Authors: Kristen Ashley
Then his eyes came back to Lash and he nodded.
“Right, let’s go,” Lash murmured and led the way.
Conversation was scarce as they made their way to Lash’s room. Inside, Lash took a seat in an armchair and rested his arms along its sides. Freddie took his place at a wall, shoulders to it, arms crossed on his chest, habit. It was a stance he assumed often when he was close to Ivey.
Cody stood in the room, muscled legs planted slightly wide, arms crossed on the wall of his chest.
Christ
, Lash thought as he took him in. He’d noticed it but only in a vague way as other things took his attention. But, if this man lived his entire life in a small town or not, he was not someone to fuck with. Everything about him screamed it.
Which made Lash wonder why it was clear that for years someone had been fucking with him.
Then it hit him, Cody was a challenge.
He presented a challenge. Man like that with looks like that coupled with natural authority, easy confidence, a lesser man with a sick twist in his head would stew on that, want to take him down a peg.
Obsess about it.
Fuck.
“I can assume,” Cody started, “you both are in the know ‘bout all that went down, then and now.”
“You’d assume correct,” Lash replied, he’d briefed Freddie on the way to visit Cody the day before.
Cody nodded. “That shit you all did a day ago, that shit’ll rile Bud Sharp.”
“Not a surprise, dude,” Freddie muttered. “Saw the guy, one glance, instant dick.”
“Right,” Cody muttered back then, “You get that, you’ll probably get that he had a focus. Now he has two.”
Freddie and Lash had talked about this but having it confirmed made Freddie growl.
Lash sighed.
“Rue,” Freddie grunted.
“Yeah,” Cody confirmed. “I figure she’s told you about our history. Somethin’ that was probably throwaway to her was not throwaway to Bud and if you don’t know about it, you need to know about it. Man hates me. He’s been gunnin’ for me since junior high. May have a lock on why but still don’t get it. But Ivey bested him at pool and when I say that, she made short work of makin’ a fool of him. Worse, he was hopin’ to get in her pants at the same time and he’s not used to not gettin’ what he wants. Whole thing lasted maybe half an hour. Still, he rounded up his boys to pay her hotel room a visit. What they intended to do, I have no clue. I’m not a man like that. Four men, one twenty-two year old girl, turns my stomach but I could guess. She beat him in two games of pool and didn’t respond to his flirtin’. Whatever four men could do to a lone girl in a hotel room is not fair payback for that, then again, it’s not fair payback for anything.”
He stopped talking, the air in the room was thick and when neither Lash nor Freddie spoke, processing their own thoughts, Cody gave them time then he continued.
“With you two, she bested him again a day ago and not a handful of people in a bar saw it. Probably by this point, everyone in two counties is talkin’ about it. He is not the kinda guy who makes a lot of friends. Folks in Mustang, his home, especially are not real fond of him. They are eatin’ this shit up. Janie’s spreadin’ what went down with Ivey and me and if Ivey had folks who didn’t think much of her, what you all did a day ago and with Janie sharin’ what went down, that’s gonna change if it hasn’t already. They’re lovin’ this and Buddy Sharp is gonna feel that and he isn’t gonna like it.”
Cody quit speaking, letting that sink in then he went on and when he did his voice got quieter and his tone made both Lash and Freddie, already alert and hyper-attentive, become acutely so.
“Last year, had a situation with my trees. Had to cut down and burn a quarter of my orchard.” He took in a breath, clearly still pissed about this then kept speaking. “They were diseased. Shit happens in my business, you roll with it. I was expanding operations anyway seein’ as I had a bank loan to pay, planted a fuckload of trees two years before. Still, it’ll take time for those to produce. But this disease hit the mature trees.”
When he stopped, Lash said softly, “Sorry that happened, Cody,” and Cody’s eyes focused on him.
“Yeah, me too. Sucked. My Granddad planted those trees.”
Lash nodded.
Cody kept going.
“Weird part of that is, no other orchard had this problem and when I say this not only no other orchard around Mustang but no other orchard in the entire fuckin’ state of Colorado. That shit isn’t unusual. It’s impossible.”
Fucking hell. This information ratcheted the danger level up about seven fucking notches.
Knowing it, Freddie pushed away from the wall and Lash leaned forward to put his elbows on his knees.
Cody kept speaking.
