Page 85 of Bull Rush

“If you’re moving in, we’ll have to work on a room for you. Cade’s been staying here, and he’s got the other spare set up for his video games.” Bo looks skeptically at the bag next to my feet in his entryway.

“I’m just staying the night. No need to panic.”

“I assume Ramsey’s done something to drive you away?”

“Him and Curtis.”

“Curtis?” Bo asks, confusion coloring his tone.

“He’s back in town.” I look up just in time to see the flash of worry across Bo’s face that tells me he’s been read in on whatever’s going on. “And that’s what I thought!” I point a finger at his chest.

“What?” He holds up his hands palms out like he’s innocent when we both know the truth already.

“You knew too. Was there anyone in this family besides me who didn’t know?”

“You’re going to have to give me a little more information.”

I feel my temper climb as I stare at my brother, and my eyes narrow.

“If there are enough secrets floating around between all of you and Ramsey that I have to specify the details, we’re going to be having a whole other conversation.”

My brother’s eyes roll to the side, and he closes them as he lowers his hands and shakes his head.

“Let’s go sit out back…” He starts for the other side of the house, and I follow him into the screened-in deck he and the rest of my brothers built a few summers ago. It overlooks the lake his house sits on and has a gorgeous view of the mountains. Almost enough to distract me from my worries for a few moments. I melt into one of the chairs, so tired from the last two days—physically and emotionally—that I’m not sure I’ll ever get up again.

“Did you at least tell him you came here? He’ll lose his mind, and we’ll have a whole other conversationanda set of problems on our hands while he tears up the town looking for you.”

“I left him a note that I was coming here and to let me have the night away.”

“I’m texting him too. I don’t need him thinking I conspired with you.” Bo gives me a worried glance.

As much shit as he’s talked about Ramsey in the years since our divorce, it’s funny that he worries so much about him now. I roll my eyes as he pulls his phone out.

“Do whatever you have to do. And then tell me about Curtis and Ramsey and whatever you’ve been conspiring about. Every. Single. Detail.”

I wait patiently while he types out a message to Ramsey. I don’t bother to pull out my phone. I sent a quick message to the girls group chat to let them know I’m doing okay today. I didn’t have the energy to update them on the drama, and I didn’t want to see any more desperate messages from Curtis either. He’s been sending one every hour on the hour, it seems, and I just need time he isn’t willing to give.

“Ramsey’s right about Curtis. You should stay away from him,” Bo says as he puts his phone away.

“That’s hard to do when I’m engaged to him.”

“Are you? I’m pretty sure you’re married.”

“Now you sound like Ramsey. If that’s how this is going to go, I’ll go to Dakota’s.” I sit forward in my chair like I might get up. Her place isn’t much further down the road. I could muster one last round of energy. Bo holds his hand out and gives me a look to tell me I need to take a breather.

“I told him about Curtis. I warned him when he first got here that Anson Cade, and I had seen some shit we didn’t like.”

“Like what?”

“That pole barn that Ramsey’s stuff is in? The one the arsonists were running around in? He was in there one day when I was over, and you were at the inn. Another time, he had a metal detector out in one of the fields claiming he was looking for a watch. Did you know about those things?”

It immediately makes my stomach swirl. I’ve never shown Curtis inside the pole barn. In fact, I didn’t even think he knew where the key was. And I’ve never seen Curtis wear a watch inmy life. But I also have no idea what he could have been doing with a metal detector. There must be plausible, simple answers to them, but I don’t have them.

“That’s what I thought.” Bo’s eyes travel over to me, a bit of pity and a bit of warning in them. “Then one night, Cade was on his way back from Springs, went down to one of Anson’s team’s games, and he stopped to get a late-night snack. While he was in the drive-thru off 50, he looked over at the motel parking lot when he saw a couple of people arguing—a man, who looked a little familiar from a distance, and a woman. It was real fucking heated, like they were having a couple’s spat almost. He watched because he thought he might have to call the police, but then the guy got in his car and drove off. Which is when Cade realized—it was Curtis.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me any of this until now?”

“It was all random stuff. He could have had a fender bender with the woman. He could have bought a new watch. Maybe you asked him to go out into the pole barn. None of it was a glaring red flag; it was just enough little things that they were adding up to us having questions we were trying to get answers to.”

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