Slow Ride Home (The Grady Legacy)

by Leah Braemel

  “Son of a fucking bitch. Logan led us there.” He stared at his brother, seeing cautious sympathy. “He knew his father would be filming us...”

  And Ben had fallen for it hook, line and video camera. So had Allie.

  Oh God, Allie. He’d trusted Logan, gone along with his plans and together they’d destroyed her life, destroyed her relationship with her father.

  But Logan hadn’t warned them, Ben thought bitterly. He hadn’t even confessed after Allie had left. Or when she’d returned. He’d kept his mouth shut the whole time and let Ben think Allie might have set him up, diverted him from her father’s thefts. The fucking bastard.

  “Let go. You’re going to wreck it. You need it to show Allie what happened.” Jake tugged at the book in Ben’s lap.

  Only then did Ben realize he’d grasped the cover and twisted so hard the pages were starting to part from the binding. He forced his fingers to relax, letting Jake take possession of the damning evidence.

  “They set us up.” If Logan had been there in person, Ben might end up facing a jail sentence—the jury was still out on whether he’d be able to stop from killing the rat bastard.

  “I know,” Jake said quietly. “Harlan must have figured he’d need something to cover his ass in case someone counted the bales before he and Daniels could sell them.” He set the book on the desk, out of Ben’s reach.

  “I’m going to beat the living shit out of him.”

  “And I’ll be right there with you, but you remember what Harlan was like. Maybe Logan didn’t have a choice.”

  “There’s always a choice,” Ben growled, wondering when Jake had become the voice of reason. “He could have said something to me before he took us out there. He could have stopped before he...” Touched Allie. Ben swallowed against the rising bile. God, he’d let that traitor touch his girl, let him pollute her innocent skin and exposed her to Harlan Vance’s camera.

  He pressed the heel of his palm to his forehead against the headache that had blossomed from a dull ache to a full blown migraine. “I have to tell Allie.”

  “Fire Logan before you talk to her,” Jake suggested. “Go see Randy and hire him back or find us a new lawyer. At least that way when you tell her it’ll prove you’re trying to set things right.”

  It might make a difference, Ben realized. He forced a weak smile at his brother. “When’d you get so smart?”

  Jake didn’t return his smile. “I’ve always been smart, bro. You’ve just never bothered to notice.”

  Oh for fuck’s sake. As if he didn’t have enough irritating him, Jake was ragging on him now? “Of course I’ve noticed.”

  Jake lifted one shoulder in a halfhearted shrug. He tapped the notebook. “By the way, you’re welcome.”

  Shit. “Thank you.” As Jake left the office and climbed in his truck, Ben rounded his desk and called, “And I have noticed.”

  Unsure if Jake had heard him or not, Ben closed the office’s screen door and stared at the journal. Jake was right. He needed to solve a few problems before he showed it to Allie.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Allie slowed her car in front of the Panola house. Tank’s brand new SUV was not in sight and neither was Bonnie’s car, but someone might be there from the beat-up red pickup truck that looked like it had rolled off the assembly line when she was still in elementary school. The brand-new For Sale sign sticking jauntily in the front lawn confirmed the investigator’s report. The Panolas were selling off everything and getting ready to hightail it away from Carter Valley.

  As she watched, Tank opened the front door and headed toward the truck. To anyone else, his double-take when he saw her sitting in his driveway might have been comical. Allie wanted to leave.

  His jowls flapped for a second before his shoulders dropped. “You gonna arrest me?”

  “No. But if you don’t cooperate, we will sue you.” She sat at the patio table on the front porch, waiting until Tank stumped up and sat in the other chair.

  “Cooperate?” Suspicion filled his eyes. “How?”

  She took out the release form and slid it, along with a pen, across the table to him. “We need you to sign this quitclaim relinquishing any and all claims to any land owned by the Gradys now or in the past. If you sign it now, we won’t sue you for putting a cloud on the title. If you don’t, we’ll take you to court, you’ll end up paying their legal fees as well as ours, and the damages.”

