Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

Carter

“C arter,” Jace yelled.

“Damn.” He had been lost in his thoughts again and not listening to whatever Jace had been saying. “Sorry.”

“That girl is good for you, but I need you to pay attention.” Jace closed the office door in the barn behind Carter and took a seat.

“It’s not her fault.” Carter was instantly defensive.

“Never said it was. It’s your fault, but that’s not what I need to talk about.”

“What’s up?” Carter leaned forward and folded his hands on the desk.

“I’m going to be retiring.”

“What? How can you just say it like that?” He couldn’t run this place without Jace and had never had to.

“Boy, you know I’m tired. I have loved being here and helping you, but I want to travel.”

Carter gaped at that idea.

“But, I’m not leaving you with nothing. My boy is willing to come learn if you’ll have him.”

“JJ?” Carter hadn’t thought of him in years.

Jace nodded. “That’s the one.”

Jace Junior hadn’t spent much time at the ranch when Carter had been growing up. He’d lived with his mother and had visited now and then. When he’d been here, they’d gotten along, but that had been so long ago.

“Does he want to do this?” Carter asked.

“It was him that offered. I had planned to get you to help me interview some folks and see who was a good fit, but I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t looking forward to spending the rest of my time here teaching JJ how to run this ranch. It’s your call, though, and I won’t hold it against you.”

“When did you plan on leaving?” Carter tried to sort out a time that might have the least impact.

“I’d like to be gone after Christmas.”

So quick, only two months away. “What’s JJ been up to?”

“He was riding bulls in shows but gave that up a few years ago. There is something you should know, though.”

Ah, nothing was ever simple. Carter ran through the list of potential problems in his head, arrest history, drinking, drugs, a lot that could be deal breakers.

“He’s got a kid. A little girl. She’s four and sweet as pie.”

Well, that hadn’t been something he’d thought of. “He’d be bringing her here?”

“She’s grown up around animals. I wouldn’t suggest it, even for my son, if I thought it’d be a problem. There are enough hands here that he can keep the place running and keep an eye on her. Besides, she’ll be in school soon.”

Carter thought it over. There were so many reasons to say no, but he nodded anyway. “We can give it a try. Things have to work, though, family or not.”

“Do I strike you as the type of person to let someone do a bad job or lie about it?” Offended, Jace slammed his fist on the arm of the chair as he spoke.

“You do not. How about the books?” Carter changed the topic. “You’ve done them, but what now?”

“You’d do best to hire an accountant. These books aren’t easy, and I’ve made errors and had to get them corrected. I can tell him what I do, but it takes a lot of time to get through the day with the hands and the animals and then the books.”

He’d been thinking about hiring someone for a while but was worried Jace would be offended about it. Now he regretted not doing that sooner.

“You’ll help them both as you transition to your traveling? Gonna go rest up in Florida and change that farmer’s tan to a retiree’s tan?”

“I’ll help whoever you find, but I don’t think they’ll need much from me.”

Now came the important question. “When did you plan to move JJ and his daughter in here?”

“As soon as you’re willing. I know you’ve got that girl up at the house to protect, but I’d like to get started as soon as possible with getting him used to the place.”

“I’d like at least a week. I don’t want to bring a child into this mess and any potential danger that could be coming.” He hoped that nothing would happen here, but he couldn’t guarantee that.

“That’s fair. I’ll let him know.”

“Have him reach out to me. I want to talk to him before he gets started.”

“I’ll pass him your information. You can trust him,” Jace promised. “I know you’re used to the way things worked with us, but you can trust him, too.”

“Thanks.”

Jace left the office, and Chase dropped his head in his hands. Would nothing get simpler in his life? He didn’t have time for a new foreman to learn the ranch right as he was getting things together with Ashley and the new training center.

His plan for this morning was to find a good parcel of land that was close and would be a good fit for a training center. He had a few ideas and wanted to talk to Matt about it serving as more than training and sort of a home base for the team.

