Page 78 of Bull Rush

“I’m not after your goddamn ranch, Ramsey. I don’t need that backwater anymore. We make ten times what the ranch brings in here and then some with the projects we have on the side. I have plans to expand, most of them I told you about, so you know I don’t need your land.” Grant’s charm has lapsed, and he sounds more like our father now. “So you don’t have anything to fear from me, but it looks like you might have other concerns. I suggest sharing them with people who can help you do something about them.”

“We’re brothers first, yeah?” Lev’s face softens as he sees the panic in mine.

I might not always trust my brothers when it comes to money, but when it comes to my life, that’s a different story.

“I don’t think Curtis is who he says he is. I don’t know more than that right now. I’m still trying to piece together what I’vegot. Some guys turned up at the ranch last night—I think they might be the same ones from the bar the other day. Did they end up coming here?”

Grant looks thoughtfully at his desk. “I’m not sure. I never followed up. I can check though. The card I gave them would have been run if they did.”

“Check,” I say, and he nods to Lev, who starts typing something into his phone again.

“While we wait… What did the guys want at the ranch?” Grant raises a brow.

“I don’t know. They were in the pole barn. All that’s in there is Mom and Dad’s stuff and some of mine from when I moved out. Hazel usually keeps it locked, but I’ve been in and out since I got here. It was like they were looking for something.”

Grant straightens from his lean against his desk, and there’s something in his eyes I can’t read. “Like what?”

“I don’t fucking know, but I’m going to assume antique dealers don’t raid private property with guns at night.”

Grant and Lev exchange looks, and I don’t like the way it makes me feel like I’m not read in on something.

“What?” I ask impatiently.

“Nothing,” Grant answers. “I’m just trying to think of what they could be after. Or how anyone would even know what’s there.”

“Do you know something about Curtis? If you do, you better fucking tell me now. Because if I find out that you let him around my wife and then you lied to me about it, too, I’ll fucking kill you.”

“No. I don’t know anything about Curtis. I’m as curious as you are.”

“There were a couple of guys who stayed after they ran thediscount card you gave them. They checked out this morning,” Lev offers.

“Run the names. Get any information you can on them,” Grant instructs Lev.

“I’ll need to get one of the security team on it.” Lev pauses as he heads for the door to look back at us. His eyes meet mine. “If there’s something going on, we’ll get to the bottom of it.”

“All I care about is Hazel and everyone at the ranch being safe.”

“We’ve got it. We’ll keep you posted on what we hear, and you let us know if anything else happens, okay?”

“As soon as you know.” I narrow my eyes at Grant, and he nods.

“Of course,” he assures me.

As I drive the long way around back to the ranch, using the time to try to get my head back on straight with this information, my stomach turns with anxiety. Now I have to figure out how to tell Hazel about all of this. Bo’s warning rings in my head as I try to think of ways to tell her that don’t end with her telling me I’m jealous or making shit up.

But there’s no way Curtis is innocent in this—Bo saw him in that pole barn, saw him searching the property, saw him arguing with a person no one knows, and now, these guys show up when he disappears and lies about where he’s going. It’s too many coincidences, and where there’s smoke there’s usually fire.

A sentiment that becomes all too real when I notice smoke rising above the tree line on the road. It’s coming from the direction of the ranch. I hit the gas and tear down the road as fast as I can back home.

THIRTY-SEVEN

Ramsey

When I getto the ranch, it’s chaos. Smoke rises in a giant plume over the stables, and Kell, Elliot, and Sam are all running wild, trying to get the horses out. I throw the truck in park and jump out, racing to the doors. My heart feels like it might explode in my chest when I see Hazel at the door, her hand holding the reins to one of the rescues and a bandana wrapped around her mouth. She rips it off as soon as she’s free of the barn doors, and she coughs, bending over to try to catch her breath, and then yelling and motioning for someone to go back in.

When she sees me, she beckons for me to run faster to her. I try to press my out-of-shape muscles to run like I’m still on the field, but my boots aren’t cleats, and the gravel isn’t turf. She starts yelling directions at me before I even reach her, using her raspy, smoke-stained voice to let me know who’s left in the stables and who’s in the most danger.

“Get Wolfsbane!” she repeats as I reach her. Her face is muddied with soot and sweat, her cheeks red with the exertion.

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