  Tank’s eyes widened. “What damages?”

  “Our fees for hiring an investigator to examine the claim. The search for a George Grady Junior will run you two grand.” It was slightly less, but Kathy would throw every single expense she could onto the claim. “Add in the cost of the time I spent dealing with the case, my travel here for each visit, time on phone calls and faxing and paper. Court costs, costs for a transcriptionist for any depositions—and Tank? They’re expensive. You should also know that the Gradys could sue you for defamation of George Grady’s character. You’re in a lot of trouble. But you can make it all go away just by signing that document.”

  Hangdog didn’t begin to describe expression as he stared at the paper. He rolled his shoulders. “I didn’t mean it to go this far, you know. We just got in over our heads and when I overheard Agnes talking, I figured maybe they’d pay me to stay quiet. But Ben, he didn’t listen. He fired me. And now the bill collectors—they’re comin’ after us. We’re going to lose everything.”

  So he’d resorted to blackmail.

  “The Gradys have always had so much—those boys have had things handed to them on a freaking silver platter, while I’ve worked so hard for them for so long and...” He ran his hand over his bald pate. “It’s that damned lawyer’s fault. He was only supposed to write up the claim for me to use to threaten Ben. But the damned fool actually filed it and the next thing I knew you were askin’ me questions and I didn’t know what to do.”

  Of course, blame the lawyer, not you or your wife for running up your credit cards to their limit or buying new vehicles you couldn’t afford. “It’s over now. As soon as you sign the paper.”

  He picked up the pen and let the tip hover over the line she’d pointed to. “Are you sure they’re not going to sue me?”

  She wasn’t sure whether he meant SSTG or the Gradys. But it didn’t really matter at this point. “It’s hard to get blood from a stone, right?”

  He signed the paper and slid it back to her. “Maybe you could tell Ben how bad off I am. See if he could give me a retirement bonus?”

  Stifling an urge to roll her eyes, she grabbed the paper and stuffed it in her bag. “You’re pushing it, Tank.”

  A strange sense of finality settled into her as she pulled out of the Panola’s driveway and headed to the Carter Valley county clerk’s office. Once the quitclaim was filed, her case essentially ended and she’d have no viable reason, other than Ben, to visit Carter Valley again.

  If someone had told her a month ago that she’d have made peace with Ben, Jake too, she’d have told them they were crazy. She could wedge visits into her schedule, but how long would it be before she started canceling them because of her workload, or before Ben canceled for similar reasons? Sure, they could talk on the phone or text each other, but it wasn’t the same as those face-to-face, mouth-to-mouth moments, and soon even the visits, the phone calls and messages would dwindle.

  She pulled to the side of the road as she drove by the Bull’s Hollow horse barn, devouring the sight of the colts with their big eyes that gazed at everything in awed curiosity

  How had she managed to go so long without climbing into a saddle, urging her horse into a canter, letting the wind tangle her hair?

  Ben was right. She’d lost too much of herself, thanks to years spent studying, then Lewis’s grooming her in acceptable society behavior. She wanted to ride again. To wear cowboy boots and jeans instead of business suits and stilettos. Which she could still do—and it wouldn’t take a five-hour commute. She could buy a horse and rent a stable closer to
home.

  She put her car into gear and eased back onto the road. But as she did, she wondered if she’d ever see the colts when they were full-grown.

  More importantly, how long would it take for the ache in her heart to ease as Ben gradually drifted away.

  * * *

  The usual hubbub of hands rolling in for the day, trash talking each other as they cleaned and put away their tools should have comforted Ben. Normally he’d be out there helping them, Jake too. Instead he thumbed through his grandfather’s journal.

  Jake looked up from his laptop where he was fiddling with some new program he’d downloaded. “You know Gram’s got dozens of them, all cataloged by year.” He tilted his head as he considered his brother. “I’m thinking of going over there to see if I can find the one from when Pop...you know...”

  “To see if Gramps knew what happened to Pop’s other kid?” So he hadn’t been the only one considering that possibility. “It might answer some questions.”

