“Paramedics and police have arrived.” Focused on Juliana and making sure she kept breathing, she’d forgotten about the dispatcher on the phone.
“The door is open. We’re in the bathroom.” She checked the urge to hide Juliana’s drug paraphernalia. Even though her stomach knotted at the thought of the police seeing the evidence of Juliana’s drug use and possibly arresting her, she didn’t hesitate to invite them in because Juliana needed help. And Adria would make sure she got it.
They weren’t alone in the world anymore. They had their sisters, Roxy and Sonya. Without them, without the Wild Rose Ranch, they’d probably both be dead by now.
“Miss, we’re here to help. Please step back.”
Adria leaned down and kissed her sister on the forehead. “Hold on. You’re going to be okay now. I love you.”
The paramedic held his hand out to help her up off the floor. She appreciated the gesture, because even though he was there for her sister, he took the time to help her, too. His presence eased her mind.
But her heart still clenched when he put his dark hand on her sister’s deathly pale wrist to check her pulse. The wild rose tattoo that started at her sister’s shoulder and wrapped around her arm stood out dark green and pink against her translucent white skin. Four roses. Juliana, Adria, Roxy, and Sonya.
Her imagination had one of those roses shriveling and dying. She pushed the nightmare image out of her mind. She couldn’t even conceive of her sister leaving her.
An officer’s radio squawked behind her, the dispatcher relaying information about a burglary in progress. All Adria wanted was for these guys to care about her sister more than anything else, because right now, nothing mattered more than saving Juliana’s life.
“Miss, can you answer some questions for me?”
She didn’t turn to the officer, but watched the paramedic check her sister’s blood pressure. “What do you want to know?”
“Let’s start with your name.”
“Adria Holloway. That’s my sister Juliana.”
“Twins?”
Usually that was so obvious, but Juliana had lost weight the last many months she’d been partying away her days and nights instead of attending school. Adria had just graduated. Juliana, for all intents and purposes, dropped out because as far as Adria knew she hadn’t attended classes since the first week of the semester. She gave up last year asking if Juliana actually earned her credits the last two semesters. And it pissed Adria off to see her sister waste the opportunity to do and be something better than this: a drug addict, looking for her next score instead of living the life they’d been given here on the Ranch.
A second chance Adria tried hard every day to embrace instead of her own demons.
“Identical,” she confirmed, though not in every way.
“Can you tell me what happened tonight?”
Adria wished she knew what possessed her sister to think getting high and putting her life at risk was a good idea. Or that it solved anything.
“I’m not sure. I was on a blind date.” From hell.
More than a year after her last dating debacle, she’d wanted to try again. Another chance to see if she could get past her hang-ups and connect with a man and not see him as the monster from her nightmares.
Lonely, she’d wanted to connect with someone. She wanted some physical contact, to feel a man’s hands run over her skin and feel the pleasure in his touch.
She’d never use one of those stupid apps again. “I ended the date early and came home.” Because she’d gotten a bad feeling and an urgent need to get to Juliana overtook her.
Not because her date talked about sports for nearly an hour, forgot to stop at the bank for cash to pay the tab—who didn’t have a credit card for that very reason?—told her he had cash at home and would pay her back once they got there. Like she’d go to his place after swiping on his picture and messaging him twice to set up the date. She knew nothing about him, except for his favorite football team and that he wanted her to give him head before they had sex.
He preferred it that way.
She left him with a big “Fuck you” and hauled ass home, her mind on her sister and not the Raiders’ biggest fan.
“I walked in the door and knew something was wrong.” She’d felt Juliana slipping away. Like a piece of her that Adria carried in her soul evaporated. The echo of fear and desolation swamped her system again. She wrapped her arms around her middle, wishing her sister would wake up and hug her. “I grabbed the naloxone and my phone out of my purse and ran to her.”
“Has she overdosed before?”
“Once.” She never wanted to receive that call from the hospital again. Another shot of pure terror raced through her. For a split second, she’d thought her sister had died. Just like tonight when she saw her passed out on the floor, her face gray, lips blue, and barely an ounce of life left in her.
“Looks like she was getting ready for bed.” The officer pointed his pen at Juliana’s state of undress.
In her red lace bra and a black leather skirt that barely covered her ass, maybe it looked like she’d been undressing to go to bed. But Adria knew better. “She was getting ready to go out.”
“It’s late.”
Juliana had taken to coming home in the morning, sleeping the day away, and spending her nights out partying.
