Dinner that night was tense. My mom was tense and her eyes moved back and forth to the spot on the kitchen floor that we’d all learned to walk around over the years. Her hands shook and she spilled corn all over Dad’s plate before he took the spoon from her and sent her a kind smile.
I knew they were thinking about what had been printed in the paper. It made me want to find the reporter and strangle him. It took a special kind of jerk to cash in on a family’s loss to juice up an article.
“Do you think the person who left the rat stole your truck, Lacey?” Mom’s voice had the same shiver to it that it’d held since the night Jason was killed.
Dad sighed and passed me the corn. “No, honey. Lacey just forgot to lock the doors again. It was probably a teenager, just like last time. That’s just what we need getting out. Holt Ranch is open for business to young troublemakers. Hey, we don’t lock our stuff!”
Mom winced and sat down heavily in her chair. Her long sundress seemed at odds with the chilled look in her eyes. She wrung her hands in front of her on the table and then stared at them, as if she was surprised by the action. She immediately put her hands in her lap and forced a small smile. “Lacey has a lot of stuff on her plate, Dan. Something as little as locking a truck door can surely be forgiven.”
I smiled at her and reached over to squeeze her shoulder. “Thanks, Mom.”
“Something as little as locking her truck door is going to cost us. I don’t know if we’ll be able to leave when we thought, Helen.”
I glared at my father, willing him to disappear to another room at that moment. He was a good man and had stayed with my mom, despite the constant struggles she faced, but at times he was too busy worrying about me to see that what Mom really needed was to get away.
“Oh… Okay, I guess if that’s what you think is best.” Her eyes moved to the spot where Jason had been murdered and glossed over.
My chest ached and I scooted my chair casually in front of the spot so she’d have to look at me. “I think Dad’s being ridiculous. I can handle anything this ranch has to throw at me.”
In his excitement to argue with me, Dad accidentally tossed a crescent roll across the room. His eyes tracked our dog, Potato, across the floor as he jumped up from the table and tried to get to it before the hefty dog did. They met at the roll and Dad came away with a nub of the bread and dog slobber coating his hand. Potato looked pleased with himself as he came back to my feet and rested his head on my foot.
“Damn dog. You didn’t train him at all, Lace. He shouldn’t do shit like that.”
Mom almost grinned as she leaned over to pet our family dog and sneak him a few bites of roast meat. “Honey, you threw it to him, basically.”
Dad’s face turned red as he shook his head. “I dropped it.”
Bradley strolled in, late as usual, and scooped a carrot off my plate. When I stabbed my fork at him, he just laughed and starting digging into the food. “Sorry, I’m late. I went to see if Andy had looked for your truck at all.”
Not the truck conversation again. I was ready to forget I’d ever even learned to drive.
Dad did his scowling. “Of course he didn’t. That man only got re-elected because the Ladies of the Succession rigged it. He lets them have their meetings at the courthouse, after hours, and they love that. Crazy old bats.”
I winced at even the idea of those women. They were scary intense. I could face down angry ranchers without blinking, but getting yelled at by one of those old ladies made my skin want to crawl inside itself. “I’ll take one of the other trucks out and look for it after dinner.”
“No need. I found it.”
“Way to bury the lead, jackass.”
“Lacey. Language!” Dad turned to Bradley. “But, what she said, jackass.”
“‘Jackass’ is off limits, now? Really? What am I? Ten?”
Bradley cleared his throat and gestured with a forkful of roast. “It’s parked over by the Randal’s place.”
I pushed back from the table. “Let’s go get it.”
He shook his head. “It’s going to need a tow truck. Someone did a number on it. The tires are slashed and the paint’s ruined. More of the same rat shit.”
The table grew silent and only the sound of glass shattering shook us from it. My head jerked in Mom’s direction and I saw her draw in on herself even as she straightened her dress and stood up.
“Sorry, guys. I dropped my glass. I’ll just get the broom.”
I jumped up. “No, Mom. I got it. You just sit back down.”
“No!” She held her hands out in front of her. “I’ll do it. I’ll clean it up. I made the mess.”
I waited until she stepped out of the room to look at Dad. “You need to get her out of here. She needs to be away from this shit.”
“And leave you by yourself with it? You don’t know what this could be, Lace. I’m not leaving you to face something like this. You don’t remember how simply it started last time.”
I grabbed my plate and my glass. “This isn’t cartel shit, Dad. This is some idiot messing with us because our name was in the paper. I’m going to the office.”
I bumped the screen door off the kitchen open with my hip and then headed to my office in the barn. Potato followed me, eager for any scraps he knew he could get from me. Halfway to my office a hand landed on my shoulder and I turned to find Dad staring down at me.
“I’m having a top-of-the-line security system put in. I made the call earlier today and this just makes me realize how important it really is. You’re not taking this seriously enough.”
I glanced back and saw Bradley helping Mom clean up the broken glass. “And you’re scaring Mom. We don’t need a high-dollar security system. Whoever is messing with us will get bored.”
