Chapter 42

"This was a good idea."Ace smiles as he walks along the front of the rickhouse. It looks more like a rustic wedding reception space and not an old-as-dirt storage spot for bourbon.

"You could put some barrels over there." I point toward the side exit. Use that as a selfie spot for your guests, then you'll get a great backdrop of the full racks. And during the day, with the double doors open, the lighting would be good.

He eyes where I'm talking about. "I'll send Griz out here. Make sure there are no more snakes lurking at the end of the rows. That's the last thing I need—a fucking rattlesnake appearance. It's bad enough that you and Grant won't be here." He gives me a tight-lipped smile. "I'll miss him. And you too. But he wasn't built to be alone. Punished himself for long enough trying to stay that way, but my brother was always meant to be with someone like you, Laney."

I give the oldest Foxx brother a "you should listen to your own advice" smile and then wrap my arms around his shoulders. He doesn't return it, but he doesn't pull away either. "I don't think any of you are meant to be alone. There's too much love in this place."

He leans back and squeezes my shoulder. "You're family. Which means we've got you now. No matter what."

Maybe it's the way he says it, like that's already a foregone conclusion. Or that he says it with that damn shoulder grip the Foxx men do, but it makes my chest feel heavy and my eyes water. If he says anything else sentimental, I just might burst into tears.

"Alright, I need to get Twerk back to the stables."

"Twerk?"

"I'll give you one guess at who's thoroughbred he might be," he deadpans.

"I'm not even a little bit surprised." I smile.

"Sir Twerks-a-Lot. That's what she named a horse that was bred to win a triple crown."

I laugh at how easily he's riled by her. "Brilliant marketer. I'd bet on a horse with a name like that."

"Brilliant people are always slightly unhinged, so I suppose it tracks." He knocks on the door before he tips his chin. "Close up behind you?"

I nod, pulling together the last of the packaging that the string lights had come in. "Oh, and Laney, for what it's worth. I know that what brought you here was ugly, but I'm still happy you found your way to us."

Fucking Ace. My eyes blur, and I tuck my lips behind my teeth. I wait until he's out of sight before I let myself fall apart. Puffing out my cheeks, I let out an exhale slow enough to calm my shit down. Then I chuckle to myself as I hear his horse whinny. They might not be cowboys, but Grant was right when he said horsemen and bourbon boys.

I turn toward the open double doors when I hear Julep barking. Walking a little closer, I can't see much other than the lights from the main house in the distance.

"I'm here, Jules," I call out and purse my lips to whistle. It"s not as loud and polished as Grant's, but it does the trick because she comes barreling into the rickhouse almost straight past me. She must be coming to see what's taking me so long. When she barks this time, it's loud, like she's talking to me, but more aggressive than her usual greeting.

"What's wrong, girl?" I look out into the dark from where she just came, and I can't see anything. "Where's your dad? Is he back yet?"

But she stands in the same spot, no butt wiggling or rolling to her back for a belly rub, which is odd. Instead, she sits tall in place, just barking at me, loudly and with conviction.

"Alright. Let"s go," I say to her just as I flip off the lights.

The loud pop of a firecracker has me stopping. My body tenses as my heart pounds. I look out again at the dark, open space, and the other rickhouses in the distance are closed up, no lights on. The main house is lit, but far enough away that if Griz was lighting off fireworks, I'd see it in the sky. I glance at the workbench where I left my water bottle, but no phone. Shit. I left it on the counter at Grant's.

Julep sits next to where I stand, waiting for me to make a decision. Follow the sound or wait and listen. Another one goes off. When I reach to flip the lights back on, her low growl nudges at the nerves stirring in the pit of my gut. That wasn't a firecracker. Firecrackers pop off more than once, in succession, and it would have lit up the sky. Even if it was small.

Goosebumps rise along my skin before I even feel the chill that caused it. Something isn't right. I look toward the stables, and I can't see anything more than the lights outlining the stalls. I swallow down the nerves as an old pickup truck pulls up slowly, with only its yellow parking lights on. It comes to a stop at the edge of the driveway.

Julep growls by my side as the person hops out of the driver"s seat. "Dave? Is that you?"

But it's not Dave, Tim, or any other of the rickhouse guys who answer. Instead, what rings out is a voice I didn't want to remember. One I've only heard once and only a few words at that. But those few words have haunted me. "Been looking for you, my little thief."

My stomach sinks, and I'm instantly lightheaded. But I don't wait to see if I'm going to wake up. I hit the lights, making it dark as night, and hustle back inside the rickhouse, whisper-shouting, "Julep, come." She follows me down the main aisle to the farthest rack aisle from the door. Even if he flips the lights back on, this is still the darkest spot here.

Julep growls another low hum, her snout pulled back.

I pet her head and slowly wrap my hand around her snout. She needs to keep quiet. I softly say, "Quiet, Jules." She listens. And we wait.

