“Fuck.” If she made good on her threat, he was screwed. He’d spend the next ten-plus years of his life in a cell. If Torres’s people didn’t kill him first to keep him from talking.
“What the hell is wrong with you now?” Derek asked, dropping the duffel bag filled with cold medicine on the floor.
Frustrated, pissed, he spoke without thinking. “We’re fucked.”
Derek’s gaze locked on him. His eyes narrowed to menacing slits. “What do you mean?”
Sadie’s cryptic message could mean only one thing. “She’s going to rat me out to the cops.”
“Did you fucking tell your sister where we are?”
“No.”
“Then how does she know?”
Connor didn’t really know, but his paranoia about recent events led him to one conclusion. “You heard the damn helicopter.”
“Enough about the damn helicopter. I told you a dozen times, it’s nothing but the forestry service or news copters.”
“And you say I’m stupid. It’s the cops hunting us down.” The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
“Then why aren’t they surrounding this place demanding we come out with our hands up?”
“They will be soon.”
“You should have let me fucking kill her.”
Connor scratched at his arm, drawing blood from the wound that never healed because he couldn’t leave it alone for all the creepy crawlies under his skin. The anger rose up inside him, turning into a fury he couldn’t control.
“You don’t have to. I’m going to fucking teach her a lesson.”
If she’d just helped him out when he needed the money to get out of this mess, he’d be out of this damn cave and living somewhere with a shower, a refrigerator, some fucking decent heat.
“She can’t fucking tell me what to do anymore. I’m a grown man, not some kid for her to order around and bend to her will. I’ll make her see. She can’t take everything and leave me to fend for myself. She owes me. Half that fucking ranch is mine, and she’s going to pay up or fucking shut up for good.”
Connor grabbed his backpack and headed for the cave entrance.
“Go get her, man. Fuck that bitch up.” Derek answered his ringing phone. “Trigger, man, too bad you’re not here. Connor is worked up and after his fucking bitch of a sister. It’s hilarious.”
Only Derek would get off on Connor’s need for revenge.
Connor didn’t often regret anything in his life, but as he stepped out of the hole he’d been living in far too long, he wished things hadn’t gone so far or so wrong. He wished he lived back on the ranch, in his room and the home he’d always known. He’d like a shower, a hot meal, to watch TV and kick back with a few beers. He hadn’t had any of that in a long time. He’d likely never have it again. Not here. Not with the cops after him. Not with his sister about to rat him out. That fucking Kendrick cowboy stole her away and turned her against him.
Everybody walked all over him. Derek. His sister. He was tired of going along. He wanted to be in charge. He’d show his sister that she couldn’t threaten him and get away with it. If Derek ever pulled that knife on him again, he’d bury it in the guy’s chest.
Fuck his sister and her do-the-right-thing bitching. He’d show her. She’d pay up his half of the ranch, or else. Yeah. She’d give him what she owed, so he could get out of here before he ended up dead or in a cell. He’d find a new place to live where no one knew him, no one told him what to do, and his own sister didn’t fuck him over.
CHAPTER 27
Rory walked into the kitchen after coming back to the house early to shower and pack the picnic dinner Sadie requested. At first, all he could think about was what happened last time they went on a picnic. A split second after that, he thought of this picnic and the chance she gave him to make things right. To celebrate the baby on the way. To tell her how much he loved her and couldn’t wait for them to be a real family. In fact, he’d snuck away three days ago to buy her a ring. He didn’t even tell his brothers. He’d kept it from his grandfather. He could add up the time he’d been with Sadie and come up with the fact she was late and they were having a baby. He didn’t need the wake-up call this morning to confirm it. He’d been waiting on her to tell him for sure so he could gauge how she felt about it.
If he read her right, she’d only given him a small glimpse of how truly happy and excited she was about the baby. He owed her the same, because she’d read him all wrong. She saw his worry and concern, but she hadn’t looked deeper to see that he wanted her, this baby, and any more she’d gift him. The weeks they’d shared together proved his life before had been so much less than complete. Now, if he lost her, he’d know what he was missing and life wouldn’t be worth living.