Page 80 of Without Fail

Call him a fucking idiot.

And the only reason he walked onto that plane was because of his friends.

He couldn’t trust himself right now, but he trusted them.

“Ryker…” Marshal’s voice was tight with emotion.

“Leave me alone,” he snapped, buckled his seat belt, and stared out the small window.

He had nothing to say to Marshal.

Hurt and anger were the two emotions he held on to the most.

Love took third place in that lineup.

Love?

No fucking way. It might be love on his part, but on Marshal’s part, it was not.

How could someone who loved you lie to you for twelve years?

Ryker wanted answers, but right now, he wanted to see how this played out.

How the fuck did Marshal expect to be forgiven?

Four weeks later…

Ryker lifted his face to the cold Arizona wind and felt a small smile form.

This was his favorite time of the day. Early, before the ranch came alive. Before Aspen found him and asked a bajillion questions about the new position he’d be assuming in Belle Industries.

He had a lot on his plate getting the doors of Belle back open, but with some hard work, financing, and a bit of luck, he’d managed to have all salons and factories opened back up last week.

A lot of his success had been because of Marshal.

It was Marshal who found a bank that would take a chance and loan to him. It was Marshal who had helped him figure out what stock to liquidate and what to keep.

Marshal had been his silent shadow over the past month and the man had never once asked for forgiveness.

In fact, Marshal hadn’t said a word other than apologizing that first day when they got here.

“I’m sorry I lied to you.”

The words had struck him as ridiculous and he’d slapped Marshal in the face before marching inside the building of the dude ranch.

He’d been thankful when Cohen and Aspen greeted him.

And then he’d met Marshal’s mom and kids.

Fuck.

Over the past month, he’d come to adore those kids. The twins started following him around a few days later.

And every time Ryker thought about leaving this place, his heart broke. Come to find out that this ranch was also owned by Marshal. It was the sister ranch to the one in Colorado, only this one here in Arizona was a real working ranch with cowboys and horses and livestock.

He wished that Syn and Jennifer would have stayed a while longer, but after two weeks, they’d gone home.

Ryker felt Marshal before he heard him.

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