I handed the envelope over without answering because I didn’t really know.
I’d never opened it.
I’d figured it was cash from its shape. I didn’t know how much was in the envelope before hiding it, but I was awful glad I had. My PO would’ve shit herself if the deputies had found that fat wad of cash in my room.
“There’s over two thousand dollars here.” Suspicion crept into Elena’s voice. “Where did you get this?”
“The woman who brought me here gave me it. It’s from a friend inside.” When she tried to hand it back I folded her fingers around it. “Lawyers cost. Rock’s going to need way more than that, but it’s all I have until I can earn more.”
She looked me in the eye. “Why are you doing this?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
I let her stare. “Nobody gives two grand to somebody they barely know, unless . . .”
Her narrowed gaze riveted me to the spot.
“You dealing for this guy who gave you the money?” She waved that envelope at me. “Is that how come he gave you this kind of cash? Is this drug money?”
“I told you how I got it. How ’Nando got it”—I jammed my hands into my pockets—“I have no clue, but I doubt it was legal.”
“I need to think,” she said as we left the dank confines of the laundry closet behind. Foz closed the doors behind us. I blinked to let my eyes adjust to the darkness.
“So you can get more anytime?” Elena grilled me. “Is that what you’re saying? You can give away this money because you can get more?”
“No. I’m saying I don’t need that money. I can take care of myself.” I left them there to chew on that.
God. Try to do someone a favor and all you get is—
“Wait.” Elena’s footsteps clattered behind me. “This money was for you to get started on the outside, right?”
It was still hot enough outside to make me sweat, and a stillness gave the air an even thicker, more oppressive feel. Elena was looking at me like I was crazy. I wondered for a second if maybe I was.
She had a valid question. ’Nando had given me that money. He might not have left it on the nightstand, but it was clearly for services rendered. But the money was mine. I’d earned it. I might need it someday, in which case, I’d sure as hell regret giving it up now.
But then I remembered how I felt when ’Nando’s wife gave it to me.
“I can earn whatever money I need.” I wiped my suddenly damp hands on my jeans. “I want to use that money to help Rock.”
“No.” Elena scrubbed her eye with the heel of her hand. “No, no, no. This just isn’t right.”
“Elena.” Foz gave her a worried nudge.
She dropped her hands with a long-suffering sigh and when she opened her eyes, there was an unfamiliar hardness in them. She aimed the look at me first.
“You come up to the house with me. Foz, get Ryder on the phone.”
“Sure. Wait—” He blinked. “Ryder?”
“Has Sterling got any other sons you know of?” She lifted her brow in question.
Foz’s eyes widened. “Oh, honey. Boss’s head is going to fully explode if you bring Ryder back on.”
“Tell Ryder we’ll need Andi’s help too.” I didn’t see the look she shot Foz, but he fumbled his phone from his pocket like it was on fire. “And tell Doc Winters I need to talk to him. He’s probably got contacts with some idea of what we’re up against. Tell the rest of the hands to come up to the house. We need to make a plan.”
With a meaningful nod to Foz, Elena half-sprinted to the ranch house. When we got there, she handed me a mug of coffee and pointed to a chair.
“Sit,” she said.
I sat and took that first bitter coffee sip. It was strong enough. It might even keep me awake.
Elena folded her arms. “You tap my Rocky’s ass?”
I spat coffee everywhere.
“Okay, that’s a yes.” She offered me a towel.
I dabbed at the spill but it was hopeless. “Technically—”
“Oh hell no.” She held up a single finger, inviting me to wait while she poured herself a glass of red wine. The finger wagged. “No-no-no. No details. I’m having a glass of wine and you’re giving me no details.”
I nodded. “All right.”
“You weren’t the first, though.”
Good thing I’d left my coffee alone after that first sip. “No, ma’am.”
“I didn’t”—she gripped the edge of the kitchen counter—“I did not ask that.”
“No, ma’am.”
“Knock off the ‘ma’am’ stuff.” She set her glass down on the table and then plopped into the seat next to mine. “We’ll need to talk with Andi and Ryder. Make a plan. Maybe even bring Lucho and Tripp back.”
“I’ve heard the hands talk about Lucho and Tripp. Are you sure Chandler would want that?”
“It’s not about what Chandler wants anymore. It’s about what he needs.”
The words sent a chill through me.
“That’s just what Rock’s folks would say about him.”
Seconds ticked by while she swirled wine up the sides of her glass.
“The difference is we know what Sterling Chandler wants.” She tapped the table. “He wants the Rocking C to thrive. It’s his legacy. And what does Rock want?”
I shrugged.
“Rock wants to get laid. And he’s known you for how long?”
“Ouch.”
She took another sip of her wine. I could smell the fruity alcohol aroma from my seat beside her. It had a bittersweet, hearty scent. I didn’t like wine, but that one smelled good.
“You know all about me?” I asked. “Sterling told you?”
A tilt of her head was all the acknowledgment she’d give me.
“You expected someone better for Rock.” I shrugged. “I get it. I ain’t all that.”
