Page 2 of The Rogue (Four Corners Ranch #11)

Justice stacked rocks until his muscles ached. Until the tyranny of the night before released its hold on his head, and his

muscles. The only way to survive partying this hard was to work harder.

The older he got, the more that was true.

At thirty-three he was hardly an old man, but the hard living was definitely beginning to catch up with him. So he was doing

the best he could to outrun it any which way he could. Because the alternative was to grow the fuck up.

He wasn’t planning on doing that anytime soon.

He wondered, not for the first time, what his life would be like when he was less tethered to Rue. Sometimes she felt like

the only thing holding him to basic human decency.

She was the only and best part of his valor.

It wasn’t like she was moving away or doing anything drastic. Rue never did anything drastic. She was a constant. The eternal

port in the storm that he had grown up in. His best friend in the entire world. His better half, some might say.

She deserved the world.

He was happy as hell that she had found a man that made her happy. That she was moving on and having the kind of normal life that they hadn’t been able to imagine when they were kids.

Watching her win at this made him feel... He was proud of her. She deserved this. She deserved everything and more.

“You’re up early.”

He turned and saw his brother Denver standing there, staring at him. His tone was dry. Because it was 4:30 p.m., he was not

up early. He had gotten up early to go to Rue’s. But this was a normal time for him to be up and about.

“Fuck you,” he said.

“Good morning,” his brother returned.

“I’ve already run errands today. Don’t be so high and mighty.”

“Oh yeah? What were you up to?”

“I had to go to a tux fitting. The wedding is in just couple of weeks.” There was no need to specify which wedding. It was

the only wedding that mattered.

“Oh, that’s right. The wedding. I can’t believe it.”

“Yeah. Me neither.

“Do you ever feel weird about that?” Denver asked. “Like everybody getting married and moving on. Even Penny.”

They both shook their heads. Even Penny—who their family had taken in back when she was a little sprite—was off and married.

Landry was, Daughtry was getting hitched soon.

Honestly, he felt much the same about them that he did about Rue. It was good for them. It was good if you could run from

the shit in your past and get better.

“Yeah, I guess it’s a little bit strange. But... I don’t want to change anything. I’m happy.”

“Are you?” Denver asked.

“Yeah. I mean, I got laid last night.”

“Thank you for sharing, Justice,” Denver said dryly. “I really value knowing about your sex life.”

“I like to keep an open line of communication, bro. It’s good for the soul.”

“You’re bragging .”

Justice shrugged. “You could get laid if you felt like it.”

“Some of us work. I mean, we really work, we don’t stroll into the barn at our leisure and stand around propping up various

ranching implements.”

“Your thoughts on my life aside,” Justice said, “I’ve done what I set out to do. I never wanted to fuck anybody up the way

that Dad did us. The way that he did Mom. And here I am. I’m a decent brother, I like to think. I do help you on the ranch,

whatever you say, and I have a lifelong friend. And I have managed to maintain that friendship since I was eight years old.

Given our upbringing, I feel like that is winning. Great for other people if they want something that looks a little bit more

traditional. I don’t.”

“Can’t say that I do either,” said Denver.

“Yeah. I mean, that’s kind of a big hell no.”

“And that’s fine,” said Denver.

He couldn’t remember the last time he ever thought his big brother questioned much of anything, but he could see that he was.

“What’s got your panties in a twist?” Justice asked.

“We’re the last two,” Denver said.

“The last to what?”

“Everyone else on this whole fucking ranch is gone and gotten themselves married. The Garretts, the McClouds and the Sullivans.

All married .”

“Honestly, you say that and all I hear is that everybody went and stepped in a bear trap. Then I hear you musing about whether

or not we should want to step in the same bear trap.”

Denver laughed. “I dunno. I guess my concern more is that there is something wrong with us.”

“Who cares if there is? We haven’t dragged anybody into our shit. That, as far as I can see, is the best and only part of

virtue when you’re fucked up.”

“Good point.”

“Go out and get laid, Denver,” Justice said. “That will deal with all of your emotional turmoil. You’ll remember that there

are ways to connect with people that don’t require you upending your entire life.”

“Yeah. I know.”

In all seriousness, his brother was a good dude. But he was hard. And harder to know. They were all like that, he supposed.

