by Donna Grant
“Do you have something stronger?”
“Oh, yeah.” Audrey pulled a bottle of tequila from the cabinet and held it up to Patty, who nodded.
She got two glasses and set them on the table before pouring a shot into each. Only then did Audrey sit and look across at the redhead who she had believed was a friend—who could very well be the enemy.
Patty tossed back the liquor and laughed as it slid down her throat. “Whoa. Just what I needed,” she said as she pushed Audrey’s glass to her.
Audrey wrapped her fingers around it. “Why have you come? We’ve known each other a long time, but it’s not like we hang out.”
Audrey watched Patty drink another shot. She downed her own before she pressed the back of her hand against her lips as the liquor burned down her throat.
“I came to show my support. I can’t believe what’s being said. You’re too nice, Audrey. You would never hurt an animal.”
Audrey arched a brow. “You think I’d hurt a person?”
“Of course not,” Patty replied with a laugh.
Audrey joined in, but the laugh was forced. She began second-guessing herself. Perhaps she’d been wrong about Patty. Maybe she was a friend.
Audrey watched as Patty poured two more shots. “Who do you think did it?”
“I trust the police. They’ll find who did it.” Patty flashed a smile.
Audrey drank the tequila in her glass. “How is the mare we worked on at the rescue?”
“Oh, she’s good. You should go see her.” Patty wrinkled her nose. “Well, when you can. I’m sure the authorities asked you to stay away from any animals until this nastiness is over.”
Audrey ignored the next shot that Patty poured. There was something about the unmistakable glee she heard in Patty’s words that made her gut twist. “Why are you really here?”
The back door closed then. Audrey didn’t move, expecting it to be her sister.
“Hey, babe. Damn, it’s a hot one today,” Caleb said as he came up behind her.
Audrey’s heart leapt into her throat, a mixture of surprise and relief. She was unsure what was going on, but if Caleb was there, then the shit was about to hit the fan. Audrey smiled up at him and put her hand atop his. “Hey. I don’t think you’ve met my old friend. Patty, this is Caleb Harper.”
“Oh, we met,” Caleb said, his smile easy. “She came out when Brice and I were looking for equine vets.”
Audrey didn’t miss the way Patty’s face tightened, though there was no indication on Caleb’s face that anything was wrong.
Patty’s smile dropped. “I didn’t know you two were … together.”
“It’s new,” Caleb said with a bright smile. “We’ve not really had a chance to tell anyone. But once I saw Audrey, I couldn’t resist.”
“You and everyone else,” Patty said, malice dripping from her words.
The mask Patty had been wearing slipped, letting Audrey and Caleb see the viciousness that the woman had hidden from everyone.
Caleb’s hand tightening on Audrey’s shoulder warned her to remain calm. The anger rolling off Patty was hard to ignore, much less keep from reacting to.
Daggers shot from Patty’s gaze as she stared at Audrey and leaned back while crossing one leg over the other. “You don’t remember, do you?”
“Remember what?” Audrey asked, truly perplexed.
“Rodney Smith.”
The name sounded familiar, but Audrey had to search her mind until she pulled the memory. “He was in our high school.”
“He was my cousin. And utterly in love with you.”
Audrey licked her lips. “I didn’t know that.”
“The hell you didn’t.” Patty sneered. “The summer of your freshman year at college, you came back home. It had taken Rodney years to work up the courage to ask you out. He was over the moon when you said yes. It was all he could talk about for days.”
Audrey felt sick to her stomach. She had a feeling she knew exactly how this conversation was going to end, and it wasn’t good. “Rodney was a nice guy.”
Patty laughed coldly. “Yes, he was. But that wasn’t what you wanted, was it? You let him take you out, let him get his hopes up, and then you took him to your bed. After that, you blew him off.”
“I did that to several guys. I didn’t mean to hurt Rodney.”
“There was more than my cousin?” Patty asked, eyes wide. “Why am I not surprised?”
Audrey took a deep breath. “It wasn’t a good time in my life.”
“Did you know that Rodney died by suicide?”
It was a good thing Audrey was sitting down. Otherwise, her legs would’ve given out on her. “I-I didn’t know.”
Patty raked her eyes over Audrey. “I don’t see what it is everyone likes about you. There’s nothing special at all. And yet, jobs fall in your lap.” She glanced at Caleb. “And, apparently, so do men.”
“So you decided to get your revenge,” Caleb said.
Patty smiled smugly and shrugged. “It wasn’t just for Rodney. It was for myself and every other person Audrey has managed to screw over.”
Audrey started to reply, but Caleb tightened his grip on her shoulder. She wisely kept silent. Out of the corner of her eye, Audrey spotted movement outside the house through the window. When she looked, Danny and several sheriff’s deputies surrounded the building.
“How do you think things will go from here?” Caleb asked. “You’ve let me know your plan.”
Patty lifted one shoulder. “I’m resourceful.”
Caleb twisted his lips. “I admit, you’ve made sure to look pretty good in all of this, but your time is up. You didn’t just tell me,” he said and pulled his cell phone from his pocket that was on speaker.
