I pulled right up to the cabin. Alison grabbed my cell phone, so she could put numbers in it like Mom and Dad’s, Jackson’s and anybody else who’d be helpful to me. I carried the guns. I knew I was going to have to tear down and sight in the new monster, before zeroing the scope, but jet lag and switching time zones had me wiped out again.

I loaded the magazine for the Beretta and brought it out to Ali, who put it in her holster, and I went back inside and lay on the couch to rest my eyes for a moment. I was drifting off to sleep when Alison wedged herself partly on top of me, her back to the couch. She lazily rubbed her hands through my hair and I was out like a light after that.

The smells of cooking were what woke me up. A soft murmuring of voices came from the kitchen and I recognized Jackson and Sandy’s voice along with Alison’s. All were being quiet, almost whispering.

“…Came out good so far,” Jackson whispered.

“...If it... Stable…”

“I’m awake,” I hollered up, but not too loud, the cabin wasn’t that big.

“Oh good. Whispering sucks.”

“Boy, why are you always napping whenever company comes around? A person might think you aren’t a hospitable type of person,” Jackson’s voice said, coming close. I sat up, rubbing my eyes.

“Still getting over the time change.”

“And two solid days of flight and jet lag, and walking into a modern day range war and…”

“I get it, I get it,” I held up my hands in surrender.

Jackson sat down next to me and eyed the AR on the coffee table. He held it up lovingly and looked at me. I nodded permission and he pulled the bolt back, then dropped the magazine, put it back in.

“This is some kind of gun. What does it shoot?”

“A .308 or a 7.62 Nato round,” I yawned the last word out.

“A better varmint killer, huh?”

“Yeah, once I get it zeroed in, you can have your lizard killer back.”

“Much appreciated,” he said.

“You know… I saw this movie, and I swear to God it was you in it.”

“What kind of crazy talk is this? You still dreaming?”

“Not crazy, it’s a Western to boot.”

“Okay, that’s not all that crazy then. What is it?”

“You’re Mitchell, from an Unfinished Life, except you’ve never met a bear you couldn’t kill.”

“Is that the one where Morgan Freeman plays a cowboy?”

“Yeah. That’s the one.”

“Good, it’s Sandy’s favorite one too. She about broke my hips after watching it, she kind of favors…”

Gross! “Stop, stop, man,” I laughed and held my hands up in surrender again.

“What made you think of that?”

“We couldn’t get many movies to watch in our downtime. Westerns were always a safe bet. It was one that we wore out the disc on. Just dreaming of old times.”

“Okay. So, how long have you been awake?”

“Just when I hollered up. You all were being quiet.”

“Girls are finishing dinner, but Sandy and I just got here.”

“What’s cooking?”

“Some kind of pot roast and potatoes.”

“God, I must have been out a while.”

“Yeah, it’s almost 10pm.”

“Really?”

“Wow, you’re really out of it, aren’t you?”

“I must be. Damn, now I probably won’t be able to sleep tonight. Any word on Tim?”

“He’s in recovery. He’s still in a coma.”

“Coma? An induced one right?”

“Yeah. It was touch and go. Tyler had to leave for some business, but he came back for the news. Poor Cass almost broke down. Doc had to give her a sedative. Carl just sat there. I don’t want to be in their shoes. Not one bit.”

“How long are they going to keep him under?”

“A few days. We won’t know anything until Friday or so at the earliest.”

“I hope he gets better. That’s a lot for a family to deal with.”

“Yeah, it is. You coming to eat, or you going to play with your new toys now?” he pointed at the Colt on my hip that I’d forgotten to take off when I was napping. I yawned and held it out after dropping the mag and racking the slide, catching the free shell and reloading it.

“Nice. You like the fancy stuff, don’t you?”

“Sort of. The base model of this gun has been used by the military for almost 100 years. This is one of the fanciest race guns I could get my hands on in the Army; it’s what I used to shoot dirt competitions with.”

“Competitions?”

“We were bored. Guns were tools, and the better with them we were, the longer we lived, as long as we didn’t get hit by a jihadist with a suicide vest or an IED…”

“So you shot.”

“A lot.”

“You any good?” he asked me, his voice quiet but sincere in his question.

“Yeah. Too good sometimes. Nightmares.”

