Bounty Hunter- Grant

by Kim Fox

  Bounty Hunter: Grant

  The Clayton Rock Bounty Hunters of Redemption Creek Book Two

  Kim Fox

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  More from Kim Fox

  Bounty Hunter: Grant

  The Clayton Rock Bounty Hunters of Redemption Creek

  Book Two

  By KIM FOX

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  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Contains explicit love scenes and adult language.

  18+

  www.AuthorKimFox.com

  Copyright © 2018 by Kim Fox

  Chapter One

  Grant

  “Did you catch him?” Ryder asked as Grant Clayton got out of the car—a 1969 Ford Cortina that his grandfather had left them. Grant hated the car. It was as orange as a pumpkin and didn’t run much better than one.

  “Yeah,” he said, shaking his head. “I had to drive to Wyoming to catch the little punk. I spent most of the bounty on gas.” He shot the car a dirty look. That rusty piece of crap had an engine that guzzled gas faster than Mack guzzled beer at an open bar.

  “How much did you get?” Ryder asked.

  Grant was almost too embarrassed to say. Once upon a time, when his bounty hunter business was booming, he would routinely nab criminals and outlaws with ten and twenty thousand dollar price tags. It wasn’t even uncommon for one to get up as high as seventy-five thousand dollars. Those were the good old days before the town got cleaned up. Now he was lucky if he got enough from a bounty to cover his gas and lunch.

  “Sixty bucks,” Grant said with a sigh. It was a small bounty. A nineteen year-old graffiti artist who didn’t show up for his sentencing. “Minus thirty for gas.”

  Ryder swallowed hard. “Thirty dollars down.”

  “Roughly 1.5 million to go.” The two cousins looked at each other and sighed. They both knew what was at risk if they didn’t get some big jobs fast. The debt left by their grandfather would overwhelm them and they would lose their family’s ranch.

  “We’ll figure it out,” Ryder said, slapping a hand on his alpha’s shoulder. “We always do.”

  Grant nodded, but he wasn’t so sure. Maybe they figured things out in the past, but they never had to figure out a way to make 1.5 million dollars in only four months before.

  He hadn’t told the crew all of the details that had been weighing heavily on him. If they didn’t come up with the money by the end of October, the ownership of the Clayton Rock Ranch would be transferred over to the state of Montana. The weaselly Governor William Reyes would put his hands all over it and slice it to pieces. Condo developments would go up faster than their interest was rising.

  “Your mom is here,” Ryder said as they walked. “Bert brought some steaks over. We’ll have a nice night by the pool.”

  Grant wasn’t in the mood to relax and unwind. How could he waste any time when his family’s legacy was on the line? His grandfather had entrusted the ranch that had been in the Clayton family for hundreds of years to him, and he couldn’t be the one to lose it.

  Grant always put a lot of pressure on himself to keep the business healthy and afloat, and the pressure was mounting more than ever.

  They walked around back and Grant’s mood started to lighten once he smelled the steaks cooking on the barbecue and heard Creedence Clearwater Revival playing over the speakers. It was a perfect Montana summer evening on the ranch with the beautiful in-ground pool lit up and his friends laughing with beers in their hands. They might not have the ranch for much longer so it was important to enjoy the time they did have.

  “Did someone order beers?” Tempest asked as she walked over with two frosty mugs full of thick ale. She handed one to Grant and one to Ryder.

  “Thanks, T,” Grant said, raising his glass to her before taking a sip. “Man, that’s good!”

  He turned back to the new couple and they were already busy kissing. “No, that’s good,” Tempest said as she pulled away and licked her lips with her cheeks blushing.

  Grant chuckled as he continued to the bar, leaving the happy couple alone. He was happy for his cousin Ryder, but also a little bit envious. He was twenty-nine and ready to settle down with a mate himself, but now just wasn’t the time. He had too much on his plate to focus on that right now. There were more important things at stake.

  “Look at them,” Grant’s mother Dorothy said as she walked over and slid her arm around his shoulder. She turned Grant around until they were both facing Tempest and Ryder who were in each other’s arms, talking low and giggling. “They look so happy.”

  “They’re certainly happy,” Grant said, taking another sip of his beer. In fact, he had heard how happy they were last night. And this morning. I should buy some soundproof insulation for their cabin…

  “When are you going to find a girl?” his mother asked, eying him closely.

  He slid out from under her arm and hurried over to the bar with his mother following close on his heels like one of those annoying little dogs that won’t stop yapping.

  “Am I ever going to get grandkids?” she whined as she chased him.

  Logan and Bryce were hanging out at the bar. They were both laughing as Grant hurried over.