Patty jumped to her feet the same time the front door slammed opened, and police stormed the house. Audrey’s gaze remained on Patty, so she saw the woman pull a needle from her pocket and lunge toward her.
Audrey shoved the table forward just as Caleb grabbed Patty’s arm and twisted. The woman let out a cry of pain, and the needle fell to the floor.
With her heart hammering and adrenaline pumping through her, Audrey could only watch as Danny quickly put Patty in handcuffs while a deputy Mirandized her.
“Hey,” Caleb said as he bent to look at Audrey. “Are you all right?”
Audrey looked into Caleb’s brown eyes and threw her arms around him. When he straightened, bringing her with him, she clung to him harder, burying her face in his neck as he wrapped his arms tighter.
Chapter 35
He might have needed to be a part of the group that took Patty down, but now that Caleb had Audrey in his arms, nothing else mattered.
It felt right to have her against him, as if she belonged there. Whenever he thought about what could have happened had he not been there, his arms tightened. None of the missions he’d been on as an Army Ranger came close to the fear that had gripped him.
No one said anything to them. In short order, the deputies led Patty outside and into a patrol car. Danny gave him a nod and left with them.
A moment later, Maddy, Cooper, and Jace appeared in the front doorway, but the trio quickly backed away and softly shut the door behind them.
For days, Caleb had gone over in his head what he would say to Audrey when he saw her again, but now that he was with her, his mind was blank. All he knew was what was in his heart. He couldn’t go wrong with following that, could he?
But he didn’t know how to begin. Instead, he simply held Audrey until her grip finally loosened. He closed his eyes because he knew anything could happen over the next few moments. But he knew one thing for sure—he wasn’t walking out of this house without having Audrey as his.
And not just for a few weeks or months. Caleb wanted her for eternity.
He’d discovered how great it was to have her in his life. And he found out how lonely and dull it was without her. She made him face his past, made him take a cold, hard look at himself.
; And what he wanted.
He’d discovered that everything he needed was her.
She leaned back, her dark gaze meeting his. No longer was she open and smiling. The beginning of a wall was there, and Caleb couldn’t blame her.
“How are you here?” Audrey asked. Then she shook her head and answered her own question. “Clayton.”
Caleb’s fingers clenched when she took a step back, separating their bodies. He couldn’t help but feel as if she put distance between them for more than one purpose. Hell, he’d done it on so many occasions, he knew exactly what she was doing.
And it hurt.
“I’ve been on your property since four this morning,” he said.
“I see,” she mumbled.
Caleb swallowed. The fear that had held him so tightly in its grasp loosened the longer he looked at her. Knowing she was all right, knowing that the danger had passed relieved him. But just being near her gave him the peace that had been absent the past few days.
“Before I get started on this, you need to know that I wasn’t the one who put your things in your truck. That was Brice. He thought he was helping me out. He didn’t know that I wanted you to have a reason to come back to the ranch. To … me.”
Of all the things he thought Audrey might do or say, just standing there staring at him wasn’t one of them. This was going to be much harder than he realized.
Caleb cleared his throat. “Clayton and Abby told me you came to them about what was going on. They knew I’d want to help. Abby went home to do background checks on the names you gave her, while Clayton and I went to the auction house to talk to David.”
“Why?” Audrey asked.
“Because it started there. I knew I’d discover some kind of connection if I looked hard enough. It wasn’t evidence to find, but rather to hear.”
Audrey’s brow furrowed. “I don’t understand.”
“We searched the entire place from top to bottom, going over everything again, but we found absolutely nothing. In the wee hours of the morning, David pulled out some beers. He and Clayton talked, while I had this nagging feeling that I’d missed something. I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I nearly missed when David said that a vet had come by to offer their services but that he’d politely refused. Not only did he already have two on the books, but he would always turn to you if he was in a bind. A month later, the first horse showed signs of the poisoning.”
Audrey wrapped her arms around herself. “I’m guessing David told Patty that he not only had two vets on call but then mentioned something about me.”
“Exactly,” Caleb said with a nod. “He spoke about how close he and your family were. David being the talkative person that he is, even mentioned how you offered to do jobs for only a third of your regular rates, but that he demanded you bill full price.”
Audrey threw up her hands. “He’s a family friend. I’ve known him my entire life. And why should Patty get upset at that? I wasn’t even David’s on-call vet. He has someone that he’s used for years.”
“That was my thought, as well. Turns out, my sister is good at digging into people’s lives. Patty is drowning in debt. She kept trying to get more jobs, but everywhere she turned, you were there, offering to do the job for little to no money.”
“So I’m to be punished because I can manage money better than her?”
Caleb took a step toward Audrey but then stopped. “That was part of it. You became someone she could pin all the blame on.”
“I didn’t know about Rodney,” Audrey said, blinking back tears.
He hated that she was torn up over something that had happened years ago. “Don’t blame yourself.”
“How can I not? He committed suicide because of me.”
“I doubt you were the only reason.”
“There is nothing that you can say that will make this better. Patty was right. I use men, and I get away from them as fast as I can. I … I do it because,”—she paused and shrugged—“because I’m scared of getting close to someone. Because I want the kind of love my parents had. Because … it’s all I know how to do.”
