Page 9 of Broken Player

"I need to call Charlie and Justice, and then we need to figure out what the hell we're going to do to fix this mess," I fumed. I bet if he looked hard enough, Quinn would actually be able to see steam pouring out of my ears, that's how mad I was.

He followed me into my room, and I slammed the door behind us. I grabbed my phone and dialed Justice, putting it on speaker. Pacing the room, I waited for her to pick up. "Hello?" she answered.

"Hey, sis. Do you have a minute to talk? It's important."

She shuffled around a bit on her end before answering. "Sure, what's up?"

"Hold on, let me get Charlie in on this, too," I said, before dialing my older sister and adding her to our call.

"Okay, Justice?" I asked.

"Mmhmm."

"Charlie?"

"I'm here," Charlie acknowledged.

"Quinn's here, too," I added, shooting him a grateful look. He winked at me from where he was sprawled out on my bed. I moved toward him and sank down into my soft mattress.

"Hey, Quinn," both my sisters greeted him at the same time.

"Hi, beautiful ladies," Quinn sang.

I cut in. "I called you both because Quinn and I got some disturbing news today. We confronted the parentals about it at dinner, and they admitted everything, and now we need to make a plan."

Charlie groaned. "What did they do?"

"The bank is about to foreclose on the ranch. They served us with Notice of Sale papers today. In a month, they're going to auction the ranch off to the highest bidder."

"What?" Justice shrieked into the phone. "They can't do that!"

I scoffed. "Yeah, Jus. They can, and they are. Unless we figure out a way to stop them."

"I want to help. I do. But with my rotations, I barely have time to sleep. I shouldn't even be on this call right now. I'm sorry, Ry, but the most I can offer is moral support," Charlie apologized. "If it makes you feel better, I feel like absolute shit about it, though."

Tears pricked behind my eyelids, and I blinked them back. I had to be strong right now if I had any hope of saving this place. I couldn't crumble or break down. There'd be time for that when the ranch was safe. "I get it, Charlie. You've worked way too hard for your career to slip now. It's okay."

She breathed out a relieved sigh. "I really am sorry."

"We get it, Charlie," Justice added. "And Ry, I can help with research and stuff if you need it, but I'm in the same boat as Charlie. Once I committed to the academy, they owned my ass. There's not much I can do without quitting. I can't miss any time."

I might've been pissed if I didn't love my sisters so much. But as usual, I'd be on my own for this. It had been the same when my dad had his accident. I'd been the one to step up and answer the call. To do what needed to be done. That's why it hurt so much that my parents hadn't told me about the ranch being in trouble. Charlie was chasing her dream of being a neurosurgeon, and Justice was halfway through firefighter training. But I'd given up on my life to be here, to tow the family line and be the good little daughter who carried on traditions.

I breathed out a heavy sigh. "Okay, I'm glad I got to at least get this off my chest."

"I still can't believe they didn't tell us. I'm just as mad at them as you are, Ry," Justice huffed.

"Same," Charlie said through clenched teeth.

"What are you going to do?" Justice asked.

I took a deep breath, but Quinn answered. "We don't know yet. Reading through every line of those papers is a good place to start."

"Yeah, then making dad show me the books on the ranch. I need to see and understand what's coming in and what's going out. I should've forced him to show me years ago," I added.

"That's a good place to start, babe. Let us know what you find out, and we can try to figure out a way to help however we can," Charlie said.

We ended the call with an agreement we'd talk tomorrow after Quinn and I went over everything. Suddenly weakness and exhaustion clawed their way through my body. I stood up, pulling my jeans off and throwing my PJs on. Quinn didn't bat an eye, whipping his jeans and t-shirt off until we were both ready for bed. We climbed in my bed together, and he wrapped his arms around me, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. "We'll find a way, Ry. We always do."

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