Page 19 of Second Chances with my Billionaire Bosses

“Turn the goddamn timers off, get the cakes out of the oven, and meet me at her cabin.” Rhett. He was angry. At me?

I tried to open my eyes but the cold pricks were back on my face. Turning away from them, I tucked my head against the hard warmth next to my cheek and inhaled the familiar pine and leather scent. They were there. My guys. They were back.

“Jesus, sweetheart, I’m going to bend you over and spank the hell out of your ass when you’re feeling better. You haven’t been taking care of yourself. That ends now.”

I groaned and pressed my face into him harder.

“Momma didn’t spank.”

A low grunt of laughter.

“I’m not your momma, baby.”

A crack in my chest grew wider.

“Momma hit.”

Stillness and silence cloaked me and as soon as the cold pinpricks stopped hitting my face, it was enough to soothe me to sleep. The darkness felt better than the crushing weight of the world closing in on me. The darkness was a reprieve.

CHAPTER 15

Rhett

Maxie’s cabin was bare. I hadn’t been sure I’d brought her to the right cabin until I inhaled her scent as it filled the small space. The bed was bare. One blanket, one pillow. The desk was bare, except for one phone charging cord resting on top. The bathroom held only the barest of essentials. Shep had more shit in his bathroom. There wasn’t a TV, a radio, a fucking clock on the wall, even. It was like she didn’t live there at all. I didn’t understand.

I stared down at her sleeping form and brushed a shaking hand over her hair. The rain had dried, leaving her mass of curls a wild mess. Her face was flushed with a fever and she’d been groaning and talking in her sleep.

Momma hit.

The broken words she’d uttered had left me reeling. She’d sounded like a scared little girl and it was tearing my heart apart for her. When she was still like she was then, I could notice more about her. The raw state of her lips, the dark circles under her eyes, the bloody crescent moons dug into her palms. Even her fingertips were raw and bloody. She was tearing herself apart, bit by bit.

There was a knock on the door and I looked up with a scowl as Mills came in. No amount of friendship or battles shared with the man could make me forgive him for the state of his little sister. He was supposed to care for her, look after her, but all he’d done was ignore her and let her work herself to the bone. I’d pried her fingers open to reveal a list of the things she needed to do and I wanted to break Mills’ face. All of their faces. Everyone in town deserved a hard kick in the ass, as far as I was concerned.

“How is she?” Mills walked closer but he stopped when he saw my face. “What, Rhett? Spit it out.”

Shep and Arlo had begrudgingly gone back to the ranch to accept more deliveries and set up a room for Maxie. She was sick and she needed someone to watch over her. That wasn’t going to happen at the Hellstone Ranch. That much was clear. I’d stayed, with the promise that I wouldn’t shoot Mills on sight. I was regretting that promise right then.

“What the fuck has been going on here?” My voice was too sharp and Maxie whimpered in her sleep. Staring down at her, I took a deep breath and stood up. “Outside.”

Mills didn’t seem thrilled but he stepped out onto the miniscule porch ahead of me and turned around in time for me to plant both hands against his chest and shove him off it. We were the same size, each solid with muscle, so it would be a fair fight if I snapped and kicked his ass.

“She’s not okay. She’s had two panic attacks that I’ve witnessed, she’s been hurting herself, and she’s so worn down that it didn’t take more than a few hours for her system to just give up the fight after being in the rain this morning. What the fuck has been going on? She said your mom hit her. What the fuck, Mills?”

Mills ground his teeth together but he didn’t swing at me. He stood in the rain, his cowboy hat keeping it from his face.

“What do you mean, she’s hurting herself?”

I grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him closer.

“Go in there and fucking look at her!”

He shoved me away and I watched him stride across the small space and freeze as he hovered over Maxie. I watched him pick up her hands and gently touch her chin. I was furious, my anger demanding a body to damage but the air was knocked out of me when Mills slowly stepped back out on the porch and looked past me, eyes shining with unshed tears. I’d known him for over fifteen years and had seen heavy shit with him at war but I’d never seen him like he was right then.

“How?” His voice broke and he stomped back out into the rain.

I couldn’t stop myself from asking my own questions.

“Why haven’t you been taking care of her? She does fucking everything for everyone. She feeds you and this entire ranch every single day and you never stop to look at her, to notice how brittle she is? Jesus fuck, man! What the hell happened to her? Did you know your mom abused her? If you fucking knew and you let it—”

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