Page 32

Twenty-Eight

Every day I try to figure out where a bruise came from. It’s like bruise clues.

— Text from Scottie to Posy

POSY

The court date for Taryn’s claim on the money came and went.

With enough witnesses saying he gave the ticket to Searcy of his own free will, the trial had been short and sweet.

The judge had sided with Searcy, and we walked out of the courtroom an hour and a half later with smiles on our faces.

Who didn’t have a smile was Taryn, who looked angry as hell and ready to take it out on Searcy the moment she stepped out of the courthouse.

I stepped in front of him, my anger at his audacity palpable, and said, “You even think about trying anything, and I’ll pull out every tooth from your face and make you swallow them.”

“You can’t touch me,” he snorted.

“I can, and I will.”

Taryn’s jaw clenched, and I knew he wasn’t going to let this go.

He was going to make this into a big deal, and I was going to have to kill him.

Which I would do, only with a hell of a lot more careful planning than suddenly and without pause in front of a courthouse.

Taryn gave one last glare over my shoulder then turned away, his fists clenched.

Searcy came out from around me and stood by my side while we watched him march away. “He’s not going to let that go.”

“No,” I agreed. “He’s not.”

Scottie was home, which meant that the Hodges and the Hicks were partying. And by partying, I mean getting some ranch work done as a family.

We were mucking out stalls, getting horses fed, waters changed, and mending fences—though only Kent and I were doing the fence mending.

“Are you really marrying my sister?” Kent asked, looking at me through some cheap pair of sunglasses I’d had in my truck.

I paused in my fence pulling and said, “Would that be okay with you?”

“Searcy deserves to be happy,” he admitted. “She’s spent her entire life taking care of us in one way or another. Hell, she practically raised herself.”

I knew that, so I didn’t comment.

We worked together in silence before he said, “I think I’d be okay with it.”

I grinned. “We’d have to spend a little bit more time together, but I definitely see this going toward the marriage direction.”

He nodded, then stopped what he was doing completely before saying, “You should tell her that.”

My brows rose. “I should?”

“She thinks no one loves her. She has too much baggage. First our dad, then our mom. She has me, Calliope, Koda, and Anders. But she has no one else. Until you,” he admitted. “If you love her, you should tell her. She needs to hear it.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You love her, right?”

I wasn’t going to lie to this kid. Not about his sister, who’d raised him.

“I love her,” I admitted.

“She will fight you on it,” he pointed out. “Searcy protects herself. Thinks that she has to. You should tell her that she doesn’t have to anymore. That’s your job.”

We went back to fence pulling after that.

We only stopped when it was well past dinnertime and we couldn’t see any longer without the daylight.

When we rode up to the barn, it was to see Malone’s Beemer parked in the middle of the drive with Searcy, Scottie, Calliope, and Anders all standing there listening.

“What’s going on?” I asked when I dismounted next to them.

Malone hastily stepped away. “I was just telling your ‘fiancée’ that her mother pulled out. There are no more lawsuits against her.”

“Oh,” I frowned. “Then why do they look like you just dealt them a devastating blow?”

“That was me.”

I turned to find a cop there.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Their old house burned down, and a teenage girl was seen leaving the scene.” He looked pointedly at Calliope.

“And I told him that Calliope has been here all day long, and he’s refusing to listen,” Searcy replied angrily.

“I’ve told him, too,” Scottie said. “He still doesn’t believe us.”

“And as her lawyer, I advised her not to say anything more. It was luck on my part that I arrived when I did to deliver the good news.” She looked at the officer. “Aren’t you the one that ‘arrested’ Searcy for nothing a few weeks ago?”

“I was doing my job,” the cop replied defensively.

“You were?” Scottie snorted. “I don’t believe that.”

The cop worked his jaw before saying, “I had to ask. It makes sense.”

“It makes no sense, because you just assumed it was her. We haven’t lived there in weeks. Why would we go back to that shithole?” Kent pointed out. “Calliope does have friends that are bitches, though. I’m sure Calliope can give you a list of names.”

Calliope wilted.

I threw my arm over Calliope’s shoulders and said, “Unless someone is under arrest, you should go.”

“I’m sure I’ll be back,” the cop muttered and left.

Malone watched him go before turning back around and saying, “Y’all should just put me on retainer with how much you’re using me. Oh, and penis dismemberment has been dismissed. The guy didn’t want to go to court and have to explain why he has to piss into a bag for the rest of his life.”

I chuckled. “Malone, would you like to stay for dinner?”

“I’d rather not.” She toed the dirt lightly, being sure not to get her heels dusty from the loose dirt under her feet. “You have too much dirt for me.”

With that she left, leaving us all chuckling.

Searcy came up to me and said, “Do you mind if I steal you away?”

I gave Calliope’s shoulders a light squeeze letting her go, capturing Searcy’s hand before I guided her to the horses and then escorted them to the barn.

When we were inside with no one around, she said, “I think Calliope burned down our house.”

My brows rose. “What makes you think that?”

“She came home smelling like smoke,” she explained. “And she…” My hands came to her hips and they squeezed lightly, making her momentarily lose her train of thought. “She immediately went and took a shower when she came in.”

“Do you know where she went?” I wondered.

She shook her head. “No. I’ve been letting her do what she wants. She’s eighteen. She’s working for a living. She’s been pretty normal now that I know she’s not just disappearing to God knows where for hours on end. She’s literally at work or here. So I didn’t think to follow her today.”

“Today?” I teased, my hands coming up to skim over her belly where her jean shorts rode low.

The pair of shorts she was wearing had to be my favorite article of clothing that she owned.

They were short, ripped in all the right places, and were loose enough that when I dipped my fingers beneath the waistband, I could feel nothing but smooth skin and lace.