They had a bit of a reputation around town for being... unsociable. Daughtry had made it his mission to improve the King

family name in town, after their dad had done a good job of running it through the mud. The rest of them... Their younger

sister, Arizona, had always been known to be prickly and mean. Landry was legendary if only for the explosion that had occurred

between him and Fia Sullivan when they were in high school. Denver was well-known for being a hard-ass of epic proportions.

And Justice? Well. He was known for having fun. He was a good time, not a long time, and everyone knew it.

He couldn’t say that it had earned him any respect around town, but it had certainly allowed the townspeople to see that the

Kings could be harmless. Or if not harmless, something a little closer to fun than deathly serious assholes. Or scumbags.

So there was that.

Of course, Officer Daughtry had gone and married a reformed criminal, Landry and Fia had gotten together—but only after they

had revealed they’d secretly had a child together back when they were teenagers, who they were now raising together—and Arizona

had reunited with the love of her life, which had sorted her personality quirks right out. The Kings were on the straight

and narrow, except for Daughtry. Who had been kicked off of it a little bit. But honestly, it looked good on him. Happiness

looked good on all of his brothers.

He had been happy for a long time, personally. Because he had figured out the secret to that. He had a full life. A good family.

Good friend. And he had manageable expectations for himself. And that was the best a man could do in his situation, he figured.

The alternative was marinating in trauma and other bullshit and he wasn’t interested in that, thanks. Thinking too much didn’t

lead anywhere good.

“You coming out to dinner tonight?”

“Yeah, I figured.”

“Let’s head that way.”

He hopped in his brother’s truck and let him drive him across the property.

King’s Crest was, in his opin ion, the jewel of Four Corners Ranch.

He knew that the other families would fight for that distinction.

But Justice had never shied away from a good fistfight.

So, it didn’t worry him any. His brothers’ trucks were sitting in front of the farmhouse when they arrived.

The stately old place had been in the family for generations.

Just like the ranch itself.

A collective run by the McClouds, the Kings, the Garretts and the Sullivans since the 1880s. It was the largest ranching operation

in the state of Oregon. They weren’t factory. They worked the land by hand; they had over a hundred employees. The employees

often lived on the ranch, worked on the ranch. Their kids went to school on the ranch. They were an ecosystem in and of themselves.

And it was only growing. The Sullivans had made a store on the property where they could sell their items directly. And the

Kings were in the process of working at diversifying their cattle operation.

They were building a venue so that people could have conferences, weddings, birthday parties. Guest cabins for people to stay

in. Justice was happy to go along for the ride. His favorite thing that they had started up was headed by his sister-in-law

Bix, who had an affinity for brewing, and had started a beer label for the place. They had all gotten together and come up

with their own distinct variety of beer, and it was about to go into stores, which was definitely a boon.

Bix had been a moonshiner prior to her marriage to Daughtry, and she was the cutest, scrappiest little thing. He really did

think his brother had won the lottery with that one.

Bix and Daughtry were about in the farmhouse when they arrived, and so were Arizona and her husband, Micah.

“Hey kids,” Justice said when he came in.

“Well,” Arizona said. “As I live and breathe. Justice King. Without a hangover.”

“Oh, I had one. I just worked it out.”

“Good for you,” she said. “Is Rue coming?”

“I expect so. Unless she has wedding stuff.”

Asher wasn’t back in town yet, so she was still spending most nights out at King’s Crest. But that was normal. Asher hadn’t

been a Four Corners Ranch kid. Meaning he hadn’t gone to school on the property, even though he was from the area. He had

been bussed to school an hour away in Mapleton, and so she hadn’t met him until she had started working at her grandmother’s

store in town. She had fallen for him pretty quickly. At least, that was how Justice had felt. She was cautious and sweet,

was Rue. And she had never been big into the dating scene. He couldn’t blame her.

Her parents had been a hot mess and a half. Certainly not the kind to give you aspirations of great romance.

So she’d been extremely choosy when it came to dates and all of that. He had actually been a little bit disturbed when she’d

gotten serious about Asher. When they’d started... apparently sleeping together.

It wasn’t like she had gone and announced it to Justice. There was just a point where it was clear that was happening. Justice