“We need to let him run. He’s getting antsy,” Jose called out to Austin motioning toward Hooch. They were building a make shift track between their properties. Just dirt and a chain link fence, but something to get the horses familiar with. Hooch was a pistol. The colt was still young, but huge, growing bigger every day. And damn, he could run. He regularly left the others behind.
“Let’s do it then.” Austin pushed away from the fence. He’d do anything to exhaust himself and hopefully, get some sleep tonight. It had been a solid two days without any word from Kitt. And, there had been no sleep because apparently, all of a sudden he couldn’t sleep without knowing Kitt was safe or tucked in beside him.
As he rummaged through the tack room for a stop watch, he heard a noise outside. Austin smiled and busted through the barn hoping Kitt had come home early. It was gonna be hard to contain the nonchalance and not run straight to him. He’d have to force himself not to jump on Kitt right there and kiss him with all the missing in his heart.
He rounded the corner and saw one of Micah’s oldest mounted, dirty, and looking tired. He spoke quickly to Jose before kicking the horse in the direction of his house. “What did he say?”
“They’re a day behind. Its goin’ slower than it should. They’ll be home sometime day after tomorrow.” Jose continued to work the animals and didn’t pay any attention to Austin. That was a good thing. He wasn’t sure he was hiding the emotion he felt from the few simple words said to him. Another day? Really?
“Which one do you wanna clock?” Jose called out from behind Austin. He still stood rooted in the spot, watching the dust settle from the horse.
“You take Hooch.” Austin finally turned, ducked his face and pulled his ball cap down firmly on his head. It was a normal move, but today it was more than that. It was to hide his eyes. Austin honestly felt like he wanted to cry. He had to fight back the tears. In all these months, he hadn’t gone more than a few hours without talking to Kitt. It was such a girly response to missing your mate, but he couldn’t shake it. He climbed on his mount and grabbed Hooch’s reins. Austin managed to head toward the track before the tear slipped down his cheek.
“Damn it! Get a hold of yourself! God, I like it so much better when I’m the one leaving!” He muttered at himself, wiping the tear away.
~~~~~~
“Mom, shut up, I’m working!” Dunc aka Glenda yelled across the basement of her parent’s home.
“I have to do the laundry!” her mother yelled back in a raspy voice. A voice hardened by age and years of smoking. She never stopped smoking the cigarette perched between her lips as she loaded the thirty year old washing machine that sat ten feet from Dunc’s computer equipment.
“God, Mom! You’re such a fucking pain in the ass!” Dunc screamed although her beady little eyes never left one of the three monitors in front of her. Her fingers skimmed over the keyboard like only a person who had spent their entire life on the computer could. Dunc had just about gained entry into the hacked Facebook account of Austin Grainger’s parents. She’d been working on it for hours and finally figured out the password. She’d read on Google that no one ever strayed from the standard birthday format. It was just trying to figure out which birthday it could be. This one was Austin’s himself, not very original of the proud Grainger papa.
“Yes!” Dunc was in! She’d hacked into a Facebook account!
Damn, she’d been trying to do this for years. Her reputation as a badass computer genius was pretty much made up by her herself. She’d put it out there in her online groups that she was a man and the most worthy of anyone in the groups. By God, if she couldn’t have accolades in the real world, she’d force it in the made up world of the internet.
Glenda searched the Facebook account. She went through the messages and all the groups he belonged to. She didn’t know what she looked for except something to feed Rich and Mercedes about Austin. Just enough that she could toss it back in their court and not look like she just stole their money and left them high and dry. Rich was a staunch online Dunc supporter, she didn’t need him on her bad side, upsetting the balance of her group.
Biting at her fingernail she stared at the screen. It had taken hours to break in and there was nothing here! On a backward thought, she went to the account settings and pulled up the email address used to log in. Perhaps there was a secondary account that might mean something.
