SIXTEEN

It was late, almost ten o’clock when Reese drove his truck onto the Circle Starr Ranch again. The party had long since ended and all evidence of it had been taken down and cleaned up. Avery’s thirtieth birthday had begun with a party she never wanted, surrounded by people she didn’t know, and had ended with a kiss from a cowboy she had fallen in love with.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come in with you?” Reese asked as he pulled up just a few feet from her private bedroom door.

She smiled and shook her head, knowing that she needed to confront Chuck on her own. He acted differently when he was anywhere near Reese, probably wanting to make a continuous good impression. She wanted to deal with the real Chuck. The Chuck she’d known since she was a little girl, the guy who had more or less taken her dad’s place in her life at times, and apparently in her mother’s life as well. The guy she could talk to about almost anything and he would always be honest . . . until it came to her mom, she now knew. Then all bets were off.

“Thanks, but you’ve done enough for me today. I have to talk to Chuck alone. I know he’s in there now, sipping brandy, sitting in his office. My dad already texted me that he had to get back, so at least I don’t have to confront both of them at once. Besides, I really don’t want to see my dad right now. I might say something I can’t take back.”

“But you’re okay with Chuck?”

She nodded. “Yeah, Chuck’s always been a pushover, and if I play him right, I should be able to get anything I want. It’s a different game now and I need to be the one in control, not Chuck or my dad. I still think Chuck would’ve told me the truth a long time ago if I’d ever known what to ask him. There’s a reason why he’s my mom’s guardian, and not my dad. I want to know that reason. Plus, I have a strong feeling I’m not on that approved guest list at Bell House because of my dad. I can’t imagine that Chuck had anything to do with it.”

Reese looked skeptical, his forehead furrowed and his eyes grew dark.

“And what if he did?” She knew for all the handshakes and negotiating, Reese still didn’t trust the man. Neither did she, but she wasn’t ready to give up on him totally. At least not yet. Reese couldn’t erase decades of distrust in a couple of weeks, just as Avery couldn’t erase her loyalty to Chuck. She needed a few more answers before she tossed him overboard along with her dad.

“Then he’ll tell me why, but he won’t do that if you’re there.”

Reese gazed out the windshield for a moment, as if he was trying his best to cope with what she was saying . . . that she didn’t want his help. A concept she knew drove him crazy. Reese was the kind of guy who enjoyed helping the people he cared about, most of the time to his own detriment.

He stepped out of the truck, walked around to her side, and opened her door . . . always the gentleman.

“Will you promise to call me if you need anything?” he asked as she moved out of the truck and tumbled into his embrace. “Call if this doesn’t go well or if you want me to come over or want me to join you at Bell House tomorrow or whenever you want to return. I’m here for you, no matter what.”

“I absolutely want you with me when I see my mom. I don’t know if it will be tomorrow, though. I think I want to know more about her condition first. I need to know what to expect. It might have been a blessing not getting in to see her today.”

“Whatever you want to do, I’m here,” he said. She wanted to believe him, and a big part of her did, but right now, with all the lies that had swirled around her for the past three decades by men she’d trusted, she couldn’t afford the luxury of complete trust . . . even with Reese.

They kissed then, and as soon as his lips touched hers, she wanted nothing more than to melt into him, to run away with him and never look back. But she knew that wasn’t an option, at least not now, not tonight.

“Good luck in there,” Reese said as she stepped away from him, genuine concern staining his face, causing his eyes to darken again.

“Thanks,” she said, grabbing the bag with her party clothes she’d changed out of for her badass-jumping-outfit. “See you tomorrow?”

“Sure,” he told her then slammed her door shut, walked around to the driver’s side, hopped in and drove away, leaving her to confront the man who had helped keep her dad’s secret for twenty years.

As she walked up to the front door, she could see the light on inside Chuck’s office, and when she opened the front door, he stood right next to the front door holding a filled cocktail glass in one hand, and a grisly scowl on his face, obviously waiting to pounce.

“Next time you want to betray me, maybe it would be better if you weren’t sleeping under my roof, enjoying my hospitality,” he said, his voice terse and abrupt. “I think your little visit is over. You need to get your things together and make plans to leave. I’m heading out in the morning for a couple days. I expect you to be gone when I return.”

He didn’t wait for her rebuttal, which she immediately tried to formulate in her head. She had absolutely no idea why he was so angry or why he needed her to leave. She wanted to ask him why, but before she could utter one word, he turned on his heel, drink splashing on the floor with his abrupt movement, and marched off to his office, completely closing her out by slamming the door shut behind him.

