Page 84 of Jensen

“You’d be wrong there,” Brothers says. “He was so sure you’d come back, he let you divorce him on paper. He never meant to let you go.He didn’t think you’d leave your son. It was a dark day here when you disappeared to Montana. I’ve never seen him like that. I pulled my soldiers back that night and stayed on the defensive.”

I mouth soundlessly. Panic is a fist around my lungs.

“I can’t beat Leland outright,” Brothers says. “But with Jensen’s help, with your help, you can get your boy back and I can…do something about what he did to Jem. Put the Caudills back in their fucking place.”

“How sure are you of that?” I whisper, glancing at the shadow of Jensen through the door.

“I would bet my life on him,” he says. “On it, I mean.”

A heavy shudder moves through my chest. Overwhelmed, I cover my face, and that triggers my tears. In a second, I’m in his arms, and he’s stroking my hair, shushing me in that comforting drawl.

“Hey now, it’s alright,” he murmurs. He smells good, like masculine cologne, notes of orange, cedar, vanilla. It’s oddly familiar, and it makes my heart ache. My eyes shut, and I wish so hard everything would just…resolve itself. But it doesn’t.

Brothers pulls back, hands on my shoulders.

“You know I’m telling the truth, Della,” he says. “Jensen is going to figure out he needs me. When that happens and you see me next, you’ll have an opportunity to do what needs to be done.”

“What’s in all this for you?” I sniffle.

“Unlimited power,” he says. “There is not, in fact, enough room in this town for both Caudills and Boyds. It’s time to collapse the Caudill empire, be done with this bullshit.”

That, I believe to my core. Wiping my face, I pull back my shoulders.

“I don’t think you and Jensen can reconcile,” I say.

“Leave that to me.”

I study his innocuous face and decide to ask the question I know he won’t answer. “What did you do to him?” I whisper.

Flick—he hits the inside of his cheek with his tongue. His hands rest on his slender hips. “Something terrible and necessary,” he says.

“But you can’t tell me?”

“No, I cannot.”

The door creaks, and Jensen’s presence fills the doorway. “Time’s up,” he says.

Brothers concedes to him, staying in the entrance of the dining room as Jensen ushers me away. I go with him, letting him walk me around the house to the truck. Brothers only steps out when we’re heading down the drive. I see a flash of his tall body, hands still on his hips, watching us leave.

“What did he say to you?” Jensen says, voice low.

I shake my head. “Nothing important. What did he say to you?”

“Nothing important,” he answers.

We’re both quiet the rest of the way to the gorge.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

JENSEN

We stop at the gas station on the way back. She stands by the meager options, staring at them and worrying her lip. There isn’t much but dry goods. I wait around, then get a pack of gum and head out to fill up the gas tank.

Way back in the day, I dipped for about a year. To quit, I started putting a bit of mint gum in my back teeth just to feel something there. It helps me relax and fixate on something else.

I push the nozzle into the tank and snap it on. Using my tongue, I crush the gum and push it between my molars. It seeps down my throat, syrupy sweet and so minty it’s cold.

A car speeds by, kicking up dust.