Page 20 of Sheriff's City Girl

So, boy problems. And Mason has no idea.

“Gotcha, are they like… dating?”

She tipped her head back and cackled. “Who even dates these days? Everyone just talks. But honestly, I have no idea what they are. All I know is that she’s so wrapped up in him that she’s forgotten that I exist. I don’t fit in with that crowd. He’s seriously hanging out with all these kids that are nothing but bad news.”

“Define bad news,” I narrowed my eyes at her, concern growing in my chest as I thought about Mason’s daughter.

“I don’t know,” she retorted in that typical sassy teenage tone. “I just know that I don’t like them.”

I nodded. “And I bet Jess’s dad doesn’t know about it.”

Dara’s eyes went wide, giving me the answer—before she lied. “I don’t know.”

“Hmm,” I said, shrugging it off. Regardless of what was going on, it wasn’t my business to get involved. Not my monkey, not my circus, right?

Right.

Plus, it would require me to talk to Mason—and I couldn’t stomach that right now.

Chapter Nine

Mason

“So, you wanna talk about what happened yesterday with Emma?” Lucas asked me as we trotted along the fence line.

“You wanna talk about why you won’t file that report on these missing cattle?” I shot back, glaring at him. “You and I both know that a hundred head don’t just fucking disappear into thin air.”

“Yeah?” Lucas snapped. “You know what else? Some rustlers don’t load up a hundred head of cattle without a damn mark on the ground. Not a blade of grass is disturbed, and this is the second time riding these dang fence lines—we better find something.”

I nodded, feeling the frustration in his words. I was pretty sure he hadn’t slept since he found out his cattle were missing. But… As much as I hated to say it, I felt like there was more to his bad mood. He was the kind of guy who always saw the glass as half full—and right now, that side of him was being taken over by a much grumpier Lucas…

And that was my job.

I was the asshole out of the two of us. It felt off balance to be any other way. I went silent, letting the sound of the horses’ breaths and squeaking of the saddle fill the air between us. I didn’t want to push him because I also didn’t want to answer his prying questions about Emma. I hadn’t figured her out—and I was starting to feel like I owed her an apology.

My eyes traveled along the fence line on the east side of the pasture. It butted up to another one of his fields, and so yesterday, no one had really checked it too closely. If the cattle went through it, it would be obvious…

Or maybe not.

“Whoa,” I said as I sat deep in my saddle, signaling Jett to stop. My horse did as I asked, and I slid off him, my boots thudding in the grass. “That ain’t right.” I pointed to the fence, noticing the slightly disturbed ground at the post.

“What?” Lucas asked from above me. “I don’t see anything.”

“Look closer.” I used my boot to split the knee-high grass. “I think this post got pulled.”

His eyes squinted as he slid off his horse and walked over. “I mean, yeah, but…” Lucas’s voice trailed off as his shoulders dropped. “Look at that. The fence is spliced.” His voice sounded strained, full of real concern.

“Why would someone cut an interior fence?” I thought aloud, peering down at the careful—and highly skilled—splice job down with barbed wire. This wasn’t some amateur job… “What the hell?”

“I don’t know, but I had the guys ride through that pasture in case the cattle somehow crossed and were over there. I didn’t ask them to look for anything. It’s pretty remote… There’s only one access point.”

“I think we ought to ride over and check it out.” I felt a sliver of hope. I had already made the call to the sale barns to watch out for the cattle, but that had proven unfruitful at the moment.

“We’ll have to go back around. There’s no gate into this pasture. I’m not using it this year.” Lucas sounded distracted, and I knew that his head was spinning. “I just… Why wouldn’t they take them from the road?”

“You’re asking someone who is just as shocked as you are,” I grunted as I slung myself back up on my horse.

“Let’s just cut the fence,” Lucas said, still not having mounted up.

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