A grin spread easily along her cracked, dry lips when she found a company email address. She swiped the information out of the system and quickly turned to another computer pulling up a search and find database. Dunc plugged the information in, and through her advanced gold membership, she found the address belonged to a company Austin Grainger owned with his father. Okay, now she was getting somewhere. The company’s headquarters were based in far northern California. It looked to be a ranch.
She let the system run and watched the screen. Cigarette smoke drifted her way.
“God, Mom, you’re gonna kill me with that second hand smoke!” Her eyes never left the screen.
“You’re fifty-five years old and never go outside. Lack of sun is gonna kill ya!”
“Die already!” Dunc bellowed.
“Get a job!” Her mom yelled back moving up the steps.
Dunc lost all interest in her mom, and another grin spread across her lips. She’d typed in the same login information she’d hacked from the Facebook account and Daddy Grainger’s company website took it. Now, all she had to do was take a look around. Not that she had a clue what any of it really meant. First, she’d go through the business side of things, and then the emails, because it looked like it was all tied together. If Austin was anywhere in here, she’d find him and hand the information over to Rich. If it was any good, he’d be paying double to get it. Twenty thousand dollars would buy one hell of badass computer. Hell, she could even get a new server and still have money left over.
Maybe there’d even be enough money to get someone to bump off her pain in the ass mother. How had she not died yet?
Hours ticked by as Dunc went through every little detail.
~~~~~~
Working the horses on the track did loads to help Austin’s exhaustion, but little in the ways of helping his heavy heart. They worked Hooch without tiring the young colt, but they gave him a good run. Austin rode his own horse, holding the reins to Hooch and one of their fillies, Little Lady. They headed back to Kitt’s stable. Jose rode beside him holding the reins to the other two horses, and they kept at a slow trot until they came over the ridge by Kitt’s cabin. The small hill gave them a perfect angle to see something was going on at Kitt’s barn. Austin’s security team was involved. Several of them were in a standoff surrounding a man and Austin’s heart plummeted. Had he been found out? Maybe this was the bad feeling he’d had hanging over him for days.
“Son of a bitch!” Jose yelled and brought his horse to an abrupt halt, effectively breaking Austin’s train of thought. His first instinct was to barge down there to take care of the problem. The paparazzi didn’t need to harass the Kellys to get to him, but he brought his horse to a stop at Jose’s words and action.
“Do you know him?” Austin called out.
“Stay back. It’s Kitt’s dad’s son of a bitch old foreman. The one that blew out Kitt’s tires the other night!” Jose yelled and Austin narrowed his brow. He hadn’t heard that story, or anything about this guy.
“Stay back, I’ll handle it. If he sees you, the whole town’s gonna know.” Jose didn’t wait, he tossed his ponies reins to Austin and kicked his horse into a gallop rushing toward the altercation.
~~~~~~
“Verne, you know you aren’t supposed to be here.” Jose dismounted his horse about three yards from where the old foreman swayed on his feet, surrounded by Austin’s security team. They never quite left their undercover position, but showed way more brute strength and aggression than a normal everyday run of the mill cowhand. The drunk old man looked angry and agitated, his eyes crazier
than normal as they focused on Jose.
“This is mine! This place is mine! He was gonna leave it to me, not that panty waste son of a bitch!” Verne stumbled on his feet, but caught himself before he fell on his face.
“A fuckin’ wetback foreman...that’s fuckin’ bullshit!” Verne tried to spit at Jose, but did little more than drool down his jaw. He was way too drunk to even form a proper spit.
Verne kept his hands in the pockets of his filthy jacket even as he stumbled around. The movement was odd, and Jose watched Verne’s hands closely, trying to see if it was possible there was a weapon inside.
“Verne, you need to leave before I call the law in on this. The courts say you shouldn’t be here. I’ll get someone to take you back to town, but you need to leave.”
