Page 34 of When It Reins (Three Rivers Trevors Ranch #5)

juniper

I slowly set the teacup on the saucer and smack my lips. “Rosemary,” I say slowly, my brow crinkling as I eye my cup. “Did you put whiskey in this tea?”

Her blue eyes widen, and she looks into her own teacup. “Oh. Hmm. How did that happen?”

I chuckle and shake my head. “It’s the middle of the day!”

“It’s afternoon, dear. What’s the issue?” She waves her hand at me as if I’m being ridiculous and says, “Plus, we’re celebrating.”

“Oh? What are we celebrating?”

“Well, not only are the families who were losing their homes safely back again, but we have enough left over to put toward some of the residents who needed a little help.”

I smile, my heart blooming at the mention of how much we were able to accomplish for the community. It is truly incredible that we could, that our hard work paid off, and now, the company David works for will have to find another community to buy out.

I frown at the thought. “I wish I could stop that company from doing that.”

Rosemary nods her head, obviously following my train of thought.

“Unfortunately, there are a lot who do. I did some research after it started to happen, and apparently, people use it as a money-making scheme. Not just companies, but regular folks do it to buy the land and then flip the properties for a profit.”

“It’s not right.”

Rosemary lifts a brow. “A lot about the world ain’t right.”

She wasn’t wrong there.

My phone buzzes with a text, and I smile at Mitch’s message, which shows a cup of coffee and a café behind it. He is currently on a trip for the club, one he wanted me to go on but said it wasn’t quite safe enough for me to join.

That, of course, made me all the more anxious for him to be gone. I don’t know what he does on his runs, and I’m not sure he would tell me if I asked, which was probably why I didn’t bother. I don’t want to hear the words none of your business. Not from Mitch.

Last weekend, after we got home from our cattle drive, we went straight to the cabin and showered together. His body had lifted mine and done to me what I was dying for all weekend. Especially after I finally told him I loved him.

I wasn’t kidding when I told him I didn’t want him to do anything that would jeopardize our ability to be together.

I know Mitch. I know he’s fiercely protective of his people. I know that once you’re in his life, once you become important to him, he’ll stop at nothing to keep the people he loves safe.

That was my concern.

A pounding at the front door startles me, and I stand before Rosemary can, going to see who’s causing the racket.

“How come my key won’t work?” someone yells from the other side of the door and pounds on it again. For whatever reason, that pisses me off, and I wrench the door open, coming face-to-face with a member of the Iron Horses MC.

I blink and frown at him. “What are you doing here? And why are you pounding on my friend’s door?”

He frowns right back and looks me up and down. “Hero’s girl, right?”

I place a hand on my hip, trying to look tough. I don’t remember which one this is. I’ve seen them around a lot, but I don’t know what the patches on their vests mean, or how to decipher the different members. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Junie, girl, it’s okay.” I turn, seeing Rosemary smiling up at the man. “Benjamin, that’s no way to come into your mother’s house.”

My mouth falls, and I glance between her and the man.

“You changed your locks,” he says, stepping inside when Rosemary moves me out of the way. “Why didn’t you tell me, or have me do it?”

“I haven’t changed those locks in twenty years. It was high time I did so. And last I recall, you are not a locksmith.”

The pair head into the dining room where Rosemary retakes her seat and pats the one I was in, motioning me to come over. “Juniper, you’ve met Benjamin, haven’t you?”

“Mom,” he sighs and heads into the kitchen, opening the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water. “No one calls me that.”

I can’t help the little smirk that crosses my lips at the thought of this thirty-something man telling his mom to call him by some made-up name.

“I do, and it’s your name, Ben.” Rosemary sighs and takes a sip of her tea, homing in on me and pretending that Ben isn’t even here. “Benjamin thinks he’s much cooler than he is because he uses a demigod’s name as a road name with his club.”

Loki. Ah. Yes, I have met him before, and he was at the bar last week.

“Mother.” He comes over to the dining room and leans against the wall. He scolds her playfully, like this is some ongoing conversation the two of them have frequently. “You’re ruining my street cred.”

I tilt my head, realization dawning. “This is why the neighborhood was important to the club. It’s your mother’s house.”

