course, I’ll be there.”
“You won’t take the stand until the afternoon, so be there by one and Adam can go over a few things with you.”
“I’m still reviewing the files.”
“Great,” Zane said. “If you find anything else, let me know.”
Then a thought struck her like a sword knifing through her gut. “Zane, when I speak on the stand. Are you sure people will be able to understand me?” She’d tried to reason this out in her mind. There was her job in Louisiana and everyone she’d met, there was her job here in Texas—so far no one had come out and complained about her speech. No one except her mother and Heath and Amy, of course. But what if everyone was just being nice? What if they all laughed at her behind her back?
Zane looked confused. “Of course, I’ll word the questions so you’ll be able to give straight, simple answers.”
“That’s not what I meant.” She pointed to her mouth. “Is my speech clear enough?”
“Yes.” He still appeared perplexed. “You sound fine to me.”
“Okay.” She didn’t want to make a big deal about it. “I’ll see you then.”
>
After they’d hung up, she freshened her coffee and left the kitchen. Knowing she would see Heath again in a few hours did funny things to her head. This would be hard, and she didn’t just mean speaking in front of him. It was time to face the truth. As much as it hurt to admit, this wasn’t Heath’s fault at all, it was hers. They’d had an agreement, an understanding between two consenting adults. He had kept the agreement, she had been the one to fall in love.
Honestly, Cato didn’t know what hurt worse—to find out he didn’t care for her or the fact that her voice annoyed him. Shades of her mother came back to haunt her. She’d forbid Cato to speak for the very same reason Heath had voiced. Putting her hands over her ears, she tried to drown out the silence. If she could, she’d never speak again. But if a person did everything to please someone else, eventually they’d just cease to be. Cato remembered one night at the dinner table, she and her mother had sat without communicating. No sound, no speech, no signing—nothing. Until her mother had banged the table and screamed at Cato that she’d been breathing too loud.
Breathing too loud!
Sniffling, she went to her room and sat down at the computer. She’d promised Heath that she’d look through this stuff one more time and she would. But while she stared at the screen, she relived every minute she’d spent loving Heath, every kiss, every touch. Every word.
With a scream of frustration, she picked up her coffee cup and hurled it against the wall.
Meanwhile, at Highlands…Heath stared out the window and relived every minute he’d spent loving Cato, every kiss, every touch. Fuck! She’d rejected him. She’d rejected him!
When he’d needed her the most, she’d turned her back on him and left. It wasn’t something he’d been ready to admit to anyone, but he needed her.
Pacing back and forth, he tried to sort through his feelings. It seemed his whole life was falling apart in front of him. He glanced at the clock. In about two hours the room would be full. He’d called a family meeting. They had to get their shit together. Tomorrow, Philip Decatur McCoy would go on trial for murder.
His little brother. A brother he’d promised heaven he would protect.
Sitting down on the couch, he took off his ever-present black Stetson and laid it on the couch beside him. How had it all gone so wrong? What a fine brother he was, while he’d been feeling sorry for himself because Amy had walked away from him, while he’d been chasing skirts, setting rules and feeling sorry for himself, his brothers had been facing life-changing battles.
If he thought it would do any good, he’d pray.
“Fuck,” he snarled, slamming his hat back on his head. Maybe if he went for a ride, he’d feel better. Going out the front to avoid the girls who were in the kitchen, Heath set out for the barn. He saddled up his horse and set out. Slapping Tempest across the hindquarters, he allowed the big stallion to jump the fence and take across the pasture at a gallop. Giving the horse his head, he shut his eyes and let the wind hit him in the face.
Trying to force the worry from his brain, he rode farther and faster. Finally he came to the river. Pulling on the reins, he slid from the big animal, dropping the reins. Tempest wouldn’t leave. With quick movements, he tore his clothes off and dove into the water, swimming against the current. He needed to expend energy.
Heath swam until he couldn’t, then he walked from the water and let the sun dry the moisture from his body. Not too far from here, he’d played in the water with Cato. He’d started four of the most incredible weeks of his life—that ended in absolute disaster.
“Why?” he bellowed.
No one answered.
Jerking on his clothes, he remounted Tempest and went back to face the music.
Within an hour, Highlands was full. His father and Olivia arrived. She was being annoyingly optimistic and his father wasn’t saying much. Jaxson arrived alone, wearing his prosthesis but he was so awkward with the crutch that it was obvious he hadn’t used it enough to get used to it. There were lines of tension and pain on his face. He’d aged five years.
Tennessee was quiet. Heath had heard him speaking to Molly on the phone. As soon as this trial was over, he was having a long talk with the boy. As soon as the thought jumped the synapses in his brain, Heath wondered at the sorry qualifications he possessed. Who was he to try and tell his brother anything about women?
Nada.
