Chasing McCree (26 page)

Chapter 26

Chase

Something didn’t feel right. From the
moment I got in the truck with Sam, I was worried. I wanted to
confront Tom, but leaving Briar alone made me feel ill.

I loved her more than I thought I could
love someone. More than I loved my ranch. I knew I was young, but I
also knew that no amount of time would ever change the way I felt
for her. Briar was everything I wanted.

Sam patted my back, “You’re
quiet.”

“
It feels wrong leaving
her.”

“
Welcome to being in love,”
he chuckled. “She’ll be fine.”

I almost told him to turn back, but
kept my mouth shut. He was right. I was turning into a
worrier.

Sam pulled the truck into the yard of
Grant’s house. It was like a mini version of the big house, only
newer. Holly had planted flowers in the front at the porch and
painted the shutters yellow. Grant had thought it was a little
girly, but I thought I had a nice sunny appearance. Sometimes I
think it made the big house look like an ugly
monstrosity.

My cousin was sitting on the front
stoop, drinking a beer. He had a shotgun in hand, and his spurred
boot planted on Tom’s ass. He’d hogtied the man and left him to
bleed on the porch.

Sam cuffed him and cut the ropes.
Checked his leg. It was just a graze, and he wasn’t bleeding enough
for concern.

The interrogation was short.

Tom wasn’t talking.

I wanted to get home.

Grant shook his head, “Shoulda shot him
in the ass so he thought of me every time he tried to sit
down.”

Tom glared, but didn’t still say
anything.

Sam spoke to Holly, who was a little
shaken, but more mad than anything. She said that Tom busted the
back window and let himself in the house. Grant heard him and
chased him into the yard, firing so he didn’t get away.

Sam was getting ready to load him in
the truck, but I had a question that would be answered. “Why’d you
do that to my family?”

Tom, a man I thought we could trust,
tried to shrug out of Sam’s hold, but the sheriff didn’t give him
any leeway.

“
Come on,” I got in his
face and lowered my voice. “Only a coward can’t face me. Is that
what you are?”

“
You pay good, but they pay
better.” He didn’t look me in the eye.

Grant cursed. “They, who?”

“
Competition,” Tom snuffled
his feet in the dirt, but didn’t get anywhere. “Was our job to
scare you off so the big buyers could move in. You got a nice chunk
of land here, shame it’s wasted on a kid like you.”

He was being paid to sabotage my ranch?
“And what, I get scared and run away? My whole family just up and
leaves? We’re the McCree’s. If you know anything about us, you
should know we’ve survived worse than this. Drought, death, money
troubles, forest fires… Long before you came, we decided nothing
would run us off.”

“
You listen to too many
stories boy.” Tom looked at Grant. “This kid has a hard
head.”

“
Harder the better,” Grant
nodded and smiled at me, finishing off his beer.

Sam led Tom to the truck, “Time to
go.”

“
Too bad one of you is
soft,” Tom said, looking back at me. “City girls don’t last long
out here.”

“
What?” I headed after Sam,
my eyes locked on Tom. “What did you say?”

Tom laughed, twisting around in Sam’s
hold. “City girls don’t last long out here.”

I grabbed the front of his shirt and
shook him. “Rick said that.”

“
Yup,” he smiled. “How do
you think I got all those fat cows to your daddy’s grave? It was
his idea to torch the barn. Too bad,” he looked down the road where
the lights of the big house shimmered dimly in the distance. “She
seemed like a nice girl too.”

Sam was moving, shouting orders. But I
didn’t hear anything he said. I spun in a circle and laid eyes on
Grant’s horse tied to the post outside the house.

I ran, swung up on to his back and cut
through the yard. “Yah!”

Across the field was fastest. I’d beat
Sam to the house. The truck couldn’t jump fences.

Rain pelted my back. The horse listened
to me, sensing my urgency. We tore through the field and plowed
through the creek. The storm raged around us. Horse hooves
thundered against the ground. But I was oblivious to every
sound.