Because of Juliana’s unpredictable schedule, Adria started sleeping in Roxy’s room. Their sister hardly ever came home to visit now that she’d moved to her inherited ranch in Montana with her new family. Roxy was raising her adopted stepsister, Annabelle, and got engaged to Noah.
She’d found her home. Love. Family. A life that made her happy.
Adria was working on finding hers while Juliana played Russian Roulette with her life.
“She likes the night life.” Juliana liked driving into Vegas. So many strangers looking for a good time. Fun. Frivolous. No strings. No expectations. Just go with it.
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
Juliana thought that suited her. She thought she could escape whatever drove her.
All it did was make her worse because when you’re that high and out of it, you can’t feel. Not really.
And when you wake up, you still have the same problems and that just bums you out more.
You still can’t escape yourself, because in the end it’s just you and your thoughts and your past and the decision you have to make every day to either leave it behind and move on, or don’t.
The fact that Big Mama and security at the Wild Rose Ranch brothel caught Juliana selling herself with the other prostitutes who worked at the legal whorehouse only showed how far off the rails Juliana had gone these last few months. They’d sworn to each other that they’d never end up like their mother. But Juliana spent more time with Crystal these days than she did with Adria.
Some form of self-punishment? Adria didn’t know. She’d begged Juliana to talk to her. But Juliana shut her down and pushed her out of her life.
She missed Juliana and the closeness they’d always shared.
The closer Adria got to graduation and starting her life and hopefully her own business, the more self-destructive Juliana became.
It felt like her fault. But didn’t she deserve her own life and successes?
It meant they were slowly going in different directions. At some point, they needed to live their lives. They couldn’t always do everything together and the same.
It hurt Adria’s heart to think that life would take them down separate roads when they’d spent their whole lives not just traveling the same path but holding hands as one. But Adria couldn’t follow her sister or even stand beside her down this path of destruction Juliana continued to take despite the risks and how miserable it made her. And it tore them apart a little at a time.
Adria could only hope that what happened tonight woke her sister up and made her want to change her ways before things got worse. Because, yes, Adria knew from experience, things can always get worse.
>
“Do you guys work up at the Wild Rose Ranch?” The officer held her gaze, a look of interest in his eyes.
“No. Our mother does.”
That raised a few eyebrows among the three men there to take care of her sister.
The paramedics did their job, efficiently stabilizing her sister, putting in an IV line, and getting her settled on the gurney. They covered her with a blanket and strapped her in. Seeing her covered marginally warmed Adria even though goose bumps still covered every inch of her skin.
The paramedics rolled Juliana down the hallway. The officer took pictures of the bathroom, including the mirror sitting precariously on the edge of the counter with the remnants of powder on it, along with the cut straw her sister used to snort the heroin.
Adria stood on the porch while they loaded her sister into the back of the ambulance.
Big Mama pulled into the driveway in her Cadillac from the mansion across the wide pasture. Someone up at the brothel must have seen the flashing lights. She slipped out of the front seat dressed in a black skirt, black bustier, red stilettos, her red hair curled in waves, and her black lined eyes glassed over with sadness and filled with fear. “Is she . . .”
Adria shook her head, unable to speak for fear her sister would prove her wrong and die on the spot.
“What happened?”
Adria ran into the Madam’s arms and ample breasts and hugged her close, relieved she’d come and Adria wasn’t alone.
Big Mama had been the only real mother figure she’d had since Big Mama rescued Crystal from a shelter and gave them a home before child protective services took her and Juliana away to a foster home. Big Mama took care of them. She cared about them. She kept Crystal from hurting them anymore.
“She overdosed. I gave her the naloxone just like the doctor showed us after the last time.”
Big Mama squeezed her tight. “Good girl. You saved her.”
“I can’t do this again.” The tears clogging her throat burst free on a ragged sob and her sadness and anger poured out.
“I hope you don’t have to.”
Adria stepped back and tried to rein in her wild emotions. “I won’t because whether she likes it or not, I’m getting her the help she needs.”
Big Mama nodded. “Call Roxy. It’s time to intervene.” Big Mama swept her gaze over Adria. “Change into something more comfortable. I’ll drive you to the hospital.”
The ambulance pulled out. Big Mama went to talk to the officer who walked out of the house. Adria’s mind caught up to the fact that she was standing in the too-tight, low-cut, electric blue tank dress and four-inch strappy heels Juliana insisted she wear on her date. Not Adria’s style or comfort zone, but Juliana coaxed her to be bold and give her date a reason to come back for more. Too bad the only message her date got was that she was easy and the officer and paramedics thought she worked at the Ranch.
Not the image she wanted.
