Knotted (Trails of Sin 1)

He reaches for the pistol taped beneath the surface of the table. A pistol we assumed he put there six years ago.

“You’re right. I would’ve come for you.” He yanks the gun free, cocked and aimed at my head. “Thanks for saving me a trip across town.”

He stands and shoves the table aside, leaving three feet of nothingness between us. My heart races.

“Take off your jeans.” He waves the pistol at me. “Everything below the waist.”

A swallow sticks in my throat as I shake my head.

His face reddens, and his hand tightens around the gun. Evidently, he wants to rape me while I’m still breathing. Otherwise, he would’ve squeezed that trigger by now.

“You want it rough, huh?” He steps toward me and tenses, his gaze swinging toward the couch.

“Back up.” Jake rises from his hiding spot and trains the shotgun on Levi’s chest. The fire blazing in his eyes negates the calmness in his approaching steps.

“I’ll shoot her.” Levi points the barrel at my head from two feet away. “Don’t come any closer.”

“Try it.” Jake advances another step.

Levi squeezes the trigger with a hollow click, and the blood drains from his sunken face. He looks at his gun, eyes wide, and tries to shoot me again. And again.

Click. Click. Click. Click.

When he realizes we removed all the bullets, he stumbles back toward the exit, arms up and hands shaking. With a roar, he hurls the pistol at Jake, misses, and yanks open the door.

And slams into another armed cowboy.

Jarret bares his teeth and pistol-whips Levi across the head, knocking him out cold. Then his eyes find mine. “Conor?”

“All good.” I suck in a calming breath. “We knew he’d fail. I prepared myself for this.”

As Jarret restrains Levi’s limp body for transport with duct tape and cable ties, Jake moves into my line of sight.

Crouching at my feet, he sets the shotgun on the floor and gathers my hands in his.

“In another hour, we’ll be able to put this all behind us.” He searches my face and smooths wayward strands of auburn behind my ear. “Go home. We’ll meet you there.”

I open my mouth to argue, but his fingers snake into my hair and capture a fistful.

“Obey me.” His firm grasp punctuates his command.

He and Jarret will drive Levi—alive and bound—to the ravine. It’s a risky transport, but a hidden video camera in the corner of the room recorded them acting in self-defense. The footage won’t be needed unless they get pulled over.

I lean into him and brush our lips together. “Come home to me.”

“Always.”

I take the motorcycle to the ranch, head to the stable, and tack up Ketchup for a ride to the ravine. It’s nearing dusk by the time I get her saddled and into the field.

All the ranch hands have gone home for the day. The lowing of cattle drifts across the south pasture, the tall stalks of grass silent and still in the absence of wind.

As I approach the ridge that leads to the ravine, my fingers turn cold around the reins, and an icy tingle sweeps through my chest. I meant what I said to Jarret. I’m prepared for this. But that doesn’t mean I’m looking forward to watching a man die.

Ketchup climbs the final hill, and I spot Jake’s pickup truck parked near the fire pit at the entrance of the ravine.

I haven’t been here since that night, and the ridge looks so different. More open and bare. Like someone came through here with a bulldozer.

Forty-some feet away, Jake and Jarret hold Levi on his knees at the edge of the bluff that overlooks the ravine. Six years ago, there were so many trees on that overhang we couldn’t stand there. When did it get cleared out?

I tie Ketchup to one of the remaining trees, and my gaze lingers on the charred wood in the fire pit. I can still see Lorne sitting against that log and strumming his guitar. He was here that night to watch over me, to support my relationship with Jake.

Tears blur my vision without warning, and I blink them away.

If he can forgive me for ruining his life, I can forgive him for keeping me at a distance.

I’m so damn ready for him to come home.

Turning toward the bluff, I pick my way along the rocky terrain toward Jake and Jarret. As I breach the highest point, two dump trucks come into view behind them.

“What are you…?” I glance over the edge of the cliff and gasp. “Holy shit.”

The narrow gorge and trickling creek below are gone, replaced with a landfill of dirt and rock. That explains why the trees were cleared away.

“We’re still filling it in.” Jake knots a noose of rope around Levi’s neck while Jarret holds the man still. “The dirt came from the drilling site.”

There must be hundreds of truck loads in there. Mounds of dirt climb halfway up the steep ravine walls.