Tackling Tobias: A Big Sky Universe Novel (Lady Boss Presents: Big Sky Universe)

by C. M. Steele

  Leaning down, I whisper, “I’ll be back, babe.”

  “Do you want us to wait for you?”

  “No. It’s not your cooking, so I’m willing to share.” I can’t stop myself from kissing her when she smiles up at me with happiness from a simple compliment. I love this woman.

  Pulling myself away, I find Landon three steps ahead of me. As soon as the door closed, I ask, “So what happened?”

  “I let word spread that the wedding already happened.” He’s smiling proud of himself.

  “And? Anyone acting shifty?”

  “No. Not really. Just surprised. I told them that when you love someone, you go for it. Even a day longer felt too long. No one seemed put out in the least. Of the staff that was present, nothing happened.”

  “Damn, I was hoping that we’d get some reaction.”

  “Can you take time off for the honeymoon?”

  “Yes. We can. Next month is when it gets busy.”

  “Good. Take her now before you can’t take time off. Fly with us to Chicago, refuel, and go wherever you like. You need to celebrate and forget all this bullshit and in the meantime, we’ll have more answers and maybe even this woman.”

  “Sounds good to me. I’ll ask Ava. She might not want to go, but I will try.”

  “Of course. Now, we have two days to relax before we leave. Fuck her into agreeing on a getaway to make a baby. I’m sure you’re more than ready for that.”

  “Hell motherfucking yes. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go find my bride and kiss the hell out of her.”

  “As you should.”

  After a blissful night of orgasm after orgasm, I hoped today the happiness would continue, but shit hits the fan as soon as I step into my office to get some work done. “We have a problem, Tobias. A cow has been shot in the far pasture,” John says, panting like he’s completely out of breath over the phone.

  “Fuck. Hunters or poachers?” I ask. Some other ranches have had those problems, so it’s only a matter of time before they head our way. I’m on my feet, ready to head out.

  “I don’t know, but I already called Angela. There’s a chance they both can be saved. It’s supposedly in the leg.”

  I round my desk, then freeze and ask, “Supposedly?”

  “Yeah, David called me, freaking out.”

  “David? What the fuck is he doing in the far pasture? He’s supposed to be feeding the sheep.”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t gotten that far. I’m on my way to pick you up. Be there in two minutes.”

  “Okay. I’ll be out there.” I slip on my hat and tuck my phone into my pocket with my gun holstered around my back. You never know if the poachers are still out there looking to collect on their kill or get more. They may open fire on us, so it’s smart to be prepared.

  “What’s going on?” Ava asks, coming into my office with my coffee and a puzzled look on her face. I hate to ruin our good morning with ugly and dangerous business.

  “Thanks, babe.” I take it and set it down on my desk, knowing it’s going to get cold before I get back. “Sorry, but I have to go. Someone shot one of my cows.”

  “Oh no. Please don’t go out there. I have a bad feeling about it.” The pleading look in her round eyes breaks my heart and almost makes me turn around, but it’s my responsibility and I’m already planning on leaving my staff alone again when we go on our honeymoon tomorrow.

  “Babe, I’m going to be okay. Everyone is out there waiting for me.”

  “So why do you need to go?” she hisses, getting snippy with me which takes me by surprise.

  “Because it’s my ranch,” I bark out. She flinches and then turns on her heel to leave. I reach out to talk to her, but she yanks her hand away, storming out of my office. I hear her climb the stairs. “Son of a bitch,” I grumble, running my hand over my face. I don’t have time to make it right. Instead, I do what I have to and head out to meet John. He’s in his truck and I hop in, feeling like a fucking prick as we pull away from the house.

  “Can things get any worse?” I mutter, knowing that I just jinxed myself.

  “You know they can,” he sighs, making his way out to the field.

  Chapter 15

  Ava

  By the time I storm up to the bedroom and slam our door, my temper feels out of place. I’m pissed at him and myself. I can see his heart cracking when I pull away from him. It’s as if I smacked him. My head drops into my hands and I let the tears fall effortlessly. Tobias and I should be happy and celebrating our new life together, but I let my fears get in the way of his job.

