Chapter 6
Colt
Bill Coates’s ranch was clean and organized. When I stepped into the barn, I saw that all the tools were where they needed to be. The horses were well fed, and everything was in order, but it didn’t fool me. With an animal cruelty investigation going on, I wasn’t surprised to see all the animals in sight appearing healthy and well cared for.
I pulled the bell out of my pocket that I had found tied to the front of the barn door, used to alert him if anyone was coming into the barn. The element of surprise was on my side, but I knew Bill well enough to know that he’d have me arrested for trespassing if I didn’t indicate my presence in his barn. I shook it hard before tossing it to the ground.
“Coming!” Bill yelled out from the small room he kept bags of feed stored in. “Just give me one second. I thought you weren’t coming back until—”
He stopped talking the second he saw me standing there. His eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion, while one of his hands automatically went to his right backside where I knew his .9mm was sure to be holstered.
“What do you want?” Bill asked coldly. “I don’t have supplies to volunteer to Cheyenne like you if that’s what you’re here for.”
“You don’t look pleased to see me,” I commented, crossing my arms. “Before you shoot me, you should know that my staff knows I was coming by here to talk to you.”
Bill immediately pulled his hand away from his back, sneering. “Lucky you. I’d put a bullet right between your eyes for coming in here the way you did, but you’re better than those damn PETA people your girlfriend got on my ass.”
“Is that why you burned down her barn?” I spat out. “Because you were upset that she actually took care of your damn animals, unlike yourself?”
“Look at my horses right now,” he said, pointing a finger at the stalls. “They look perfectly fine to me. That’s what PETA said, too.”
“PETA is the last thing you need to worry about, Bill. Your worry is me. I’ll be watching you now. Every move.”
“Terrifying,” Bill said, laughing darkly. “You’ve got a lot of nerve, boy. I’ll give you that, but you can’t threaten your way around Green Point.”
“You can’t burn barns down either. You’re just not used to someone standing up to you, are you?”
“My horse was in that barn,” Bill said flatly. “That stallion cost me money. Do you honestly think I would’ve risked my own horse?”
“Nobody else knew that horse died,” I said. “Only me, Cheyenne, and the sheriff. That tells me you knew exactly what was in that barn. Because you were there!”
A thick silence followed. I watched as Bill rubbed at his meaty jaw, glaring at me through narrowed eyes as he took a step in my direction. I tensed up at his approach. My hand went to my right hip out of instinct to touch the bolt of my gun. The gesture immediately stopped Bill’s approach, and his eyes flicked up to mine.
“Get out,” he said. “I did nothing wrong. I didn’t cause that fire. I may not like the damn woman for not minding her own business, but fires aren’t my thing. I’d rather just shoot someone.”
I smiled coldly at that. “Like my horse when he wandered onto your property?”
“Damn right. And I’ll shoot you too if you don’t leave. You’re on my property just like your horse was. That’s all that matters. I have the right to protect my property. Now get out of here while you still can.”
I knew that Bill Coates was a man of his word. He didn’t hesitate to shoot first and ask questions later. He had done it once before.
I walked out of the barn with Bill’s eyes burning holes into my back the entire time. Hopping into the safety of my truck, I backed out of Bill’s driveway and headed in the direction of town.
There was not a single doubt in my head that Bill had something to do with the barn fire. Cheyenne had made enemies by telling owners off for abusing their animals, but Bill was a different type of man. He didn’t care who or what it was, he always got his revenge—just like the day he shot my horse after losing a lucrative contract with my father’s ranch.
My fingers curled around the steering wheel. Before turning onto the highway, I glanced down the road. The sheriff’s SUV was parked alongside the road as I drove by. My eyes briefly met his before I continued down the road in the direction of the Iron Stallion to check in on my staff. The town was quiet for a Wednesday evening, many of the shops already closed up for the day, but several vehicles were parked outside of the Iron Stallion.
“Hey,” Joe said, the moment I walked into the busy bar. “I was worried that something happened to you when you called me in early.”
“I needed to clear my head,” I replied and scanned the dining area. “Is everything running smoothly here? We’re pretty busy for a Wednesday night.”
Joe frowned. “I told you, boss. Everything is fine here. What happened to you?”
“I went to see Bill Coates,” I said. “That’s why I called you in early. I wanted to talk to the man alone.”
“Argh. Please tell me you aren’t going to get arrested for shooting the guy,” Joe groaned, shaking his head at me. “That man wouldn’t hesitate to put a bullet in you if he had the chance. You know that.”
“I do know that. I just wanted to tell him that I know he’s responsible for burning Cheyenne’s barn.”
“No one doubts you there. It’s the sheriff that doesn’t want to believe it.”
“No shit,” I said, sighing. I needed a drink. “Gimme a drink, would ya? I know that’s my big rule here, but I need a fucking drink.”
“Coming up, boss. Grab a table and relax.”
Joe patted me on the shoulder as he went back to the bar to get me a drink. I took a seat at the small table away from the bar and dining area that I frequently used to look over payroll and such. A few minutes later, Joe came back with a glass of whiskey on a tray and set it on the table in front of me.