I knew Rick was involved. I never
should have left Briar. She didn’t know how to use a gun. She had
an awesome right hook.

But leaving my cheerleader to fight a
ranch hand, who was probably armed?

In all my life I’d never prayed so
hard.

Chapter 27

Briar

I curled up on the living room couch
with Whiskers. Stinker had had another bath and hadn’t gotten into
anything too funky, so I let him join us. There was an old movie on
I watched when I was little with Grandma about a cat and a dog
living in the wilderness. It wasn’t much of a distraction, but I
knew before long Chase would be back and everything would be
okay.

The house was quiet. The wind howled
outside, thunder shaking the windows. There was something else
though, on the wind. It was faint, and I might not have heard it if
I didn’t strain my ears.

I pushed off the couch and ran to the
window, pulling aside the drapes.

There was a man in the yard. I watched,
thinking he was probably just working in the stables. But then I
saw something else move. Something big.

A horse.

Firefly!

I went into the kitchen pulled a
raincoat off the hooks by the door and threw it on. It looked like
Mac. He didn’t know Firefly. She was too wild for anyone to ride. I
threw open the kitchen door.

The icy rain hit me in the face. I
staggered backwards. It felt like needles piercing my cheeks and
lips. I forged on, taking careful steps and grabbing onto railings
and parts of the fencing to keep upright.

I pulled the corral gate open, gasping
at the crack of a whip.

Firefly was frantically trying to shake
off a bridle. Her head whipped back and forth, and her hooves beat
the ground, kicking up mud. She sounded terrified. I wondered if
horses could cry. If they could, she would be crying now she was so
scared.

The man cracked the whip again and
shouted.

“
Mac, stop.” I
screamed.

He turned. “What are you doing out
here? Trying to freeze to death?”

I backed up a step. It was Rick. “I’m
saving this horse from you. Drop the whip and leave her
alone.”

He cracked it again, grinning. “She
needs to learn who is the boss.”

“
Not this way.” I motioned
at the bridle. “Take it off of her, now, before she hurts
herself.”

“
You don’t know anything
about horses, so let me do my job and go back inside.” He turned
with a nasty curse.

“
You’re right, I don’t know
anything.” Hell, he didn’t want to piss me off. I was tired and
cold. I wanted my boyfriend to get back so I didn’t have to be
alone. All in all, I was ready to pitch a bitch fit. “I do know
that you’re scaring her, and if you don’t let Firefly go I’m going
to have to…fire you.”

His eyes narrowed, cutting into me over
his shoulder. “Excuse me? Who made you boss, your boyfriend? He’s
just a kid playing a man.”

“
He’s more of a man than
you are.” I spat, letting go of the fencing and slowly approaching.
“Come here, Firefly.”

She heard me and stopped.

“
Damn, fool.” Rick cracked
the whip and sent the horse into another frenzy, barreling past
me.

“
Stop!” I whirled on him.
My teeth were chattering. My hair was soaked. And my boots were
ruined. But I all I cared about at this moment was a defenseless
animal. “What is your problem?”

He started towards me, cracking the
whip. “McCree, that’s what, and you. I’m sick of taking orders from
a kid. He thinks he knows everything.”

My eyes stayed on his hands, watching
the whip. I hoped Firefly didn’t accidently trample me if she came
my way again, because no way was I taking my eyes off him. “Chase
will be the first person to tell you that he doesn’t know
everything. You’ve got him all wrong.”

His hand lowered, and I took a risk. I
turned my back on Rick. My attention focused on Firefly. She’d
calmed down again, just enough for me to get close. I reached up to
grip the bridle, which wasn’t even fully fastened. It gave way,
slowly slipping off.

A hand curled into the back of my
raincoat and my feet left the ground. I couldn’t stop myself from
hitting the fence. My head spun. Rick’s blurred figure appeared in
front of me and his laughter hurt my ears.

