The Return of Brody McBride

by Jennifer Ryan

  A car crash, metal against metal crunching in the distance.

  RAIN DROVE HER old car out to the ranch. Brody called this morning to let her know one of the guys on Jim’s crew wanted to buy it. The outside wasn’t much to look at, the paint was chipped and faded, but the inside was clean, the seats worn, but not overly so. Of course, the engine ran perfectly and she put new tires on last year. A good deal for the money.

  The radio boomed out classic rock, but Rain shut it off, preferring the quiet and her own anxious thoughts to the annoying music. Her stomach clenched, tied in knots since yesterday and getting worse with every passing hour. She hated this waiting game. Why did Roxy hold off on her big payday?

  Still, it gave Brody and Owen time to investigate Roxy’s financial situation, so they could buy the bar out from under her and send her away for good this time.

  Roxy agreed to the amount, but she had to know it would take a hell of a lot more money to set her up for any length of time. She’d jump at an offer for the bar. She had to. Roxy wasn’t one to put her business before her own fun and needs.

  A plus for Rain, Roxy didn’t have the money to hire a lawyer and fight them in court either. Brody swore if she managed to take them to court, he’d hire the best lawyers in the country to ensure Autumn never stayed a minute alone with Roxy. A great relief, but Rain had a creepy feeling dancing up her spine every time she thought about Roxy’s desperate situation and putting off getting her payment so long. Why?

  The last two times she’d needed money or a way out, she’d come to Rain. The last time she’d been desperate enough to kidnap Autumn. What would she do this time if the money paid her wasn’t enough? That question haunted Rain all day yesterday, long into the night, and followed her everywhere she went today. Brody would pay her more. Roxy didn’t know that, and wasn’t smart enough to just ask.

  Rain slammed the flat of her hand on the steering wheel. “Why do we have to pay her at all? She doesn’t even want Autumn.”

  Easy answer. Roxy only understood money and doing as she pleased. She never thought of anyone else. She certainly didn’t have Autumn’s best interests at heart. Hell, Roxy didn’t have a heart.

  That was her last thought as she rounded the corner into Brody’s driveway. Roxy’s red Camero tore down the gravel road toward her. Autumn’s terrified wide eyes stared at her from the center of the backseat.

  Rain sped forward in a deadly game of chicken. A game Rain intended to win. She angled the car across their path at the last second. Roxy’s car slammed into the side of hers with a jarring crunch of metal and shattering glass.

  A LITTLE GIRL pulled Brody’s arm. Her face changed, shifted, Dawn, someone he didn’t recognize, Dawn again. He squeezed his eyes closed tight and opened them again. He looked up at Dawn from the floor of the unfinished room, his back against the two-by-fours of the framed wall. Tears streaked down her bright red cheek.

  “Please, Daddy. Get up. You have to get her back. Please, Daddy.” She pulled on him again and again, trying to make him stand up.

  “Daddy. Come back. Daddy!” she screamed at him.

  Shaking his head like a wet dog, the hollowness in his ears vanished. Her voice came through loud and clear.

  “Daddy, they took her. Daddy,” Dawn wailed.

  He grabbed her arms and pulled her close, her face inches from his. “Who took her? Who hit you?”

  “Roxy and some man. They took her. Go get her.”

  He picked her up, ran for the front of the house, jumping off the raised foundation floor and nearly falling when his bad leg couldn’t support his weight and Dawn’s. Adrenaline kicking in, he gained his balance and ran.

  RAIN’S HEAD SLAMMED into the side window, splitting open a gash that poured blood down the side of her head. She moaned and pressed her hand over the wound. Her heart raced, pounding against her ribs. Everything inside her told her to get out, save Autumn. Her movements felt stilted. She shook her head to clear the fog and encroaching darkness, grabbed the handle, pushed open the door, and nearly fell out. Adrenaline and her mother’s instincts kicked in. She ran to Roxy’s side of the car and pulled open the door. Stupid woman didn’t have her seat belt on. Luckily, they hadn’t been going fast enough to kill anyone. Or maybe too bad.

  She grabbed Roxy by the hair and dragged her out of the car.