It wasn’t completely selfless for the business; he wanted to have all of this submitted to Matt and Ryker before they found out about him and Ashley. His hope was that it would be harder for them to let him go if they saw his long-term plans for the business.

“Ugh,” he shouted in the empty office.

This office had been his father’s. It was a place that held a lot of memories but not one where Carter liked to be. Situated as part of the barn, he could hear all the horses and commotion below him.

There was a small house that was barely that, more of a studio space that Jace used for his home. It was not enough for a man and a child, which led to other problems. He wouldn’t turn JJ down on the spot, but this was complicating his life at a time when he was doing a good job of complicating it all on his own.

His phone rang and he looked down to see Ryker’s contact on the screen. He nearly groaned.

“Hey, Ryker,” Carter answered.

“What’s going on down there?” he demanded.

“What does that mean?” Shit, he knew.

“I mean I haven’t heard of Ashley running away in a while and now I’m wondering why.”

“Because she finally understands the danger she’s actually in?” That was true. “And we made a deal before we left her brother’s place.”

“Hmm.”

“What’s up? Find anything?” Carter switched the subject before he caved and told Ryker what was really going on. He doubted Ashley would appreciate that.

“Yeah. Get back to the house. Christian is waking Nate up and Matt is going to video call all of us shortly.”

He jumped up. “On it. I’m just at the barn.”

“Good. Did you think any more about the offer we made you?”

“I have. I’ve been coming up with some things today, actually, and will send it over when it’s done.”

“Glad to hear it. Does that mean you’re leaning toward taking it?”

If they still wanted him later. “Yep.”

“Good. I’ll see you shortly.”

Now he needed to find Ashley and let her know he was fairly certain Ryker already knew about them. It was going to be interesting.

He half-ran to the house but wasn’t quick enough, as they were already on the call.

“There he is,” Matt said cheerfully.

Carter took a seat away from Ashley and managed not to bite Nate’s head off for being next to her. “So, what’s going on?”

“We found him. Liam is on his way to the police station about a hundred miles from you to question him.”

“So close?” Carter asked.

“Looked like he knew where he was going.” Christian stood. “Based on when he left and the places we tracked the car to for certain, he was headed right here.”

“How?”

“I’ll take that one,” Nate answered. “He didn’t need your friend to tell him who was borrowing the cabin. He knew your first name, which wasn’t a lot to go off, but he managed to get the vet to tell him who owned the cabin. Never went to your friend, simply looked him up and found the only friend named Carter. From there he must have paid for your address.”

“I’m not on social media. How would he have found out who I am from that? We aren’t connected anywhere other than the military but that’s a big conclusion to jump to.” Carter was stumped.

A picture appeared on the screen, one of his entire military unit, and their names were listed on the unit’s social media page. It wasn’t even his most recent unit. In fact, it was several years before, but it was there, and he was the only Carter in it.

“Julian isn’t that smart,” Ashley pushed back. “There’s no way he would have figured that out.

Carter agreed. Something was off here.

“We can question him more about it when Liam gets there.”

“I don’t know. It seems too easy,” Christian said to the room. “This guy’s like a ghost for so long and then suddenly he gets pulled over? Everyone makes mistakes, but I don’t like this.”

“We’ll know more tomorrow when Liam gets to question him. He’ll be in town tonight, but they are making him wait until morning. Just heard from him,” Ryker said. “I’ll see if we can get this moved up.”

“Anything else?” Carter asked.

They were in his dining room still, but someone had set up a big monitor for them to use. He wasn’t even sure where it had come from. He didn’t care. He just wanted out of here and to talk to Ashley.

“That’s it for everyone,” Ryker said.

They got up, and Christian went to end the call.

“Everyone but Ashley and Carter, get out. Matt, you can drop.” Ryker’s commanding voice boomed through the speakers.

Shit. He definitely knew something. Carter risked a glance at Ashley to see her looking confused.