Page 38 of Branded Betrayal

It’s a little far-fetched that I’d be caught in any cross fire, considering the fact that I’m trying to distance myself from Blaze. And really, my water pump? Doesn’t seem like the work of hardened criminals. It has to be a coincidence. Our ranch equipment is old and unreliable. Nash has told me so plenty of times. He’s just being paranoid.

“Hey, Savvie,” a male voice calls out, jolting me from my spiraling thoughts.

I shield my eyes with one hand and grin up at Wyatt walking toward me. “Hey, stranger. Twice in two days. Think the universe is trying to tell us something?”

He flashes the smirk that used to make all the girls go crazy for him in high school. “Yup. I think it’s trying to tell you to come join me and some friends at Dolly’s for lunch. Whatdya say? See some familiar faces, maybe meet some new folks?”

Connection. God, yes. It’s exactly what I’ve been missing. Conversations with actual humans that aren’t brimming with darkness and cryptic warnings. “Sure, sounds great.”

I fall into step next to him as we cross to the other side of Main Street.

“Y’know, Blaze . . . I think he’s having a rough time being back,” Wyatt says. “Last night . . .” He pauses. “He was ready to break that guy in half. That wasn’t my brother. Not the one I remember.”

“I’ve seen some changes too.” I twist the end of my ponytail around my finger. “Did something happen while he was away?”

He shrugs. “He’s pretty tight-lipped about things. Just seems angry all the time. He’s just . . . I don’t know, different. Seems like something died in him.”

“Have you spoken to him about it?” I ask. “Maybe he’d open up if you—”

“Nah. Besides, we just got into a big blowout. Didn’t end well, and I walked out of the house before we could finish. I’m still angry that he left all those years ago.” Then he lets out a deep sigh. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m being too hard on him. He got mixed up in some business with my dad that went sideways. Took a lot of heat for it when he left. At least, that’s what I put together, listening in on Colt and Dad talking. They never told me anything themselves. I guess they thought I was too young to handle it.”

“Oh,” I say. Blaze never spoke a word about his dad’s business. Whenever his dad’s name came up, he got all prickly, so I avoided the topic of family unless he brought it up. Which was pretty much never.

And for as close as Nash and I were years back, he never said a word about anything to do with Blaze or his family’s business. But all these mysterious warnings are starting to make me wonder exactly what it is I don’t know.

I stare down at the cracks in the sidewalk and sidestep them because bad luck is the last thing I need right now.

“Superstitious?” Wyatt asks when he sees me hop over one.

“Always.”

We stop once we get to Dolly’s, my favorite restaurant in town. Wyatt pulls open the door for me, and I step inside, my senses consumed by the rich scent of chicken-fried steak and dumplings in the air, the familiar old black-and-white photos covering the bright-pink walls, and the boldly colored floral tablecloths that graze the scuffed hardwood floor.

It feels like home. Cozy, comfortable, and warm, just like Miss Dolly herself.

“Savannah,” she exclaims, rushing over to me and pulling me close for a vanilla-scented hug. “You look too thin, my sweet girl. Are you eating?” She pulls away, a sad look on her cherubic face. “Poor thing. I know it’s been a time for you. Such a sad thing about Marg. We miss her so much, dear lady that she was.”

“Thank you.” A lump rises in my throat, as it always does when someone mentions Aunt Marg now. I force a smile and squeeze her hands. “I’m so happy Wyatt suggested we make a visit. I sure could use some of your dumplings. They don’t make them like you up in Denver.”

She waves a hand in front of her face. “Of course they don’t. They’re probably all gluten free, non-GMO, and no trans fats up in those parts. If you want the good stuff, you come to see Miss Dolly.” She winks at me, then nods at a table in the corner. “Wyatt, your friends are already here.”

We walk over to a crowded table in the back. I take a seat at the end of the table next to Mindy Travers, a girl I went to high school with.

“Hey, Savvie, how are you doing?” She pours me a glass of wine from the bottle in the center of the table and hands it to me. “Y’all hanging in there okay?”

I nod. “Thank you for coming to the funeral. It meant a lot to me and Nash.”

“Of course, sweetie. How’re things at the ranch?”

“It hasn’t been easy. I’ve got a lot to learn, but I’m working hard,” I say.

Mindy leans in and whispers, “The way I heard it, Dr. Burgess came over to your place for a house call the other day. Folks said y’all were getting real close at the Boot Barn too. Maybe he’d be interested in partnering with you. You know, to get that capital you need to keep running Red Rock.”

My mouth falls open. “Partnering? I couldn’t ask him to partner with me. I barely know him.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t matter. He’s hot. You’d get to look at him every day, shirtless, breaking logs, riding horses . . .” She licks her lips. “Yum. I’d ask him for sure.”

I giggle and take another long sip of my wine. “He is cute.”