She swallowed, but scrunched up her nose. “I’m just so surprised that she’s working, like an actual real big girl job, that I sometimes have to just make sure. I mean, this could all be an immaculate lie, right?”

“I’m not sure that someone would make up a job to the point of actually going if it was a lie,” I teased, tugging the waistband of her jeans out to see down. “What kind of panties are you wearing?”

She grinned. “They’re the kind that don’t show any lines, and smooth as butter. I got them yesterday in the mail.”

So far, other than the beach house, that was the first purchase she’d made other than necessities for herself.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and she grimaced.

“What?” I asked.

“It seems that my aunts and uncles have finally learned that I have money.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s like my mom’s family, and my aunt from my dad’s side, must’ve heard from my mom. And they’ve been calling all day. ‘Just to catch up.’”

“You should change your number.” I paused. “I’ll add you to my plan.”

Her eyes went a little wide. “That’s a big step.”

“Not any more than you moving into my place with your entire family,” I noted.

“No.” She bit her lip. “You’re right.”

“Kent and I had a talk out in the field today while we were pulling fences,” I said conversationally, tugging at her jeans shorts to pull her closer.

“Yeah?” she asked. “But before you tell me about that, are you okay with Calliope possibly burning down a house? I mean, it’s a big deal.

It’s dangerous and wild, and reckless. She could possibly have been caught on video.

Oh, and let’s not forget that we’re bringing upheaval to every aspect of your life. ”

The way she looked so distraught over my life being in chaos because of her was really stinkin’ cute.

But first…

“Calliope could murder someone in the front yard, and I would have no issue with it,” I said. “Trust me when I say this.” I popped the button free of her shorts. “As long as, at the end of the day, you being here in my life is the end result.”

She visibly wilted, her head going to my chest.

I unzipped her shorts next and said, “Kent said that I should tell you how much you mean to me. That you needed to hear that I’m in this for the long haul.

That I don’t care if Calliope burns down buildings, as long as you’re sitting next to me at the police station.

I don’t care if Kent has eight thousand practices, as long as you’re coming back home to me with Wendy’s in your car.

I don’t care if Anders has eight thousand nerdy appointments a day, as long as when I go pick her up, you’re in the kitchen helping Kent with his math homework when I walk back through the door. ”

Her breath hitched, and I saw her shoulders drop even farther.

I let go of her shorts, then moved both of my hands upward, smoothing the palms of my hands up her bare back.

Braless, like always.

Fuck, that was so hot.

She had no idea what it did to me to watch her walking toward me, tits bouncing with her movement.

I lifted her against me then, and she buried her face in my neck, winding those long ass legs around my middle.

She felt featherlight in my arms, yet I knew I had my hands wrapped around the most important thing to ever walk into my life.

“Are you trying to tell me something, Posy?” she asked quietly against my neck, lips brushing my skin.

My cock hardened at the touch. “I’m gettin’ around to it,” I said, my hands splitting, one going up to cup her head, and the other one going down to cup her ample bottom.

She giggled when I squeezed.

“I love you, Searcy,” I said as I backed her against the closest stall’s wall.

“I’m not going to ask you to marry me yet, mostly because I know that we have a few more hurdles to jump through before we’re there.

But.” I dropped her to her feet and pushed her shorts free of her body.

“I’ll be there pretty fuckin’ quick if things keep going the way they are. ”

“Chaos or not?” she snickered as she kicked her jean shorts free.

The black tank top and second-skin underwear she was wearing made my cock lengthen fully behind the fly of my jeans.

“Chaos or not,” I agreed as I unzipped my fly and fished my cock out.

Her eyes went hooded as she watched me stroke it.

Walking toward her, I once again pulled her into my arms, then backed her into the darkest depths of the barn, pushed her panties to the side, and lifted her up only to pull her right back down onto my cock.

She gasped, her mouth slightly open beside my ear.

I grinned, turning my face into her neck to drag my mustache along her skin.

She giggled with the move, her arms tightening to the point of pain on my head. “Don’t. You’re going to make me itch. Plus, it tickles.”

I nuzzled her neck one last time before I began to fuck her more thoroughly.

We were both lost in the feeling of the act when the horses next to us started to kick up a fuss.

They only did that when…

“Hold your damn horses,” Yates grumbled. “My god, you act like you’re never fed. And look, we’re so low on carrots that means you’ve gotten plenty in the last few days. Those kids being here are spoiling y’all rotten.”

Searcy’s fingernails dug into the skin on the side of my neck, but I never stopped fucking her.

I did slow my pace, keeping it long and languid, filling her fully before pulling nearly all the way back.

“Be quiet, and he won’t hear,” I teased, reaching one hand down to pluck one of her nipples.

She bit her lip, and my eyes danced with laughter as she tried to remain quiet.

The slick sound of my cock entering her wet pussy filled the air, but Yates and the horses were making so much damn noise that there was no way he’d be able to hear them unless he came into the stall next to us for his…

“Let’s go, Little John,” Yates said as he called his horse out of the stall next to us.

I paused, cock filling her completely, and closed my eyes as I tried to get my breathing under control.

As for Searcy…

I pinched her nipple hard, and she bit me.

Laughter dancing in both of our eyes, we both remained perfectly still as we waited for Yates to get his horse out of the barn.

Except, he didn’t pull him all the way out, only got him to the middle of the stalls before he started brushing him down.

All the while, he talked to his damn horse.

When the rhythmic sounds of his brushing started, I started to fuck her.

Slowly and quietly, until I could feel her pussy start to flutter around me.

That’s what caused my control to slip, and I had to pull my hand from her nipple to find her clit.

Her body straightened like a board before she threw her head back and came on a silent scream.

I followed directly behind her just as Yates started singing to his horse.