“I hope that man gets what he has coming to him,” Joe said quietly, but loud enough for me to hear it. “It’s been years of this shit, Colt. The man has always gotten away with being an asshole to everyone. I hope the son-of-a-bitch gets thrown in jail for arson.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“I hope that Cheyenne is okay,” he added sincerely. “She seems like a wonderful person, and a hard worker with what she is doing with the rescue. I hope she stays here. We need people like her in Green Point.”
“I hope she does too,” I said, and the sincerity of my own emotions caught me off guard. I didn’t want Cheyenne to leave town over this. Even though I’d spent the past eight hours helping her clean up after the fire, I still enjoyed the time I’d spent with her. There was just something there that drew me in like a moth to a flame.
An hour later, Tiffany came in. She sat down across from me at the table, silent for a moment before reaching over to grab my drink take a long and hearty sip.
“Cheyenne is devastated,” she said, speaking quietly. “I just left her house. She’s terrified of what Bill Coates can do, especially since he’ll probably get away with it.”
Anger surged through me again. I took back my drink to gulp the rest of it down, letting the alcohol burn the back of my throat. “He always has,” I growled, waving my glass to catch Joe’s attention at the bar. “I normally don’t drink here, but I went by Bill’s ranch before—”
“What? Colt, are you an idiot?” Tiffany interjected, horrified. “That man wouldn’t hesitate to shoot you. He hates our family. What the hell were you thinking?”
Cheyenne’s tear-stained face flashed before my eyes. My heart clenched just thinking about those quiet and devastated tears streaming down her cheeks while we sifted through the blackened debris. I thought about the stallion that died in the barn, terrified by paralysis, too afraid to move. I thought of my sister crying over our horse as it struggled to breathe, with Bill Coates standing nearby, a gun propped up on his shoulder and a cold look in his eye.
And for what? Money? Contracts? The thought of it all made me sick. The day I saw Bill Coates take revenge against my family over a lost contract was the day I had decided to stay away from ranching.
“I was thinking of Cheyenne,” I said. “And of what we went through. He can’t get away with this shit forever.”
Tiffany shot me an exasperated look.
“I wish that too, and so do lots of others in town, but don’t put yourself in the position to make it easy for him. He wouldn’t hesitate, Colt.”
I shrugged my shoulders indifferently.
“Let him do it. He’d go to prison, and we all know he couldn’t handle that.”
“Colt—” She paused when Joe stopped by our table to place two whiskeys in front of us. Sipping at her own drink now, she took a contemplative look around the restaurant. “We need to help Cheyenne somehow. I was thinking that maybe a fundraiser here would do it.”
“A fundraiser?” I repeated, arching an eyebrow. “I suppose if everyone is supportive of Cheyenne’s cause. We can float the bill if we need to.”
“Yeah, but we can’t let her know that. She would never accept it. I’ll talk to Cheyenne about it,” Tiffany said. “First, we have to figure out where those horses are going to go, though.”
I immediately caught on to the pointed look Tiffany had sent my direction. I knew where this was going before she could even say it.
“I already cleaned out those stables,” I said with a partial grin. “We have the room, and Cheyenne can come by anytime she needs to.”
A huge smile spread across Tiffany’s face, the first I’d seen of late. It brought a smile to my own face to see her happy.
“She’s a good woman,” Tiffany said, cradling her drink in both hands. “She’s a great friend. I really want her to stick around, plus she is doing so much good. What about you?”
I tensed at the question. “What about me?”
“Oh, please.” Tiffany rolled her eyes. “Come on; I know you’re interested. You’ve been checking her out non-stop, and you’ve asked me about her before.”
“She just went through a barn fire,” I said. “I may be a red-blooded man, but I’m not going to take advantage of her being around our place.”
It was tempting to think about, though. It had crossed my mind that night I stayed at Cheyenne’s house, listening for her to cry from upstairs. I’d seen it in her eyes—the carnal need for comfort and distraction. My own body wanted it too. I felt myself stiffen in arousal at the thought and shifted in my chair to cool myself.
“Well, you’d be pleased to know what I overheard her saying today when she was talking to her mom on the phone.”
“What’s that?” I asked, even though I knew what Tiffany was up to.
“She said that you were like one of those cowboys you see on the front of the paperbacks in the grocery store. You know? The cheesy ones with their shirts unbuttoned. I don’t see the similarities though.”
“Very funny,” I said when she grimaced. “Are you sure that’s what she said?”
“Very sure. I was standing right next to her.”
“Oh, so you were eavesdropping,” I corrected with a laugh. “You just can’t mind your own business sometimes, can you?”
“Either way,” she said, shrugging her shoulders with a grin. “I think the two of you should get together. You know, blow off some steam. It’s obvious you both are into each other.”
My mouth went dry at the thought of blowing off steam. A lot of it.
“I don’t think she wants that,” I said hoarsely. “Cheyenne doesn’t strike me as that type of woman.”
Tiffany’s grin turned mischievous. “Not that your sex life is something I want to spend my time thinking about, but I’m telling you, she has thought about doing it with you. I know it.”
A whole new agony filled me as Tiffany turned to look in the direction of the bar, spotting a friend who had called out her name, then left the table to visit. I sucked in a deep breath through clenched teeth, trying to control my body that was now coiled and ready for action.
“Damn it, Tif,” I swore, running a hand through my hair. “Why did you have to say all that? Especially when Cheyenne will be at our ranch all the time now.”