  I should know he’s only doing what he would typically do. I wrestle with my emotions, feeling hurt and lonely.

  Still, he’s my husband and I should have the right to say something. We’ve only been married less than twenty-four hours and had our first fight. A part of me feels childish. Damn it, I need some air. I wipe away the tears on my face and then leave our room. I want to be in his arms and to tell me we’re okay.

  I barely make it to the last step when I see my sister-in-law. “Hey, what’s up?” Lara asks. Her brows narrow as she gauges my mood. As much as I want to talk about it, I want to be alone.

  “I just need some air,” I sigh, hoping she doesn’t pry or I’ll break down again.

  “Do you want me to walk with you?” she offers, looking anxiously at me. My lousy mood must be written all over my face.

  “No. That’s okay. I’ll be fine.”

  “Every couple fights,” she says, pulling me into a hug. “Trust me. I’ve just learned to figure out which ones are important, and which are silly. It takes a long time with Alpha men like them.” I’m sure they do, especially being with a hardheaded man like Tobias. He’s soft with me. He raised his voice, which didn’t scare me. It angered me.

  So she heard us. Or maybe she heard the slamming doors. Feeling more ashamed, I pull away and ignore her concerned expression. “I’ll be back soon.” She nods and goes into the living room. I walk to the hall closet for my things. I slip on my winter coat and boots with his Bears beanie and head outside. It’s chilly, but it isn’t freezing so I lower my zipper because I need air.

  At first, I just sit on the porch for a minute, but I have a terrible feeling and I’m still worried for Tobias. Not only from our fight. Something is nagging at me and I can’t get that feeling to go away.

  I take a seat on our swing, slowly rocking it with my feet planted on the porch. Sitting on our swing does me no good because I think of us sitting here while he steals kisses from me. They always seem innocent and impulsive, but they end up dirty and purposeful.

  “Ugh, I need to apologize for pulling away like that. Lara’s right. Some things are silly to fight over. I get up and stretch. “Maybe a walk to the barn will help,” I sigh, taking the stairs carefully. I doubt there’s any ice, but I have a tendency to land on my ass if there is any.

  I’m startled when I see David, one of Tobias’s ranch hands that I don’t know very well jogging up to meet me with a giant smile on his face. He takes off his winter hat and says, “Good morning, Mrs. Reynolds.”

  “Good morning, David.” He’s one of the smaller, leaner-framed ranch hands that work for Tobias. He’s got to be in his early twenties and overly sweet and not in a good way. I find him a bit creepy.

  “Are you headed out to the barn?” he asks, smiling softly. Lara told me that he had a crush on her, so I wonder if he still does. That would be terrible because it wouldn’t end well. Landon’s not the kind of guy willing to tolerate another man’s interest in his wife in the least. They’ll be using his body for fertilizer by the time he’s done with David.

  “Well, I was just going for a walk in the cool air, and I thought I’d see the horses.” Although it’s a cattle and sheep ranch, Tobias has a small stable of half a dozen horses next to the barn which they use for both work and play. I haven’t been on a horse in a long time. I wonder if Tobias will teach me how to ride when the weather warms up.

 
; “I’ll lead the way, ma’am.” He tips his head as a sign of gentlemanly respect, but knowing Tobias as I do, he doesn’t want any man walking anywhere with me unless they’re a sworn bodyguard. Even then, he’s kept those guys at the gates only. He likes anything with testicles a fair distance away from me at all times.

  “I don’t think Tobias will take kindly to that. He’s a bit territorial where I’m concerned,” I inform him, so he doesn’t get himself into trouble with the boss. Tobias already isn’t in the mood today.

  “He’s got no reason to be jealous of me. Now come along. I can’t let you get hurt or the boss will lose his shit even more than me being around you.” Does everyone know I can’t keep myself on two feet in the snow?

  “I suppose you have a point there.” I follow for a few minutes, trying to make conversation, but he’s giving me one syllable responses. It’s when I take a look at David that I sense the tension rolling off him in waves. I freeze in my spot about fifteen feet away from the barn. The stables are a little further, but I’m not sure I want to go to them with my escort. In fact, I want to go to the house, but it’s already too late. Standing next to a vehicle I’ve never seen before is a woman pointing a gun at me. I try to let out a scream when David’s hand comes over my mouth.

