Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 42859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 214(@200wpm)___ 171(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 214(@200wpm)___ 171(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
“I want to kill him.” Vinny’s hands clenched into fists. They were already cut up from his fight that day.
“Not going to happen. You’ve done all the pummeling you’re allowed to do for the time being. I suggest you go and wash up or do whatever it is you have to do to get your shit together. I’ll go and talk to Gabe.”
“Since when are you the levelheaded one?” Vinny asked.
“Since you were an asshole and decided to go down a few pegs.” Archie stepped out into the night.
When they’d gotten the call from Annalise to go down to the sheriff’s office because of what happened, he’d been so pissed.
He’d known about the inspection though, and knew Gabe was worried. His friend acted like he didn’t care, but Archie knew different.
Gabe put himself in the role as their protector, and the truth was, he’d never left it. He put the world on his shoulders, and he hated there was nothing he could do to make this right.
“Hey, big guy,” Archie said.
Gabe shook his head. “I’m fine. You don’t have to walk on eggshells around me. I’m good.”
“I don’t know. You seemed pretty pissed in there.”
“Nah, not pissed, just dealing with each problem at a time. I took it out on Vinny.”
“We both know we would’ve gutted the guy for touching Annalise,” Archie said.
“Oh, I get it. There’s no doubt about it. I’m just getting my head together because her stepfucker is going to cause us problems, and we need to be one step ahead.”
“I don’t see why we would have an issue with this inspection, Gabe. We’ve already done hundreds of them, even before we opened. We always make sure we’re ahead of the game. Those guys always liked to come when we weren’t ready. Now they can never find anything wrong.”
“We run a tight ship. It’s what I’m hoping for.”
“What aren’t you saying?” Archie asked.
“It’s fine.”
“Damn it, Gabe. I know you like to play mother hen, but now isn’t the time. We’re all fully grown men. You don’t need to protect us anymore.”
“We’ll pass the inspection. I have no doubt, but I fear how far he’s willing to go. We know those men were sent by him, Archie. It’s the start. We can’t be all over this ranch. We can’t protect all of the cattle, the house, the barns, even our workers at all times.”
“You think he’s willing to take matters to the next step?”
“I think a man who is desperate for what he wants is willing to do whatever it takes for a specific piece of ass.”
“Don’t say shit like that.”
“Annalise is not a piece of ass to me, Archie. She’s our woman, but you’ve got to be ready for this guy. For what he’s going to want.”
Archie wanted to tell Gabe that he was overthinking it, expecting the worst-case scenario. The only reason they’d always been one step ahead of the inspections was because of Gabe. He always expected the worst, and oftentimes, he was right.
“Shit.” He looked out toward their land, their dream. “I’m not giving her up.”
“Wouldn’t ask you to. I’m not going to give her up either. She means way too much to me.”
“Then what the fuck do we do?” Archie asked.
“We wait and handle every single problem that comes our way, all the while, we need to go after him,” Gabe said.
“How? We don’t have the kind of money to hire a private investigator.” He knew, he’d looked.
After Gabe had taken that phone call, Archie had known they were going to need some help. The cost of a PI was way too much.
“We’re going to have to do things our way,” Gabe said. “We go backward. We know her landlord was approached and threatened with a similar inspection. So we start to find a path, we further the evidence, and when the time comes, we shut the stepfucker down for good.”
“Stepfucker?” Archie asked.
“He doesn’t deserve a name.”
“I like it. It fits.” He nodded, repeating the word over and over. “You want me to head out and go and talk to the landlord tonight?” The sooner they started this, the quicker it would be over.
“No. He’ll be expecting that. We’ve got to give it a couple of days,” Gabe said. “Let me come up with a plan, and we’ll handle this our way.”
Annalise came to the front door. “Dinner is on the table.”
“Woman, you work miracles,” Archie said.
She smiled. “Is everything okay here?”
“Peachy,” Gabe said, going to her, pulling her in his arms.
“I’m so sorry about what happened.”
Gabe pressed a finger to her lips and shook his head. “No, do not apologize for what Vinny did. You were scared, and he protected you. I got no problem with that. You’re not allowed off the ranch until I say so, though.”
“Wait, what?”
“We’re going to protect you, and that, babe, is an order.”