“
I’m a hell of a lot
smarter. I knew you’d take the bait. Getting you out of the house
with Chase gone was way too easy.” Rick stood over me with his
hands on his hips and a satisfied smile on his face. “I’ll make you
go away. Not even the McCree’s hounds will find you.”

“
You wouldn’t hurt
me.”

“
I can shoot a cow in the
head, and I can make you disappear.” He backed up a step and tilted
his head to the side. “Get up, walk into the yard and stand facing
the house.”

I gulped, nodded, pushed to my feet and
limped past him. It wasn’t hard to pretend that I was injured. Once
I was in the yard, I’d run for the house and lock myself
inside.

He stayed close behind me though. His
hand came down on my shoulder with bruising force.

“
Seems a shame to waste a
pretty girl,” Rick’s heavy sigh was followed by a soft
click…

My heart leapt into my throat. I spun,
kicking out my leg. I hit him square in the chest and he grunted,
stumbling back.

A small gun landed in the mud between
us.

Rick spit, throwing the whip to the
ground. “You just can’t go quietly, can you city girl?”

I dove for the gun, beating him to it,
and threw it as far away as I could. The darkness swallowed it up.
At least he couldn’t shoot me.

But he could hit me.

Rick swung, his fist sailing for my
head.

I ducked, he missed me twice, the third
time he shoved me backwards into the mud, grabbing my wrists in
each hand. I kicked both feet out, pressing against his chest, and
sent him flying over my head. Then I was on my feet, tearing for
the gate. I got it unlatched and shoved it open, slipping. I
staggered. My knees hit the cold ground first and then my
hands.

At the last second I laid flat and
rolled to the side, sticking my leg out. Rick tripped and flew
forward.

I drew in a deep breath and screamed,
“Help!”

I got out two more screams. But then
Rick was behind me, clamping his hand over my mouth and dragging me
backwards toward one of the trucks.

A gunshot went off.

I screamed, squinting through the rain
to see a figure headed up the drive on foot.

“
Let her go Rick,” Chase’s
voice was almost carried off by the wind. He lowered the gun and
strode across the yard.

I didn’t just go quietly, I elbowed
Rick in the ribs and shoved away from him. As soon as I was out of
the way, Chase raised the gun again and pointed it at Rick. “I
could shoot you right now, and I’d be within my rights. Trespassing
and what, attempted kidnapping? Murder?”

Rick didn’t answer him.

I, on the other hand, was feeling
chatty. “I found him whipping Firefly.” I looked at Rick, noting
I’d busted his lip and winded him. Shame I hadn’t broken anything
important. I still could, and I’m sure Chase wouldn’t
mind…

“
Tom told me everything,
about you being paid by buyers interested in my land.” Chase
lowered the gun a little. “The fire too.”

Rick spit blood onto the muddy ground.
“Yeah, there are several interested buyers and we’re the key to
what they want. You won’t last, kid.”

I felt the blood drain from my face.
“You’re sabotaging the McCree’s?”

“
Let the big boys buy your
ranch and go back to school.” Rick said.

“
I won’t be young forever.”
Chase said as a truck pulled into the drive. Sam leapt out of the
cab, gun drawn and ordered Rick on his knees.

Rick struggled and grunted as Sam
cuffed him. “You’re in over your head. One weak paycheck and you’ll
be done.”

Chase grinned. “Nah, it’ll take more
than that with the investments my family has made over the
years.”

Rick’s eyebrows went up. “What
investments?”

“
Oil you asshole.” Sam
tugged him to his feet and searched him. “Lots and lots of oil.
Didn’t you do your homework?”

Rick looked dumbstruck.
“What?”

Chase smirked. “Most of us are
ranchers, but there was one McCree that struck it rich down in
Texas. Didn’t have any heirs, so his money went to his nephew when
he died.”