“Aren’t I a saint?” Ben says, giving me a smile. There is definitely something else lurking beneath that smile, but I don’t think I want to know what it is.

“He’s a good boy. He just wants everyone to think otherwise,” Rosemary says, shaking her head.

“I see.” I smile at Rosemary, then look at him again. “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.”

He chuckles and shakes his head. “You’re a clever one. I’m glad we had Hero looking out for you.”

The words make my blood turn cold. The teacup I had just lifted shakes, and I set it back down, looking back at him. “What did you say?”

Ben cracks his neck, then takes off the lid to his water.

“When we heard you were snooping around…” He says the words in a teasing voice, and I realize he must have heard that from his mom.

I don’t know why that bit of information hurts, but it does.

In a weird way. “We asked Hero to keep an eye on you, so you didn’t step in anything too dangerous. ”

“You asked him to?” The words sound almost muffled to me, like I am suddenly underwater, and everything is now blocked out, clogging my ears.

“Yeah, just stick close to you.” Ben’s eyebrows furrow. “It was just to keep you safe.”

Ben or Loki, whatever his name is, doesn’t seem to understand why I’m reacting the way I am, and I don’t blame him for not getting it. But suddenly, I can’t be in this room any longer. The walls are closing in, and the air is getting hard to breathe.

“I have to go.”

“Juniper—” Rosemary tries to catch my hand as I pass, and Ben straightens from where he was leaning against the wall.

“Sorry, Rose. I’ll see you later.” Though I’m not particularly thrilled she tattled on me, it isn’t the thing that is bothering me the most.

I race to my car and jump in, some miracle allowing me to get the key in the ignition, and not too soon either, because Ben comes out of the house, saying something I can’t hear. As carefully as I can, I pull out onto the road.

My mind races as I drive, thinking over the timeline of when this started to happen to when Mitch started to seem like he was more interested in me.

I went to the club and asked him to tell me the truth, and he wouldn’t do it. That’s when I decided to get an answer for myself. That’s when I came to the neighborhood and met Rosemary for the first time.

After that, he told me to stay away. I had no idea Rosemary was the one who ratted me out and got that information to Mitch. I feel like everyone was orchestrating something behind my back.

Then, he was protective of me when David decided to act crazy at the ranch. And then he came and got me from the studio, claiming Felicity was too busy to take me home, and he took me to his cabin and made me dinner and…has hardly left my side since.

My heart pounds in my chest as realization hits me. Has all of this been a lie? Has it all started because his club demanded that he stick with me until this was all over?

Something hits my cheek, and I wipe it away, realizing that I’ve now started to cry. I pull over on a long stretch of quiet road and let my emotions come. Mitch was doing what he always does, protecting others.

He did it for his family, for his brothers. He does it for his club, and now he’s done it for me because he was asked to.

How could I not realize this? For two years, he refused me. He told me with every action that he wasn’t interested in being with me. I point-blank asked him out, and he still said no.

I don’t know why I didn’t realize it at the time, but I guess I was so wrapped up in wanting his love that I just forgot to question why, all of a sudden, he was interested in being with me.

I feel like a fool. A complete and total fool.

Then, the thought of not being with him just makes me cry all over again because I do love him. Whether his love is real or not isn’t really the point. Mine is.

I wipe my eyes and moan. “Oh my god. I’m such an idiot!”

I hit my steering wheel in frustration, and my phone pings with a text. An Are you okay? message pops up on the screen, and I shake my head, refusing to answer.

He probably got a call from his buddy, Loki, who told him what happened. I doubt he would understand why I would take off after something like that, or maybe he’s worried that I’ll, I don’t know, fire him from the bar or something.

That’s unnecessary, considering I am likely going to be very part-time there once I start recording.

I feel my heart squeeze tightly in my chest, and I try to breathe deeply. I’m due at the bar now, but for the first time since we opened, I am going to do something I’ve never done before.

Lie to my sisters.

Not feeling great. Is it cool if I take the night off?

Of course, if there were an emergency, I would go in. But right now, I just want to go home and cry for a while and let myself realize and absorb the feelings of absolute heartbreak.