EVERY LIGHT WAS on inside the Cooper house. His mom had texted him that something important had happened, but didn’t want to discuss it on the phone. He normally would have called her right back, but his phone had been almost dead and by the time he’d gotten the chance to call her it had gone completely black. He would have used Avery’s phone, but hers was on its last bit of power because of all the pictures and videos he’d taken, then he’d played everything back for her afterwards. He’d decided that whatever was so urgent could wait until he got home.

But now that he was home and saw all the lights, along with Chase’s truck parked outside, he knew whatever this something was had to be more than just important . . . it was critical. He only hoped someone wasn’t hurt or worse.

As soon as he opened the front door, along with the dogs greeting him, wanting some attention, Chase’s surly disposition instantly put Reese on the defensive. “Where the hell were you? And why haven’t you been answering your phone? We must have called you a dozen times.”

“Where I’ve been is none of your business, and my phone was dead. Why? What’s so important?”

Reese gave the dogs equal amounts of pets and chin scratches, and when they were satisfied with his attention, they trotted back into the living room, each curling up near their favorite Cooper--Duke next to Catherine and Clint next to Hunter, who didn’t seem to care about anything other than his own undercurrent of anger.

“We received the report from the private geologist your dad hired,” Catherine began as she scratched Duke under his right ear.

“Wasn’t that addressed to me?” Reese asked, a bit miffed that she’d taken the time to notice the report had come in and apparently told everyone to stay until Reese came home. He wondered what they would have done if he’d chosen to spend the night with Avery. Reese could just imagine the angry phone calls he would have gotten from his irate siblings . . . and his mom.

“Apparently there were two reports. Yours is on the kitchen table. But this one is addressed to me as well as your dad.” His mom suddenly seemed forceful, as if she wanted to make a point.

“So, what’s it say?” Reese asked, removing his hat, then hanging it on one of the hooks next to the front door. Five hats hung from a lineup of six hooks, including his dad’s. No one had had the heart to remove it, not even their mom.

“It says you’ve signed away our fortune,” Draven said, then he took a long pull from his long neck bottle of beer. He sat on the sofa next to Shiloh, who was also drinking a beer, and from the looks of all his siblings, they’d all been drinking for quite some time. Even his mom had a glass of red wine sitting on the end table next to her chair.

“For the record, I haven’t signed anything. I haven’t even seen the final agreement. And Mom would have to sign the papers as well.”

“I already called Chuck’s lawyer earlier today and told him I wouldn’t be signing anything,” his mom said. “Ever. He wouldn’t tell me if you’d already signed, so I just assumed that you had.”

“Now why the heck would I do that without you?” Reese asked, not understanding any of this, especially the hostility that seemed to ooze from everyone in the room.

“Because you and that girl you can’t seem to get enough of, took off from her party this afternoon. Chuck told mom she’d gone over the new partnership and would be presenting it to you both at the party. We just figured she sweet-talked you into signing,” Chase said using a churlish tone that instantly got under Reese’s skin. He knew his brother was cruising for another big blowout, but Reese wasn’t in the mood to bite. What he was saying made no sense. Avery had been far too upset over what she’d learned about her mom to care about the new agreement. And even if she’d read it, she’d never mentioned it to Reese. Chase was making this shit up. Reese was sure of it.

“How do you know she had copies of the new docs? She never mentioned them. Not once.”

“Not only did she have copies of the new docs, but she and Chuck have known what’s under our land for a while now,” their mom said. “And it’s worth more money than anything any of us could have imagined. It’s natural gas, Reese. It could be millions of dollars’ worth of natural gas. From what we can understand from the seismic testing your dad did, it just may be the biggest discovery of natural gas in the entire state. That’s why Chuck has been trying to get this piece of land. He must have suspected it for years, but kept that information to himself.”

Reese tried his best to turn this information over in his head. He could accept that Chuck may have known, may have suspected, but he couldn’t accept that Avery knew anything about this. Not after everything they’d shared, not after today. It wasn’t possible that she could be that cold, that calculating . . . using him to get what Chuck wanted.

No, he wouldn’t even consider the possibility. His mother was wrong, they were all wrong about Avery.

“Chuck Starr is everything our father said he was, and more,” Draven added as he gazed up at Reese, his normally easygoing disposition replaced by an intensity Reese had rarely seen before.

