CHAPTER 8
AIDEN
I’d beenon the verge of baring my soul to Paisley when Shane burst through the front door for the second time in a week. I jumped off the bed and pulled on my jeans as his loud voice echoed through the bunkhouse.
“Aiden? You in here?” Shane called out.
“Stay here,” I told Paisley. She’d pulled the covers up to her chin, her eyes wide with worry. “Be right there.”
Shane didn’t wait. He jerked the curtain back and stared at me, his eyes dark with anger. “I just got back from town. Looks like someone broke into the shed and helped themselves to a bunch of our equipment. You know anything about that?”
Paisley pulled the covers up even higher, like she wanted to disappear.
I grabbed the shirt I’d tossed on the floor and tugged it over my head, then nodded toward the main area of the bunkhouse.
“Can we talk out there?” I asked.
Shane nodded and moved toward the kitchenette.
I leaned over Paisley and kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll be right back.”
“How long have you been back from town?” Shane asked as I joined him.
“Paisley and I left about an hour and a half ago. What’s going on?” I didn’t like the suspicion in his eyes.
“You tell me.” Shane pulled something out of his back pocket and tossed it on the table. “I found this just inside the door of the shed. Any idea how it got there?”
I reached for my baseball cap. The same one I’d been wearing around the ranch since the day I arrived. “You think I had something to do with this?”
“No, but someone sure as hell wants me to.”
Movement by the curtain caught my eyes. Paisley stood there wrapped up in a bright pink fluffy robe. “Why would someone want to frame you?”
Shane turned toward Paisley. “There are a lot of people around here who don’t like the idea of having a bunch of guys who spent time behind bars living so close.”
Paisley’s gaze shifted to me. My lungs seized while I waited for some sort of reaction. I’d been about to open up to her and tell her about my past when Shane barged in. Now it was too late.
“Well, they can just fuck off.” She followed up her f-bomb with a bright smile as she crossed the room.
Shane let out a laugh. “I can see why you and Caitlin are such good friends.”
Paisley stopped by my side and slipped her arm around me. “I think what you’re doing here is important. You’re giving those men a safe place to land. It will probably take time, but once everyone sees that they don’t have anything to worry about, they’ll find something else to focus on.”
“Are you sure you’ve never lived in a small town before?” I pulled her closer, grateful to know how she felt.
“No, but I’ve helped enough clients through past trauma that I have an idea of how things can go south when they feel liketheir whole town has turned against them.” She rested her cheek on my chest. “So, what do we do now?”
Knowing I had both Shane and Paisley on my side, I cleared my throat. “There’s something I need to tell both of you.”
“Should we sit for this?” Shane pulled a chair away from the table.
“Is this a put-a-pot-of-coffee-on type of talk?” Paisley asked, already moving toward the counter.
I nodded. “It might take a little while.”
“What’s up, man?” Shane leaned back in his chair.
“When we were in town last week, some guy came up to me at the Merc. He said no one wanted a bunch of ex-cons living on the edge of town and offered me a bunch of cash if I could ruin things and force you to sell it.”
