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Everyone’s headed for River.

Warren hops the bar and gets there first. When I arrive, I catch the tail end of the conversation. “It’s my bar,” Warren argues, trying to keep the peace. “You can’t kick out my customers.”

Deputy Craddock splays a hand on his bloated stomach. “Now, Warren, the Sawyers just want to have a good time. Staring at their daughter’s killer kinda dampens the mood, don’t you think?”

River’s fists flex. “I didn’t kill April.”

Everyone in the bar leans in, hoping for a fight.

“Why would you do that?” River’s chest heaves as he looks down at April’s parents. “Why in the hell would you do that?”

“Stand down.” I grab his arm, wrenching him away. I’m not sure what’s got him worked up, but he’s not helping himself right now.

I turn to River, blocking him from Craddock. In a low tone, I ask, “What happened?”

“The Sawyers declared April legally dead.” Pain stains River’s voice. “Yesterday.”

Fuck. The news has cut him deep and left him low. That place I never want him to go back to.

Smarmy and smirking, Ty points a finger at River. “Having some felon hanging around our bar isn’t a good look for the town, deputy. Or my brother.”

I grit my teeth as I try to keep my shit together and not deck the motherfucker.

Ty Hale’s the fuckup, the black sheep of the Hale family. He likes to throw his weight around because his brother’s the mayor, all while he grows his shitty shotgun weed in his trailer.

“I concur.” Craddock nods at Warren. “Think it best your brother gets the hell out of here.”

“You can’t tell him what to do.” I groan as Wells shoves his way to River’s side.

“This is your fault, asshole.” Hassie steps into the fray. She gives Ty’s chest a shove. “You started running your mouth about April.”

Hassie has a habit of calling anyone—especially men—out on their bullshit. I’m proud of her, but it also worries me. One day she’ll say the wrong thing to the wrong man. A feeling I know Warren shares by the way he groans.

“Tell you what.” Ty leers at her, nods at Craddock. “You go on a date with me, and I call off my dog. We have a nice night.”

I bristle. Ty’s been obsessed with Hassie ever since he discovered what a hard-on is.

Hassie makes a face of disdain, but it’s Warren who growls, “Absolutely-the-fuck-not.”

“If that cult couldn’t put you in your place, I will.” Ty bares his teeth at Hassie.

Hassie balls a fist. Warren inhales sharply. But it’s Wells who grabs him by the back of the neck and slams his face on a high-top. “You say that shit about her again, I dare you, motherfucker.”

Wells is the biggest teddy bear but will gladly kill anyone who messes with Hassie. They’ve been inseparable since grade school, and that connection only deepened when Hassie came to live at the ranch.

Hoots and hollers sound around the bar.

I groan.

“Let me go.” Ty fights against Wells’s grip as Craddock stands uselessly to the side.

We have the bar’s rapt attention. “Everyone outside.” I step between my brothers, needing to defuse this. “Wells, River. Now.”

I herd my siblings outside to stand beneath the velvet black sky. Gravel crunches beneath our boots. A live wire of tension surrounds us. Running our mouths and getting kicked out of bars is nothing new. But Craddock pulling this shit is just another way to fuck with us.

The last thing River needs is to go back to prison.

“What are we going to do about this mess?” Craddock swaggers.