Page 61 of The Last Dance You Saved
“I bet he didn’t tell you it was all his fault, did he?” I taunted, but my lips were twitching upward at the memory. “When I was little, he used to put grain in my pockets without me knowing, so when I walked into the coop, they all came at me like I was a delectable treat. Chickens are mean when they’re hunting for food.” I pulled my arm sideways, finding a set of scars on the back above my elbow. “I have the war wounds to prove it.”
Sadie leaned in and looked, then she twisted around and pulled up her shirt to show us her lower back. “That’s nothing, you big baby. See this?” There was a jagged white scar about two inches just above her waistband. “Chicken grabbed on and wouldn’t let go. Ryder had to basically strangle it in order to get it off me.”
I had to press my nails into my palms to prevent myself from reaching out and touching her, running a finger along the faded mark.
She put her shirt down and punched me gently in the shoulder. “And I’m still not afraid of them.”
Fallon was smiling, large and wide and happy, and I had Sadie to thank for it. Even after what had passed between her and Adam in the office and the panic in her voice, she was able to bring an easiness to others. She wanted people to be happy. She wanted good things for me and mine, and that had me falling even harder for the blue-eyed imp.
? ? ?
After another long afternoon of chores, I ached in places I’d forgotten I had muscles, and my hands, once callused and rough, bore the marks of skin gone soft. I’d never considered myself out of shape, but two days of manual labor proved otherwise. I could only imagine the disgust my dad would have sent my way if he could see me now. Weak in body as he’d once thought I was weak in spirit.
Fallon and Maisey hadn’t complained once all day, and it made me determined to do something extra nice for them. Maybe give them a vacation before school started. Wherever they wanted to go, I’d take them. Money may not be able to solve all the world’s problems, not even all of mine or the ranch’s, but it could give my daughter and her friend some happy memories after months of sadness.
And what about Sadie?the little devil in my head asked. We both knew I wanted to give her memories of me inside her, driving her up and over the edge multiple times. I wanted to embed myself into every molecule of her being until she’d never forget that I’d been there. That I’d taken what she gave and given back more.
That was where my mind was at—on Sadie and actually finishing what we’d started twice now—as we made our way back to the house with the tasks on our list finally done for the day. A dark Mercedes pulled into the gravel lot and parked next to my Jaguar.
My gaze narrowed, taking a step toward it, but Fallon halted me with a hand to my arm. “It’s just part of the wedding party, but we need to make sure Mom has everyone’s keys ready.”
Maisey’s shy voice saying, “Oh, hey, Mr. Puzo,” caused my head to jerk up from Fallon to the man who’d emerged from the car.
All the tension, all the anger and frustration I’d been feeling for days now, dropped back into my stomach like a lead balloon as I watched the one person I truly despised step toward us.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I growled, pushing Fallon behind me.
He was dressed in jeans and a polo shirt with dress shoes on his feet. He looked as completely out of place here as I had when I’d shown up on Tuesday.
“Dad, Mr. Puzo keeps some of his horses here, and he has his boat parked at the dock.” Fallon tried to step around me, but I held her back.
She hadn’t told me it was Puzo’s name on those contracts. I would never have allowed it. Never. I stalked forward, eliminating the distance between me and my enemy. “Hell no. Get off my land.”
Puzo raised a brow, lips quirking. “Last I checked, it wasn’t yours.” His eyes landed on Fallon in a way that made me want to shove him headfirst into a watering trough. “And I’m paid up through the end of the summer.”
He tried to step around me, but I blocked him, keeping us toe to toe.
He smirked, and it took everything I had not to wipe it off his face. I didn’t want this nasty excuse of a human on the ranch. Near my family. Near me. The old scar embedded in my chest seemed to throb at his nearness. A telltale sign that something was wrong.
“Fallon, go inside with Maisey and Sadie,” I bit out. When I felt her hesitate, I risked taking my gaze off Puzo to glare at her. Daring her to defy me on this. Daring her to choose the wrong answer. She met my glare with one of her own for a long moment before stomping off toward the main doors with her friend following.
It didn’t surprise me Sadie didn’t go with them. Instead, she came to stand next to me with tension all but radiating through her body. Puzo didn’t seem shocked to see her there, and it reminded me that I still hadn’t told her about the thug he’d had following her. My lungs burned from all the decisions I’d made in the last week that had ended up being the wrong ones.
“It’s good to see you again, cousin.” He watched me carefully as he stated their relationship, as if expecting her to have kept it from me. “Had I known you were looking to take in the mountains of California, I would have let you stay at my place.”
“You have a house here?” Astonishment drew her brows together.
“A little vacation cabin up the road,” he told her with a small smile before glancing at me with a sly cunning that sent savage hate spinning through me. “I visited Rivers a few years ago—a little trip to squelch my curiosity—and found I had a lot to offer the community. Lots of possibilities I couldn’t resist. Bets with just the right odds.”
His gaze journeyed in the direction my daughter had gone. Goddamn it, he knew my daughter. Had looked at her before. Been on the ranch and turned those slimy eyes upon her. I was going to kill Adam. Lauren. How dare they let him near her.
I leaned into his space more, muscles tense and ready for a fight, just as guilt hit me like a sledgehammer. None of them had known any better. They didn’t know the knife wound in my chest had been because of him. I’d kept my life as separate from my family’s as possible, and this was the consequence. While I’d been facing the other way, a monster had slunk onto the land.
“Bets are closed,” I snarled. “Everything here is now off-limits.”
He didn’t back down. If anything, he pressed himself into my space as much as I’d entered his, daring me to take the first punch. I would win in a physical fight. It wouldn’t be easy. It’d be ugly, and I’d come away with my fair share of bruises and breaks, but I would win.
“No one tells me what is and isn’t off-limits.” His voice was as cold as mine.
