Her eyes lift to the ceiling and then back to me, “I had a couple of boyfriends in high school, but high school guys do not know what they’re doing.” Her face lights up and she smiles, “I used to be fun, I was a barrel racer, and I could party with the best of them. Mason and I ran in the same circle, so we were usually at the same parties.”
“You never know, your someone could be right around the corner.” I want that to be true for her so bad.
Shrugging her shoulders again, she says, “It’s okay, I’m used to it. I’ve got my horses, Lainey Rai helps all the time, and now I’m getting a nephew.” She points her finger at my stomach, “It’s a boy, I can feel it.”
Setting my hand over my stomach, I laugh, “I guess I need to start looking at boy names.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
MASON
WHEN WEfinally get back to the house, all I can think of is getting to Sloane to make sure she’s okay. We tried to find her brother, but something must have tipped him off because he was nowhere to be found. We were able to locate and eliminate the rest of the outfit in our area.
No one fucks with my family. Sloane doesn’t know it yet, but she is family, and I will do whatever it takes to keep her, and our baby, safe.
Making a pit stop in the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, I walk in on Gray, he’s standing in front of the open door of the refrigerator. He looks like he rolled out of bed and threw sweats on and didn’t bother with socks, he may not have been in the service, but he has the build of a man who works a ranch day in and day out.
“It’s the middle of the night, what are you doing downhere?”
His short hair is standing on end like he has been running his hands through it and the purple circles under his hazel eyes are making them look more brown than green. “Can’t sleep, did you take care of them?” He reaches into the fridge and grabs a beer.
Before he closes the refrigerator door, I reach in to grab my water and then lean against the counter. Twisting the cap off, I say, “You know I did.” After I take a long drink, I lower the bottle, “But we can’t find her brother, little fuckers hiding somewhere.”
He rubs his hand down his face, “I’m sure he’ll show up eventually.”
I watch him scrub his fingers through his hair, scratching his scalp, “You look like shit, what else is bothering you?”
Rolling his head from one shoulder to the other, the popping of his neck fills the silence in the kitchen, “Aside from someone shooting at my house and putting my daughter’s life in danger, I got another letter from that company yesterday. They are sending some guy named Ellyot with a fucked-up spelling, to have a face-to-face meeting and, I assume, another offer.”
All the muscles in my shoulders twist and I take a deep breath to try and loosen them, “When?”
He leans against the counter and tucks one hand under his armpit, “It has a date in late January.”
“What I don’t get is that every correspondence has been ignored, but they just keep up this one-sided conversation. I’ve been so wrapped up in the bullshit that has been following Sloane that I haven’t asked Callum for an update on the company in a week or so.”
His eyebrows move to the middle of his forehead, “You’ve got Callum looking into it?”
“Well, Spits is doing all the looking, but yeah. So far, Iknow that the company sending the letters is part of a shell company and the real interest is in the springs on our land. They want to build some kind of fancy spa retreat and use the natural springs as the advertising pull.”
His gaze drifts to the water bottle in my hands as he mulls over what I just said. His gaze moves back up, “What company is behind all of it?”
“Company called Royce, Inc., Spits was looking into that when I asked him to investigate the traffickers in the area. I’ll ask him if he knows anything else.”
He nods his head, “Don’t forget that you need to be here, we need to show a united front with Dad.”
It’s my turn to nod, “I know, I’ll let Callum know what’s going on so he knows I may be on a short home leash. I’ll be living here full-time again with Sloane except when I’m on a job with the team.”
He takes a long pull off his beer, “How’s Sloane?”
Tilting my head a bit, I cock my brow, “You mean aside from having the shit beat out of her and almost shipped to the Gulf?”
One of his eye’s squeezes closed, and he winces, “Yeah, that.”
“She was sleeping when I left, after I brought her home from the Day Center, I asked Marley to keep an eye on her. She sent a text around dinnertime to tell me she looked better and was smiling.”
He turns even more serious. “When are you going to make an honest woman of her?” He lifts his bottle and tilts his head back, but his eyes are still on me.
Just like Dad. “I don’t have an exact time, but I have a plan.”