Jose took a step forward. Verne kept swaying heavily on his feet, lurching around. The security team stayed right on him, and Jose could tell it was hard on them not to just handle this situation themselves. One of the security guards held a weapon in his hand, right alongside his leg, pointing it down toward the ground. Had they been on Grainger land, Verne would be lying face down on the ground, begging for his life.
“You’re a fuckin’ wetback, cock sucker. Does he make you suck his cock? Is that part of your job?” The question came off so ludicrous it caught Jose completely off guard. The hesitation seemed to piss Verne off that much more, like he’d got something right. Anger flared in his eyes. Jose was completely unprepared when Verne snapped the gun from his pocket, aiming it as best he could in Jose’s direction. The Grainger security guards didn’t hesitate. Multiple shots were fired.
~~~~~~
Austin turned the horses, holding on to all four of the young ones and moved slowly back to his barn when he heard the sound of gun shots. He came to an abrupt halt, tugging hard at the reins of his mount. He flipped around, dropping the reins to Hooch and the others as he took off toward the Kelly barn. He hadn’t gone far and it didn’t take long as he pounded forward in a full gallop, barreling up on the scene. His men’s weapons were drawn. Jose was holding his left arm, and the old foreman lay spread out on the ground. Austin didn’t stop until he got to Jose.
“What the fuck happened?” Austin yelled toward his guards. Three were down on the ground with Verne. Austin jumped down and ran to Jose who held the side of his arm, blood dripping down. “Are you alright?”
“It just grazed me,” Jose said. A cowhand ran to them carrying several towels. Austin’s eyes were back on Verne as he stalked forward.
“What the hell happened?” Austin called out to Sam.
“He came on the property while you two were gone, saying all kinds of shit. We narrowed in on him as he went toward the barn. He told us to get out of the way, he was setting the place on fire.”
Two guards kept their weapons aimed at Verne, but Sam was bent down on his knee. He checked the guy’s pulse as the other two performed CPR. He tried a couple of spots and shook his head toward Austin and Jose.
“He was breakin’ a restrainin’ order. Has anyone checked on Lily?” Jose forgot about the arm and palmed his phone dialing her immediately. Her truck pulled down the trail from the main house as he put the phone to his ear. She must have heard the shots.
“Are you sure he’s gone?” Austin dropped down on his knees next to the security guard who pumped Verne’s heart. Another bent down, tearing his t-shirt over his head, holding it to the bullet wound at his shoulder. “Call 911.”
“We’re too far from any hospital out here,” Jose said.
“I heard the shots.” Lily came running for them, her phone in hand. “I already called the sheriff. He’s headin’ out here.”
“See if he can get a paramedic.” Austin took hold of the t-shirt, pressing down, trying to stop the blood flow. Another guard bent Verne’s head back and began mouth to mouth. They worked on Verne for several minutes, counting off, pumping his heart until they finally got a faint beat.
“There’s no time! Load him up, put him in the back of my truck. Lily, call the sheriff back. See if he’ll meet us on the road, escort us in.” Jose kept his tone normal, but his actions were anything but. He moved quick, giving clipped instruction to the guards. Three lifted Verne, while three continued to work him.
“Jose, your arm.” Lily forced the minute’s pause, tying a clean towel around his upper arm. One of Austin’s guards was in the driver’s side of the truck, Jose jumped in beside him and they were off. They wasted no time, speeding down the trail before either had their truck doors closed. Lily stood watching the truck, back on the phone with the sheriff. His siren screamed in the distance.
Chapter 26
The grainy, gritty feeling in Dunc’s exhausted eyes didn’t stop the clicking of her right finger, tapping the mouse of her computer. Nothing more than pure self-preservation kept her looking. She’d been awake for a solid forty-eight hours, and Rich never stopped calling. He proved to be the pain in the ass she knew he’d be. She needed something, anything, to give back to him. Rich was too loud and could cause too big a stink online, jeopardizing everything she’d worked so hard to achieve.