  “Could cause more too. Maybe there are things we don’t want to know.” Ben lifted his vibrating phone and checked the incoming message. “It’s from Allie.” His breath frozen in his chest, he met Jake’s gaze. “She wants to meet me at my place. She’s got news about...him.”

  A truck’s horn followed by a heated “Watch where you’re going, asshole” had Jake twitching the curtain aside to peer out into the yard.

  “Tell me that’s not her.” The words twisted in Ben’s throat, strangling him.

  “It’s not. It’s that douchebag Vance,” Jake growled. “He’s got some balls showing up here.”

  Proud that Jake had his back, Ben curled his fingers into fists, longing to smash Logan in the face. “I’m surprised it took him this long.”

  Jake snapped his laptop closed. “You want me to hold him while you beat the crap out of him?”

  “That’s what brothers are for, aren’t they?”

  A grim smile curled the edges of Jake’s mouth when Logan thundered into the office and pushed by Jake who had moved from the chair and positioned himself by the door. Looked like his little brother really did have his back.

  “What the fuck’s going on, Grady?” Logan demanded. “Charlie said you told him you no longer wanted me—him—representing you anymore.”

  “Did he?” It took all of Ben’s control not to move from his desk, but he’d seen his grandfather handle disgruntled employees often enough to know a few tricks. “What could you have possibly done that would make me fire my best friend?”

  “You didn’t? That’s great.” Logan sank into the chair Jake had vacated, the relief on his face almost comical. “I knew he must be mistaken.”

  “Mistaken? Hmm.” You son of a bitch. “What would make me fire a man I’ve trusted with everything I’ve valued all my life. Shared all my secrets with.” He planted his elbows on the arm rests and leaned forward. “Shared my girlfriend with?”

  “Maybe if that man betrayed you?” Jake suggested.

  Logan spluttered, glancing between the two brothers. “How have I betrayed either of you? We’ve been best friends our whole lives.”

  “Why’d you do it, Lo? Did you think if you broke us up that Allie would go running into your arms?” Ben said quietly, though he felt like yelling. His stomach roiled at his best friend’s betrayal. “Is that what you were hoping?”

  “I don’t know what you’re—”

  “Enough of this bullshit. Stop fucking around, Logan.” The arms of the chair creaked as he gripped them. “I know what you did. I know you deliberately led Allie and me to The Hollow where your father was waiting to film us. Or had he been filming us the whole time and just followed us out there?” The thought of Harlan Vance watching Allie getting naked, watching them as he’d made love to Allie still turned his stomach.

  “I’ve had enough of listening to your trash.” Logan pushed himself to a stand only to find Jake blocking the door.

  “Sit your ass down,” Jake sneered. “You’re not leaving until you’ve told Ben everything he wants to know.”

  A muscle in Logan’s jaw ticked; he glanced at Ben. Maybe he was expecting Ben to back down, but when Ben didn’t budge, Logan stiffened.

  “All right, yes.” Logan’s fists clenched and he held up chin defiantly. “I deliberately led you there. Are you happy now?”

  “Not by a long shot. It wasn’t your idea, was it?”

  “Of course not.” He ran his hand through his hair. “It was Harlan’s way of saving his own hide—he and Pete Daniels worked together to steal that hay but he saw your grandfather heading out that way after Pete Daniels had told the number of bales and knew he’d find out the lie. So he came up with a plan to blackmail your grandfather so he could keep his job.

  “I tried to say no, but he...well, he beat the shit out of me. You saw the bruises. Said I was a chicken and what red-blooded eighteen-year-old Texan boy hadn’t kissed a girl yet so I must be the biggest pansy around.”

  “So you ruined Allie to prove you weren’t gay?”

  Logan waved off the question. “No. He told me if I didn’t help him, he’d stop me from going to college. He’d claim that I’d cheated on my exams or find a way to get my scholarship withdrawn.” His voice broke. “College was my only way to get away from him. I didn’t expect you to go to the Hollow in the first place. Hell, I was surprised you let us help you at all considering your grandfather said you had to do the whole stretch alone. But you agreed. Then I figured you’d break my fucking nose for touching Allie.” Logan’s shoulders slumped. “But you didn’t.”

