by KB Winters
“I used to know her,” I clarified like it would make any damn difference. I’d already said I’d keep her safe, even if she was determined to be difficult about it. “It’s taken care of,” I grunted.
Cruz bumped my shoulder and let out a teasing laugh. “Aw, poor big dick Mah-Dick, has to keep a super-stacked blonde safe and secure on the ranch.” For emphasis, Cruz held his hands out like big tits, squeezing them and pinching the nipples.
“Are you a fuckin’ teenager, Cruz?”
He shrugged, not at all concerned about my attitude or tone. “Don’t act like you haven’t noticed how smoking hot she is, because no one fucking believes you.”
How could I not notice, especially when she showed up every fucking day for work wearing jeans I swear she painted on just to torture me? “She’s good lookin’ all right. But that doesn’t have a goddamn thing to do with keeping her safe.”
Cruz snorted a laugh in response, and before I could wrap my hands around his scrawny pretty boy neck, a knock sounded on the door.
“What?” Gunner shouted.
There was no knob or handle on the other side of the door that led to the Sin Room, just a palm scanner Peaches had insisted on after all the shit that had gone down on Hardtail Ranch. Whoever was out there could only enter if they were allowed to do so. Wheeler yanked open the door ready to rip a new asshole to whoever it was.
“Baby Face, what the fuck do you want?”
Ford looked up into Wheeler’s laughing eyes with a serious expression on his face. The kid was always serious, and no one had a damn clue why. He was good at his job, though, and proving to be a damn good prospect. “I, uhm…got some news.”
Gunnar waved him inside, but to his credit, Ford stayed near the door and raked a hand through his curly blond hair.
“My buddy Fogel, we grew up and served together, he does some Uber-ing on the side and just dropped off Edna Mae’s kin who came for a visit. Said he saw two guys wandering through the residential area and one of them had a tattoo on his neck that he tried to hide.”
“Shit.” Gunnar was up on his feet, and the rest of us followed seconds later. “Good work, Ford. Holden, let’s go.”
We moved fast, taking the ATV’s back to where we all kept our bikes and headed into Opey. Fifteen minutes later we cruised into town, waving and smiling at the locals like it was a goddamn parade. It was more than the folks in Vance had ever given me and that only made me more determined than ever to protect the folks in this town. They were good, salt of the earth people, who didn’t deserve this shit.
“There.” I knocked on my helmet to get Gunner’s attention and pointed to the middle of the block.
Two blocks over from where Ford’s buddy had spotted them, which meant these assholes were either brave or stupid, casing a small town before the sun even set. Gunnar tapped his helmet and motioned for me to round the block and catch them on the other side. I did what he said and found the two in the same damn spot. Gunnar still watched from the end of the block as I swung my leg off the bike and approached.
“You boys lost?”
“Who the fuck is asking?” The shorter of the two was apparently the leader. At barely five and a half feet with two-toned hair and more ink than flesh, everything about this fucker screamed gangbanger.
“I am. You looking for someone or just looking to start some shit?” The other guy was taller but barely weighed a buck fifty. Judging by his demeanor, he wasn’t the muscle.
“Hey, man, we don’t want no trouble. Maybe we just want to look into some real estate.”
“Nothing around here is for sale. I’ll ask one more time, nicely.” Maybe what I needed was to kick some ass. It would stop me from obsessing about Aspen, and daydreaming about sliding into her wet cunt again.
“We’re lookin’ for someone, man. No need to get your panties all twisted up.”
“The only twisted up panties are the ones your mom left on my floor last night.” It was childish as fuck, and I knew it, but it pissed him off enough to get in my face.
“Don’t be talkin’ about my mama, boy.” The little one who was no bigger than Maisie stepped up to me. “I ain’t afraid to kick a little cowboy ass. Ain’t that right, Juno?”
Juno shrugged and kept his mouth shut, proving he at least had a few more brain cells than his buddy. “Let’s just do this and get the fuck outta these sticks. I think I hear a fuckin’ banjo playing in the distance.”