  “Autumn run. Run back to Daddy.” Autumn scurried over the center console into the front seat. Her wide eyes looked up at Rain, tears streaked down her pale face. Roxy’s boyfriend made a grab for her, but Autumn batted at his hands and managed to pull away at the last second and get past him and out of the car.

  “Run, Autumn. Now.”

  Autumn stomped on Roxy’s foot, like her sister had done to David Murphy when he called her ugly.

  “Ouch, you bitch.”

  Autumn ran and Rain held tight to Roxy when she tried to go after Autumn.

  “Let me go,” Roxy shrieked. Rain dragged her around to face her.

  “You came here to steal my daughter, you’re lucky I don’t kill you, you stupid cow.”

  “She’s my daughter,” Roxy spat out.

  Rain had put up with a lot of shit over the years. Having Roxy claim Autumn as her daughter sent her over the edge. She cocked her arm back and slammed it forward, her fist connecting with Roxy’s nose. A satisfying crack sounded a second before blood burst out of her nostrils, spraying through the air. Her head whipped to the side.

  “You broke my nose,” she wailed, but the words were muffled behind her cupped hands. She dropped her bloodstained hands and mumbled, “You’ll pay for that.”

  Roxy staggered, but Rain wasn’t finished. She hauled her arm back again and this time smashed her fist right into Roxy’s jaw, snapping her head back and sending her to the dirt with a thud. At the point of impact, the bones in Rain’s hand popped and gave way with a snap. Rain fell off balance and went down, too, landing on her hands and knees. Pain zipped up her arm from her broken hand, and she screamed in agony.

  Roxy’s boyfriend’s boot-clad feet appeared in front of her. She scrambled back, but he made a grab for her and hooked his hand around her upper arm, hauling her to her feet. His fingers dug into her skin, punishing and bruising, his eyes dark with rage.

  “Stupid bitch. That girl was my meal ticket.” He shook her and pulled her against his chest. She thumped against him, even as she tried to pull away.

  “If he was willing to pay a hundred grand for the brat, imagine what he’ll pay for a fine piece of ass like you.”

  His breath stank of whiskey, coffee, and cigarettes. She wanted to gag from the smell and the nausea created by the wound to her head. Dizzy, she tried to stay on her feet, think straight, and figure a way out of this mess.

  She planted her hands on his chest and shoved him away. The only thing she accomplished was hurting herself more. His hold on her arm tightened painfully. Shifting her weight, she sent her knee to his groin. He sensed her movement and moved his leg to block her. She grazed her target, making him groan. All the air whooshed out of him. He shoved her over his leg, taking her off her feet. She flipped around in the air to her back and landed hard on the gravel. Sharp tips and jagged edges gouged at her shoulders and back.

  “I’ll kill you, bitch.”

  She believed him. He landed hard on top of her. Her hands shot up and grabbed his wrist as he plunged the hunting knife down toward her chest.

  BRODY JUMPED INTO the cab of his truck and tossed Dawn into the seat beside him. He gunned the engine, threw the car into gear, and stomped on the gas, sending rocks flying as the tires bit into the road. Not far from the crash, he needed to get there as quick as possible. He rounded the soft bend. The scene in front of him sent his heart pounding and his stomach into his throat. The blood drained from his face. His heart nearly stopped when Rain, blood running down her face and hair, grabbed Roxy by the head and dragged her out of the car. Autumn scrambled out a moment later, stomped on Roxy’s foot, and ran toward the truck.
>
  He felt the pride, seeing his quiet little one stand up for herself against the woman who had terrified her for years.

  The pride faded behind his fear for her and Rain.

  He jumped out on the run and scooped her up, holding her close, just as Rain punched Roxy in the nose. Momentarily stunned, he got another shock when she cocked her hand back and punched her in the jaw, knocking Roxy out cold.

  Autumn cried hysterically in his arms. He ran her back to the truck and sat her in the seat beside Dawn. The girls clung to each other. Two tearstained, pale faces with huge round eyes stared up at him. Brody grabbed his cell phone from his pocket and dialed 911. He handed it to Dawn.

