“That’s her name,” she replies, leading the horse back toward her stall. “Bad luck to rename a horse.”
“I’ve renamed tons of horses. That’s a myth.”
“And yet, Tyler and I were dragged away from our movie to urgently brand horses we’ve already had for two months because Jamie’s running the ranch today and you don’t have anything else to distract yourself from your spat with your girlfriend.” I lock my jaw at the blatant callout. “Sounds like bad luck to me,” she sings, and it echoes through the barn as she puts the reins on the next horse.
I huff, knocking my boot against the wall to get a clump of cow shit off the bottom just for something to combat the silence between Tyler and I. “If it helps, I really hated the movie we were watching, so I appreciate the distraction.”
My snort is almost drowned out by the sound of the next horse’s hooves clacking against the concrete as Tate retrieves it from its stall around the corner. “Didn’t look like you hated it.”
Tyler just hums with a grin that makes me want to kick him in the nuts. Both because I have a love-hate relationship with that sort of smile being on the face of a man I know wants my sister in a more-than-friendly way, but also because I’m just really fucking jealous.
The sun had set and I’d officially run out of piddly shit to do.I purposefully made my shower take longer than usual, but now I’m clean and sitting in front of a fire I’d only set to try and drown out the silence of the cabin. Had my evenings always been this boring? Has my cabin always been this still?
My phone rings in the other room. After a long day of checking it way too many times for apparently no reason, the battery was lower than usual so I’d left it on the charger. I hoped some separation would help, but by the way I’m clambering out of the chair and damn near running to it, it’s clear the separation did fuck-all.
The last person I expect to see calling me is my sister’s ex-boyfriend.
“If this is your one phone call, you’ve wasted it, Cartwright.”
He snorts. “I’d waste the call listening to Bailey’s pretty voice cursing me out before I wasted it on you, Whittaker.”
“Whatcha need?” I ask him, getting to the point. I didn’t see a point in burning bridges with the only veterinarian in town, but that didn’t mean I wanted to shoot the shit with him either. At the end of the day, he was still the man that cheated on my sister and turned her so cold. I used to judge her for that, but now that I was on the receiving end of this pining bullshit, I could sort of see the appeal of the attitude she’d adopted.
“Been going back and forth all evening on whether I wanted to bring this up or not, ‘cause I think Bailey will have my dick on a platter for the assumption you’re gonna make on how I know about you and the bartender, but I’ve had a sick feeling in my gut ever since I saw her this afternoon and I think it’s better you know.”
“Know what?” The same sick feeling he’s had sinks into my stomach, too. I take a seat on the edge of the bed and my mind races through a thousand things he might be gearing up to tell me.
Had Austin skipped town without saying goodbye?
Did he see her with someone else? We weren’t exactly exclusive, according to her, but it would still suck.
Chase sighs and I imagine him running a hand over his face like the few times he’s had to give me bad news about one of my cattle. “Her dad came into the bar tonight. Drunk as shit, but I think he may’ve been high, too. I didn’t get to hear what they were talking about, but he was angry about something and she looked… scared.” He sighs. “It might be nothing, just a drunken mistake, but he grabbed her wrist and it left a mark on her. I know she’s pale, but?—”
“But nothing,” I cut him off and he shuts up immediately, blowing out a breath that sounds a lot like relief. Had he thought I wouldn’t think this was worth him mentioning? I hold the phone against my shoulder and tug on my boots. She’s gonna talk to me whether she likes it or not. “What else?”
“Nothing else. He stumbled out the door and when I went to ask her about it, she blew me off.”
“Of course she fucking did. Thanks, Cartwright. I won’t mention this to Bails, but I’ve gotta go.”
“Let me know if you need backup.”
I grunt, but hang up, immediately dialing Austin’s number again.
FORTY-TWO
AUSTIN
My father being sodesperate for money that he walked right into Quitter’s in the middle of the day and caused a scene suddenly makes sense when I walk through the front door later that night. I’d been wrong about him wanting money for coke, though.
He had coke.
He hada lotof coke, actually.
“What the fuck?” I’m barely able to whisper, dropping my purse on the ground. The house is a mess, but I sort of expected that to be the case since I’d been gone for a few days in a row and it always was when I got home.
But worse than the mess—much, much worse than the mess—is the three bricks of cocaine on the coffee table, surrounded by empty baggies, our greasy kitchen scale that I don’t think has seen the light of day since Mom was alive, and a stained notebook with chicken-scratch scribbles in it that may or may not have been numbers. It’s hard to say.
No, Dad didn't need money tobuyanything. He needed it to cover up the fact that half of his supplier’s inventory was lost up his nose.