“Yeah, I hear you. Maybe that’s the reason you’re tired all of a sudden. You’re catching up on all the sleep you missed while saving the world for my old black ass…”

“You kind of are an ass, aren’t you Jackson?”

I didn’t see the swat coming, but his hat smacked my lips and I sputtered and then laughed. I got my pistol back, holstered it and went into the kitchenette. The ladies were finishing spooning out some potatoes and onions around a hunk of roast into four big bowls.

“Oh, and Jackson brought you a present. We sort of forgot to stop and get some beer,” Alison pulled out a six pack of Shiner from the fridge.

“I didn’t forget, I was distracted,” I joked.

“Oh, you two. Buying rings already?” Sandy asked, and we both sobered up in a heartbeat.

“That’s a mood killer,” Jackson said and smiled at our sour expressions.

We ate a really late supper and Jackson polished off a beer and Sandy and I drank the rest. It was funny to watch Alison realize that Sandy could be as salty as any cowpoke here at the ranch. By Sandy’s third beer she was letting words fly that had Ali snickering but only made me smile. This was how I remembered things. I would have a couple nights a week like this; the rest was spent hiding from the way things had been, mostly the way they seemed in my mind. Sandy had been right earlier, I had run away to hide from things.

“So what’s with the guns?” Sandy asked me at last, nodding toward the living room.

“Wanted to have my own. I’m hoping with Tim fixed, things will be…”

“Normal?” Alison asked me. I nodded without looking up.

“The issue with the water still bugs me. I’m thinking of spending a couple days on the trail, maybe even hunting down those coyotes. I have a good lead on where to find a spot to back track them.”

“Yeah, I spent some time talking to Carl about ranch business. What the engineers did shouldn’t have been able to change the course of the river like it did. I believed him,” Jackson said, his words blunt.

“Yeah, I got the same feeling, too. The problem I have is there’s too much land and most of it you can’t get to without a horse. It makes things really difficult.”

“What about the quads?” Alison asked.

“What?” I was confused.

“A quad can go where the horses can, but they take a ton of gas.”

“They’re noisy, but…”

“You could probably run the whole fence line in a day with one,” Jackson mused, rubbing the white stubble on his chin, making a rasping sandpaper sound.

“I don’t think anybody’s done that before,” Sandy said, in awe.

“On a quad?” I asked, knowing we must have a dozen around here for various small chores. Hell, I used one as a kid just for hauling garden produce.

“Yeah. Use the front storage racks, tie a couple Jerry cans to the back rack and go do your hunt thing. You don’t have to be gone two or three days,” Alison said, a triumphant note in her voice.

“Why didn’t we think of using quads?” Jackson asked to no one in particular.

“Probably because they are noisy and would scare the cows,” Sandy told him.

“Probably because he’s tall, dark and ugly.”

“Shut up!” The three of them replied. Dammit!

“Okay, okay, maybe because cowboys usually ride horses?” I offered in peace.

“Fair enough. I’ll have things ready for you in the morning.”

“Still have to sight in my gun first,” I told him.

“I’m sure you’ll take good care of it,” Sandy smiled.

We polished off dinner, and the girls worked on the dishes together. I went outside with Jackson, standing under the moonlight, the glow reflecting off the snow high in the mountains. For a place to live, work and die, I may have found heaven, despite the neighbors.

“Bill called while you were sleeping.”

“Oh?”

“I filled him in on the doings around here. He told me you could handle things.”

“Why me?”

“You’re his son, I guess. He seems to think pretty highly of you.” My heart lurched at hearing that. He knew?

“Yeah, I’m learning all kinds of things lately.”

“You already knew them; you just needed a kick in the ass to open your eyes up.”

“Thanks for the boot.”

“Shit… It wasn’t me, it was your… I mean, it was Ali. You never listened to me.”

“Yeah I did, I just didn’t let it show.”

“Well, you were good at that,” he said and I had to bite my tongue on a sharp reply.

“Do you think the idea of the quads…?”

“Genius. I don’t know why we never thought of doing it before for riding fence. The cattle will move away from the edges into the middle. Guess I’m getting too old for this job.”

“Naw, don’t say that. There weren’t even cars when you were a kid. I heard you had to rope dinosaurs to get a lift into town.”

“Now you’re just being ugly,” he said, but in an amused tone.

“Seriously, I never thought of it either.”

“Well, your girl still had a good idea,” he told me.

“Yeah, she did.”

