Best Friend's Ex Box Set

Coupled with the fact that Colt was certain the person that he’d seen around his barn was not Bill, a flicker of doubt caused me to wonder if Coates wasn’t actually the one behind what was going on after all. I figured Bill had initially set my barn on fire because I’d called PETA and that he’d intentionally killed his horse so they couldn’t prove that he’d abused it, but the truth was PETA wouldn’t have come to my farm to investigate that one horse.

They went to his farm and investigated the rest of his animals, just like they should have.

I still wasn’t fully convinced, especially considering how aggressive he just gotten against me. The mark on my arm that I could feel pulsing with pain was proof enough that Bill was trouble and nothing else. But I was beginning to waver in my confidence in his guilt regarding my barn for the first time since all this started.

That’s when I realized I needed to tell Colt about the encounter.

Which meant telling him about my arm.

Chapter Thirty

Colt

“He did what?”

“Colt. Calm down.”

“Calm down? Cheyenne, he put his hands on you. This is done. He’s crossed a line he should’ve never crossed.”

Cheyenne pulled up into my driveway, got out of her car, and ran into my arms, and neither of us cared if Tif was watching. All I knew was that she was back on the property and that it meant she was staying, that she trusted everything I’d told her that night, and that I’d be able to take care of her this way.

But the moment she winced, I knew something was wrong.

“Listen to me, he wasn’t acting like himself,” she said. “He was really tired—sick-looking—but he was raving, accusing me of the same types of things that have been happening to us. Issues with his horses, sabotaging his barn.”

“He put his fucking hands on you, Cheyenne. Rules go out the window,” I said. I was absolutely infuriated. There were red crescents on her arms where his fingernails had dug in and a bruised imprint of a hand on her skin. I’d rip his fucking head off then feed him to the wolves. He should’ve known better than to put his grimy, disgusting hands on anyone, but he sure as hell wasn’t getting away with putting them on Cheyenne.

“If you want to handle this properly, then call the sheriff. But if you go after him, we don’t stand a chance of catching anyone tonight, Colt. If you get arrested for aggression and assault or shooting someone to death, it’s not gonna do anyone any good.”

“He hurt you!”

“And thanks to you, I was equipped to defend myself and run him off. He’ll get what’s coming to him. One problem at a time,” she said.

“This problem trumps my barn.”

“And that’s what makes you a good man, Colt. I’m fine. I swear. I’m actually feeling kind of empowered. Right now, we need to figure out if these cameras are gonna even work. So, you didn’t tell anyone you were having them installed?” she asked.

“No. Only the sheriff and Michael. No one else,” I said.

“Then let’s focus on that, and when we go to the sheriff with what we find, then we’ll show him my arm.”

I was shaking with anger, and every single time I looked at her arm, I got a new surge of fury and adrenaline. She’d talked me down, if only because she was now intent on using my cameras to figure out what was going on, but she wasn’t leaving my sight. Bill had crossed a line he was going to pay for, whether he was behind this barn shit or not, and I knew that with Cheyenne’s injury, along with what Michael had found out, he was sure to be convicted of something.

Cheyenne fell asleep fairly early, exhausted from the excitement of the day. After tending to the horses, she was ready to shower and sleep. I ran my fingers through her hair until her eyes were fluttering closed, then I pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“I’ll come crawl in with you after a little while,” I said into her ear. She nuzzled her cheek against my lips which brought a warmth to my heart I hadn’t felt in a while, and I was so glad she had decided to stay and decided to trust me when I told her I could protect her if she’d just give me the chance.

I was still on overdrive and had been so all day, not letting her out of my sight. I poured myself a mug of coffee and went to sit at my computer. I’d had really nice security cameras put in, complete with night vision access. Everything was crystal clear on my screen, and I knew the perpetrator didn’t stand a chance. If they were really after Cheyenne and her presence had made us targets, then they’d be back.

This time, I was waiting for them.

I sat back in my chair and kept my eyes glued to the screen. I had the cameras automatically toggle every fifteen seconds to a different camera on the property, which gave me enough time to analyze the screen before it hopped to another view. Slide after slide popped up with nothing happening except the cool fall wind rustling the leaves from the trees. There was a part of me that was ready to give up and go slide in next to Cheyenne. The softness of her warm skin was beckoning to my body, but my need to protect her was shouting over my incessant bodily desires.

This needed to be finished, if only for her sake.

With the conversation Cheyenne said she’d exchanged with Bill and the way he confronted her, even going so far as to barge into her home and put his hands on her, I knew he’d try something soon. Even though I was convinced the arson on my barn wasn’t him, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t come after her again.

And when he did, I’d be ready. I would put my hands on him just like he did Cheyenne, just to see how he liked it.