  “Tell 911 we need police help at Clear Water Ranch.”

  “O-k-kay,” Dawn sputtered out and nodded. He waited to make sure she put the phone to her ear and spoke to the dispatcher.

  Pure rage swamped him when he turned back to help Rain and the guy he’d seen in the bar shook her, making Rain’s head snap back and forth like a bobble head. She tried to fight off his hold, but he was bigger and stronger. Rain got in a good shot as Brody ran to her, but she ended up on the ground. A glint of sunlight glared off the knife as it plunged toward Rain. She grabbed the guy’s hand just before the tip of the blade sliced into her chest. She fought, but he knew she’d lose. He couldn’t let that happen.

  The tip of the knife pressed into her chest, pierced her skin, and sank in. Rain used the last of her strength to push against the inevitable. Brody’s big body flew over her in that moment, taking Roxy’s boyfriend with him, the knife slicing through her as he pulled it out. The two men scrambled over her legs and toppled away in a tumble of arms and legs.

  Rain struggled to sit up, legs spread wide, her hands lying limp, shoulders slack. Brody gained the top of the other man and landed a body blow just under his ribs. The man drew the knife down toward Brody’s back, but he shifted just in time. The knife sliced through Brody’s dark blue T-shirt and the chunky part of his shoulder. Blood oozed out and left a snaking trail down over his bicep to his elbow.

  Brody punched him in the side again. The man grunted with the impact. He clamped his left hand around the guy’s right wrist and bashed it against the ground. Once, twice, and on the third blow, the guy released the knife. It thumped and landed a foot away.

  Rearing up onto his knees, straddling the man, Brody punched him in the face. The man reached up, tried to grab Brody’s shirt to hold him off, but Brody wouldn’t be stopped. He shoved the guy’s arm aside and punched him in the face again. And again. His head snapped to the side, his face swollen and bloody, Brody hit him again.

  “Brody!” Rain yelled.

  He didn’t stop. He landed another blow. “Brody! Stop!” she tried again, but he’d gone to another place and didn’t respond to her calls.

  Rain tried to get up, but her legs were like rubber. Her head spun, her eyesight went blurry, her chin fell to her chest and she saw the blood running down her white top.

  The man grunted again, his feet sliding in the gravel.

  “Brody. Help me!” Rain screamed.

  Silence. Brody stilled, two hands fisted in the guy’s shirt, holding him partially off the ground. He shoved him away. He rushed to her side. Her head fell back, sending her onto the ground, her head thumped into the gravel. A shaft of splitting pain arced through her brain.

  “Rain!”

  Brody slid to a stop on his knees beside her. He took a second to scan her face and body to see where she was hurt the worst. The blood on her head, face, and chest terrified him. With trembling hands, he cupped her face and leaned over her.

  “Rain, baby, open your eyes. Please, honey.”

  “Brody.” His name came out on an exhaled whisper.

  “Yes, honey.”

  “Get the girls,” she ordered. “Get them out of here.”

  “I’m not leaving you.” He ripped her bloodstained shirt to reveal the deep gash in her chest, just above her breast. Seeping blood, he pressed the heel of his hand over the wound to stop the bleeding. It gushed through his fingers.

  “Rrrrr. Aaaaah.” The sound of agony that came from her shattered his heart.

  Roxy stirred behind him, whimpering and crying. Every once in a while, she let loose with a string of cuss words and obscenities.

  “You hear the sirens, Rain. Help is coming.”

  Her eyes fluttered open, pain clouded the depths. “Take care of the girls. They’re scared. Go to them, Brody.”

  “You’re bleeding.”

  “I’m fine. It’s just a scra-atch,” she slurred.

  “Bullshit.”

  “You’re bleeding, too,” she pointed out.

  “I didn’t get to you in time.”

  “I’m still breathing. You got to me in time.”

  “I should have . . .”

  “Go see the girls. I can hear them crying. Please, Brody. They need you.”

  “You need me, too.”

  She reached up and traced her fingers over his cheek. Tears he hadn’t realized he shed wet her fingertips. “I’m fine. Just a broken hand. My head hurts.”

