Page 118 of Married with Mayhem

“I saw their tracks.” Julian turns another page of his book and doesn’t look up. “Our best bet is to follow the creek into the hills tomorrow.”

“And then what?”

“Then hopefully we’ll find them, Monte.”

What a crock of shit. Whenever Cass Tempesta returns and decides this stupid trip is over, we’ll be coming back empty handed.

I’m still fuming when I walk past the horses into the trees to take a piss. Tye is howling at the moon again. Fucking idiot.

Once more, I wish like hell that I was with Sabrina instead of here. She’s probably crawling into bed with her laptop right about now. I think of her looking sadly at the empty space in the bed where I should be and my heart lurches.

Wait for me, Brina. I’m coming back for you.

We’re not that far away from the ranch. If I text her, the message might go through. I can’t really risk calling with this tribe of dicks listening in but I need to have some contact with her or I’ll lose my mind.

When I reach into my back pocket, my phone isn’t there. Right. Because I took it out after unrolling the sleeping bag. I checked to see if any new texts had come through and then got distracted by some petty argument between Tye and Getty.

I zip up in a hurry and jog back to the campsite. Nothing looks out of the ordinary. Tye must have tired himself out and now he’s plunked his drunken ass down by the fire. Fort is lying down with his hat pulled over his face. Julian still reads his book. And Getty is now screwing around with a deck of cards, shuffling the deck with such speed that even Sabrina would be impressed.

The sleeping bag is just where I left it. But my phone is missing. I try not to seem frantic as I pat down the whole area.

Tye pokes a stick in the fire. “Did you lose something, Monte?”

I peel up the sleeping bag and check underneath. Not there. “All right, who took my fucking phone?”

“Don’t know,” Getty says. “Where’d you see it last,cupcake?”

I drop the sleeping bag. Getty shuffles his cards and grins at me. Fort pulls his hat back away from his face to watch what happens next.

And what happens next is Getty Tempesta gets the fucking wind knocked out of him. I have no doubt that he’s the culprit. Besides, he’s pissed me off the most today after staying right on my ass for the whole ride.

I did look at my phone while I was riding. Either he has more talents than I thought and he hacked into the thing or else he simply managed to glimpse the last text I sent to Sabrina and has now decided to see how far he can push me.

I’ve got him down and land a couple of good blows before his brothers pull me off. Someone, Tye I think, punches me in the stomach. Another fist lands on my right kidney and sends me to my knees. I’m just starting to realize my own damn stupidity in taking the bait. I was forced to give up my gun before we left but as far as I know, Getty still has his knife.

And, like I noted earlier, it’s still four of them and one of me.

Well, if they want to take me down they better be prepared to bleed a lot.

“ENOUGH!” Julian roars.

The iron grip on my arms is released. Julian seizes my shirt and yanks me back up. It seems as if murdering me tonight really isn’t the plan. What a relief.

Julian shoves me back toward my sleeping bag and turns on his brothers, glaring at each one in turn. “Knock this shit off,” he warns and returns to his book.

Getty is sitting up now and bleeding from the mouth. Tye hands him his own shirt to mop up the blood.

“I want my phone back,” I say. “Now.”

Fort, bored with this spectacle, is already lying down again. His hat gets pulled back over his face.

“Hey Monte,” says Getty. “I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news about your phone.”

“And what the fuck does that mean?”

Getty bends his arm back and hurls an object into the creek, where it lands with a plop.

“I dropped it,” he says and flashes a bloody grin.

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