For better or worse, Devlin has become my home, and I’ll fight like hell to protect what we’re building, just as fiercely as he’s fighting to protect me.
TWELVE
DEVLIN
The next morning,I’m waiting to meet Jesse, Truett, and Carson in the Grizzly River Ranch barn. After we got home last night, and I tucked Atlee into bed, I texted the guys and told them we needed to have a serious conversation about Noah.
I’m sitting with my back against one of the horse stalls, sipping on my coffee, when the guys start slowly making their way in. First comes Truett, rubbing his face with his free hand. “Is there a reason you wanted to do this so fuckin’ early?”
“Didn’t want any of the ranch hands to see us, and Atlee had to be at work early anyway.”
He snorts. “Of course, it all comes back to Atlee.”
I finish taking a drink of coffee and give him a smirk. “Same way all of yours comes back to Nora.”
“Smart ass.” He doesn’t say anything else while we wait for Jesse and Carson.
Once we’re all here, I give them a rundown of what I heard Noah say to Atlee last night. “He’s looking for a reason, y’all. He knows he saw something that night, and he’s not going to stop until he gets us.”
“But we’re not rustling anymore,” Jesse argues. “We got rid of the cattle that had the different brands. We’ve covered our tracks, and now we’re committed to being legit. No matter how difficult that’s going to be.”
Truett grunts his agreement. “We have a little bit of savings to fall back on, but we have to make sure we’re prepared for next year. None of us wants to have to go back to where we started next year.”
“We’ve got the money from the land sale,” I remind them. “And we sold off fifteen acres too. For the first time since we took over our parents’ ranches, we actually have money. We just have to be smart with it.”
Carson clears his throat. “So if he asks where we got our money, we do have a cover story with that. You can’t deny we sold land, and that land was worth the money we got for it.”
I inhale deeply before blowing out a breath. “But he’s got his suspicions, and no matter how careful we’ve been, there are cameras everywhere these days. We really need to figure out what he’s got.”
“I could hack in,” Carson offers, moving his neck back and forth on his shoulders. “I haven’t done it in a while, but y’all know how I used to love to do it as a teenager.”
We do. He got in trouble and barely escaped jail time. “I don’t know.” I rub at the whiskers on my jaw. “What do y’all think?”
Truett takes a drink of his coffee. “Can’t hurt. I mean, just make sure it can’t be traced back to you or us.”
There’s a part of me that wants to tell them all that we don’t need this. We’re legit now, and all we have to do is move past what we were doing previously. The other part of me that knows we have to be prepared and never goes into an op without knowing what I am facing, knows this is the right thing to do. “All right,” I agree.
Carson finishes his coffee. “Give me the day off. I’ll be back to let y’all know what we’re facing.”
“Go,” Jesse tells him. “Get it done as quickly as possible and then get your ass back here.”
Carson nods, already turning to leave. He’s always been the tech guy in our operation, the one who could make anything digital work for us. If anyone can figure out what Noah has on us, it’s him.
As he walks out, Truett grabs my arm. “Follow him,” he says quietly, making sure Jesse can’t hear. “Not because I don’t trust him, but because if something goes wrong, he needs backup.”
I study Truett’s face. The concern there is real. Carson might be the smartest of us all, but he’s also the most reckless. “Yeah,” I agree. “Good call.”
Jesse is organizing feed bags on the far side of the barn, and I head over to him. “I’m gonna head into town,” I tell him. “Got some errands to run.”
He looks up, wiping sweat from his forehead. “Now? We’ve got work to do here.”
“It’s important,” I say, keeping my voice low. “Trust me on this.”
Something in my tone must convince him, because he nods after a moment. “All right. But be back by afternoon. We’ve got that fence in the north pasture to mend.”
“Will do.” I clap him on the shoulder and head out, careful to take my time so it doesn’t look like I’m following Carson.
By the time I get to my truck, Carson has already disappeared down the road in his beat-up Chevy. I give him a five-minute head start before following. The road into Grizzly River is long and winding, making it easy to keep a decent distance while still keeping him in sight.
