Jake nodded. “Glad she’s getting help. You need anything, you tell me.” The big sheriff stepped away. “And watch out for that Atkinson, I don’t trust him.”
“He offered to buy our place.”
Jake paused and turned to look at him thoughtfully. “Did he?”
“Could be he just wants to extend his holdings,” Max offered.
“Rumor has it he’s been selling off most of his livestock.”
He had? Max should have known about that. But then, he’d been occupied lately.
“So why does he want to expand?” Max asked.
“Exactly. Might just have a word with Alec Malone, see if he’s had any offers from Atkinson lately.”
Alec owned a large ranch on the other side of Atkinson.
Max snorted. “He’d have more luck getting water out of a rock than he would getting Alec to sell out.”
Jake nodded. “Probably get run off the property by one of those crazy brothers of his. I’ll talk to him anyway. They won’t dare try to run me off by taking pot-shots at me.”
“Good luck with that.”
He was going to need it. Alec Malone had five younger brothers, and they were each crazier than the next. And they didn’t like strangers. Although if anyone could hold their own, it was Jake.
It would take an extra sort of crazy to go up against Jake.
***
“So why are you frustrated, Savannah?” Molly asked.
Hmm . . . let’s see. Because she couldn’t leave the house? Because her men didn’t sleep in the same bed as her? Because they were still treating her like she was fragile? Because she wasn’t getting laid?
“I thought things would have changed by now. For the better.”
“In what way?”
“I suppose I thought I’d be able to open the front door without having a panic attack.”
Molly sat forward. “You tried?” There was a small frown on her face.
“Yes. Didn’t even make it to the door before I started to get stressed. Then Max opened the door from the outside, and, in my panic I thought he was Stanton, I totally freaked out. I tried to hit him.”
“What did he do?”
“He just crouched down next to me and started talking. I can’t even remember what he said. I can just remember his calm voice.”
“Good. He handled it right, then. You shouldn’t have tried doing that without my input. You can’t push yourself too fast, Savannah.”
“But I feel like I’m not getting anywhere.”
“Where do you want to be? Besides not being able to leave the house what is frustrating you so much?”
“I want . . . I want my relationship with Max and Logan to go back to what it was. We don’t even sleep in the same bed anymore. One of them sleeps on the floor, and the other sleeps upstairs in our bedroom.”
“Why is that?”
She glanced down at her clenched hands. “In the beginning, it was so I didn’t have to go up and down the stairs with my injuries, and they didn’t want to sleep in bed with me in case they hurt me.”