All his siblings seemed intense and ready to pounce at any moment, and even his mom looked spitting mad. This whole thing with Chuck had them gripped in an anger so extreme Reese knew they were ready to trigger.

“There’s no way Chuck could have known for sure,” Reese protested. “No way he could have gotten his hands on those independent reports. It had to be sheer speculation on his part. Nothing more.”

“If you have the kind of money Chuck has, anything is possible,” Hunter added.

“Hank Starnes, from the County Recorder’s Office, attended Avery’s party today,” Catherine said. “I guess it’s one of the perks of being on Chuck’s payroll. He told me, after a few too many beers, that Avery had picked up mineral reports on our land the day before we met at Chuck’s house for that first meeting. She had to have known something, Reese. It’s impossible that she didn’t.”

Reese wasn’t buying it. No way could Chuck Starr get his hands on that report. Sure, Avery visited the Recorder’s Office . . . he’d bumped into her there, but that didn’t mean a damn thing. “But how can Chuck get a report on someone else’s land?”

“Because Dad had started the paperwork to sell our ranch, so he had to reveal everything concerning our land, and that includes any ongoing mineral studies,” Chase countered. “Chuck must have pulled a few strings, called in favors or whatever else someone as powerful as Chuck does to get answers. Who the hell knows how deep his corruption runs in this state, but I guarantee you this . . . he had those results before that meeting with you and mom.”

“He can buy off anyone he wants in this town or in this state. That’s not a big secret,” Hunter said.

“Even you,” Chase spit out, directing his insult directly at Reese.

Reese balled his fists, but still managed to keep cool. He wasn’t about to go down that path again with Chase. “Chuck Starr cannot now or ever buy me off.”

“Is that so?” Chase growled, standing to face Reese, ready for bear. “Seems to me he’s already bought and paid for you. Or why else did he suddenly import his tempting little red-haired tart to lure you?”

Reese lunged for his brother, but Draven and Hunter caught him in time, pinning him down where he stood so he couldn’t move, couldn’t knock some sense into his arrogant, know-it-all brother.

“Stop it, both of you,” their mom said to Chase, putting herself between her two sons. She stood tall and strong, looking like the matriarch of the family that Reese had always admired. She wore jeans, boots, and a light blue Western shirt, an outfit Reese had seen on her a million times before, but somehow, she looked different. Maybe it was simply the determination on her face that made her look so in charge, so in control of a family that was rapidly splitting apart. Obviously, she wasn’t about to let that happen. “This kind of talk won’t get us anywhere. We were supposed to be discussing our next step, not slandering each other. When you calm down, Chase, maybe we can try this again.”

“This is just beginning,” Chase said, completely ignoring his mother and, instead, focusing in on Reese. “If you sign those papers or give that prick one inch of our land, you can consider our relationship permanently over. Do you understand me?”

Reese was so mad he didn’t give a fuck what happened to their relationship, and he certainly didn’t take to ultimatums from anyone, especially Chase. He had always been somewhat of an ass, even when they were kids. It was like he’d wanted to be named after their dad, and resented the fact that he hadn’t been. Well now, technically, he certainly could be, and Reese figured that was driving him crazy. He could finally get his wish, but Reese was still in his way and making decisions for the family when it was Chase who wanted to take over that role.

Problem was, he’d be lousy at it. He no more knew anything about running a ranch than Draven did. If anyone could take over, it would have to be Hunter. He’d make a fine rancher if he ever decided to be serious about it. As it stood now, Hunter was too busy partying with the local women to care about full-time ranching.

“Chase, son, you don’t mean that,” their mom said, her voice loud and clear. “You’re just angry. You both are. We’ve come together tonight as a family to discuss this new development, not to argue.”

“I’ll continue to do what I think is best for our family, despite your threats,” Reese told his brother, ignoring what their mom had just said. He shook his brothers off of him and stared Chase down. At one point, before their dad had passed, Reese believed he and Chase had come to a good place in their relationship, had stopped all their bickering and one-upmanship, and could work everything out.

Apparently, he’d been dead wrong. Chase seemed too bitter to want to work anything out.

“As far as I’m concerned, you no longer belong in this family,” Chase said. “Your family is with Chuck Starr, your real father. So, if you care anything at all about my dad, you’ll change your name to reflect that.”