Surely, Austin Grainger’s parents hid something she could use. Hell, maybe she should go back to her original idea and make some shit up. Lead Rich on a wild goose chase and blame him for not closing the deal. Ten thousand dollars was ten thousand dollars, and there would be no way to prove she didn’t find the information about Grainger. With that much money, she could get a new server, maybe a new computer, but damn, the thought of bumping her mom off was way more appealing than she thought it might be.
The biggest problem in her way, the Grainger’s hung on to so much crap in these files. Grainger’s parents were boring as hell and straight as arrows. Their little Farmville accounting of the company was solid. The purchases, the payroll and all its accompanying documentation all catalogued in nauseating order. Nothing looked out of place, and nothing indicated Austin Grainger participated at all in this company.
Eight email accounts were associated with the website. So far, she’d been through six of them, dating back over the last ten years. She’d done the obvious searches. Tried for the quick finds and was now going file by file, and dear lord, did these people lead boring lives.
She opened the seventh file with a big jaw cracking yawn. She kept going, not wanting to lose access, because at some point some system software would have to alert them she was digging around. There was no chance she could sleep even a few hours and hope to get back in as easily as she had the first time.
Dunc went months backward when an IP address from Texas caught her eye. She’d seen some purchases in Texas coded in the accounting, but it wasn’t really a surprise. Austin’s parents were from that area, but to have an active IP address in Texas where Cara and Seth were also vacationing… Dunc slapped her face and downed another five hour energy shot from the mini refrigerator at her feet, trying to gain a little more clarity in her head. Of all the places in the world, why would Austin go back to his home town? He wouldn’t, it was too easy. The place would be swarming with reporters and photographers. It was too obvious of an answer. Maybe this was a brother or sister, maybe a cousin, but it was someone close to the family. The conversation flowed too easily between them all. It was also someone who made decisions for the company. They were never told no, just how much or how big.
“Goddammit! Glenda, you fucking stink. Get off that thing and go to bed!” A voice sounded from the basement door. The smell of cigarette smoke wafted down as Dunc kept staring at the screen, trying to ignore her mother.
“Keep smoking hag, maybe you’ll die. Shut. The. Fucking. Door!” Dunc yelled, but as before, her eyes stayed on the screen. She clicked file after file, reading the contents.
It was very clear this person ran the business. Ranch hands reported to him as well as security. This person would lead her to Austin if he was in this company. Dunc kept going. Cara’s name was mentioned, intervention, flight schedules, and a string of files fro
m an overnight security watch. The IP address never faltered, and Dunc opened the only picture files in the email. They were of a naked man. Well, a half-naked man. He was having his picture taken in the dead of night, walking out of some log cabin. The whole right side of his body showed. He was good looking if you liked tall, handsome men. Dunc didn’t. Dunc preferred the ladies, but she could see where someone would find that picture hot. Dunc saved the file on her computer, planning to sell it later.
From there, every shot showed this guy until he was bending down, kissing another man. It wasn’t Austin, but the car was expensive and the license plate showed. Dunc sat back, looking at the screen. Why would this be here? The fucking Fisker was from Texas. These were taken in Texas. After a minute, Dunc kept going through the messages, paying closer attention. Cara, Texas, gay men kissing. It wasn’t three emails later Dunc found a series of emails from Cara, addressed to Austin. None of them made sense to Dunc, and it didn’t look like Austin ever responded to any them. They were from months ago, but about the same time the photos were taken.
As the pieces came together in Dunc’s mind, she opened the photo again and ran a scan on the face. Thirty seconds later she had a name, Kitt Allen Kelly. Austin had photos of a naked man in his email. Those were the only photos in all of his email. She didn’t follow entertainment news because it wasn’t about her, so Dunc quickly opened a browser and did a quick search of Austin’s name and the word gay. The results filled up the page. She opened story after story. There were too many rumors swirling about Austin’s sexuality for this to be a coincidence. Now, all she needed to do was pin it down.
Texas Pride Page 28