“That’s not true.” She pursed her lips unhappily. “When I took you to help with Rock that time, I did it because I was so sure—” She bit her lip.
I’d called her bluff is what. “You thought I’d punk out.”
She smile-winced. “You were really very nice. I know Rocky appreciated it.”
“He’s worth some trouble.”
“He is.” She reached up and rubbed along the shell of her ear. It looked like a habit she had. Like maybe she didn’t know she was doing it.
She yawned widely.
I asked, “Did you even sleep last night?”
“When I couldn’t reach Rock, I decided to do some research online. The hospital will be releasing Chandler any day, so we need to get the house ready.”
“Boss’s going to be okay, though?” I asked.
A sad half-smile flitted over her lips. “I don’t know.”
“I’m sorry.” I offered.
“Things need to get right between Sterling and Andi again. I love that girl like a daughter, but she’s a pain in the ass. I feel like I need to fix them before . . .”
I watched her eyes blink and slowly close. “Before, what?”
“Before I fall for anyone . . .” Her smile turned dreamy and then another jaw-cracking yawn escaped her.
Was she talking about Foz? “Foz thinks you’re sweet on Chandler.”
“What?”
That woke her right up.
“That dumbass.” She slapped her hand on the table for emphasis.
“So it’s not true?”
“You and Rocky were spying on us the other night. What did you think was going on? I’m crazy about that man.”
“Well . . . don’t tell me. Tell Foz.”
“I will.” She gave my arm a weak little punch. “Shouldn’t have to. But I will.”
“Man’s heart is broken. You don’t want to be responsible for that.”
“Tell him soon.”
“I will. What about you?”
“What about me?” I asked.
Her expression turned serious. “Have you given any thought to what dating someone like Rocky will be like?”
“I don’t think—”
“You’ve been in prison since high school.” She leaned her elbows on the table. “You guys are like little babies, emotionally.”
“Say what?”
“I understand Rock,” She said. “He wants what everyone wants, companionship and sex and someone to have fun with.”
The motion she made with her hands was so obscene. I shouldn’t have laughed.
“So what do I want?” If she knew so much, she could tell me that.
She took my face between her hands.
“Oh, honey. You just want to survive.” Her expression was so warm and tender, so loving, I almost drowned in her soft brown eyes. “You’re just keeping your head above water, aren’t you? I respect that. I honor that.”
My eyes stung.
“And I am not about to let you give away everything you have because you figure anyone else deserves it more than you do.”
Hot tears splashed my jeans. Hers or mine, it didn’t matter.
“You’re no badass. You’re a good boy, Skyler Brody. You’re family. And unless and until I am forced to let you go, you are going nowhere.”
Her words broke me.
Shattered me.
Rock had said I’d win her over, but I never believed it, and now that she was looking at me with the kind of maternal affection I was never going to get from my own mother, I began to understand Rock’s loyalty.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome—”
The mudroom door opened and we both glanced up, expecting Foz to walk in.
Instead, Maisy skittered across the slick kitchen floor and Rock sauntered in right behind her, wearing that gentle cowboy smile of his.
“Honey, I’m home.”
Smug bastard.
The first thing I noticed was the bruise on his cheek. The next thing was a pair of arms, open and waiting. I couldn’t help myself. I raced Elena to fill them and positively shoved her out of the way when it came time to kiss him.
Because there should be more kissing in the world—especially if that kissing concerns Rock.
More kissing. More laughter. More Rock, who is practically made of those things, and every other good thing I could think of just then.
Rock. Who had gotten himself home without us.
Maisy barked and Elena cried. I tried not to wear emotions on my sleeve but I was awful damned relieved to see him. We were all babbling at once.
“Why didn’t you answer your phone? I was so worried.”
“They took it.” He looked from Elena to me. “Jackson confiscated it that first night. Well. I let him.”
My blood boiled to hear such a thing. “Why?”
Elena said, “You shouldn’t have gone with him.”
“I couldn’t make my stand over the phone, Sky. They’re my parents. We needed to talk.”
“You”—Elena gave Sky a little shake before she let him go—“are growing up.”
“Glad everything’s okay now.” I stared at the bruised cheek.
“I’m sorry.” Rock whispered the words in my ear.
“You’re home now. That’s all that matters.” Elena let Rock go. “How did you even get here? Are you hungry? I have tamales in the freezer. Or I could fry up some burgers.”
“Whoa.” He dropped his backpack. “I’m here to stay, and thanks, but I ate on the road. Jackson brought me. I made him drop me off at the gate.”
“All right.” She scooted him over to the table and pushed him into a chair. “All right. Just sit there and let me look at you.”
“This Jackson the one who hit you?” I asked.
Rock shook his head. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“But—”
“I told them I’m never going to be who they want me to be. It took some convincing.”
I stiffened.
“It’s done, Sky. Let it go.”
“I’m going to need more wine.” Elena turned away to top off her glass.
Rock leaned over and spoke in my ear. “Hey.”
