Page 82 of Since Always

“No,” Chris says, and a slow, small smile spreading across his face. “Of you, you prick. Turns out they got some evidence of their own, eh? Turns out she wasn’t the one cheating.”

Rage fills his features.

“This is…you guys are full of shit. You aren’t going to…”

“Look,” I say. “I’m just giving you the heads-up, man. I thought that’s what we do, you and I.”

“Fuck you, Blaze,” he says, but there is something behind it, and I know we have him.

“It’s mutual destruction, Mark. But you kill the story, and I forget I know this. We both continue on, the same way we have, except now we have our fingers on the nukes.”

Chris chuckles to himself, bitterly. “Politics, man.”

“I just don’t think you have the balls,” Mark says.

“Maybe I wouldn’t for myself, but you are fucking with people I love. I know you will never forgive me for Kaitlyn. That’s fine. If it means anything to you, I will never forgive myself for it either. But you will not use it as an excuse to hurt the Sloane family. Especially Cassidy. I will not allow you, you tiny little fucking man, to ever hurt her.”

He purses his lips, but doesn’t speak for a moment.

“People will find out, eventually.”

“Maybe,” Chris says, before I can argue that there will be nothing to find out. “And if they do, we better not hear so much as a hint of a rumbling of you saying one word about it. Or else, we go public with Jana. Who, by the way, has offered to tell her story to the press for us. That girl really doesn’t like you.”

I can see that Mark wants to fight back, but he’s out of weapons, and he knows it.

“Get off my fucking property,” he says.

“Daddy’s property.” I wink at him before we turn to leave. “Oh, Mark,” I say turning back. “Make sure you get the bartender and your aide to lose those pictures. They are your responsibility.”

“Fuck you both.”

I hear the door slamming behind him. We say nothing as we make our way back to the car, but I can feel that Chris’s mood has changed, ever-so-slightly. Maybe taking some of his frustration out on Mark helped him.

I’m just about to open my car door when a large yellow Labrador retriever comes barreling at me from the pasture beside the house. He is not barking and seems friendly, but the suddenness of it still makes me jerk back.

“Kit Carson, you get back here!” A loud female voice cries and the dog turns to look at its owner, now walking towards us. It clearly takes a moment for her to register who she is looking at, but when she does, a grin spreads across her face from cheek-to-cheek. “Well as I live and breath.”

I can’t help but smile at the face that looks so much like the girl I once fell in love with.

“Hi Patricia,” I say to Mark’s mother.

“Owen, it’s so good to see you,” she comes closer and hesitates for a just a second before pulling me in for a hug. “Hi Chris,” she says, waving over my shoulder.

“It’s good to see you,” he says, leaning against the open passenger side door.

“What are you boys doing here? Yours are pretty much the last faces I would expect to see on the ranch.”

I can’t help but smirk. “You and us both, Patty. We just had something we needed to talk to Mark about in person. Work stuff.”

She looks skeptical at this, but doesn’t question it.

“I see. Well, why don’t you come in? Let’s grab a cup of tea.”

“Oh no, we really can’t. We’ve got to get back, but I appreciate the offer. I’m pretty sure you are the only one who wants me in that house.”

She pauses a moment, and I can tell she is deciding if she is going to say something or not.

“Just say it. Whatever it is,” I urge.

---