Page 84 of Bull Rush

“You don’t want to do that.” Ramsey holds his hand out to stop Curtis in his tracks. He’s right. Curtis would lose. Ramsey has six inches and probably sixty pounds on Curtis, most ofthem muscle. He’d just be asking for pain, and Ramsey doesn’t need the trouble.

I stare at Curtis, trying to make sense of Ramsey’s accusation. Ramsey wouldn’t lie about something like this, so he must have known. His brother’s must have told him. Which means he’s known for a while and didn’t tell me.

“How long did you know he wasn’t in Vegas?” I turn on Ramsey.

“I was coming to tell you last night when I saw something was on fire, and then with everything, I didn’t get a chance to tell you.”

“You should have found a way!” I turn back to Curtis. “Where were you?”

“I can explain everything if I can just have some time alone with you. Come stay downtown with me. We can talk. You can relax.” Curtis reaches out for me, and I recoil from it.

“She’s not fucking going anywhere with you, you lying sack of shit!” Ramsey steps between us.

“Stop this! I don’t want to talk to either of you. I have things to do around the ranch and no time for these bullshit games. Don’t talk to me. Don’t follow me. Just let me do my job in peace.” I take off toward the corral in a hurry, forcing myself not to cry. I don’t need to look unprofessional right now. Not in front of all of my staff while we’re facing a huge crisis.

But the fact that Curtis lied to me and Ramsey has been investigating all of this without saying a word to me? I thought that, finally, Ramsey had matured. I thought Curtis was a good man. I thought that my ability to pick someone I could trust might have finally improved, and that maybe, just maybe, my instincts were finally reliable, but now I realize I’m as lost as I ever was.

FORTY

Ramsey

I want to follow Hazel,but I know her well enough that when she’s in this mood, there’s no point in trying. Some of the bullheaded fury has to wear off her before she’ll listen to my apology or an explanation. And she’s not wrong. She has a job to do, and I don’t want to distract her with minor details—like this asshole fucking all the way off. So I return my attention back to the problem at hand.

“Leave.Don’t ever fucking come back here. Don’t talk to her. Don’t even mention her name in passing ever again.” I close the distance between us until I’m almost touching him as he holds his ground, looking up at me because I tower over him.

“Fat fucking chance. She’s my fiancée, whether you like it or not.”

“You keep saying that word like it means something. It doesn’t mean shit. Not against everything she and I have.”

“She loves me. Get that through your thick fucking skull. Or did you get too much brain damage on the field?”

My laugh is cut short by my fury.

“I don’t know what you thought you were pulling with her. If you were just a plant the entire time or thought you’d take a nice buyout when the opportunity presented itself… But I know you’re not who you’ve been saying you are, and I will find out who that is, and then I will crush you under my boot until nothing’s left but a stain.” I’d enjoy it too. I don’t say that part. I don’t want Hazel to know just how much I’d love the opportunity to make him cry like the little bitch he is. I want him to suffer for every single one of the lies he told her.

“Is that a threat? I imagine your parole officer would want to hear that.” He thinks he’s fucking clever, but nothing would stop me from keeping her safe.

“Maybe they would. It won’t change a thing.”

“It’ll change when you’re back in prison, and she has a chance to listen to me without you in her ear feeding her packs of lies.”

“I’ve got my brothers and hers to fill my shoes if they put me back in prison, and they’ll keep her protected all the same. Whatever game youwereplaying, it’s over now.”

“We’ll see about whose game is over, Stockton.” Curtis storms off the porch and back to his car, tearing out of the long driveway a few minutes later.

I’m going to have to figure out more security for the ranch and convince Hazel that Curtis can’t be trusted once she’s had time to herself. I’ve already been worried for her, but knowing he’s in town means that Hazel isn’t safe. Especially not when he seems so desperate to get her alone.

She’s the only priority I have right now, but it means resolving what the source of all this is. My brothers and I, in-law and blood, have too much work and too little time to figure it out.

But one thing’s for sure—he won’t put a single finger on my wife again as long as I’m breathing.

FORTY-ONE

Hazel

That afternoon,after all the immediate needs of the horses, the ranch, and the inn are met, once I thank Grace and Tabitha for all their hard work, give Amelia my apologies for missing another dinner, and make sure Kell and Elliot have the extra help they need from Cade and his friends—I pack a bag and head to Bo’s house. My knuckles are rapping on the door as soon as I confirm that his truck is in the driveway.

His brow furrows when he answers it and sees the bag in my hand, but he steps aside and lets me in all the same.

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