Page 29 of Wild and Unruly (Three Rivers Trevors Ranch #3)

bonnie

Man, I really didn’t want to be here again. It wasn’t that I was afraid or wanted to give up pursuing this lead, but the whole place gave me the creeps.

Him giving his little comments at that horse show made me see that underneath the facade that he initially showed me, he was still a slimy asshole who drugged his horses.

It was shown in the face of all of his horses that still had sweat marks after too long in the arena, where he pushed them because, under those drugs, the horses didn’t fight back.

The barn was still a hub of activity, turning horses out, grooming them, rinsing some off. Some assistants were getting horses saddled for the other two trainers who worked there, but Tommy was nowhere to be seen.

I was running out of time.

I don’t technically need to have this storyline done right now, but I desperately want to. I want to finish both articles and then have the last few days up on this mountain be completely about Stetson and me.

It was going to be some time before I could get myself back up here, and I wanted to savor every second of it.

Not to mention, the more I saw my brother in his depressive state, the more I wanted to nail this asshole to the wall and make sure he got what was coming to him.

I turn a corner, keeping my eyes peeled for anyone I know, for Tommy to come and ask me what I was doing, but instead, I bump into a tall, willowy figure that blinks at me in surprise.

“Celina?”

The woman stares in shock for a moment before glancing around the arena. She grabs at my arm a moment later and yanks me into a tack room, pressing me against the wall with her hand over my mouth.

I frown at her, my heart rate ticking up with every second she’s holding me here. “You’re the reporter.”

I blink and muffle a confirmation against her hand. Realizing this, she releases me, and I nod. “Yes.” My gaze flicks to the halfway-closed door. “I’m here to do a story about Tommy.”

Her gaze narrows on me, looking over my body as if she could just sniff out the lie. Hell, maybe she can. “What kind of story?”

I stare at her, wondering what she would do if she knew the truth. She was apprehensive about my presence at Three Rivers, and I’m sure finding me here has come as a surprise, but so is my finding her.

“You don’t want to say,” she answers for me when I stare in silence. With a nod, she says, “Good. That means you’ll expose him. ”

I tilt my head to the side, placing a blank look over my features, “I’m not sure?—”

“He was behind your brother’s accident.”

The sure and confident way she says that has me locking up for a second, my frown replacing my look of indifference. “How do you know that?”

“Because…” She waves her hand out the door where, any moment, I am sure someone is going to come barging in.

“He’s behind everything. He hurt my horse, hurt Dani Trevors’s horse, he tried to…

” She trails off, her gaze wandering to the side as she seemingly recounts some part of her story she wasn’t quite ready to share.

Celina’s eyes catch mine. “The timing is too suspicious. Your brother was training with him when that happened, then he just disappeared? The autopsy of the horse was never released?”

Her accent grows stronger the longer she talks, and I hold my breath, wondering if I was about to find my first real witness.

“I need your help,” I say quickly when I hear spurs clanking against the concrete floor outside. I freeze for a moment before I whisper in a rush, “I need your statement. I need as many as possible. I need proof?—”

“I have proof.” She frowns. “But the board didn’t care.”

I shake my head, not thinking they would have. The board that represented his discipline was in his back pocket. “I’m not going to the board.”

Celina smirks, then frowns at the growing sound. “I have more people.”

My brows draw together as I watch her, the nervous way she keeps looking over her shoulder. “Is that why you’re here? I thought you trained with?— ”

“I do, I promise. But I couldn’t let this go. I think you understand.”

I nod just as the footsteps pause near the door, and Celina doesn’t wait for me as she stomps out of the tack room.

Following quickly, I see Tommy has stopped right outside the door. Crap, did he hear us? I school my features, giving him a tense smile as we exit. “It really is a great tack room. Man, Tommy, how many tack rooms does this facility have?”

Tommy looks from Celina to me, his face a mask of indifference until he cracks one of his charming yet slightly terrifying smiles. “Five.”

“Wow.” I nod at Celina. “Thanks for showing me.”

“No problem.” She steps back and walks over to another of the trainers. He familiarly places a hand on her waist, glancing over to give a slight but noticeable glare to Tommy before looking at her again.

I wonder what’s happening there.

“So, back for some more, huh?”

I grip my shoulder bag tightly, wondering how I am going to get out of here before he notices the sweat stains that are definitely gracing the fabric underneath my armpits.

“Just some last-minute follow-up questions.”

“Ah.” He nods and looks to the people who don’t stop moving, who are working their butts off to make his facility what he wants it to be. They have to know what he does, what he’s been doing. Why don’t they fight against it? Do they honestly not care, or is he really that sneaky?

“I need to get back up the mountain, actually. I’m not big on driving in the dark.” I take a step away. Right as I think he’s going to let me go, his hand darts out, and he grabs my bicep hard enough that I frown at him, making him release me immediately.

“Sorry.” He grins, the crow’s feet around his eyes that should be charming have me tensing, and he raises his hand in surrender. “I was just going to say, you should be careful around the Trevors family.”

I keep my face neutral even though I don’t understand what he’s saying at all. That family has been nothing but kind to me, and as far as I can tell, everyone else they come into contact with.

“Thanks, I haven’t had any issues.”

“Right, well, CT has a bit of a temper.” His gaze lowers, and I see him digging for something, maybe fake hurt. “We’ve had our issues in the past, and given that you’ve had enough hard times, I would hate to see you get hurt.”

The words, the phrases, and the way he’s looking at me have me taking a step back. He’s warning me away from the Trevorses, but right now, I feel it in my gut that the person I need to get away from is him.

Celina emailed me the video right away, and it confirmed everything that I needed to know. He was drugging those horses and still getting by with it. But then, Celina tacks on what is the most crucial part of evidence.