Gunnar had gotten off his bike and slowly approached on foot, which meant I needed to keep these fuckers distracted for whatever he had planned.
“That’s the music we play right before we toss some outsiders on the fire,” I said and took a step closer. “Now tell me what the fuck you’re doing in this neighborhood. If you came to harass anyone else, we can settle this right now.”
Before he could say another fucking word, I had my hand around the little guy’s throat, applying just enough pressure to make it hard to breathe. My gaze slipped to his friend who wanted to act but was too much of a pussy to do anything without backup. Or orders.
“Can’t. Fucking. Breathe.”
“That’s kind of the point, asshole. Speak.” He gave it his best shot, pawing and scratching at me to free him, but a few scratches were worth it because all that squirming gave me a good look at his neck tattoo.
“What the fuck are the Diablos?”
Gunnar crept up behind the scrawny guy without making a fucking noise, a feat for a man his size, and wrapped an arm around his neck, kicking the back of his knees to keep him off balance. “You look more like pieces of shit than devils to me,” he said with a wide, almost pathological grin.
Now the little one really squirmed. “Let. Me. Go.”
“Why are you here?”
“Fuck you, cowboy.” He tried to spit, and I tightened my grip until his eyes started to bug out.
“Wrong answer, man.” I looked past him to his friend. “What about you? Are you stupid like your friend? Or do you want to live long enough to fuck your woman again?”
It took him less than five seconds to make a decision. Maybe it was the implication he’d end up buried somewhere deep in the heart of Texas, or it could have been Gunnar’s massive bicep cutting off his airway.
“Fuck it, Beto, I ain’t going to jail for that crazy ass white boy.” His pal Beto squirmed to break free, probably wanting to kick his friend’s ass for folding like a cheap suit.
“Be more specific,” Gunnar growled. “Which white boy? He got a name? A number?”
“Ken some shit or other. I don’t fucking know. All I know is that white boy paid us thirty G’s up front to come to this shit hole and fuck with some bikers. That was months ago, and he ain’t paid us shit since.”
The glare he sent Beto said this was a source of contention between them and that was some shit we could work with.
“Fuck with some bikers, how? Exactly.”
“Just stupid shit. He hired some crazy ass motherfuckers, and they put an old lady in the hospital before skipping town, so he called the Diablos, that’s us. Said to come down here and stir up some shit to draw out the bikers. That’s it.”
“What kind of shit?”
“Nothin’ special. Trashed a B&B just to scare folks. That’s all.”
“And you only got paid once?”
“Yeah, but that fucker still wants us to do shit for him like we’re some fuckin’ domestic workers. Nah, homie. Fuck that boy.”
Gunnar grinned behind him, but I wasn’t happy. Yet. “Then what the fuck are you doing in this neighborhood?”
“Looking for that puto so we can get our money and get the fuck back to civilization.” The way he snarled, all angry and squirming was understandable, but that didn’t mean I believed these assholes.
“Take us there, and we’re gone. At least I am,” he said, glaring at Beto.
Gunnar let go of Juno, who fell to his knees and sucked in half a dozen lungfuls of breath before attempting to get to his feet. H
e looked at us, brown eyes wary but no longer afraid.
“I got some bad news for you boys and some worse news, which do you want first?”
“Fuck,” Juno spat out. “We ain’t getting paid.”
“Nope.” Gunnar made a popping noise and grinned, just to pour salt on the wound. “Ken is deep in debt, and it’s all been bought up, so I’d say he’s on borrowed time. And the B&B you trashed? Owned by some friends of ours.”
Beto’s face fell at that.
“And the worse news?” he said. Because a guy like Beto wouldn’t be scared off by that kind of news.
“We are the bikers you were half paid to fuck with.” The looks on their faces were fucking priceless. The smile Gunnar wore said he agreed.
Chapter Twenty-One
Aspen
“You gonna stand on my doorstep all night or you plannin’ to knock?” Holden opened the door with a smirk on his face, arms crossed over his massive chest and drawing attention to thick, muscled biceps.
