Page 103 of The Mountain Echoes
Maverick just looks at me, takes my hand in his, and kisses it.
Then, he takes a seat next to me and drinks down my iced tea.
“They got a call this morning, saying that you have pesticides in your storage closet, the locked one,” he tells us.
“What the fuck?” Earl growls.
Tomas shakes his head. “That’sloco.”
Maverick nods. “Yeah. So, she comes and there it is. She told me that they were all suspicious…not about you, Aria, but the call.”
My shoulders sag. “Someone did this on purpose?”
I guessed that was how it went down, butknowingit and thinking it are two differentthings.
Someone’s out to sabotage me. That much is obvious.
I know who it is.
I had wondered when Celine seemed so eager to work with me, sell the land to Maverick, and allow me to put the investment back into Longhorn.
Now I knew why.
Vera places a plate of sandwiches in front of Maverick.
Everyone digs in, except me. I can’t eat. Everyone is laughing and talking. Relieved. My nerves are knotted.
Maverick turns, glances at me, smiles.
I smile back, but it’s hollow.
My knight in shining armor saved meagain. I feel bitter about it. And a small kernel of doubt begins to weave inside of me.
Could Maverick be involved?
My whole psyche violently rejects that idea. No way. This is Celine with or without Hudson.
What I thought was bad luck with the fence and the feed…all of that was on purpose.
This is guerrilla warfare—and my sister is fighting dirty.
CHAPTER 24
maverick
Iwake up alone.
The sun hasn’t climbed up the mountains yet. Its pale light spills in through the cracked curtains, soft and blush, casting lines across Aria’s bedroom—wood-paneled walls, white quilts, a pair of boots tossed by the door. The house creaks like all ranch houses do, shifting its bones with the start of the day.
Aria’s side of the bed is empty, the sheets crumpled.
I hear her moving through the house, probably already dressed and halfway through her to-do list.
I stayed the night.
She was upset. I could see the start of a migraine in her eyes, one she curbed by taking her medication.
I asked if she wanted me to leave after dinner. She simply said, “No.”
