Page 7 of Malice

“What brought you to Gillette?” she asked, trying to bring his mind back to the here and now.

He shook his head as if shaking something loose then turned back to watch her for several seconds before answering.

“An old friend. He called looking for some help, but he offered me something I’d been missing too.”

“What?”

One corner of Corey’s mouth quirked up as his gaze flicked across the worn surface of the table between them. He tipped his coffee back and took a drink before setting the empty cup on the table and looking back up at her.

“Brotherhood. He offered me a family, something I hadn’t realized I’d been missing until there was a chance of getting one back.”

“What happened to your family?”

He hadn’t said anything about losing his parents, only that he’d left home.

“It was just my parents. I didn’t have any siblings. Dad was killed in a ranch accident a couple years after I enlisted. Mom lasted a couple more years, but she wasn’t the same. She missed him, I think.” He shook his head slowly, as if he didn’t understand. “It was like after Dad was gone, she just gave up. She had nothing to live for anymore. I guess you could say she died of a broken heart.”

A shudder seemed to pass through his entire body and Bonnie wished she knew what had caused it. That she had some idea of how to make him feel better.

He looked up and met her gaze. “Anyway, enough about me. We need to get a plan in place for what to do about Phillip. If you want to go home, I can’t stop you. I do think you need to get your phone checked out and make sure he doesn’t have some kind of tracking app on it.”

“What if he does show up at my place? What do I do then?”

“My first instinct is to say call me. But I live half an hour from town. As much as I hate to admit it, by the time I get to you, it may be too late. You would be better off calling the cops. They’ll at least be faster to respond.”

“Even if they won’t do anything?”

“Even if they won’t do anything permanent. From what I saw today, he’s worried about how things appear. He didn’t want to cause a scene. If the police show up, he’s more likely to back down, maybe even not show up again, though I wouldn’t count on that. If you have to call the cops, call them, then call me. I’ll come if I can.”

She wondered if she should call him. What could he do that the police couldn’t? Either way, knowing that he wanted to know that someone other than her parents, who were too far away to make a difference, made her feel better.

7

Malicewatchedthefearflash across Bonnie’s face and wished he could just do away with the asshole now. His gut told him it would save them both a lot of trouble and her more than a little heartache. But something told him that wouldn’t go over well, not with her and he knew it wouldn’t look good for him.

Not to mention he had to think of his brothers now. He wasn’t on his own anymore. Doing something rash would splash back on the Demented Souls and they didn’t need that. No. What he needed to do was get this woman settled with a plan, then go get in the truck and head back to the ranch.

He wanted to make sure she was safe from the asswipe. What he really wanted to do was take her home with him to make sure the fuckwad stayed away, but living in the bunkhouse like he was made that impossible.

It took them another twenty minutes to come up with a plan they were both happy with. Or could at least live with. He wasn’t sure either was particularly happy about it, but it was the best they could come up with, given what they had to work with. Part of that plan was making sure she had his number, and he had hers, just in case. He watched as she left, then he climbed into the ranch truck he’d brought to town and went back to the ranch, determined to find living arrangements other than that fucking bunk house. Soon. Or he’d be finding a quite spot outside to lay his bedroll.

Analarminthenext room reminded him of his vow to find somewhere else to live. He tried to come up with a solution as he shuffled his way into the dorm style shower, hoping there was enough hot water left to wake up his brain and ease some of the soreness from his muscles.

Ghost had moved into one of the cabins when they’d come back from North Dakota with Robyn. Malice wondered if maybe there was another he could move into. If he had to stay in this bunk house much longer, he was going to be getting in more trouble than he wanted to deal with.

He’d learned a long time ago that while he could handle communal living like this for a short while, long term just wasn’t feasible. The same things that had happened last time were starting already. He was getting more and more cranky and before long there would be fights. He didn’t want it to get that far. He liked most of these guys and didn’t want to alienate them if he could help it. He’d need to talk to Lurch, hopefully today if he could manage it, then he hoped they’d have an alternative figured out. Or at least in the works, even if the solution wasn’t immediate.

Finished in the shower, he dressed and stopped in the kitchen for a cup of coffee before going up to the main house for breakfast. The communal meals he didn’t mind so much. It meant he didn’t have to worry about cooking or what to make. If he managed to talk Lurch into letting him have one of the cabins, he didn’t plan to skip those. But another month, hell maybe another week, of dorm living and he’d be ready to kill someone.

He grabbed a jacket and headed up to the main house, hoping he’d have a chance to speak with the foremen, though he wasn’t sure which role would be better to approach the man as, ranch foreman or Souls president. He made his way to breakfast, deciding it didn’t matter. He’d talk to the man and let him decide which role would make the decision.

“Hey, pass the biscuits, before there aren’t any left,” Jake said from across the table from Malice.

He picked up the basket, which was only half full by the time it made it to him and handed it across the table. Then took the large bowl of scrambled eggs that was being passed his way and scooped a pile onto his plate before passing it down.

Every meal, or at least the breakfast and dinners served here on the ranch went much the same way, and he didn’t want to think about the amount of food this group put away, much less what it took to cook it or what it cost. He’d skipped dinner the night before, as he’d been in town and eaten at the diner, but any given day, one or two, sometimes more missed dinner, few missed breakfasts though. And sometimes even the women joined them to eat. Though that was more often for dinner than breakfast.

Malice focused on eating, getting through the meal, and getting his orders for the day, then trying to pull Lurch to the side so he could talk to him. Breakfast seemed to last forever, though he knew they usually put away an amazing amount of food in under half an hour. Near the end of the meal, Lurch stood and issued orders for the day. When he was done, he put his plate in the sink and went outside. Malice hurried to do the same. He wanted to catch the other man before he went too far.

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