  “Yeah, Grant,” Logan teased. “When are you going to settle down?” He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes at him in mock seriousness. “Don’t you think it’s time you found a girlfriend?”

  “Coming from a guy who’s single,” Grant said, shooting him an annoyed look.

  Logan shrugged as he grabbed the guitar that was leaning against his barstool and started strumming it softly. “I already have a true love. Music.”

  Mack and his father Bert were both listening by the barbecue where they were cooking up the steaks. “You can’t make love to a guitar,” Bert said with a shake of his head.

  Mack laughed. “You obviously don’t know Logan and what he likes to do with the hole in his guitar.”

  “I don’t want to hear any of this,” Dorothy said as she covered her ears, making everyone laugh.

  Grant walked around the bar and topped off his beer from the tap.

  “But seriously,” his mother continued. Grant sighed. Once she was on this topic, it was impossible to get her off. “You’re a handsome man who owns his own ranch and a successful business. You’re a catch!”

  “Successful business?” Logan repeated with a tilt of his head. “Grant do you have another business that we’re not aware of?”
<
br />   “Tons of girls would be thrilled to go out with you,” his mother continued, ignoring him. “My friend Jenny’s daughter is single.”

  “Is that the girl who collects all of those Troll dolls?” he asked, eying her funny. Last time he met her, she had bragged that she had over 500 of them.

  “She’s a little out there,” his mother admitted, “but you need to find someone.”

  “I have to get the ranch in order,” he snapped.

  Everyone’s eyes darted to him and he took a deep breath and apologized. Apparently, he had been even more stressed about it then he had realized.

  “I’m sorry,” he said to his mom. “I just… I have to get the ranch and all of the finances in order before I can even think about getting a girl.”

  “What does the ranch have to do with getting a girlfriend?” she asked.

  Grant sighed. Why isn’t she getting this?

  “The family legacy is in my hands, Mom. We’re about to lose the ranch and I have to spend all of my energy on preventing that from happening. I have to keep it for the future generations.”

  “There won’t be any future generations if you don’t get a girl!” she snapped back.

  Bert handed the metal spatula to his son and strutted over. “Maybe we can start the next generation,” he said to Dorothy with a grin on his face.

  “I’m right here!” Grant said, opening his arms in disbelief. Mack’s father was always hitting on Grant’s mother and it drove him crazy. It drove Dorothy crazy too — or, at least that’s what she wanted everyone to believe. Grant always saw how she was always trying to hide a flattered smile while trying to look outraged.

  Bert pulled a bill from his jeans and stuffed it into Grant’s shirt pocket. “Go to the movies, kid,” he said as he grinned at Dorothy. She had her hands on her hips, her chest pushed out, and her chin in the air, pretending like she was offended.

  Grant reached into his pocket and pulled out the bill. “This is a five. Movies are like fifteen bucks. Plus tax.”

  Bert grinned as he eyed Grant’s mother like a pork chop. “Put the rest on my tab.”

  “The steaks are ready,” Mack said as he grabbed the platter and started stacking them on.

  Grant let it go as everyone jumped up and started piling around the table outside. He topped off his beer one last time and then sat at the head of the table in the chair that was reserved for the alpha.

  The boys were eying the steaks closely, hoping for the biggest one, but they kept their hands in their laps.

  Bert had taken the seat beside Grant’s mother and the two of them were playing footsie under the table. They were trying to be subtle, but not a lot got past Grant.

  He picked up the platter of steaks and let his guests pick first. His mother, then Bert. The boys’ tongues were literally on the table as their eyes followed the platter. Tempest was next and then he got to choose. He took the biggest one and then handed the plate to Ryder. Ryder grabbed a T-bone and then tossed the platter between the three remaining lion shifters who pounced on it like hungry cats.

  “Why do I always get the smallest one?” Bryce whined as he looked at the scrawny steak on his plate.

  “Because you’re the FNG,” Mack grunted with a laugh. He had pushed Logan out of the way and got the biggest of the three.

  “What’s an FNG?” Bryce asked, tilting his head.

  “The Fucking New Guy,” Grant, Ryder, Mack, and Logan all said at the same time.

  Bryce frowned as he poked his steak with his fork. “How am I ever going to get as big as Mack if I never get the big steak?”

  Mack chuckled. “As big as me, kid?” he said, looking at the sixteen-year-old with amusement. “You don’t. I’m one of a kind.”

  Grant frowned as he watched the huge lion shifter chewing with his mouth open. He definitely was one of a kind.

  “If you’re still hungry,” Logan said, “you can go and barbecue Sloth.” He pointed to their fat orange cat who was snoring loudly on a pool chair. That cat was so obese that he could feed a village for a week.

  “I’m not that hungry,” Bryce said and everyone laughed.

