“You do the same.” Jade took hold of his shirt with both hands and tugged. When he leaned into the Jeep, she placed a hand to his face and said, “If Franco can’t get me, he might come after you.”
“I hope to hell he does.”
“Chase,” Jade said protectively. “Do I have to stay home and keep an eye on you?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Oh no, you don’t!” Chloe laughed. “Jade and I are going wedding dress shopping. Close the door, Chase Chance Cooper!”
“Chance?” Jade asked, hearing his middle name for the first time. “You sure took achanceon me,” she whispered and kissed him. “I love you, Chase Chance Cooper.”
“Love you too,” Chase said and closed the Jeep door.
Swinging himself into the saddle, Chase tipped his hat and winked. She knew he was heading over to Triple C Ranch-East to demonstrate roping for Cash’s dude ranchers. The man she loved with all her heart nudged Valor and galloped toward the front entrance to the ranch. Martyman and Mean Pete were waiting for him across the road in a pasture where they would round up the bulls and herd them on the back road east to Cash’s ranch. Chloe drove down the horseshoe drive, but Chase beat them to the gate. There, he gave a wave before joining his men. Chloe turned west, and they were off toward Denver. Jade already missed Chase.
“Ready to find the perfect dress to go with the perfect ring?” Chloe asked.
“Yes, but even if we don’t,” Jade sighed, watching the rearview mirror as Chase galloped out of sight, “I found the perfect man.”
* * *
“For the last damnable time,the woman is gone!” Mateo pounded his fist on the arm of the chair as he sat beside theDavidstatue in the living room. “There were others before her, and there will be others after her!”
“There never were and never will be any others who qualify as a goddess!” Franco stared at the naked painting and shouted with a pause between each word, “Jade—will—be—back!”
“No!” Mateo bellowed. “She will never be back here, Franco!”
“I say she will.” Franco held up a hand for his brother to stop hollering. After a snort of cocaine, he reclined on the white sofa. Imagining Jade as his fawning, goddess wife spun him into a euphoric high. “The change in my hair was the touch I needed to be the god she cannot resist. I have the perfect ring, and I’m going to ask her to marry me.”
“No dye job and no ring will change how she feels about you.” Mateo picked up a crystal decanter and poured another shot of bourbon into his tumbler. “Or how she feels about him.”
“Shut up, Mateo,” Franco said. Every one of Jade’s rejections and reminders of them had shoved him deeper and deeper into an intractable depressive state. Thus, he’d had no choice but to resort to the white powder that always relieved his pain. “You’re ruining everything.”
“Ruining what?” Their yelling had brought the simpering Margo rushing into the living room. Coming to a stop beside Mateo, she asked, “What’s going on now?”
“Franco plans to propose to Jade.” Mateo scratched his goatee and frowned.
“What?” Margo shook her head as if trying to clear her thoughts. “Have you completely lost your mind?” Her shock turned into laughter. Franco despised her and slid his hand into his slacks pocket. Gripping the cool steel was reassuring. “You must be joking, Franco.”
Clutching a tumbler of bourbon in one hand, with his other hand, Franco yanked the gun out of his pocket and accidentally fired it. Facing the hearth and at such close range, the bullet struck the painting of Jade between her breasts. Franco gazed dumbfounded at the bullet hole in the painting, wondering about the correct coloring of her nipples. Chase knew. No doubt Chase knew every inch of her body. With that thought, the elation and powder stimulant blended with the devastation and liquid depressant, hurtling Franco into a familiar, numbing dysphoria.
“Look what you made me do,” Franco whined, waving the gun in the air.
“Put the gun down, Franco,” Mateo said and stood as he and Margo stared at the painting with the slashed forehead and shot to the heart. “Let’s process your thoughts about Jade. I’m sure by strategizing and prioritizing, we can find a solution that doesn’t include throwing a scalpel or firing a gun inside our home.”
“Don’t use your psychiatrist voice and placating words on me,” Franco sneered, vaguely feeling all expression drain from his face.
“He’s totally delusional, Mateo,” Margo whispered. “Seriously, he’s lost it.”
“You’re scaring us, Franco,” Mateo said. “Your affect has gone from flat to blunted. Let’s resolve this Jade situation before it gets any further out of hand.”
Draining the tumbler, Franco smacked the empty glass on the coffee table. Pouring another glass, in a monotone voice, he said, “The only resolution is for Jade to become my wife.”
“If you don’t want placating, then I’ll give you the truth straight up,” Mateo said. “Jade will turn you down right before she calls that deputy sheriff who served you the restraining order. Or right before Chase kills you, whichever comes first.”
“Mateo’s right,” Margo said. “I saw murder in Chase’s eyes when he told me to tell you he’d been at the office.”
“Shut up, Margo, this isn’t your business,” Franco snapped.