She needed to stop experimenting and trying to figure men out and just be herself and focus on her future. Something broke inside her when that man . . . Well, it happened, and she didn’t know how to fix it. Dating random men wasn’t the answer.
But God, how she dreamed of a real relationship with a guy who knew how to be kind and made her burn.
She left her nonexistent love life on the back burner. She ignored the heavy, sour ball of dread in her gut and the whisper in her heart that spoke her worst fear, You will always be alone.
She ran into the house, peeled off the too-sexy-for-her dress, tossed the uncomfortable heels, pulled on a pair of jeans, a tank top, and a comfy shrug. She slipped her feet into a pair of Keds and left her hair in wild disarray as she grabbed her cell from the bathroom floor and her purse off the tile entry and met Big Mama at her car.
She dialed Roxy as Big Mama drove and followed the ambulance to the hospital.
Roxy picked up on the first ring. “What’s wrong?”
This late at night, of course Roxy expected trouble. “Juliana overdosed again. She’s in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. I need you to make that call.”
“On it. Want Sonya and me to meet you in Vegas?” They’d come running the last time, too.
“No. I want her to see us all supporting her at the rehab. I don’t care what it takes, but I’m getting her on the plane and to the rehab center whether she likes it or not.”
“I’ll make it happen.”
Adria sighed out her relief. “Roxy.”
“Yeah, honey.”
“Thank you.”
“What are sisters for?”
In this case, to pick up the pieces when everything fell apart. And to pick up the tab. When Roxy found out she owned the Wild Rose Ranch, she’d made it clear that she meant to use the enormous amount of money she earned to help her sisters. She’d paid for Adria and Juliana to finish school and eliminated all their debt. Now, Adria needed Roxy to pay for the astronomically expensive rehab her sister needed to save her life.
“I love you, Adria. You’re not alone. Sonya and I will be there.”
“Thank you.” The simple but heartfelt words didn’t seem enough to convey to Roxy how much she appreciated what she was about to do. Because saving Juliana meant saving Adria.
She could live without a man, but she couldn’t live without her twin.
About the Author
JENNIFER RYAN, a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, writes suspenseful contemporary romances with outrageous plot twists, deeply emotional love stories, high stakes, and higher drama. Her stories are filled with love, family, friendship, and the happily-ever-after we all hope to find. Jennifer lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and three children. When she isn’t writing a book, she’s reading one. Her obsession with both is often revealed in the state of her home, and how late dinner is to the table. When she finally leaves those fictional worlds, you’ll find her in the garden, playing in the dirt and daydreaming about people who live only in her head, until she puts them on paper.
jennifer-ryan.com
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
By Jennifer Ryan
Stand-Alone Novels
The Me I Used to Be
Wild Rose Ranch Series
Restless Rancher
Dirty Little Secret
Montana Heat Series
Tempted by Love
True to You
Escape to You
Protected by Love (novella)
Montana Men Series
His Cowboy Heart
Her Renegade Rancher
Stone Cold Cowboy
Her Lucky Cowboy
When It’s Right
At Wolf Ranch
The McBrides Series
Dylan’s Redemption
Falling for Owen
The Return of Brody McBride
The Hunted Series
Everything She Wanted
Chasing Morgan
The Right Bride
Lucky Like Us
Saved by the Rancher
Short Stories
Close to Perfect
(appears in Snowbound at Christmas)
Can’t Wait
(appears in All I Want for Christmas Is a Cowboy)
Waiting for You
(appears in Confessions of a Secret Admirer)
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Excerpt from Tough Talking Cowboy copyright © 2020 by Jennifer Ryan.
restless rancher. Copyright © 2019 by Jennifer Ryan. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of th
is text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins Publishers. For information, address HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.
Digital Edition DECEMBER 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-285184-0
Print Edition ISBN: 978-0-06-285190-1
Cover design by Nadine Badalaty
Cover illustration by Victor Gadino
Cover photographs © Image 1st LLC (man); Roksana Bashyrova/500px (sky); © Dreamstime
Avon, Avon & logo, and Avon Books & logo are registered trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers in the United States of America and other countries.
HarperCollins is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Publishers in the United States of America and other countries.
first edition
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower
22 Adelaide Street West, 41st Floor
Toronto, Ontario, M5H 4E3
www.harpercollins.ca
India
HarperCollins India
A 75, Sector 57
Noida
Uttar Pradesh 201 301
www.harpercollins.co.in
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand
Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive
Rosedale 0632
Auckland, New Zealand
www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
Restless Rancher Page 29