Page 16 of Playing Dirty (Millionaire Cowboys of Lucky Ranch #2)

Chapter Sixteen

The Reckoning

Callie

I stood in the spare room, my fingers clutching my phone like a lifeline. The door was slightly ajar, offering a sliver of view into the main room. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, so loud that I feared it might betray my presence.

Suddenly, the sharp sound of the front lock clicking shattered the silence.

Matt entered, letting the door close with a deliberate thud.

He wore the same jacket and carried the same swagger, as if time hadn’t touched him.

He moved with the confidence of a man who believed nothing had changed between us, his boots dragging over the floorboards as his eyes surveyed the cabin with a calculating gaze.

A moment of hesitation clouded his features; something was amiss, and he sensed it. He shifted his stance, eyes flickering from the kitchen to the vacant couch. I wasn’t where he expected me to be.

Holding my breath, I watched as he reached into his pocket, retrieving his phone with practiced ease. His thumbs danced over the screen, a routine he seemed to know by heart.

A vibration buzzed in my palm moments later. I glanced down.

Matt: Where are you? I’m at the cabin. Can’t wait to see you.

The bitter irony struck like a lightning bolt. He believed I was on my way to the cabin, eagerly waiting for us to slip into bed together.

I slipped my phone into my pocket, my pulse steadying in a way that surprised even me—the time had come to end this charade.

Silently, I pushed the door open, stepping into the dimly lit hall. My voice rang out, slicing through the tension.

“I’m right here.”

Matt’s head jerked up at the sound of my voice. For a moment, the surprise lit his face like a match—warm, familiar, practiced. His eyes lingered on mine, and a slow, knowing smile spread across his lips, as if he’d just stumbled across the best thing in his life.

“Callie,” he said, his voice a velvet caress. “You’re here?—”

His gaze shifted, narrowing as it skimmed over me, catching the stiffness in my stance. His eyes traced every inch of me, as if undressing me with his thoughts.

“Where’s the rental car? Where’s Pickles?”

“They are both in town,” I said evenly. “At a friend’s place. I got a ride up here.”

That gave him pause. His eyes darted toward the windows, the door—tiny tells in the way his shoulders tensed. He was cataloging the situation, trying to find the angles.

“Right,” he said after a beat, straightening up like he’d decided to play the devoted boyfriend. He closed the distance between us in three long strides, his cologne enveloping me just before his hands did. His touch was both possessive and tender.

“I’ve missed you,” he murmured, pulling me close, his breath hot against my ear. His voice was low, seductive, the kind meant to wrap around a person and sink in. “Every day. Thought about you every night.”

Once, I would have melted into it. Once, I would have believed him.

Not now.

I planted my hands on his chest, feeling the heat of his skin through his shirt, and shoved just enough to put space between us.

Then I slapped him.

“You’re a liar,” I said, my voice shaking with anger, not nerves. “And a cheat.”

Shock flashed across his features, giving way to a flicker of anger before settling into something cooler—calculating. His eyes darkened, a challenge sparking in them.

“What’s this about?” he asked, tone all wounded innocence.

I didn't blink. "If you cared about me, you would've tried to get back here during the storm. You wouldn't have left me wondering where the hell you were for days."

His jaw twitched, but I didn't give him the chance to speak. "And if that wasn't enough, I called the corporate office in Tucson."

That got him. A tiny hitch in his expression, gone almost as fast as it came. He took a half-step toward me, his fingers flexing at his sides like he wanted to grab me.

"They told me you were never there for training. Never. You're a district manager, Matt. And you knew it. You've been lying this whole time."

His mouth tightened before he forced a laugh, shaking his head. "I told you that you were the manager?—"

"You told me it was temporary," I cut in, backing up against the wall, my palm flat against it.

"I wanted to tell you myself," he said quickly, following me, crowding my space until I could smell the mint on his breath.

"Callie, I was in Tucson for training. But you know how corporate is—one hand doesn't know what the other's doing.

Somebody in that office gave you bad info. That's all this is."

The ease in his tone was the same one he used to smooth over problems with customers. Like he thought he could sell me on this, too. His eyes never left mine, watching for any crack in my resolve.

I ducked under his arm and took a step toward the center of the room, lowering my voice. "And what about your wife? Your kids? Your nice little life outside Lovelace that you didn't bother to mention?"

He froze. His expression didn't change, but something in his eyes flickered—guilt, maybe. Or the realization that he'd just lost control of the narrative. He closed the distance between us in two quick strides.

"That's not true," he said flatly, his breath hot against my face. "You're making things up."

"No," I said, my voice sharp as I held my ground. "I'm telling you what I know."

Matt opened his mouth to argue again, but I didn’t let him.

“I know you have a home in Casper,” I said, my voice low but cutting. “Not an apartment, not some rental—you own the place. I know you work for the Frontier Market there from time to time. And I know you don’t just vanish for weeks without reason.”

A flash of something—panic—flickered across his face before it hardened into defiance.

“Callie, that’s?—”

“That’s the truth! You’ve been feeding me one story after another, like I’m too dumb to notice the holes. I’ve pieced together every fragment, every lie you’ve spun, and I’m done being your sex puppet.”