Caleb listened to her confession, hearing the heartbreak and loneliness he knew all too well in her voice. “I use women. It’s why Brice took your things. I’ve never brought anyone to the house before. I don’t want to hurt anyone, but sometimes, the idea of being alone is too much. Then, when I’m with a woman, I know it’s a mistake. I don’t want to hurt them with the truth, so I lie and disappear from their lives.”
“What a pair we are,” Audrey said with a half-smile.
“I was going to call.”
Her gaze shifted away. Caleb inwardly winced at how lame his words sounded. This wasn’t the way to win Audrey over. It was time for the cold, hard truth.
He took a deep breath. “I’ve never been in this situation before. I don’t know what to do here. I know how to leave. I know how to make women hate me. I don’t know how to stay. I don’t know how to make one … want me.” He’d wanted to say love. He didn’t know how to get a woman to fall in love with him.
His stomach dropped when she didn’t look his way. Naomi had been wrong. Watching all those romantic movies had done nothing to help him. He’d poured out his heart and told her the truth. He’d confessed things he’d barely been able to admit to himself.
And for what? None of it was doing a damn bit of good. It felt as if some unknown force were viciously, violently shredding his heart.
And there wasn’t a goddamn thing he could do about it.
Caleb stood, watching helplessly as everything that had been building between them slowly faded away.
“There was something between us. You can’t deny that,” he told her.
When she still wouldn’t look at him, Caleb knew that he had two options. He could keep talking and try to convince her to give him another shot. Or, he could leave.
He didn’t want to walk out that door because he knew if he did, he’d never see Audrey again. But he also knew that he could stand there talking until the end of time, and she wouldn’t change her mind.
She’d told him herself that she walked away from men, just as he did with women. It was his turn to understand what it felt like to fall for someone who didn’t return the feelings. And quite frankly, it sucked balls.
Caleb retrieved his rifle from the back room and came to stand near her. He tried to find something to say, but he couldn’t muster anything worth a damn. So, he walked away. It was something he’d done countless times before, but today, his heart stayed behind.
He wasn’t three steps out the door before Jace and Cooper were beside him. Maddy looked from him to the house, her brows furrowing. Then she ran inside to her sister.
“My truck is this way,” Jace said.
Neither asked Caleb what had happened. It must have been written all over his face because for the first time since they’d become friends, neither demanded details.
Caleb wouldn’t know what to tell them if they did ask. He wasn’t sure he understood the implications of everything yet. When it finally hit, it was going to knock him on his ass. But right now, he was still taking it all in.
On the ride back to his ranch, his friends talked about anything and everything just to fill the silence. When they reached the house, Caleb got out of the truck and didn’t invite them inside. He wanted to be alone to wallow in his failure.
Except when he walked into his house, Brice stood in the kitchen. Caleb paused before shutting the door behind him. He propped up his rifle before he made his way to Brice, who held out a glass of bourbon.
“What are you doing here?” Caleb asked before draining the liquor and pouring more.
Brice set down his glass and leaned against the island. “I came to kick your ass for not cluing me in on what was going on, but one look at your face tells me that needs to be put on hold. For now. Things with Audrey didn’t go well?”
Caleb shook his head. “They went as badly as I’d hoped they wouldn’t. I don�
�t know how to be…” He waved his hand at Brice. “Whatever you and Clayton are to your women.”
“Husbands? Lovers? Friends?” Brice offered, his brows raised.
“I can’t be any of that. I’ve spent too long being the opposite.”
“That’s not true.”
Caleb swirled the amber liquid. “If I wasn’t meant to spend my life alone, then I would’ve said the right things to her. I was too scared to call her, too afraid to admit how I really felt. And I fucked things up.”
“You ne—”
“The thing is, I got a taste of my own medicine today. All those women I tossed aside? This was Karma coming to laugh in my face.”
Brice shook his head as he frowned. “No way. I saw how Audrey looked at you. There was something there.”
“If there was, I destroyed it. Just like I do everything else.”
Brice pushed away from the island and moved to stop Caleb when he tried to walk away. “Take a look around,” he said, motioning outside. “Look what we’ve built together. Then look further than that at the years we were with Clayton and Abby. What did you destroy there?”
“I know what you’re doing, and I appreciate it. The simple fact is, if I love something too much, then I lose it.”
His brother paused for a heartbeat. “You love Audrey?”
Caleb blinked, unsure where that comment from Brice had come from until he realized what he’d said. He laughed dryly and shook his head. “Apparently, I do. How fucked up is that? I finally fall in love, and I lose her.”
“Did you secretly want to lose her?”
Caleb finished the bourbon and put his glass on the island. “I can’t even get angry at that question. I would have a day ago. I don’t want to talk about Helen, but our mother screwed us up. I won’t ever forget asking her to stay as she walked out the door—”
“What?” Brice asked, his voice pitched high. His face was a mask of shock and concern.
There was no point in hiding it now. Obviously, Fate wanted Caleb to air all his secrets. “I woke up and saw Helen packing. I followed her down the stairs and asked her to stay as she was leaving. She looked back at me, then left without a word.”