This would not only solve the issue at hand, but put more money in my pocket.
It wasn’t like I really had a choice, anyway. Once I got a job, I had to complete it, or it was my life that would be on the line.
I gave myself a silent pep talk, beginning to plan every last detail of how I’d kill him. All while he sat across from me, arms crossed over his large chest. The tattoo on his neck flexed with every swallow, his eyes falling on me every so often.
I shoved away any guilt that tried to weasel its way in.He was McKenna’s boyfriend’s best friend. He was important to the ranch. He was involved in my friends’ lives.
As I plotted his demise, every single reason I shouldn’t go through with it forced its way to the front of my mind.
And every single one was shoved to the wind like a piece of litter.
Henley was my next target. And I was all too eager to cash in.
Chapter 3
Henley
“Yeah, and I’m always the errand boy,” I grumbled as I shoved the new round feeder into the horse trailer.
“Not my horse that broke it. Again.” Austin’s voice floated up from the speaker, my phone lying on the rubber mat of the trailer.
“Not the fucking point.” I shook my hand out, pinching my pinky between two fingers. It was definitely sore, but I didn’t think I’d broken it. These round feeders were a pain in the ass, and for probably the millionth time in my life, I’d pinched my damn finger in one.
“What crawled up your ass, Hen?” Austin asked.
“A ‘hey, you doing okay?’ would also suffice,” I muttered, slipping my glove off to inspect it for bruising.
A sigh filtered into the phone. “Is something going on? Do I need to talk to Booker?”
“Oh, yes. Please, run to daddy dearest.” Austin would likely melt at the seams if it weren’t for that man.
“He’d love to hear you call him that,” he joked dryly.
I looked at the door to the trailer, wondering how hard I’d have to hit it to knock myself out and end this conversation. The only reason I’d called him was because they had me not only rectifying my horse’s mistake, but driving to three different stores for random bullshit they could easily grab on their own. They were too damn busy with their girlfriends to drive over to the nearest town. I’d say good for them, but too frequently, I took the fucking fall for it.
“Everything’s fine,” I said, ignoring his sarcastic remark. And everything was fine. You know, aside from listening to Booker and Brynne fuck all night long, the girls’ lives being threatened, being shot at, my best friends using sex as a fucking punishment for me losing the deed to the ranch a few months ago—they'd taunted me by sleeping with Brynne while I watched, and I was proud of only giving in the one time... The list could go on for miles, really.
But sure. Everything was fine. That was easier.
“You sound like McKenna before she’s eaten breakfast.”
I’d make some joke about him dating the girl version of me, but I didn’t have the energy to continue this.
“I gotta go.”
Before he could squeeze another word in, I ended the call. The crisp twelve-degree weather had me flexing my fingers, my muscles quickly going stiff. I slid my glove back on, closed the door, and double-checked everything.
God forbid the hitch have an issue and I lose the trailer on the highway. I’d never hear the end of it.
I jostled the side door, making sure it was securely latched, then shoved my hands in my pockets as I kicked each tire. It wasn’t necessary—I was simply trying to kill time.
As my boot tapped the last tire, apopcracked through the air. At the same moment, air whizzed past me. Something ripped through the trailer mere inches from my hat. I paused my movements, turning only my head to glance at the bullet-sized hole in the metal.
Narrowing my eyes, I looked into the hole, finding it’d gone all the way through the other side.
“What the fuck?”
A smart person would move. They’d run into the store, or get in the truck, and hide.