Ryder and Pepper were mysteries he didn’t know how to start to solve. Even with all the shit the family had been going through, he realized they were in the midst of some type of male/female rigmarole. With Pepper, he suspected she was infatuated with that singer, Judah James. If he hurt his baby sister, the boy would be hitting high notes for the rest of his life. And Ryder? He had no idea what was going on with her. She played her cards close to her chest. Heath had a feeling the next year would give him ulcers.
As he poured himself his second Scotch, Heath watched his cousins drive up in a caravan of black SUVs. The Tebow McCoys had arrived. “Ten, tell Ryder to put on a pot of coffee and make sure the high chairs are set up around the dining table.” He drained his glass and set it on the table.
“I wish this were under happier circumstances,” Christian observed from his wheelchair positioned in front of the fireplace. Since the weather was warm, the only thing glowing in the hearth was a candelabra of flameless candles Pepper had set up. She insisted on keeping the home seasonally decorated. One didn’t have to look at a calendar in the McCoy home, they just checked the nature of the wreath over the hearth and the decorations on the tables.
Opening the door, he had to smile at the sight before him. Aron led the way, as usual. “The Calvary has arrived, cousin.”
“I’m glad, we may need you.”
Both Libby and Aron carried a baby and behind them, Jacob and Jessie came. Jacob led a little boy who was all smiles.
“Hey, buddy!” Heath knelt down to speak to the small dark haired child.
“Bowie, shake hands with Mr. Heath.” Jessie instructed.
Dutifully, the little boy extended his tiny hand and Heath enclosed it in his big one. For a moment, he let himself imagine his own child looking up at him in wonder and trust.
A more somber Joseph and Cady brought up the rear. They were walking slowly, Joseph supporting Cady with his arm around her waist. Heath got the impression that her weakness was more emotional than physical. “I can’t believe you two came.” He met Cady with a hug.
“I wanted to,” she said. “If I have to leave for the hospital, I will.”
Joseph shook his head. “Families stick together.”
Skye and Noah were following along, carrying diaper bags for the ones who had gone before. Seeing his cousin made Heath remember the photo. He needed to take care of that soon, maybe after supper he’d be able to get Aron alone.
“Where’s Zane?” Skye asked. “I brought some things from the office he requested.”
“Should be here soon,” Heath greeted them, taking some of the things from their hands and setting them on the hall table.
Isaac and Avery brought up the rear. Heath suspected they’d been necking in the vehicle. “When’s the honeymoon gonna be over?” he asked good-naturedly.
“Never,” Avery answered with complete assurance. “Is Cato here?”
Bam! Right to the point.
Heath let out a long breath, he’d already made this announcement once to his family, he would make it one more time. “No, she isn’t. We’re not seeing each other anymore.” Earlier, he’d told Ryder that Cato was no different from Amy. She’d informed him emphatically that he was crazy.
Avery looked shocked. “I’m so sorry. I’m sure she’s devastated. I’ll have to call her.” She moved off toward Ryder and Pepper, who had joined the others and now had a baby a piece on their hips.
“Be prepared, Heath, women don’t let things like this go easily.”
“Oh, Cato is the one that let it go,” Heath replied tersely.
“I’m not talking about
Cato, I’m talking about Cupid Central.” Isaac motioned toward the women of the family.
Heath just shook his head. He had to get out of here soon, he loved and appreciated his family but he needed some air.
When they gathered in the living room, Jacob motioned him over to where he stood near the windows. “Look, I called my foremen and we’re sending you two crews up in the morning to help you get that refinery up and going again.”
Heath smiled. “Unnecessary, but highly appreciated.”
“Have the police and the insurance done their duty?”
“For the most part. They ruled it was deliberate sabotage, but like with everything else lately, whoever is doing this mess to us hides their tracks pretty well.”
“In other words, they’re professionals.”
“Yes, I know Arness is behind the explosion. It seems like a stupid thing to do, blow up something you’re claiming belongs to you, but Caesar is not playing with a full deck. He’s more interested in hurting us than he is in profiting off of us. Revenge and jealousy are burning him up.”
“I can’t believe he’s claiming the mineral rights. Skye said Zane plans on zeroing in on Arness’s claim as soon Philip is cleared.”
Heath dry-scrubbed his face. Philip was his priority. “You know, I’m concerned about reclaiming our rights and getting the company straight, but I’d trade it all, every dime, to keep Philip out of prison.”
“I know you would.” Jacob laid a hand on his shoulder.
Heath had to laugh. “You know, if anyone has a claim on Highlands and the oil beneath it, it would be you and your family. I don’t know what arrangements Grandpa Isaac had with his wife when they divorced, things were different back then, but the fact remains that your daddy was as much his child as my daddy.”
Aron joined them, he’d heard what Heath said. “We have Tebow, you have the Highlands. I’d say things worked out like they were supposed to. You won’t ever have any trouble with us.”
Heath nodded his head. “I appreciate that.” No matter what Aron said, Heath had already considered what he’d do if the mythical silver mine were to prove reality. But that was still a big ‘if.’