  “Shut up, you stupid bitch.” I’ve heard that voice before. She’s the woman that called and threatened me—Tobias’s stalker in the flesh. I know her, but I’m not sure from where. I haven’t gone out much over the time that I’ve been here.

  Tears fill my eyes, thinking about what they’re going to do. I’m a goner. I relax to the point that David removes his hand from my mouth. “Scream, and we’ll shoot you.”

  “Why are you doing this? I haven’t done anything to you,” I sob out.

  “Why? You stole my man, you dumb bitch. I hate you. You took him from me. You must have put a spell on him.”

  “What if I promise to leave him?” I ask her, hoping there’s a way out of this mess. I know she probably won’t believe me.

  “Oh, you are leaving him. Whether it’s with him—” The nut with a gun waves to David. “Or in a pine box is up to you.”

  “Now that’s not fair,” I say, attempting to negotiate, but it only seems to make her angry. They’re both armed, and I have a feeling that I stand a better chance with David. She’s fucking crazy. Like super-psycho, batshit crazy.

  She takes a step closer, which makes me step back, but then David points his gun at me from the side. If I run, they’ll shoot me. The only way out of this for me is to make an escape when I flee with David. “I gave you a fair warning, and instead of heeding it, you took it as a challenge. You convinced my man to forget his promise to me. He was supposed to be my husband.”

  “I had no idea. He lied to me.”

  “He never lies to anyone. You tricked him. It’s the money, right? You bribed him.” She’s getting angrier; her hand holding the gun shakes violently as she aims it at me.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Hey, fucking relax. You know that this isn’t supposed to go down like this,” David warns her.

  “Calm down. If she’s dead now or tomorrow, you still get your money.”

  “No. It needs to happen at the right time.”

  “So that’s what this is about? Money?”

  “You know that I’m about to inherit money. Why kill me? Maybe I can offer more than my father.”

  “I won’t be able to get away with it, so don’t play that shit. I’m not a dumb motherfucker.”

  “Why? Why do this to Tobias?”

  “He’s a fucking asshole who’s been given every advantage in life. He wants to pretend to be one of us, but he’s fucking rich and spoiled.”

  “Don’t talk about him like that. He’s perfect. It wasn’t until this jezebel showed up.” She waves the gun at me while glaring at him. I take a step back slowly, but the sound of crunching hay under my boot catches her attention. “Where the fuck are you going?”

  “I’m not going anywhere. I thought you’re supposed to take me somewhere, David. Are you going to get on with it because I have to pee.” I look at him with seriousness as if this isn’t a life or death situation to be in. I’m praying that someone finds us, but that’s probably not in the cards. I’m betting the cow in the pasture was just a diversion so that Tobias was pulled away from me. After all, we’re newlyweds.

  “I don’t take orders from you. God, I’m so tired of bossy motherfuckers.”

  “Yeah, I suppose hard work seems to be a waste when you can commit felonies for money.”

  “Shut the fuck up, you uppity bitch. Your dad should have broken your mouth. Women like you don’t ever learn their place. And then you had that sad fuck in there at your beck and call like a stupid fucking puppy in love.”

  “Both of you—enough.” She raises the gun and the sound rips through the barn. As I fall, I swear I could hear Tobias shouting for me.

  Chapter 16

  Tobias

  “It’s okay. We’ll find this person,” John says as we make our way to the pasture. The sun’s beaming in my eyes, so I’m glad I have my favorite cowboy hat on. Damn, Ava loves this hat. She slipped it on after she had it steam cleaned, pretending to be a cowgirl. She looked so sexy that I can’t wait to order her one if she’s willing to stay married to me. I’m such a prick.

  Shaking my head, I can’t keep thinking how shitty I feel for snapping at her. Of all the people to be angry with, it’s not her. She loves me and worries about my safety. I need to go back and apologize. “It’s not that. I just had my first fight with Ava, and she stormed out of my office. I should have gone after her and talked it out instead of leaving.”

