Page 43 of Cruelest Contract
“We all miss her,” I say. A sentence that’s both true and too basic.
Cecilia nibbles at a corner of her lower lip. “Teresa was killed here at the ranch, wasn’t she?”
“Not in the house,” I say, noting the way Cecilia glances behind her like she’s concerned she’ll wake up at night and find my mother’s ghost sitting on the edge of her bed.
She waits for me to say more about my mother’s death. I don’t.
Cecilia gives up with a sigh and tries a different question. “Is she buried in town?”
“She’s buried on the ranch,” I say and point. “A quarter of a mile beyond that hill there’s a cluster of cottonwood trees. The rest of us visit but my father doesn’t.”
She stares at the hill I pointed to. “Will we be going there today?”
“No.”
Again, she waits for me to fill in the blanks after that abrupt answer.
Tye’s snoring grows louder.
Her fingertips casually touch the charm hanging from a chain around her neck. It’s a flat, rectangular piece of gold and the etched details are too far away for me to see them clearly. Shenotices the way I’m staring and immediately tucks the charm inside her shirt.
“Why am I here, Julian?” she asks.
The question sounds like a rhetorical one. I don’t answer those. She knows why she’s here.
Cecilia sighs over my silence. “Yes, I’m aware I’m here of my own free will because you have the power to save my brother’s life. But why doyouwant me here? That’s what I can’t figure out. Do you guys seriously have trouble finding women?”
I hold back a sharp burst of laughter. “Not likely.”
“So why me?” she says. “I’m nothing special.”
The earnest concern on her face smothers all laughter for good. She’s not fishing for compliments or trying to be difficult. She’s truly mystified.
“We’re not just salt-of-the-earth cattle ranchers,” I say.
Cecilia tilts her head. “I know that. I was born into the same world.”
“Exactly. Do you think we can risk trusting just anyone to join our family?”
“Then why do you trust me?”
“You’ve already answered your own question. I have no intention of making explanations. Not about my life. Not about my family. And no starry-eyed girl raised by civilians would understand this. Oh, maybe she saw a few movies and thinks she knows what’s up but she doesn’t. Nobody has to explain a thing to you, Cecilia. You already understand.”
She likes hearing me say her name, no matter the context. The impact is always subtle. A barely perceptible flinch doesn’t escape my attention and her eyes drop to my mouth.
She’ll get to hear me say her name a lot more. Soon enough I’ll be whispering a long streak of dirty shit while buried deep in her tight pussy. And I won’t be doing my job right if she doesn’t say mine too.
I wonder if she’s the noisy type, if she’ll scream and dig her nails into my back as she shatters. If not, she will be.
But first thing’s first. The sun is moving higher in the sky. It’s far from hot but we can’t sit out here on flat ground in direct sunlight all day. Plus I’d like to be out of sight when Getty returns in a shitty mood with plans to cause more trouble.
“You feel like taking a drive into town?” I ask her. “We can leave now.”
She raises an eyebrow but she’s clearly pleased with the suggestion. “Did I see a bookstore while we were driving through there yesterday?”
Sort of. The Vigilance Drugstore carries a single shelf of books.
“We have books around here,” I assure her. “We even know how to read them. And we’ll grab some lunch while we’re out.”