“Oh, so you admit it now?” He was poking at me verbally, but I knew he meant Alison. It had been a short period of time, but it must have been obvious to all.

“Don’t bust my ass man; it’s been a long week, but yeah. My girl.”

“True. We may not be out of the woods yet, but once we get the water situation fixed, maybe we’ll have everything squared away.”

“Can you pull up county records, find out about the permit the engineers used for the waterway, and any zoning or development contracts for the back end of the Bart property?”

“You’re thinking there may have been something more than just cut fences from Tim? Some sort of big conspiracy?” he asked, waving his hat from left to right.

I felt like an idiot, but I nodded. That was exactly what I was thinking. There was too much land and not enough eyes. I had a horrible feeling that there was a lot more going on here than we’d seen and Dade had been right. It was somehow an issue related to a woman. That kiss with Karen would be problems enough, and I thought it a small miracle that Tyler hadn’t been pissed when he saw me at the hospital, when half the town had seen Karen try to kiss me. The entire thing stank.

“Well, let’s hope our problems have ended with Tim.”

“We can always pray.”

“I’m going to pack tonight, but I may be gone two to three days, even with the quad.”

“What are you going to do that’ll take that long?”

“I’ll be laying low. Maybe kill some coyotes and watch for things around the old riverbed.”

“Well… You’re welcome to grab any camo gear you’d need from my place, but don’t be waking me up at 4am.”

“No, actually I think I’ll be gone by then. If you don’t mind, I’ll grab one on my way out tonight.”

“What about sighting in your fancy toys?”

“I’ll do it on the trail. It’ll probably be a boring camping trip to be honest, sit in the dust and sun, scoping things out and sweating buckets.”

“You better bring a ton of that, too.”

“I know where’s there’s a couple sinks in the ground now, that were full when Ali and I rode the fences. Watered the horses there, so I’ll just refill a canteen or three when I need it.”

“Well, then I’ll put a quad by the hay barn with a couple Jerry cans then. I expect Ms. Alison can get you squared away with the rest of the gear from Bill’s collection?”

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

“By the way,” Jackson asked, “where were those sink holes with the water?”

“Half a day’s ride down the shared fence line with Carl and ten minutes to the East, why?”

“I don’t remember there being anything like that, it’d be nice if it was oil now wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’d be nice,” I laughed. Yeah, oil would fix the money problems at least.

“Keep your phone on you; I’ll get in touch when I find out what I can in town in the morning.”

“Thanks, boss,” I joked, and finally anticipated the swipe of his hat.

“I told you, boy…”

“I know, I know.” I held my hands up in surrender.

“Three beers tonight.” Jackson whistled softly. “I gotta bring Sandy around here more often.”

He wagged his eyebrows at me. Then I got it. Gross!!

“Over sharing, man, over sharing!” I’d never get that image out of my mind now.

“Let me go collect my lady, and I’ll text you when I find out something.”

“Sounds good, boss.”

We said our goodbyes and I sat down at the dining room table, a cup of coffee in hand, and was soon joined by Ali. I’d already told her I was heading out in a couple of hours and why. She didn’t understand my want or need to get out into the middle of the field before sun up, but I wanted to see it for myself.

I tried to explain to her the reasonings for starting at the dried river bed, and following it back to see where the river started diverting and why. That was where things would get tricky.

I might have to crawl under some fences, or make a hole or two and patch them up behind me. What I’d planned was a little more than trespassing, but even with Tyler giving me some sort of grudging respect earlier, I didn’t want to get tangled up where he had me dead to rights, on anything.

I knew we had the Bart ranch on the Southwest side of the fence line, but who owned the land after that? My head was starting to hurt and for a moment. I cupped my face in my hands, trying to press a headache back, and Ali put her hands on the back of my head, kneading the flesh of my neck and lower skull.

Her cold fingers startled me at first, but the feeling went from sheer agony to warmth as the muscles loosened up and the headache started to go away.

“Penny for your thoughts, cowboy?”

“I think I’m just worried about things too much. I’m not even sure if what I’m doing is going to do any good.”

“If nothing else, you can honestly say that you’ve been all over the ranch inspecting things. I know Dad would appreciate that. He’s always wanted you to work with us,” her hands were starting to distract me, and when she leaned in, her breasts brushed against my shoulders through the cotton of her shirt, distracting me.