Then he walked towards the door to leave—something he seemed to enjoy doing lately—grabbing their dad’s hat off the hook as he went. Once he had it, he abruptly turned and said to Reese, “As long as you’re living in this house, Dad’s hat doesn’t belong here next to yours.”

Reese took a step to stop him, but their mom got in his way again just as Chase walked out . . . again . . . only this time, Reese knew that as long as Reese called this ranch home, Chase would never return.

AVERY DIDN’T KNOW why Chuck was so angry, and why he’d asked her to leave, but she refused to go anywhere until she visited her mom at Bell House. Nothing else mattered.

“Chuck, let’s talk about this,” Avery said once she rapped on his closed office door. She’d changed out of the BADASS tee and instead wore a loose-fitting long-sleeved gray shirt. She didn’t think BADASS was the appropriate shirt to wear while talking to someone who wanted her gone.

“Nothing to discuss,” Chuck said from behind the door.

“I didn’t betray you. I merely went to Bell House to see my mom. Please open the door.”

She didn’t hear anything for a moment, and was about to rap on the door again, when it opened and a stone-faced Chuck stood on the other side, looking as if he could fight a grizzly bear with his bare hands.

“You shouldn’t have gone to Bell House. There’s nothing for you there,” he told her while holding onto the doorknob, the door barely open.

“My mother’s there. I think that’s a lot more than nothing,” Avery told him, not understanding his dismissive attitude.

“Did they let you in?”

“No, but you already know that. We need to talk. Please let me in.”

His temperament suddenly went from bad to worse. Looking into his eyes felt like looking into the eyes of a stranger. Gone was the warmth, replaced with a bitterness she’d never seen in Chuck before.

“You betrayed me,” he said almost in a whisper.

“You betrayed me for twenty years.” She said it without thinking, almost as if her subconscious was speaking. As if she had no control of what came out of her mouth.

“That’s not what happened. Your father and I were protecting you.”

“From what?”

“From your mother.”

His words stung. As if she ever needed protecting from such a loving and kind woman as her mother. She didn’t know what had happened to her mom or what kind of disease or mental illness may have befallen her, but Avery knew for damn sure, protection from her mom had never been something she had needed or wanted.

“Why?”

He didn’t answer and, instead, merely stood in her way of entering the room.

“You don’t want to know.”

“Yes, I most certainly do. Now let me in.”

She moved in closer, trying to push her way inside. Chuck hesitated for a moment, then opened the door and stepped aside as she walked past him. At once she noticed the latest unsigned partnership agreement sitting on his desk. She’d left them on her desk in her room, yet here they were on Chuck’s desk, the stark realization washing over her that the bedroom Chuck had provided was most definitely not private.

She walked over to his desk and held up the paperwork. “Is this what you’re angry about? The fact that I didn’t get Reese to sign?”

“Yes. You promised me that you would have him sign today. Now it doesn’t look as if that’s ever going to happen. Catherine phoned and said she won’t ever be signing anything I put in front of her. She was all for this merger in the beginning, but something changed her mind. Was it you?”

“I have no idea. I’m sorry, but I’ve had some personal things to deal with. Nothing else matters now that I know my mom is alive. Do you even know how this is affecting me? Can you take a moment to imagine what I’m going through?”

“Fine, and I sympathize, but your issues are your own and they have nothing to do with your promise to me . . . your failure to keep your promise to me.”

She could barely believe his cold attitude. Was this really the Chuck she’d loved for all these years? That was the problem. She had believed a lie. For twenty years Chuck had lied to her, gone along with her father. And to think she’d so resolutely defended Chuck to Reese.

What a fool she’d been. But those days were over.

“So, in your mind, nothing else matters but Reese and Catherine signing that agreement. Why the hell do you care so much? And why the hurry? You’ve waited over thirty years for Reese to know you’re his father. Why the sudden rush to make him a partner? Are you sick? Are you dying?”

She stopped and thought for a moment, really thought about what those documents said, what Chuck was offering, and what he wanted from Reese . . . the Cooper land. Everything else in the paperwork had been negotiable, but the land itself had never been negotiable. The latest agreement gave the Coopers a bit more leeway with their land, but Chuck would gain access to all the mineral rights. What did Chuck know that he wasn’t telling her?

“It’s the land, the Cooper Ranch itself, that’s why you’re in such a hurry. But why? Why is that land so damn important to you that you’d risk our relationship over it?”

Chuck’s face paled as he took a long pull from his glass of amber liquid. “That’s none of your damn business.”