  “You broke your hand?”

  “Roxy’s got a hard head.”

  He couldn’t help himself, he laughed. “Please tell me you’re going to be okay.”

  “I am. Now please go to the girls.”

  Brody leaned in and kissed her softly on the mouth. When he let up the pressure on her chest, the wound didn’t bleed. He gently picked up her broken right hand and laid it on her stomach. Swollen and bruised badly, her knuckles raw and bleeding, she’d need a cast. She grimaced in pain, gritted her teeth, and clamped down her jaw when he touched it.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Brody ran to the truck. Dawn and Autumn stared at him through the window. He had to point at the lock to get them to open the door. They fell into his arms and held him tight. Their little bodies shook as they bawled.

  “Is Mommy . . .” Dawn began, but couldn’t finish the words as she cried harder.

  “Mommy is just fine. She’s a little hurt, but she’ll be okay.”

  “You promise.”

  “Yes, baby girl.”

  Three sheriff’s cruisers and an ambulance came to a jarring halt just past the crashed vehicles. Officers swarmed the area, taking Roxy’s boyfriend into custody just as he came awake, sputtering obscenities and demanding they arrest Brody for assault.

  An officer shoved Roxy up against the side of the wrecked Camero. A paramedic looked at her broken nose and handed her a wad of gauze to staunch the bleeding.

  “Hey,” he called to the other paramedic about to help Roxy’s boyfriend. “She needs your help. She’s been stabbed in the chest and broke her hand.” He indicated Rain, lying on her back in the gravel, an officer kneeling beside her who looked very familiar.

  “Sweetheart, what happened here?” Brody’s cousin, Dylan, asked Rain as Brody approached with Dawn and Autumn in his arms.

  “Dylan? What the hell are you doing here?”

  “I guess Owen and Rain didn’t tell you I came home. I’m the new sheriff.” Dylan glanced at the scene around them. “I see nothing much has changed.”

  “Bullshit. I didn’t start this fight.”

  “Owen filled me in about what happened with Rain and Roxy years ago when I came back to town.”

  “Good, then you’re up to speed and know that Roxy has no rights to Autumn. She kidnapped her from the house and tried to take her. Rain”—he nodded to her on the ground—“stopped them from leaving. I don’t know the guy’s name, but he got out of the car and tried to kill Rain with that knife.” Another officer held up the long bone-handled blade. “I knocked him off her, and we got into a scuffle.”

  “He slice open your shoulder?” Dylan asked.

  “Yeah. Rain needs to get to the hospital. She banged her head during the car crash and broke her hand on Roxy’s face.”

  “Mommy
,” Autumn’s tremulous voice called out.

  “I’m okay, baby,” Rain called back as the paramedic placed a bandage over the wound on her chest and staunched the blood again, making Rain clench her teeth to stifle the moan of pain.

  “I’m sorry, man, Mom and Dad never told me about the way your father died, or the girls,” Dylan said.

  “They don’t exactly keep in touch with me and Owen,” Brody said, knowing his aunt and uncle looked at him and Owen as the black sheep of the family. Their father’s drinking caused a rift between the two brothers. Brody and Owen barely saw Dylan when they were kids. Still, they were family.

  “Well, I’m glad to see you finally came home.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Owen should have called me and let me help you,” Dylan admonished.

  “I wouldn’t have wanted to get you involved and jeopardize your job with all this business of buying children and payoffs for signatures on legal documents.”

  Dylan shrugged that away. “We’re family. No matter what, I’ve got your back.”

  “In that case, lock those two up and throw away the key.”

  “I’ll contact Owen and we’ll sort out this mess.”

  Brody had no doubt about that as they lifted Rain on a gurney into the back of the ambulance. Roxy sat inside on the bench, glaring at him. An officer ushered her boyfriend to a police car and stuffed him in the backseat.

  Dylan took them in his car to the hospital. Brody called Eli from the backseat, while Dylan spoke to Owen on his cell up front.

  Let Dylan and Owen sort things out with Roxy. He needed to be with Rain.

  Chapter Thirty-One