He stepped forward, trying to crowd my space, his presence like a looming thunderhead. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’ve got it all wrong?—”

I stood my ground, feeling the electricity crackling in the air between us, daring him to keep denying it.

Then, the back porch door creaked open, a sound that sliced through the tense silence like a knife. Matt froze, his eyes darting toward the intrusion, just as Rhett stepped inside with an intensity that filled the room.

Matt’s swagger cracked, his tone edging somewhere between pissed and rattled. “What the hell’s he doing here?”

The question hung in the air, begging for a fight, but Rhett didn’t bite. He just moved—slow, deliberate—each step landing with the weight of a warning until he stood over Matt, close enough that the space between them seemed to be holding its breath.

Tension crackled between them like a live wire, and I braced myself, half-expecting Rhett’s fist to fly. His shoulders were tight, his jaw clenched hard enough to shatter teeth. Yet instead of the punch I feared, Rhett shoved Matt onto the couch with a force that made the cushions groan in protest.

“You’re lucky she’s here,” Rhett growled. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be stopping at a shove.”

Matt’s face contorted with defiance and fear. “You can’t just?—”

Rhett cut him off by pulling out his phone and pressing play, revealing the audio I hadn’t heard before. The room filled with a hauntingly familiar sound—a woman’s laughter, soft yet piercing, followed by Matt’s voice, sinister and unmistakable.

The color drained from Matt’s face as the damning evidence played out, each note of laughter a nail in his coffin. The walls seemed to close in, the weight of the truth undeniable, and I could see the realization crashing down on him like a tidal wave.

Matt shot up from the couch like the phone had burned him. “You’re both out of your damn minds,” he barked, but there was no weight behind it now—just the sound of someone scrambling to grab control before it slipped completely away.

He turned to me, his face tight. “You’re done here, Callie. Pack your things, turn in that rental car, and if I hear one word—one damn whisper —about this, I’ll make sure you regret it. I can make you unemployable faster than you think.”

I almost laughed. “No problem,” I said, my voice flat. “I quit. I’ll turn in the rental car.”

For a second, he blinked, like he couldn’t compute it. I guess he expected me to beg, cry, or cling to whatever power he thought he had.

Rhett took a slow step closer, and Matt instinctively backed up until his calves hit the couch again. “You’re not the one making threats here,” Rhett said. “This town? We protect our own. And you’re not one of us. Not now. Not ever.”

Matt’s jaw worked, but nothing came out.

“You’ve got an hour to be gone,” Rhett added, his tone cool and final. “If you’re not, I’ll make sure the whole damn county knows what you’ve been up to—Casper, Frontier Market, all of it.”

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone, tilting the screen just enough for Matt to catch a glimpse of the video.

Matt’s face went pale, his mouth opening like he had something to say, but no words were ready to save him.

“And trust me,” Rhett went on, “they’ll believe her over you. And if they don’t, I have the video and a witness for proof.”

Matt swallowed hard, his glare shifting between me and Rhett, but he didn’t say another word.

Rhett took my arm and steered me toward the door. “Come on.”

“I need to go back in and get the rest of my things,” I said, looking over my shoulder.

“No, you don’t,” he said firmly, already guiding me toward his truck. “I’ll buy you anything you want or need, sweetheart. Nothing in there is worth stepping foot back inside for.”

The sound of our boots filled the space between us as we started down the trail toward the truck.

My breath puffed out in little clouds, matching the rhythm of my racing heart.

The cabin loomed behind us, its windows glowing faintly in the fading light, but with each step, it felt smaller, less important.

I glanced at Rhett, his jaw set, eyes forward like he was still ready for a fight if Matt dared to follow. “Thank you,” I said quietly.

His gaze flicked to me. “For what?”

“For… saving me. For showing me what I couldn’t—or maybe wouldn’t—see.” I swallowed hard. “I think I knew, deep down. But you didn’t let me keep lying to myself.”

He gave a short shake of his head. “You saved yourself, Callie. I just happened to be there when you decided you’d had enough.”

We rounded a bend, the wind cutting sharper here, tugging at my hair. His hand brushed mine, and without thinking, I laced my fingers with his. He didn’t hesitate.

“I’ve always been here,” he said after a beat, his voice lower now, like the words were just for me.

“Always watching you chase what you thought you wanted. And maybe that’s why none of the women I’ve been with—” he paused, a half-smile tugging at his mouth “—and there have been plenty, I’ll be honest—ever seemed to fit. None of them were you.”

The truth in his tone hit harder than the cold air.

I looked at him, my chest tightening in a way that had nothing to do with the climb or the wind. “Rhett…”

He stopped, turning toward me fully. “I’m in love with you, Callie. Always have been. Maybe I didn’t say it before because you weren’t ready to hear it. But I’m saying it now, because I’m damn sure not letting you walk into another man’s life as his second choice.”

Something in me loosened, a knot I hadn’t realized I’d been carrying for years.

We stood there for a moment, just breathing in the cold air, until he squeezed my hand and nodded toward the truck. “Come on, let’s get you home.”

“Can we go shopping first? I don’t have much to wear but work clothes.”