He looked so damned amused I didn’t know if I wanted to smack that smile off his face or kiss it. Okay, I knew. I was totally leaning towards kissing that scruff. But that was not why I came.
“I hadn’t decided who I thought would be better company, you or the door.”
Holden’s lips twitched, and I waited, leaning in anxiously to catch a glimpse of his real smile, the one he so rarely unleashed except when he was sweet-talking the horses. But once again, I was denied.
“Let me know when you decide.” He stepped back and pushed the door closed. I stood there for a minute, sure he’d come back.
When he didn’t, I dropped down in the cushion-covered rocking chair and took in the last rays of sun before the light disappeared and darkness took over.
“An apt metaphor, I’d say.”
The sky grew darker and darker, the creepy vibe only lessened by the beauty of the stars popping out in the sky like diamonds.
I didn’t care what anyone said, Texas was one of the most beautiful places on earth, and that included Paris and Tahiti. And Tokyo. Lightning bugs were already starting to fire the darkness that surrounded Holden’s cabin. It was peaceful out here, peaceful enough that it was impossible not to think about the sharp turns my life had taken recently. Ken was shaping up to be my biggest mistake ever, one that very well might cost me my life.
“Made up your mind yet?”
Holden’s deep voice startled me. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t hear the door open or his heavy footfalls on the porch.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that!”
I was gifted with his deep rumbling laugh. “You’re surprised to see me at my own house?”
“Not surprised, obviously, but I was lost in my own thoughts, and you startled me. How in the hell could a man so big move so quietly?”
“Training mostly. What’s on your mind?” Instead of asking me to move or staring at me until I abandoned his extra comfortable rocking chair, Holden took the seat on the other side of the door, lowering himself with a grunt.
I shrugged and leaned back, blowing out a slow breath. “Nothing. Everything. The bunkhouse is too quiet.” It was an oppressive kind of silence, the kind Daddy liked to bestow on those of us who dared not to live up to his expectations.
“In fact, it’s damn creepy when you know there’s a killer out there hunting you.” Shit, I hadn’t meant to say that aloud. Even though Holden said he wanted to help me, I didn’t want to let him or anyone else know just how freaked out I was about all of this.
All of it.
“It’s even quieter out here, but at least the company’s good.”
“It’s getting better.” And it was. Working with Holden wasn’t as bad as I thought, and that was as much to do with the man as it was the horses and the tranquility of working the land. Hardtail Ranch wasn’t as big as The Crooked H, my family’s spread. There wasn’t as much traffic and activity going around so I could get my chores done in comforting silence. It felt like a ranch should, not like a damn construction site.
“Thanks,” he snorted and stood. “Come on inside, and let’s have a beer.”
“But it’s so nice out.”
“Let the mosquitoes feast on you, then.” Without another word of concern for my skin, Holden stepped back inside the cabin and left the door open.
Stubborn man was just so sure I’d follow him, and I stood, casting one last glance out into the darkness, hoping there was no one out there watching, waiting for the right moment to strike, and then followed him inside.
“This place is great. I can understand why you chose it for the view alone.”
“I didn’t choose it.” His voice sounded from the kitchen, and I was momentarily distracted by the sight of Holden’s ass in denim, bent into the fridge so I could look my fill of those solid thighs cupped by well-worn denim. Damn, he was exactly what a man should be. He was big and hard and strong, and not at all concerned with being stylish or fashionable.
“Enjoying the view?”
His lips quirked in amusement but I wasn’t ashamed to be caught ogling him.
“I am. Mind turning around for another second?” The laugh my words teased out of him made me feel twenty feet tall, like I had finally accomplished something in my life. Not something Daddy would be proud of, mind you, but an accomplishment all the same.
“Drink your beer, Aspen.”
I accepted the icy brew and let the cool liquid slide down my throat until my body temperature dropped by a few degrees. Being around Holden confused me. It was arousing while somehow also being bad for my health. The man had a habit of making my heart race and my nipples harden, and he had the strangest habit of eliciting dirty thoughts whenever he was near. Sometimes even when he wasn’t near.