“Hey.” I tore my gaze from the mark on his face. I had to trust him. If he said he was okay, then he was okay. “We sure missed hearing your music around here.”
He winked. “I missed you too, Sky.”
“What really happened up there?”
The thunder of cowboy boots on the porch steps was all the warning we had before Foz, Tad, and the rest of them burst through the door.
“Wait up for me,” he whispered urgently. “I’ll come to your room later and we’ll talk.”
Chapter 36
Rock
Sky answered my soft knock right away. Maisy sidled into his little room first. When I stepped in after her, he backed up, arms crossed self-consciously over his chest.
I saw he was looking past my shoulder, so I closed the door behind me.
The next thing I knew he flung himself at me, wrapping both his arms and legs around me. I caught him just as my back hit the door with a booming thud.
Maisy yipped and danced around our legs, thinking we were playing some exciting new game.
“Am I to understand you missed me a lit—”
Sky’s mouth crashed over mine, sealing in the rest of my words, stealing my breath and my thoughts and my resolve to tell him what happened with my folks before jumping his bones.
But oh, he smelled like all my favorite things: horse and man and sweat and sunshine. He smelled like fresh country air and leather and home.
While I managed the sudden weight of him, he dug his fingers into my hair and pressed hot, damp, open-mouthed kisses to the skin just beneath my ear.
Oh God, oh God, oh God. He gripped my head between his hands and found my lips again. I spun us around until his back was to the door and gripped his ass to fit us together for some proper friction, cock to cock as God intended.
Sky lifted his lips off mine long enough to ask, “What do you want?”
“Someplace more private comes to mind.”
“Where?”
“C’mon. I’ll show you.” I nearly fainted when he let go with his legs and made a long, slow slide down my body. His feet hit the ground just in time or I’d have blown my load right there.
“Stop that shit.” I gave his ass a little whack as he took hold of the doorknob to let Maisy back out.
Outside, the still-warm breeze lifted Sky’s fine brown hair. Maisy walked just ahead of us.
“This way.” I took Sky’s hand and led him past the pens and the chicken coop. The mini-truck was parked where I’d left it, and just like on the first day he came, I held the door open for him.
“Where’re we going?” Sky asked.
“I want to see something, but it’s a ways away. You mind?”
“Nope.” His teeth shone white in the moonlight. “Wherever. It’s all good.”
His words snagged on something knotted up inside me and started to unravel it. “You mean that, don’t you? You’d go anywhere I ask, without question.”
He didn’t answer. Probably, he didn’t like how transparent he was to me any more than I liked how transparent I was to him.
I gave his hand a tug and said, because it ought to be said, “Your faith in me is something solid in a pretty uncertain world. You ought to know there were times in the last few days when the idea of you was all I had.”
His hand, damp with sweat, seemed to tighten purposefully.
I parked at the end of the track. Beyond that, I led Sky on foot through the moist darkness of the trees
on the banks of the little stream that cuts through the property. Our destination was another ten minutes on foot, through thick brush. Once we got where we were going, I pulled a penlight from my pocket and showed him.
“Me and Sterling built this deer blind when I first got here. It’s not fancy but it’s private. Nobody’s going to bust in here.”
“Good to know.”
“Let me check for critters and shit.” I took my tiny flashlight up the ladder. The door was padlocked but I had a key. “I mean, not literally shit. Well. Okay, maybe. Yeah. Literally, shit.”
A brief circle with my flashlight told me things were okay inside.
“It’s okay. It’s clean enough.”
I poked my head back out and invited him to hand Maisy up. Once she was in, he joined us.
The space was a bit cramped. A six-foot-by-eight-foot rectangle that wasn’t tall enough for me to stand in. We kept the necessities in there, plus me and Sterling built in some extras, seeing as how it was our special place. We had all kinds of cubbies for snacks, equipment, and first aid. There were folding chairs, but also sleeping bags. A space heater kept us warm enough during hunting season. Sterling had drawn the line at installing any kind of camping commode—which I had seen on the internet and thought was a great idea. Instead, there was a toilet-paper roll hanging on a spindle and we kept a plastic jug for pissing in.
The blind had the usual narrow window for spotting deer. Ours locked with simple eyebolts, and I opened it now, to let in the moonlight. Maybe we’d get lucky and see some whitetails.
“Home, sweet home.” I busied myself laying out bedrolls. Maisy thought we were playing. A moment of awkward silence passed before we gave up trying to lay them out neatly. Sky sat cross-legged, facing me.
“This okay?” I asked. “If we light a lamp, we’ll draw every bug in the county.”
“It’s fine.” Sky leaned against the wall. “You okay?”
“Sure.” Somewhere an owl screeched.
“What happens now?” he asked.
“Good question.” I hadn’t thought very far beyond seeing Sky and Elena again. Well. I had. But you couldn’t just jump a guy—
“Will you fucking kiss me already?” He grabbed the front of my T-shirt and gave a yank.
Or maybe you could just jump a guy.
My Cowboy Freedom Page 28