“There’s an origin to that kinda shit and that kinda shit spreads. No origin could be traced because there was no other outbreak in the entire western half of the United States. And I caught it quick so it didn’t spread.”
“Someone diseased your trees,” Lash guessed.
“Yeah,” Cody answered. “And that’s not all.”
Fuck.
“What?” Lash prompted.
“Had a mare go down, sick, had to destroy her,” Cody answered.
“Jesus Christ,” Lash whispered, sitting back.
“Right,” Cody replied. “That’s tough. Again, shit happens and it’s happened to me. Rare but it has. Two months later, had a stallion go down.”
“Fuck me,” Freddie muttered.
“Right,” Cody repeated. “Now
that
shit has never happened to me. Talked to the vet, he investigated, stallion was poisoned. Stallion had the same symptoms as the mare. Fair guess, they both got slipped the same shit.”
“God damn it,” Lash clipped.
Killing horses, living beings.
Now the danger level ratcheted up about fourteen notches.
Fuck.
Cody kept on with his story. “No way I can afford a security system so I rigged the doors to the barn with a shotgun, the blast aimed to wake me not take anyone out. Month later, that shotgun blasted.”
“You see anyone?” Freddie asked.
“They got outta there quick so no. And I have not had any more problems with my horses,” Cody answered.
“Well, you sorted that,” Lash muttered and Cody’s eyes cut to him.
“No, I didn’t. That shit stopped but this situation is not over. Can’t patrol my land twenty-four seven, don’t got eyes in the back of my head and it is clear someone is gunnin’ for me and I don’t have to reach real far to know who. And now, Ivey’s movin’ in.”
“Fuckin’
shit!
” Freddie bit out and Cody looked to him.
“And she’s movin’ in,” he stated firmly. “He’s not gonna take more of her away from me. I don’t know how but I been chewing on it now since Ivey and I had our thing yesterday but it’s not a stretch to get that Buddy Sharp somehow found Casey Bailey and paid him to take Ivey away from me. I’m not an idiot. My trees, my horses, I reported it. Len and the Mustang Police Department know what’s goin’ down. They sniffed around and found nothin’. They’re on the alert though.” Cody looked at Lash. “But I want Casey.”
Lash’s brows went up. “You want Casey?”
Cody looked back to Lash. “He loves his sister. He’s fucked up but he loves his sister. It isn’t healthy but it’s there. Sayin’ that, these last years, she bailed on him, left him behind, took his car, he might be pissed and that love might have died. I do not give one fuck about that. He’s gonna talk. He’s gonna say who paid him, how much and what the play was. He owes that to Ivey and Ivey and I need to know, not only because we deserve to know but because to fight the fight I got on my hands, I need all the information I can get. And you’re gonna find him.”
“Yes, I am,” Lash whispered.
Cody nodded. “Get on my feet, you keep track of what it costs, I’ll pay.”
“No, you won’t,” Lash told him.
“Man, this is my shit. Shits me but I need you. And I’ll pay,” Cody returned.
“Cody, this is your shit and it’s also Ivey’s. Do you not get by now we have her back and when I say that, I say that with
everything?
” Lash replied.
Cody held his eyes and reminded him quietly of something Ivey announced excitedly at breakfast, “She’s movin’ to Mustang.”
“She told us that at breakfast, Cody, I remember,” Lash said quietly back.
Cody explained his point, “She comes here, you lose her and all she is to you, your life, your club.”
Lash shook his head and stood before he said softly, “You’ve been apart awhile but you know Ivey. You know her. She might be moving to Mustang but I’m not losing her and I never will.”
Cody held his eyes then he tipped up his chin.
“I’ll find Casey and I’ll find out what went down,” Lash told him.
“Right,” Cody muttered and continued to hold Lash’s eyes in order to communicate further without words being said.
Gratitude.
Lash took it then asked, “This private chat, this mean you want us to keep this shit from Ivey?”
Cody nodded again. “Yeah, but temporarily.” Then he grinned. “She’s all fired up to prove she’s a badass, hard as nails ex-showgirl and do that by takin’ on Buddy. She knows this shit, she’d lose her mind. She needs to sort her life with you, feel good about that, have time with you both.” His eyes swept through Freddie then went back to Lash. “I want her to have that. She knows this, she’ll hightail her ass to Mustang and let loose. I’ll wait, give her this information when the time is right. She won’t be kept in the dark forever, just for now.”