“Who chose this land for you?” Was it a woman? Holden was too handsome, too kind to be single, but his gruff attitude could be a turn off for most women. I wondered if he had a sugar mama somewhere who’d bought him land to keep him close.
“I wonder what put that blush on your face,” he said with an amused laugh.
I scowled and slapped both hands to my warm cheeks. “Probably the beer or the oppressive Texas heat.”
“It was only eighty today,” he said with a smugness that should have pissed me off, but it only turned me on even more. “Anyway the owner before Gunnar gifted it to me in return for helping him turn the ranch around. His kin had left the place damn near destroyed, and most of the animals had been abused and neglected. He gave me this plot.”
“You are just one surprise after another, aren’t you?” He shrugged one of those aw shucks, ma’am cowboy moves, and I laughed. “Why didn’t you return to Vance and work one of the ranches there?” I held my breath in anticipation of a harsh rejection. It was clear that he didn’t want to share the details of his life with me, and I couldn’t blame him. But I also couldn’t resist digging.
“Nothing for me to return too, not really. Ranch work gave me the solitude I needed to work through some shit. In Opey, I could do it without all the history.”
Holden’s tone said he didn’t want to go into details about the shit he had to deal with, so I let it drop for now.
“Don’t worry, Aspen, I didn’t avoid Vance because of you.” He didn’t say it, but I was sure I heard the unspoken ‘mostly’ lingering in the air.
I didn’t call him out, just nodded and tried to swallow down my next question. It was stupid to ask, but I had to. “But you left because of me?”
“In part.” He looked me right in the eyes and told me the truth, which I appreciated. His nod was slow and thoughtful. “I was at odds anyway, no clue what I wanted to do with my life other than a life of back-breaking ranch work. You shuttin’ me down the way you did, it left me hurt sure, and humiliated, but the next day I found my way to a recruitment center. Two hours later I was an enlisted man. Best and worst damn decision of my life.”
“Why?” I knew he didn’t want to talk about it and probably with no
one less than me, but I had to know. The thought of what Holden had seen, of what that sweet boy I knew had witnessed and done in the name of his country made me uneasy.
“It just was.” His gaze met mine, dark and angry and filled with some emotion I couldn’t quite name.
“Did you lose friends?” It was a dumb question. Of course, he’d lost friends. Those damn wars were still going on. He probably lost more people he knew every day.
Instead of telling me to mind my own damn business, he kept it simple. “You could say that.”
“But—”
“Drop it, Aspen.” Ah, there it was.
“I’m just trying to get to know you, Holden. You want me to trust you with my life, to trust that you have my best interests in mind when it comes to Ken and to Farnsworth but that’s mighty damn hard to do when—”
His lips cut off my stream of words. As far as ways to shut me up go, this one was my favorite, and the kiss, hot and hard and angry, was hot as hell.
I leaned into the kiss, into Holden’s wide, hard chest and fisted the fabric in my hand because I couldn’t seem to get close enough. His scent, masculine and earthy, sucked me in, and the way he controlled the kiss, hell the way he controlled me, was irresistible. His big hands fisted in my hair at first, tilting me back so he could devour my mouth with a ferocity I had never experienced. There was passion where you couldn’t get enough of each other and then there was this, hot and primal and wild.
Holden tore his lips from mine, and a soft moan escaped as my body rejected how far away he now was. “You ask too many damn questions.” His voice was gruff but not angry, his eyes were practically black with desire and his hands were strong and hot against my flesh.
“I’m a curious girl,” I told him playfully, squealing when he lifted me onto the counter.
“Too damn curious,” he growled, tearing the t-shirt I wore over my head and making quick work of the lacy bra too.
“Fuck, too damn gorgeous too.”
His words produced a shiver that hardened my nipples, or maybe it was that dark gaze, so full of carnal promise that I didn’t care that Holden did want to want me. Because he did want me and right now, that was all that mattered.