“I’m not taking the chance, Lace. I messed up the first time around. I won’t do it again. I called the Crimson brothers’ security firm. Cash is apparently busy with something personal, but Jagger will be here tomorrow.” He shook his head and then pulled me in to put a kiss on my forehead. “I love you, sweetheart. Hopefully, you’ll be right and this will all be nothing. I’m not going to lose you, too, though.”
I turned away so he wouldn’t see the emotion on my face. I couldn’t speak so I just nodded. He would do what he wanted to do, no matter what.
My appetite gone, Potato got a big supper that night.
*
“So, who are these Crimson brothers?” Bradley loped along beside me while I walked the perimeter of the west side of the ranch, making sure the fences were in good condition. He was on my horse, Jameson, probably in an attempt to annoy me.
I stroked Jameson’s nose and pressed a kiss to the gentle horse’s face before looking up at Bradley and frowning. “Just because I’m not going to rise to the bait and fight with you about you being on my horse doesn’t mean I won’t find a way to make you suffer later.”
Potato flopped over onto his back in front of me, a sign that he was ready for a break. I’d been walking the fences for hours. It was something I did when I was feeling a lack of control in other parts of the ranch. Normally, a rancher would ride along on his horse and make sure they looked alright, but I needed the ability to be thorough for the moment.
I leaned against a fence post and shrugged. “I’m not really sure who they are now. They lived next to us for a while when I was younger. The younger brother, Jagger, was friends with Jason.”
“You okay with everything that’s happening?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and scowled. “Bradley, are you going to offer to braid my hair next? What’s got you so touchy feely?”
He scowled right back at me. “Excuse me for trying to make sure you’re not going to break down and cry on me.”
We glared at each other for a few moments and then laughed. I rolled my eyes at him and nudged Potato to get him back up and moving. “I’m fine. I hate that Mom’s upset and that Dad won’t just trust me, but I get that they’re scared.”
“And you’re sure they shouldn’t be?”
I looked south of us, towards the border. I couldn’t see it, but I knew it was there. It wasn’t something you forgot about in my family. “Am I sure that a Mexican drug cartel isn’t sneaking across the border to leave rats at our doorstep? Yeah, I’m pretty sure.
“What happened to Jason… It happened so long ago. There’s been quite a bit of money poured into border patrol so stuff like that doesn’t happen. Twenty years of money being poured into it. And seriously, no drug cartel worth its name is going to play childish pranks like these. Come on, you watched Breaking Bad. You think those drug guys would’ve left a rat on someone’s doorstep?”
He nudged Jameson and turned him around so he was pointed back home. “It worries me that you make educated decisions based on a TV show.”
“Get lost. And get off my horse.”
“How’d you get out here, anyway?”
I gestured at my legs. “I walked. You should try it sometime.”
With an evil grin, he pointed at a dark cloud rolling in. “Good luck walking back.”
I looked down at Potato and sighed. “Maybe we should rethink that whole being friends with our ex thing, huh?”
“I heard that.”
I watched as Bradley rode away, leaving me to walk back on my own. Not even Potato waited around for me. He took off after Jameson and Bradley like he was still a puppy.
I kept an eye on the sky while I checked more of the fence. I’d known a storm was coming in, but I’d let it slip my mind. I needed to get back to the ranch and then head up to the clubhouse to make sure the leak had been fixed properly. I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of strolling up to whatever Franklin had going on, but that was the joy of being the boss.
The first raindrop fell when I was still about a mile out from the house. I swore like a sailor and turned my fast walk into a jog. I could already hear the disappointment in Dad’s voice. First the truck, and then a wet head… Oh, the shame and irresponsibility.
Unfortunately, as the truck had proven, luck wasn’t on my side. By the time I got back to the barn, I was drenched. My boots were full of water and my clothes were plastered to my body like a second skin. I slipped inside and kicked the boots off as I headed towards the little room at the back with the extra clothes and things.
I unbuttoned my pants and tried to edge them down my hips, but they’d suctioned on so tight that it felt like I was trying to peel the paint off a car with my bare fingers. I’d gotten them halfway down when I heard the snicker from behind me.
Jerking up, I spun around and spotted Bradley standing in the doorway of the barn with another man. I got twisted in the pants and fell backwards into a bale of hay, while yelling at Bradley to get the hell out.
“I couldn’t help but notice you didn’t mention me. Does that mean I get to stay?” The lazy drawl was deep as sin and as gravelly as the driveway outside.
“And I don’t see why I have to leave. It isn’t like it’s something I haven’t seen before.” Bradley was digging his grave deep. “By the way, you’ve really upped your underwear game. I won’t lie, though. I kind of miss the white geriatric panties.”
I fought to my feet and yanked the offending pants up with pieces of hay in them before grabbing a shovel and throwing it at them. Of course, I didn’t actually try to hit them. Much. It landed on the ground at their feet but I didn’t stick around to see their reaction. I stormed into the little room at the back and slammed the door shut.
Once inside, all by myself, I bent over and buried my face in my hands. What the hell was that?! I couldn’t remember the last time I’d managed to make a bigger fool of myself. I shook my head and pushed it out of my mind. I still had to get to the clubhouse and I didn’t have time to sit around crying about someone seeing my roast-eating ass sticking into the air like a damn beacon.
Sigh.