“Understood and thank you,” Lash said quietly.
Another chin jerk then Cody looked at Freddie and back to Lash. “Shit to do.”
“Of course, see you at dinner,” Lash muttered.
Another glance through both of them, another chin jerk then Grayson Cody strode to and out the door.
The minute it closed, Lash took a deep breath to calm the burn in his chest.
Then he turned to Freddie.
“Find me that motherfucker,” he whispered. “No stone unturned, Freddie, do not count the cost. And when he’s found, I want him brought to me.”
Freddie held his gaze for a long moment.
Then he grinned.
Then he shoved his hand in his pocket and got out his phone.
Welcome Back to Mustang
Three and a half weeks later…
To say I was freaking out when I drove my deep purple, Lexus 250C up Gray’s lane toward his farmhouse would be an understatement.
I was totally freaking out. The palms sweaty, heart fluttering, brain consumed with panic type of freaking out.
Three and a half weeks ago, Gray and I had our dinner with Lash and Freddie and afterward Gray talked me into going with them.
I didn’t want to leave him.
“The sooner you get started on that, the sooner you’re with me,” he whispered to me in our bed in the hotel room in the dark.
I saw the wisdom of this and gave in.
So I had over seven years without Gray, just over a day with him then off to Vegas I went to have another three and a half weeks without him.
This was no fun. Wrapping up my life in Vegas but most especially my life with Lash and Freddie in it was not a ball of laughs. And being separated from Gray didn’t help.
But obviously, this separation was different. Mainly because Gray called at six thirty every morning, waking me up. He also called at eleven o’clock every night, right before he went to bed.
At first, these early morning calls troubled me. As crazy as it sounded, I wondered if he didn’t trust me and he did it thinking he’d catch me in bed with Lash.
Then it hit me this wasn’t it. This was when Gray started his day and he wanted to start his day with me.
And this hit me because on day three, he flat out told me then stated, “We got different schedules so if when I’m callin’ don’t work for you, dollface, and you want me to call at different times, say it. I’ll stop what I’m doin’ to say good morning or I’ll wake up to say goodnight.”
There you go.
He trusted me.
And he’d stop what he was doing to say good morning or wake up to say goodnight.
I liked that.
So obviously since I liked why he was calling at those times and what he said, I’d replied softly, “No, honey, I’ll wake up with you when you start your day and I like being the last person you talk to before you go to sleep.”
“Then that’s what you’ll get, baby,” Gray replied softly back.
Of course, I also called him during the day when I had something to say, like telling him when I’d accomplished the task of boxing everything up. Then asking him when he’d be around to accept delivery. Then telling him when the movers were coming to get it and when he could expect them to arrive. Or telling him about a waitress we had who’d slept with two bartenders and three bouncers, was trying to pit them against each other and was working my last nerve (or, I should say, with this, I called him to moan about it). Or telling him my joy at learning Lash had shared his secret with Freddie. Or just telling him I missed him, loved him and was thinking about him.
And every time I called him, Gray stopped what he was doing to take the call from me.
Yes, even when I moaned for half an hour about the waitress, he stopped what he was doing, listened like he had all day and pretended really well that he was interested in what I had to say.
On day four of our separation, while I was still sleepy and whispering to him, Gray introduced me to phone sex. Later, he’d tell me he’d never done it.
Obviously, I hadn’t either.
Incidentally, Gray was a natural.
It wasn’t better than the real thing but it would do in a pinch.
But now, most of my belongings were already at Gray’s. I sold everything from my old house when I sold my old house and I moved in with Lash. Thus, with my usual fastidious saving considering I was a girl who once never knew where her next dollar was coming from and I didn’t want to be that girl again, I had a wad to drop on sorting Gray’s problems so it was mostly just personal items. I had a couple of suitcases in my trunk. And I had my car.
And I had me.
I’d taken two days to drive to Colorado even though it was really just a one day haul, about ten hours. But Gray nor Lash
nor
Freddie would allow me to do this because they didn’t want me to get tired. I explained I’d had ten years of driving long hauls with Casey and I was a current badass, ex-Vegas showgirl so tough enough to haul my ass across two states in ten hours. This was clearly not enough evidence for them seeing as not a single one of the three believed I was a badass
or
tough so Gray decreed no more than seven hours the first day.