Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 69534 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69534 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Elisha pulled back with a flush to her face and replied, “We plan on it.”
Searcy looked at her mother. “Mom, you won’t win, then you’ll just be stuck with a lawyer bill. Trust me when I say, don’t pursue this.”
Searcy grabbed my hand, and I guided us out, Harrington and Elisha close on our heels.
I walked right up to my bike, and my brother walked to his Jag.
I snatched Searcy’s helmet off the seat and deposited it on her head.
When I grabbed my own, I looked up to see Harrington looking at me over his car, which he’d just helped Elisa into.
“I should be thanking you for not giving in,” he said.
I shrugged. “We didn’t have anything in common.”
“I won’t thank you, though, because you hurt her.” He paused. “And I’m not sure how to feel about that because I’m both mad as hell, and happy as fuck.”
I threw my leg over my bike and reached for Searcy’s hand. “Hop on, darlin’.”
She did, flashing me her white lace panties as she did.
She was never wearing a dress on the back of my bike again.
I liked seeing all that beautiful skin exposed, but the thought of it getting fucked up because I didn’t have her legs protected sent chills down my spine.
“Have a good one, Harrington!” Searcy waved.
I grinned and started the bike up, not bothering to wait for his reply.
Twenty-Eight
Every day I try to figure out where a bruise came from. It’s like bruise clues.
—Text from Scottie to Posy
POSY
The court date for Taryn’s claim on the money came and went.
With enough witnesses saying he gave the ticket to Searcy of his own free will, the trial had been short and sweet.
The judge had sided with Searcy, and we walked out of the courtroom an hour and a half later with smiles on our faces.
Who didn’t have a smile was Taryn, who looked angry as hell and ready to take it out on Searcy the moment she stepped out of the courthouse.
I stepped in front of him, my anger at his audacity palpable, and said, “You even think about trying anything, and I’ll pull out every tooth from your face and make you swallow them.”
“You can’t touch me,” he snorted.
“I can, and I will.”
Taryn’s jaw clenched, and I knew he wasn’t going to let this go.
He was going to make this into a big deal, and I was going to have to kill him.
Which I would do, only with a hell of a lot more careful planning than suddenly and without pause in front of a courthouse.
Taryn gave one last glare over my shoulder then turned away, his fists clenched.
Searcy came out from around me and stood by my side while we watched him march away. “He’s not going to let that go.”
“No,” I agreed. “He’s not.”
Scottie was home, which meant that the Hodges and the Hicks were partying. And by partying, I mean getting some ranch work done as a family.
We were mucking out stalls, getting horses fed, waters changed, and mending fences—though only Kent and I were doing the fence mending.
“Are you really marrying my sister?” Kent asked, looking at me through some cheap pair of sunglasses I’d had in my truck.
I paused in my fence pulling and said, “Would that be okay with you?”
“Searcy deserves to be happy,” he admitted. “She’s spent her entire life taking care of us in one way or another. Hell, she practically raised herself.”
I knew that, so I didn’t comment.
We worked together in silence before he said, “I think I’d be okay with it.”
I grinned. “We’d have to spend a little bit more time together, but I definitely see this going toward the marriage direction.”
He nodded, then stopped what he was doing completely before saying, “You should tell her that.”
My brows rose. “I should?”
“She thinks no one loves her. She has too much baggage. First our dad, then our mom. She has me, Calliope, Koda, and Anders. But she has no one else. Until you,” he admitted. “If you love her, you should tell her. She needs to hear it.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You love her, right?”
I wasn’t going to lie to this kid. Not about his sister, who’d raised him.
“I love her,” I admitted.
“She will fight you on it,” he pointed out. “Searcy protects herself. Thinks that she has to. You should tell her that she doesn’t have to anymore. That’s your job.”
We went back to fence pulling after that.
We only stopped when it was well past dinnertime and we couldn’t see any longer without the daylight.
When we rode up to the barn, it was to see Malone’s Beemer parked in the middle of the drive with Searcy, Scottie, Calliope, and Anders all standing there listening.
“What’s going on?” I asked when I dismounted next to them.
Malone hastily stepped away. “I was just telling your ‘fiancée’ that her mother pulled out. There are no more lawsuits against her.”