  “You could have said something. Before we started...you could have said something while we were swimming. Your father wouldn’t have been able to hear you.”

  “I couldn’t stop once we started. That day...it had started out so shitty, and then Allie, and you, and...” After a long shuddering breath, Logan met his gaze, a desperation filling them. “Allie was the first girl who’d let me touch her. The first girl I’d kissed. She was so...open. And you let me and...I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to.”

  “Then why didn’t you say something after your father showed Gramps the video? After Allie got kicked off the ranch? You had fifteen fucking years to come clean...hell, you could have confessed you knew about it when I asked you after Allie arrived.”

  “Your grandfather paid me not to say anything.”

  “Shit.” Ben picked up the compass, focusing on the needle spinning to the north. Had Bull Grady been as manipulative when he’d settled here?

  “He called me into here, sat in that very chair, and reamed me out about setting you up, involving you in such filth. Then he said he was going to give me a chance to redeem myself. He offered me a chance at dignity. At freedom from Harlan.

  “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think you’d understand. Someone like you could never understand.”

  “Someone like me,” Ben repeated.

  “All your life you and Jake have had everything handed to you.” Bitterness filled his voice. “You had parents who worshipped the ground you walked on. Who paid your tuition to A&M without blinking an eye. You got to sleep with a real roof over your head, not in some tin can. All the girls in high school fawned over you. Just because you were Ben Grady and they knew you were going to inherit this place. You’ve never had to work—really work—like the rest of us do.”

  “My tuition.” There. That was the key. It would also explain how Logan could afford his fancy condo and all his other expensive shit. The fog cleared from Ben’s eyes. “Gramps offered to pay for your tuition?”

  “No. He paid for my room and board for my first year at college, and through the summers between semesters. At the location of his choosing—I ended up living with one of his old friends who worked my ass to the ground when I wasn’t in class. I wasn’t proud of it, but it meant I didn’t have to come back and live with Harlan ever again.”

  What would he have done in Logan’s place? Ben wondered. He would have worked for a year, sav
ed up the money and gone to school the following year, found some other way. Anything but betray his best friend and destroy Allie’s reputation. His bitterness returned. “Nice to know our friendship was worth so little to you.”

  Logan folded his arms and lifted his chin. “I had to make something of myself so people would stop seeing me as your white-trash friend. So I could live in a house, not a trailer. Away from my goddamned sorry excuse of a father.”

  “You were my best friend. I never once saw you as white trash.” Ben flexed his fists against the hurt welling inside. “I trusted you enough to share Allie with you.” And she’d trusted him to keep her safe. God, he’d failed her. “I wouldn’t have asked that of her for anyone else. I wouldn’t have allowed anyone else to touch her except you. Because I. Fucking. Trusted. You.”

  “Okay, I get it. You’re pissed. Can we get past this please? Now pick up the phone and tell Charlie you’re not firing me or his firm.”

  “No.” Jesus, he just didn’t get it, did he? “There’s no getting past this. You and your father deliberately destroyed Allie’s life. How can you fucking live with yourself?”

  “Get over your self-righteous shit.” Logan’s lip curled. “You let me suck on Allie’s tits. You watched her go down on me while you fucked her. I figured if you really loved her, you would never have let any of that happen. So it’s your own damned fault.”

  The air burned in Ben’s lungs at Logan’s sucker punch. It was all his fault.

  Jake opened the door, his expression hard. “Get off our land, Vance. Before Ben or I break your fucking neck.”

  Logan straightened his shoulders and nodded. “Sure. Kick me off Bull’s Hollow while you can. While it’s still yours. Because when you find your father’s son, I’m going to represent him and we’re going to sue you not only for Bull’s Hollow, but for past support too. And I promise you this, Grady, I am going to win, and then I’ll own a third of Bull’s Hollow, if not more.”

  He whirled on his heel and hurried to his car.