“Yeah, I keep hearing that. Was I really that much of a stick in the mud? I must have had my head so far up my ass that I couldn’t see what was in front of me.”

“Not again, don’t keep beating yourself up. Now you know. What are you going to do about it?”

“Try to figure out what’s been going on, and if there’s anything I can do to help.”

“Oh?” Her voice was in my ear now, her hands rubbing the tops of my shoulder and down to my chest. “And what can I do to help?” She nipped at my ear, making my whole body shiver, making me pull my stomach muscles tight in reflex as goose bumps covered my body.

“Something like that,” I closed my eyes as her lips found a tender spot on my neck.

“Oh? Well, that’s all I was going to offer,” she broke away and started walking toward the bedroom, her hips swaying. “Unless you want to do some more planning with me?” The last was over her shoulder as her pants rode down to her ankles, a black thong mesmerizing me.

“Yeah… planning.”

We left a trail of clothes, turning off the lights as we went. I caught her as she swan-dived onto my bed, her panties and bra still on, but not for long if I had anything to do with it. I’d cracked the curtain slightly this morning, so I had more moonlight and loved how the silvery glow lit up parts of her body, leaving the rest of her in shadow. I pulled the rest of my clothes off and watched her a moment longer, Ali chewing on her bottom lip in anticipation.

“Remember the rule from last night?”

“No 50 shades?”

“Doesn’t apply any more.”

“Good,” I said, never having read it but knowing about it from some of the female officers in the service.

I didn’t know what she wanted. I thought of being tied up or blindfolded, but I did know they also used 50 shades as an excuse to be a little kinky with the guys when they needed to blow off some steam, not that I knew anything about that.

My hands cupped her calves as I trailed a kiss from the inside of her ankles and worked my way upwards. When I started pulling at her legs mid-thigh, she resisted, her legs shaking.

“Don’t, I’ve never had that…”

“Trust me,” I whispered, kissing her again and her resistance shattered, her hands playing in my hair, her hands trying to feel the rough surface of my stubbled cheek.

I kissed her gently again and pushed her legs open. She was ready for me, I could sense she would go whichever way I wanted at this point so I pushed her legs upward, pulling her panties free, leaving her bra in place before kneeling again. I pulled up on her legs to flop her on her back again as she had tried sitting up to see what I was doing.

Once again I started with the kisses, my hands roaming over her body. I took my time, caressing and kissing and fondling every inch of her body. As I made my way up her inner thigh, I watched as she moved, her body getting ready for me. Her whole body tensed with satisfaction and desire, and a sound started escaping her mouth as if she was holding her breath and letting it out slowly.

“Relax,” I whispered, my fingers and tongue working their magic.

Her body was shaking, her hips trembling, and I reached up to squeeze a breast with my free hand. She pulled a pillow over her face and her whole body clenched. Her hips were rocking into me and quiet shrieks could be heard from under the pillow as every muscle in her body shivered with pleasure. I smiled and lay beside her on the bed, pulling the pillow off of her head, pulling it under my head. After a few long cleansing breaths, she looked over to me.

“Promise me you won’t do that to me when I’m driving. I don’t think I can handle that.”

“Fair enough. I won’t make you make the same promise,” I said, tucking a curl of hair behind her ear. She sat up a moment, unhooking her bra, and laid back down.

“Now for the 50 shades stuff,” she said, pushing me on my back and playfully pulling the pillow over my face before starting to work on me, straddling me.

“No, now it’s my turn to have fun,” I rolled her off me and climbed on top of her. She leaned up to lock lips with me and I pushed her down flat.

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” I told her, sliding in, watching her eyes go wide as I buried myself deep inside of her.

The sexual tension had been high since yesterday and the blow job in the Jeep had only worked to relieve some pressure for a short time. Hell, even my dreams when I was napping had been about Alison. About protecting her, about keeping her, fucking her and loving her.

Most of that would have scared me shitless a week ago, hell I might have run away screaming, but I was right where I wanted, I found. With her legs wrapped around me, her arms reaching back to the head boards to hold on, small gasps that were almost words were trying to force their way out.

I could feel the pressure coming to a head, I knew I wasn’t going to last much longer. I could feel the muscles in Ali’s stomach contracting and it pushed me over the edge as well. I rested my body on hers as we both tried to catch our breath and both waited for the contractions of our love making to stop. We fell asleep that way, still joined together.