  “I’m sorry. What happened?” John asks.

  I explain how I raised my voice at her.

  “Ah, that’s nothing. You are always a grumpy bastard. You owe her an apology. Give her one and have some amazing make-up sex,” he offers. It doesn’t seem like a little thing to me because I can’t lose her. What if she thinks she made a mistake?

  “Thanks,” I mutter, doing my best to see it his way, but the look in her eyes broke my heart. I never want to cause her pain and I did just that.

  We pull up to the spot and see that the cow is beyond saving, and she’s not far along enough to try to operate on the baby. Damn it. We’re going to lose them both.

  “David said he had to wrangle up a calf that ran off,” Angela says. Immediately my suspicions are roused. Either we have a poacher in the area or David is full of shit.

  “Did he tell you that it had been shot in the leg?” I ask.

  “He did.” It’s clear as fuck this cow wasn’t even shot. It was gutted like it was being strung up for meat.

  “Damn it,” I hiss. “A setup.”

  “What?”

  “I have to get back,” I stand back and wipe my hands on my bandana.

  “What?” he asks.

  Shaking my head the entire time, I regret leaving now more than ever. With each step I’m getting further from the cow and closer to John’s ride and they’re both following behind me. “Ava had a bad feeling, and I’m betting she’s right. Someone’s here, and they are after her or me.”

  “Angela, we’ll get this taken care of. Thank you.” I wave her off and run to John’s truck and he hurries to catch up, hopping in the passenger seat as I take off driving back toward the ranch. Whipping out my cell phone, I call Ava but she doesn’t answer, so I call Landon. “Where’s Ava?”

  “She stepped outside. She said she needed some air and wanted to be alone. She’d been crying.”

  “We had a fight. Please go out there and bring her back. It’s not safe. I have a feeling one of my hands let someone onto the property.”

  “Are you serious? Shit. I wish I didn’t let her go, but I figured with the security on alert, she’d be safe out front.”

  “I am.” I hear him shouting to stay inside. “Carl, Danny, with me,” he barks to his team.

  “We need to get
Ava back securely inside the house. Possible intruder on the property.” He continues to move without hanging up on me.

  “How? None of the sensors were set off?” Danny asks. They take their jobs seriously and they better find my wife before I take it out on them.

  “Someone let this person in,” I grumble. David. There’s no one else. He’s the one feeding us lie after lie this morning.

  “Damn it.”

  “Tobias, we’ll find her.”

  “I thought you said she went out front for air. How can you not find her?” I roar. It’s a wrap around porch, but they should have found her by now.

  “She’s not out front.” I can hear the wind as they rush around. I pull into my driveway and pop out. My first thought is the barn. I make a mad dash over to it. I’m not feet away when I hear a shot and then another. Oh my fucking God. My knees feel like they’re going to buckle, but I have to protect her or avenge her. One way or another someone is going to pay with their life for this.

  “She’s not supposed to be harmed yet. You fucking psycho stalker.” I see David with his gun on some girl I recognize but don’t know. Ava’s on the ground. Then David comes up to her. “Come, you slutty bitch. Your father was going to pay me good, but I’ll see how much you’re worth to Reynolds.”

  Ava screams as he pulls her hair to drag her away. I lose what semblance of sanity I had and do the only thing I can think of. I whip out my gun and aim for his chest. My gun goes off, and he falls before he knows what happens. I run toward the scene as David raises his gun toward me. Son of a bitch. The sound of a bullet goes off and into David’s head. My head of security pulled the trigger.

  I don’t give a fuck because Ava’s on the ground bleeding. “Baby, Ava. Please talk to me.”

  Shit. She doesn’t say anything as I attempt to staunch the bleeding in her leg. She’s not spewing blood, so I have to hope that it hasn’t hit the femoral artery. Danny, Landon’s head of security, was a medic. He comes over and starts talking, but I can’t hear a word he’s saying as he nudges me out of the way, so I move to the other side. I can’t be away from her. My heart is cracking as I stare at my beloved bleeding and pale. “Ava, babe. Please don’t leave me. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone out. You were right.”