“Wait a minute. I hit a nerve, didn’t I? You’re angry not because I didn’t get a signature. Your anger goes deeper than that. There are several other ranches around here that you can buy--hell, you can start buying up Colorado and Wyoming if you simply wanted more land.”

That was when it hit her like a glistening bolt of lightning . . . the Recorder’s Office. The times she ran errands for Chuck, not really knowing what she was carrying back and forth, not really caring about what was in those envelopes addressed to Chuck. She never even thought of why they simply weren’t mailed to him. And why the hell had Hank Starnes from the Recorder’s Office been there at her party? She didn’t personally know or care about any of those people . . . but Chuck did.

“Hank Starnes is on your payroll, isn’t he? He works for you, as I’m thinking, do most of the guests who attended my birthday party. They’re all on the Circle Starr payroll, aren’t they? I thought I recognized a few of them, and now I know why. They have influence in the court system, in government and who the hell knows what else. Even I’m part of it simply by staying here. That’s why you’re so angry with me. I didn’t follow orders. Didn’t fall into line. Didn’t do your bidding like everyone else does . . . even my dad. That’s why your name is listed as my mother’s guardian. I couldn’t figure it out before, but you’re paying for her care. That’s why my dad treats you like he does. That’s why my dad can afford the high-end house he lives in, and the expensive cars. He’s not paying for my mom. You are, and now you think you can buy me as well.”

The mountain of lies and corruption tumbled over her like being caught in a thunderstorm with no shelter in sight.

“Everyone has a price,” Chuck admitted.

“That’s where you’re wrong. Reese doesn’t have a price, no one in his family does.”

“He’ll come around. It might be more difficult now, but he’ll come around.”

“It’s not the Cooper land you want, is it? It’s something under that land. What is it, Chuck? Oil? Gas? Gold? Is it worth your relationship with me . . . with your son?”

Chuck didn’t flinch. He just sat there sipping his drink as if she wasn’t talking, as if everything she’d just said didn’t matter.

“He’ll come around,” he repeated. “Everyone will come around. They always do. Money is the big equalizer.”

“Maybe to most people, but not to me, and not to Reese. And besides, by your attitude, I have a feeling the Cooper family has learned what’s under their land by now, so your little scheme just split into a million little pieces. You’ve lost, Chuck, and even from the grave, Reese Cooper Sr. has won. The Cooper family has won.”

He stood, putting his drink down, and casually walked over to her. “Not so fast, darlin’.” His voice was low and salty, his emerald eyes glaring, looking as if he’d become possessed by something wicked. He reached out and grabbed her forearm, not with painful force but with a firm touch that said he owned her, that she was his property. “They may have won the battle, but you, my naive little sweetheart, have lost the war. Not only do I hold the keys to any future you may think you have with your law firm, or any law firm for that matter, but without my signature, you will never see your mother. Now tell me, my sweet, what’s your next move? And you better think about your answer very carefully, because I can crush you if you even hint at not getting what I want.”

Avery could barely hold back the utter contempt that now consumed her. Her stomach tightened and her entire body recoiled from his touch. She wriggled out of his grasp, took a step back from him but stood her ground, refusing to give him any indication she might in the least bit be threatened by his words . . . which she was not. Avery knew she was in a fight for her very soul, and she was not about to give in. She’d grown up around Chuck Starr. He’d taught her to be tough, to be brave. Perhaps he’d forgotten that she had been his pupil.

“You may be able to intimidate a lot of people with your bravado and your money, but you will never get me to capitulate to your threats. I know the law, Chuck. I know what you can and can’t do. You won’t get away with this.”

“Go ahead and try me. Just remember, I am your mother’s guardian. That means I have total control over her very life, and in turn, over your actions. Don’t push me on this, Avery, and don’t, whatever you do, underestimate me. I will get what I want. I always do.”

Avery backed away even further, unable to stand in his presence any longer. The sheer hate on his face only made her resolve to bring him down stronger.

As Avery exited the room and headed for her bedroom down the hall, she realized that it wasn’t the bungee jump that had changed her life, nor was it learning that her mom was imprisoned at Bell House. It was the realization that Chuck Starr was a monster, and she and her family had fallen into his hell.

Problem was, for all her bravado, all her resolve, she didn’t know exactly how to find her way out of his fire. Chuck had forced her into a corner, and it seemed as if her only way out was to get Reese to sign on the dotted line . . . something she now knew she would never let happen.