A statement from Eugene Waters, the man who has worked for the Smiths for the last fifteen years and was done with their bullshit.

I compile everything, and while the video is uploading to my email, I put the final touches on the Three Rivers article .

It fills me with a sense of relief and sadness knowing that my time with this family was coming to an end. I was sad to leave, but I was hopeful that I would be coming back often.

I tag the photo in a folder that I want to be the first photo in the article. Technically, I don’t get a say, but sometimes they use my suggestions.

It was of CT and Dani, smiling at each other and holding hands atop the backs of their horses with the ranch behind them, right at sunset.

I click send on both pieces with a smile on my face.

I was done.

And because I wasn’t due in Kentucky until next Tuesday, I could take my last few days here to enjoy it with Stetson.

Taking my truck into town, I stop at the small-town bakery and make my way inside. I was going to get a bunch of goodies to take to the ranch to celebrate the end of the article and thank the family for letting me step into their lives for a few weeks.

The woman behind the counter beams while she talks animatedly with me, telling me all about her and her mother’s bakeries and the franchise, how her husband was a local woodworker and helped build The Lodge I was staying in.

She was the perfect image of a small-town girl with big dreams, and as her little girl, who couldn’t be more than four, came running under the counter and out to greet what I assume is the woman’s husband, I feel envious of their life.

Maybe the small-town life was growing on me.

I never imagined I would like it as much as I do, but leaving this town was starting to feel harder and harder as my time here came to a close.

I pay for the goodies and head out the door, placing my cowboy hat on my head and making my way to my truck. As I drive, I picture my life here.

I could do it. I could write and work still but come home to this small little town and start calling it home.

I could find a little house somewhere, maybe nothing crazy special considering my salary wasn’t that much, but I could make something my own and move there.

Maybe Stetson would want to do that with me.

The feeling in my heart and gut grows with the images that filter through my mind, making me want it more and more.

I was imagining the little house as I approached the long drive that led down to Three Rivers Ranch and smiled at the vision I painted for myself. I could have a big wooden front deck that led to a large wooden door, with a wreath on the front for every season.

I’d have wood floors and pretty, soft rugs on the floors with a deep-set couch that I could lie on. I’d have pictures of my family on an entry table that led into a kitchen that was bright with natural light and had plants all over every spot that had that light.

I smile as I pull my truck up to the main house, noting the other trucks parked there, including Stetson’s.

With an invitation to come in whenever I want, I open the screen door and smile at the sounds of voices and people laughing.

Didi Cash sees me first, and I freeze for a second until she aims a beautiful smile at me. I smile back, waiting for her to approach and returning the gesture when she pulls me into her arms. “It’s good to see you, hon.”

“You too,” I reply, letting her go and following her lead into the family room where everyone is sitting .

Everyone calls out greetings when they see me, and I set the large baked goods box down. Stetson stands, making his way over to me with a wide grin on his face.

“Hey, baby,” he says with a husky voice that I feel reverberate through my veins. I shiver when his arm wraps around my waist, and he pulls me in for a chaste kiss. “What’s with the treats?”

“Well…” I turn, getting everyone’s attention.

Dani and CT look back at me as I look to them.

“I just wanted to celebrate the end of the article and thank you all so much for allowing me to have a peek inside your lives, for letting me be a part of your family for a few weeks, and graciously allowing me to tell your story.” I give a nod and fold my hands together. “I’m truly grateful.”

“Aw.” Dani stands and makes her way through her family, pulling me into a hug. “I’m so glad we’ve gotten to get to know you, Bonnie.” She peeks over to Stetson and grins. “I have a feeling this isn’t the last we’ll see of you.”

I blush but glance at the man I was deeply in love with, and he grins back at me. “I don’t think it is, no.”

“Hell no, it’s not.” He leans over to whisper in my ear, “You’re stuck with me, Helix.”

I turn, my face close to his when I reply, “I’m okay with that.”

Just when I think Stetson might pull me away from the family, he guides me to the couch he was sitting on and has me perched on his lap. I’d feel bad if it weren’t for the fact that Dani copied our movements, sitting on CT’s across from us.

I chat with the family like they’re my own, and guilt needles me as that comfortable feeling hits me. I wish my brother was here, that he would give them the chance to help him recover, that he would take the steps necessary to gain back his life.

Cal Trevors, CT’s dad, distracts me with conversation about the local rodeo, and I chime in, adding my two cents.

“It’s always nice to see different disciplines working together,” he states, nodding at Stetson and me.

“We’ve always been predominately a reining and working cow facility, but the team roping and the cutting he’s doing”—he points to Logan, who was listening to our conversation—“just gives us an even better opportunity to grow. I hope we can see a lot more of you two in the show arena this summer.”

“Well, I do have to head to Kentucky for work next week.” Stetson squeezes my hip, and I interpret that as he was going to miss me.

I knew the feeling. I hadn’t even left yet, and I felt like time was slipping through my fingers.

“But I’m hoping I can come back and keep competing every now and then. ”

“Well, I’m not competing without you, so we’ll ride when we can,” Stetson pipes up, and I turn to look at him, raising a brow.

“You can find someone to cover my spot while I’m gone.”

Stetson’s steady gaze meets mine. “You’re my partner. I’m waiting for you.”

Dani coos beside us and looks to Thea, who’s sitting on the ground, playing some video game with her stepdaughter and another little girl who I think is CT’s niece, and she smiles back at Dani.

But my eyes are trained on this man beside me, on his words and his promises he’s made out loud for all to hear.

He was talking about more than team roping. He was talking about us. That he would willingly wait for me to come home just so we could be together .

I try to hide the tears that well in my eyes as conversation continues around me, but one glance at Didi Cash tells me that she sees right through my hiding, and the smile that graces her face confirms what I already know.

Stetson Cash loves me.