The silence as we crouch low evolves into a loud static. I struggle to listen. Please go away.

Mere moments tick by before the lights flip on. "You hiding like this isn't exactly what I expectin'. Hunting is my favorite part, little thief." He sounds too calm when he says, "This is going to be more fun than I hoped." He shuffles his feet. "I'm going to find you. And it's going to be so fulfillin' when I do." His voice echoes in the large space. "Woowee! I plan on playing with you for a good, long while too."

I shuffle back, my hand still around Julep's mouth, trying to keep her as quiet as possible.

"Come out, come out wherever you are, pretty little thief."

My hands and arms shake as the nerves and adrenaline mingle. If he walks down the other side of the building, away from where we are, we'll be able to get out through the side exit. Julep rumbles a low growl, my hand muffling it, but she still hums. She knows there is danger.

"You took my last little plaything. And all my favorite parts of the others." The echo of his voice gets louder as he moves down the main aisle. "I had a very special piece of flesh filleted and brining for a while. It would have been real nice with the little bits of you I plan on sampling."

I underestimated the level of monster this man was, but I won't let what he's saying seep in. I need to get out of here. I try shifting closer to the other side of the aisle. I just need to get to that side door. But my foot hits something and it clanks against the concrete. Shit, shit, shit.

It's a copper whiskey thief that someone left here. If nothing else, and he gets close enough, I'll use it like a bat. When I bend down, I hear a faint sound of buzzing like the cicadas that have been making noise all summer. My fingertips graze the cool cooper, but I freeze as the buzz is drowned out by the louder shuffle of shoes. Oh no.

"Awww," he says with sarcasm. "You didn't make that very hard, my pretty thief." It's like being doused with ice water. I don't move a muscle, but they tremble on their own. My fingers get tighter as they wrap around the long copper neck.

His tall, lanky stature stands at the opening of the aisle and slowly starts looming closer. He has a gun in his left hand, its barrel pointed at me as he casually motions it in a circle. "You made a noise," he tsks, like I flunked his test of how to hide from a psychopath. "That's the only rule when you're hiding. You stay quiet. Thought you would have been smarter than that." Tilting his head to the side, he canvasses me from head to toe. "Daughter of an FBI agent and all."

My body coils at hearing him speak about me like he knows me. Looking at me like he has any right to. I swallow the nerves that are clogging my throat.

"You can do hard things, Laney. Never forget it."

I grip onto Julep's harness. This monster doesn't know me. He's simply reading off facts. Surface-level details that could be found within a few minutes of a Google search if he had my real name. Which he did. But it's when he raises the gun at me that I hold my breath. I tense up and my fingers ease just enough on Julep's harness. And she feels it. She doesn't wait for the command as she launches at him, fast, precise, and catches him completely off-guard.

When she makes contact, I scream out. The gun he held drops and fires as it hits the cement. Julep's whipping head movements create a frenzy of sounds. Growls from her and howls from him. She takes him to the ground, jerking his forearm back as he yells out and curses. I cover my mouth, panicking about my next moves. I need to get away. But there's no fucking way I'm leaving here without my dog.

The gun.

I trip over myself, trying to move fast enough to it.

Julep crying out pulls my attention, and I watch as he manages to get a kick into her somewhere and she releases him. She whines, favoring the back leg where she landed. But that doesn't stop her as she tries to move back in for another bite.

I will not let this happen.

With the gun resting five feet from the wailing and bleeding monster of a man who has no other plan than to hurt me, I make a run for it. Gripping the long copper whiskey thief in my hand, my feet slap the cement without any more hesitation.

"I don't fucking think so!" he shouts as he drives his shoulder into my gut, knocking the wind out of me as we both hit the ground. The copper whiskey thief clatters to the ground on impact and slides into an empty, ground-level rack where a bourbon barrel must have been.

I try to suck in a breath and gather my wits to move. I roll my body into the main aisle and will myself to keep moving away from where we collided, but that's as far as I get, because two things happen. Almost at exactly the same time. The buzzing sound I'd heard of what I thought were cicadas wasn't a buzz at all, but a rattle. A coiled-up, very pissed-off snake juts out and connects with the monster's ankle once, twice, and then goes back for a third bite, where it latches on.

"Motherfucker," he spits out. In another gurgling moan, he yells, "Can't feel my fucking leg!"

His eyes meet mine for a split second. I'm almost stunned at the sight of what's happening just a few feet from me. I need to get out of here. But it"s the flickering of a flame and its heat that jolts me and has me finally moving. Up from my side, rolling to my knees, and up as fast as possible. I should have known that gunfire and an entire room of highly flammable alcohol are going to cause one very lethal thing to happen. And it's already begun. I hustle back to Julep, because the way he's still wailing and now barely moving, he's no longer the threat. It's the heat that's licking closer that has my attention now.

