Page 8 of Beau
“Yeah, Shep and Zeb are with our mother in the stands. They didn’t want her standing too long after what happened to her,” I said. “They’re gonna meet me after the races.”
Beau’s face darkened, which meant he knew what happened to her. Everyone in Devil’s Ditch did since the confrontation happened in the snack aisle at the grocery store.
“Good girl. You’ll wait for them?”
I reveled for a moment in thegood girl,then rolled my eyes. “Beau, I’m not stupid. Of course I’ll wait for them.” It seemed like he thought there were crazies everywhere these days.
He didn’t respond to that, only said, “Where’s your horse?”
He was calm, collected. Bossy.
I was not going to tell him I liked it. While I wanted to argue with him longer out of principle alone, I didn’t have time.
I frowned, but pointed again. “By my trailer.”
“What about your phone?”
“There, too.”
He took my hand but let me lead him. To Junior and for us to exchange numbers. To thewarm-up pen for only one practice drill before it was my turn to be in the staging area. Only then, surrounded by plenty of people and astride Junior, did he leave me to find his mother and sister. He also left me with my reeling thoughts. My butt did hurt in the saddle and that made me think of Beau… and when he’d spank me again.
4
BEAU
I stoodfrom my spot in one of the booths when Trig came into the Sip N’ Serv diner early the next morning. We shook hands, then sat across from each other. It was early, but the place was already busy. In a small ranching community, people rose with the sun. I’d been here long enough for the waitress to deliver a carafe of coffee, so I filled an empty mug for him.
“You said you wanted to talk,” he said, taking a sip of the steaming brew. “Everything okay?”
“How’s your mother?” I knew she was doingokay since she’d gone to the rodeo the night before, but I wanted to hear it from Trig.
“Fine. Just a mild concussion. I can’t believe Shayna hit her with a fucking can of beans. Doctor said her head’s so hard since she had to put up with all of us for so long.”
I had to grin. “I can imagine. Takes a strong woman to handle the Wilder boys.”
I thought of Lainey and how strong she was. Independent, too. Perhaps a little too much. She’d had to keep up with her brothers for so long, she probably forgot what it was like to be seen as something besides the Wilder boys’ sister. Hell, maybe she’d never been seen as more than that.
Until me.
“Shayna was arrested and the judge ordered a psych eval even though Ma’s not gonna press formal charges since the woman went crazy for one of her boys. Said she couldn’t blame the girl for that. From what I hear, her family’s sending her to a place out of state to get mental health treatment. Colt will keep close tabs on her.”
I nodded, pleased to know one crazy person going after women in Devil’s Ditch was put away.
With asking after his mother done, I pushedon. “Last night at the arena, someone went after my sister,” I told him.
His eyes widened. “Shit. Is she okay?”
I nodded, clenched my mug hard enough to crack it. “Yeah, Lainey rescued her.”
“Holy shit.” He pulled out his cell, checked the screen. “Why haven’t I heard from her?”
“Because she’s fine,” I reassured him. “Both of them are fine. I guess Lainey confronted them as Cammie was being taken and Cammie was able to run off, but he took Lainey instead.”
“What the fuck?” He set his mug on the table between us, hard enough to splash hot coffee all over. The vein in his neck pulsed and his jaw clenched.
“I got to her.” I told him about what happened. How she’d protected Cammie. How she’d screamed for attention. Shared about Gil and the other men. The fact that I hadn’t killed them right then and there in front of his sister.
“Jesus, fuck,” Trig said, taking off his hat and running a hand over the back of his neck. “I shoulda been there.” He lifted his gaze to mine. “Wait. Where the hell were Shep and Zeb?”