  It was a nice dinner with his crew, and Grant started to relax. But just when he had his guard down, his mother started back up again.

  “I get my nails done at the Tippy Toes Salon by this adorable girl named Camila.”

  Grant shifted in his chair. “Mom—”

  “She just moved to Redemption Creek about four months ago and she’s very funny. Smart. Pretty.”

  “And let me guess,” Grant said with a sigh. “She’s single.”

  His mother scratched the side of her head as she looked up at the stars that were just starting to come out in the sky. “You know, I’m not sure…”

  “Yeah, right,” Grant said, shaking his head.

  “But now that you bring it up, yeah, I think she is.”

  “Oh, how convenient,” Grant said, eating the last bite on his plate.

  “She sounds like she would be perfect for Grant,” Logan said with a grin.

  Grant shot him a warning look.

  “You think?” Dorothy asked, turning to him. Logan nodded. “Well, I guess if my son likes girls who are smart and funny and pretty and own their own business, then, yeah, I could see that.”

  “You should set Grant up,” Tempest said, nodding along. “She sounds great.”

  “We should stop this conversation,” Grant said, feeling frustration bubble up. “That sounds great.”

  His mother turned to him with desperation in her eyes. “Maybe you two can go out for dinner?”

  “No.”

  “Lunch?”

  “No.”

  “Okay. Maybe a drink?”

  Grant crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “Not going to happen.”

  His mother’s shoulders dropped as she let out a frustrated breath. “Why not? You need a girl!”

  “I need to get this ranch in order,” he said in a tight voice. Why was he the only one who could see that? Their family’s legacy was in jeopardy and all his mother could think about was setting him up on a blind date.

  He was sure that Camila girl was nice, but Grant wasn’t just willing to settle for anyone either. He wanted a girl who kept him on his toes like Tempest did with Ryder. Someone to challenge him and keep things interesting. He just didn’t think that anyone his mother picked would be even close to that.

  “I’m not going to live forever, Grant and before I go I want to hold a little…”

  Grant stopped listening when something unusual caught his eye. He stared past his mother at Sloth who had suddenly got up from where he had been sleeping all day. There was a permanent deep indent in the lawn chair from his heavy body.

  He watched as the cat was suddenly alert, looking all around as he walked along the pool. Sloth is never alert.

  Grant knew something was definitely up when the cat walked to the storefront and circled it, closely looking at the windows and doors. Next, he walked toward the cabins, examining each one.

  There was something about him that was different. There was a spring in his step that wasn’t there before. Sloth normally walked all hunched over with a scowl on his face, like he was upset at the world for making him occasionally move his feet.

  Ryder was sitting on Grant’s right and had caught on as well. He was watching the cat closely.

  “Wasn’t one of those guys with General Hunt a skin shifter?” he whispered.

  Grant swallowed hard. “That’s what I was thinking.”

  He lifted his chin and inhaled deep. There was a very faint smell of charcoal, but it could have just been the barbecue.

  “Check the perimeter,” Grant ordered as he watched the cat leap onto the windowsill of Logan’s cabin. He was peering inside. “Holler if you need some back-up.”

  Ryder wiped his mouth with his napkin and dropped it on his plate as he stood up, acting like everything was normal.

  He disappeared into the
night and Grant heard the faint ripping sound of Ryder phasing into his lion. The big cat could cover the ground a lot quicker than Ryder’s human form could.

  “Everything okay, boss?” Mack said, eying him closely.

  Grant turned back to Sloth. “We’ll see…”

  A couple of weeks ago, they had a run-in with General Hunt and his crew of mercenary shifters. It hadn’t ended well and Grant was waiting for the moment when they were going to return. He hoped it wasn’t tonight with his mother there.

  A few minutes later, after checking the last cabin, Sloth froze on his paws. His head shook and he came to, looking confused as he looked around, probably wondering how the hell he got out of his favorite chair. The old Sloth was back, hunched over and pissed off as he slunk back to his chair, hopped on, and fell back to sleep.

  The skin shifter was gone. For now.

  Ryder came back to the table with a shrug. “I couldn’t see anyone. There was a smell, but he’s not there anymore.”

  Grant swallowed hard. It wasn’t over.

  In fact, it hadn’t even really begun.

  Chapter Two

  Amélie

  Elodie would love this.

  Amélie Fournier couldn’t help but think of her younger sister as she rocketed across the stunning Montana landscape in the military helicopter. She couldn’t get over the majestic beauty of the mountains and how they made her heart seem to swell in her chest. She only wished she was seeing them under different circumstances…

  Keegan, or Irish as the guys called him, snorted and then spat out the open door of the chopper. He grinned as he watched it fall below.