My body gets jerked forward at the same time an exploding sound goes off to my right. If I'm lucky, I'll have only a couple of minutes to get out of here. I get up, my ribs aching from the impact of hitting the cement floor again. When I reach Julep, she's conscious and keeps trying to get up and stay up, but her back end keeps giving out on her. I run my hand down her side. "I'm here, sweet girl. I'm here. You're going to be okay."

The heat in the room has gotten higher and the sound of oak crackling is my cue that the racks and barrels will give way any minute now.

"We need to go, Jules." I wrap my arm around her middle and then scoop her up. She whines when I hoist her to get the right grip, but I need to run, and I need to do it now.

"We can't stop. We need to run—" she shouted at me. Her bloodied body shook uncontrollably, but it wasn't the time to ask questions. We ran and hoped the fire alarm worked.

"We're going to be okay." I repeat the same sentence over and over as my legs keep moving toward the side exit. Just like that night. "We're going to be okay."

I knock the door open with my shoulder just as the sounds of another explosion ring out. I need to get as far away from here as possible.

The only thing I can think about right now is getting to Grant. Getting both of us to him. My lungs are burning and my arms screaming from holding her, but I won't stop for a second, not until I find him.

Fast thumping and a horse whinnying has me straining to see in the dark until I hear his voice, and it's like a jolt to my very being. I can breathe again.

"Laney! Fuck, LANEY!" The fire starting to blaze behind me is what lights the darkness enough for me to realize that he's coming right toward me at speed.

"Here," I barely get out. "I'm here. We're here!"

I hear him exhale in a rush. "Laney!"

All the adrenaline that had spiked, pushing me to fight, pushing me to run, is fizzling, and I crack. I choke out a sob as I squeeze my eyes shut. "Grant!"

I keep Julep cradled as best I can in my arms. That fucker hurt her. My voice shakes when I tell her, "You saved my life, sweet girl," my chin wobbling as I try not to think about how she knew to come find me.

As soon as he gets close enough, he shouts, "Baby, we need to move! This place is going to go up."

"Julep's hurt. Take her."

He leans down as I try to lift her up higher. He gets a good grip on her and maneuvers her so that she's cradled in front of him across the horse's lower neck.

"Give me your hand," he says as he turns back to me. I reach up and he grips my bicep, hoisting me up on the horse that he's already started moving. Tucking myself behind him, I hold on tight. With the reins gripped in one hand and keeping a hold on Julep in the other, we take off. Twerk gallops quickly and my hair whips at my tear-streaked face. Seconds later, behind us, the rickhouse explodes. We've gotten far enough away that I can't feel the heat or the pressure from the blast. And I know that if Grant hadn't shown up when he did, I wouldn't have made it.

Fire engines with their sirens blaring fly in the opposite direction than we're going, up the narrow road toward the explosive fire. I turn my head, looking behind to catch a glimpse at the entire rickhouse burning bright in one massive blaze. My eyes blur at the roaring flames. I hold on to Grant tighter, but he twitches, tilting his side like something's wrong.

At the crest of the hill to the main house, he pulls Twerk to a stop.

"Careful, baby, not so tight," he says, wincing, and I realize with a start that he's hurt and bleeding.

His side is wet and sticky. My hands are covered in it, and I know immediately that it's blood—I've felt this before. It"s not good, and my panic kicks back into gear.

"I'm fine, baby. Are you hurt?" he says over his shoulder, knowing I'm freaking out without even looking at me.

But I ignore him. "You are not fine." And I'm not even close to being fine, but I'm not bleeding. Both Grant and Julep are hurt, and we need help. Shaking off my emotions, I slide down from the horse.

"Where are you going?"

I turn toward the road. "You're bleeding. I'm getting help." I start waving my arms above my head, trying to pull the attention of the police cars and ambulance as they get closer. "Hey! We're over here," I shout. A set of lights slows. Thank goodness.

When I turn back, I see his thigh. He has it wrapped in a tourniquet with his belt. "What happened?" I try to hold back another sob that wants to escape. Not yet. Not until they're okay.

But he doesn't answer me. He holds Julep against his body and gets down from the horse, and then moves her into the grass, petting her head reverently. "You did good, girl. You did so damn good, Jules."

Still crouched over her, he turns toward me, stands, and just keeps moving. He doesn't stop until he wraps his arms around me. I breathe him in as he kisses the top of my head and into my hair, then my forehead, and then buries his face in my neck. "I tried to get there. I tried so fucking hard."

"But she did," I say, nodding to Julep. She's hurting, but her tail wags as I drop lower to comfort her. "She found me, warned me, and then got a good grip on him when he raised his gun. That's what started the fire. When he dropped it, it went off," I say, looking at the rickhouse now completely engulfed in flames.

