“Enjoy what?”
“You’ll see.” He stepped out of my way, waved his hand, and walked back to the truck.
I was about to put my hand on the pad by the door when I heard him yell, “Rebel, hold up!”
Exasperated, I spun around. “What now?”
“My number as well as Tee-Tee’s, Shadow’s, and Grinder’s are already programmed in,” he said, handing me a cell phone. “But don’t call him unless it’s an emergency.”
16
Edge
I checked my mobile as soon as I got back in the truck, brassed the hell off that I still hadn’t heard back from Hammer. It was too early for me to ring him again, so I drove over to the barn. I was too late to make the morning chore ride out, but I could check the board and try to catch up.
I walked into the barn manager’s office. “Mornin’, Boon.”
“Jesus, you sound more like a Yank every day, Edge. Might even be pickin’ up a Texas accent.”
“Ah, don’t say it if you don’t mean it, Boon,” I fired back with an exaggerated drawl.
“You’re late.”
“Yeah. Sorry. Had to give my girl a ride to work.”
“Heard somethin’ about that.”
“Yeah? Who from?”
Boon raised his eyebrows as though I’d insulted him by suggesting he didn’t know everything that happened on the ranch—sometimes even before it happened.
“Tee-Tee told you, didn’t she?” I’d been teasing, but the look on his face told me I’d hit on something.
“The crew is headed up to Schoolhouse if you want to be of any help this morning.”
“Thanks, Boon.” I’d have time to tease him about Tee-Tee later. Morning chores didn’t wait.
Schoolhouse was a pasture I was familiar with, and not in a good way. Over a year ago, I’d ridden out with Quint and a couple of the other cowboys when we were ambushed by a gang out to kidnap someone who was at the ranch under MI6 protection.
Not only had the way I rode from that day on changed, the already over-the-top security system got even more complex. Turned out it wasn’t as compromised as it had appeared that night. As we later learned, Decker had it programmed in such a way that even if it was disarmed, there were drones and cameras all over the ranch, recording every move made. Less than two hours after the ambush, all ten of the bastards who thought they’d gotten the better of us were stone-cold dead. I couldn’t help but smile. That had been a damn good night. Nothing I liked better than putting evil-doers down. Well, almost nothing. I liked shagging a whole hell of a lot better.
Thinking about shagging made me think about Rebel. If she thought I was joking earlier, she was in for a big surprise. I’d warned her about consequences, and I intended to deliver on my word. Stopping myself from fucking her after that would be the ultimate test of my control—one I didn’t intend to fail. I’d just make that the last of the consequences.
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end when I heard the sound of someone on horseback headed my way. I spun my horse around and drew my gun, only to put it back when I saw it was Grinder approaching.
“Tried to catch you before you left the barn.”
“What’s up?”
He rode up next to me. “We need to talk, mate.”
“Get on with it, then.”
“I found something in Rebel’s car last night.”
I motioned for him to continue.
“A gun. Same caliber as what killed Possum.”