Page 4 of Bourbon and Proof

“Isn’t this an interestin’ turn of events,” Wheeler Finch says in his low Kentucky drawl.

I stop at the threshold between the foyer and the study as he sits at his too-large desk and puffs on a cigar in a pair of blue plaid pajamas.

He looks me over. “Maybe I should call the Fiasco PD and see what they think of you just walkin’ into my home at this time of night.”

“They might start asking other questions if you do that.” I pause, tossing the heavy silver buckle on his desk. “Like why a wealthy cattle rancher would come here for dinner but never leave? Or how there would be his blood or DNA found on your clothing or property? Or why your daughter looks like she’s been roughed up and god knows what the fuck else.”

He hums to himself, puffing away on his cigar. His lack of a reaction is enough of an answer for me. I know Hadley doesn’t love spending time with her father, but now I understand that, at the core of it, he doesn’t care about much other than himself.

“You realize she’s not one of your horses? That you can’t just groom her and sell her to the highest bidder?” I let the disgust of it escape in my tone, and he hears it. That’s my mistake.

Wheeler tilts his head to the side, looking too curious for my liking. “You realize she’s notyourseither?”

I bite down, holding back from giving him any more of a reason to elaborate on that. My fingers curl into my palms as I clench my fists at my sides.

He’s right, and I fuckinghateit. She isn’t mine. She doesn’t belong to my family in any way other than us wanting her around. My jaw tightens to the point that I can feel the muscles straining along my neck. I know the games Wheeler Finch plays, because I’m familiar with the board. I make up the same rules, pick the same players. Wheeler Finch takes vulnerabilities and wields them. And so do I. But it's the goal that’s different.

“What was the payout?” I ask, trying to erase any emotion in my voice.

His eyebrow quirks higher. “You know the influence that comes with a name like Switcher. Beyond that, it was an investment in my newest trainers and business partners, the King brothers?—”

I cut him off. “How much?”

Looking down at my boots first, he pauses before he says, “A breeding facility. Padding of the coffers.” He laughs to himself. “And it would have been a nice opportunity for some good grass-fed open-range beef always in my freezer.”

When I don’t say anything, he searches my face, and it’s clear he knows why I asked. He sits back in his chair, sizing me up before adding more. “And a share of Switcher Cattle.”

There it is.

He clears his throat, picking up the silver buckle. “It would have been a significant quarterly payout for siring a prize like my Hadley.”

I have to hold in the rumble forming in my chest. I want to fucking deck him for that statement.

Wheeler’s from Kentucky. Born and raised in Fiasco. He knows Foxx Bourbon. He’s made plenty of plays over the years to invest and carve out his own piece, but neither Griz nor I would ever allow it. He came at us for the land that we kept buying. All of it, from our farmhouse to what’s butted up against his property line. He’s tried to find ways to partner Foxx Bourbon with his horse business for years.

“There is nothing that I’ll ever want enough to work with that man,”Griz said to me not long after my brothers and I went to live with him.“You’d be smart to keep away from anything he touches.”It’s never made sense why his daughter is the exception.

Standing from his desk, he stalks toward me as if he’s in charge of this conversation. A tactic that takes practice, but I’m good at allowing people to believe they have leverage over me.

“But...” He tilts his head to the side, releasing a sigh. “There will be others.” He eyes the silver buckle and smiles. “I’m rather exceptional at my job, Ace. Racing and training can be learned and hired out, but reading people, understanding the stakes and knowing the odds is always what sets apart luck from strategy.”

The truth in that has me swallowing my brimming annoyance. I cross my arms as unease takes over my senses, not liking where he’s going with this.

“I wouldn’t put all my money on one pony. There are plenty of others who would be an excellent match for my daughter—andmy business. Hadley knows what’s expected of her. She understands her role in this family. The same way she spends my money on whatever her frivolous heart desires. I don’t question her lack of motivation or income. And whatever it is she’s doing with that brother of yours.”

I grit my teeth and hold back from yelling in his face that they’re fucking friends. I hate the insinuation that there’s more between them. People have been making that assumption for a few years now.

“I love Hadley. But not how the gossips in this town would want,”Lincoln said after she’d fallen asleep in his room. Griz looked at me to push him on it, but I know my brother. If he wanted Hadley Finch in any way beyond friendship, I would know. He likes to roll up his sleeves and throw punches, but he’s the softest one of us. If he cared about her in that way, it wouldn’t have been a secret for long. He’s shit at keeping those.

I keep listening, letting Wheeler carry on his bullshit justification for treating his daughter with so much disrespect, it disgusts me. “She doesn’t question my stipulations. My daughteris groomed to be loyal,” he finishes.That isn’t the woman I know, or maybe I just don’t want that for her.

The moment I walked into this house, I knew I was going to regret it. There was no strategy in coming here, only an emotional reaction. But I’m not going to allow a night like tonight to happen again.

“She’ll make her own choice. Who she marries, what she does with her life,” I tell him.

His chin tips up. “Why?” he asks.

The logical part of me knows this is an unnecessary risk and that I should stay out of his family affairs. But he doesn’t know that she’s become more our family than his.

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