"Fuck." He bends as best he can to pet her head again.

"He kicked her, I think, and then she hit the ground hard. She can't put any weight on her backside."

"My brave girls." Grant keeps one hand on her chest as he holds me close. He kisses the side of my head, letting his lips linger there.

I crouch next to him, and he pulls back, searching my eyes. His hands move up to my face, framing it and bringing me closer until his lips crash into mine. We kiss each other as if we both know how close we came to never being able to do it again.

When he pulls back this time, tears falling down his face, he asks, "Did he hurt you?" He looks around my face and body, ensuring I'm alright. "I couldn't get to you." He kisses me again. "Ah fuck," he says, wincing when he shifts his weight, trying to stand.

I look down at his leg, and my eyes widen at the reality of his injury. "Oh my god. Grant? Your leg."

With a small shrug, he glances down. "It was a clean shot. Went right through."

"And you're just making out with me while there's a bullet hole in your leg?"

He chuckles, but as he tries to move again, he still winces. "That one doesn't feel as intense as the one that grazed my side." When he twists to look at it, even that small movement has him hissing between his teeth.

He smirks at me. "Looks like no piggybacks for a while."

I snort out a laugh, but my eyes water. As I rest my forehead on his shoulder, both of us are starting to lose the adrenaline that has us standing and not falling completely apart.

"Ace came riding up as soon as he heard the gunshots at my place. I woke up with him slapping me in the face. We made a quick tourniquet—I hadn't bled out, so he didn't hit an artery. And there wasn't anything that was going to keep me from getting to you. I took the horse and started yelling and riding right toward where he said you were."

I hold my side as I shift on my feet, my ribs hurting with every inhale as I watch the blaze. Julep barks as another explosive sound rings out. There's no way this fire would be contained or survived. The dark sky fills with even darker smoke, billowing fast and strong.

"The fire department won't make a dent in that until it burns off."

"All of that bourbon," I whisper out.

"Look at me," he says, pulling my attention away from the almost mesmerizing sight. "None of that means a goddamn thing. You're okay. We're okay. That's all that matters to me."

". . . but your family. All that time and?—"

His warm hands on my face have me unraveling, as he peels away the sweat-drenched wet pieces of hair sticking to my lips. "You are my family. And you're safe now. I have you."

He rests his forehead against mine.

"I don't know, cowboy. It kind of feels like I've got you right now with the way you're leaning on me."

He smiles. "Yeah, I suppose you do." Combing his fingers along the side of my head, he tucks a piece of hair back behind my ear. "You're so fucking brave."

My chin wobbles and my nose tingles again at hearing him say that to me.

"And I love you, my brave girl," he says, pressing his forehead to mine. "I've fallen so hard for you. And I thought—" He pauses and takes a deep breath before he finds the words to finish. "I thought it was going to happen again. That I wasn't going to be able to get to you in time. And that I"—he kisses me as tears track down his cheeks—"was going to lose you. Honey, I can't lose you. Please stay with me. I want this. Us." He blows out another shaky breath. "More than I've wanted anything else in my life."

My chest tightens with longing as I run my fingers along the back of his hairline. If men could purr, this would be Grant's special spot. I fist the front of his shirt to make sure he hears me. "You said I was yours. So unless you were just handing me a line, that's exactly what I am. It feels that simple for me. I choose to be yours the same way you've chosen to be mine. I'm not going anywhere, cowboy." I give him a teary-eyed smile.

The firm press of his lips feels like we're sealing a new set of vows in the wake of a chaotic nightmare. He smiles against my lips, his hand placed firmly on my chest just above my heart.

Behind him, the fire keeps burning, and as I watch it, I want to believe that it burns away the fears from our pasts we've let control our lives. The idea has what's left of the knots in my stomach slowly untangling. The things that had both of us in a chokehold. A monster and a curse. Seeing the flames dance over that building, feeling his arms so tightly wrapped around me, and his lips brushing against my skin, it's clear: this is the end of that.

"I don't think he would have made it out of there alive." Nothing could have survived that blast.

Grant looks out over my shoulder at the flames. "Neither do I."

"Julep did a number on him, but it was the rattlesnake that?—"

The EMTs arrive, breaking us apart enough to start assessing the wounds on Grant. I start to tell them I'm fine, when he says, "Look her over anyway." His head whips back, registering what I had said before that. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Rattlesnake?"

I nod. "It must have bitten him three, maybe four times. It was the only way I was able to get Julep and run." I look over at her, and she's just watching us. My protector. She saved my life. And with that threat gone, there will be no reason for us to leave. Relief showers over me at that realization.

He ignores the EMT who had been asking him if he can walk, and instead, wraps his hand around the back of my neck and pulls me in, fast and abrupt, as his mouth fuses to mine, whispering against me, "My wife."

I nip at his lower lip. "Almost."