28. Kess

28

KESS

Sex with Rowdy had been more amazing than I could’ve ever anticipated. The focus had been on him, of course, but I didn’t think he could fully comprehend the pride I felt when he’d begun to tease me from his perch atop my cock. It had been sexy as hell, but more importantly, it’d been proof that he was comfortable with me.

In such a vulnerable moment, he was relaxed enough to joke, taunt, and turn me on.

I already liked everything I knew about Rowdy, but every time I got to know him better, I discovered something new and wonderful. He was like a gift I kept unwrapping to reveal more treasures. With Rowdy in my arms, I was the luckiest man in the world.

After cleaning up, we wrapped ourselves around each other and fell into a deep sleep.

The sound of a ringing phone pulled me from an intense slumber. Rowdy sat straight up.

“That’s Sadie’s ringtone,” he said, scrambling around for his jeans.

I checked the time. Five twenty-eight a.m . That wasn’t good.

He grabbed the phone. “Sadie?”

I could only hear his side of the call.

“Okay, okay. I need you to slow down. Who broke into your house?”

His jaw tightened.

“JD? That guy from the front office?”

He clamped his hand to his mouth.

“Shit. Are you okay?”

I turned on a table lamp, and Rowdy’s eyes found mine.

“Wait, they arrested Jaxon? Why would they arrest him ?”

He listened for a few minutes, and my lawyer brain clicked into place.

“Did they at least arrest the asshole who broke into your house?”

He let out a breath.

“Well, thank God for that.”

I couldn’t hear her words, but the anxious tone of her voice was easy to pick up on.

“No, Sadie. Do not go into work. Fuck that place.”

He waited, listening carefully.

“I know, Sadie. But I’m here with Kess. He’s a corporate lawyer, but I’m sure he knows some criminal defense attorneys.” He looked to me for verification. I nodded. “So, we’re going to get Jaxon out, and then we’re coming by to pick you up, and I won’t hear another word about it.”

They went back and forth a few more times, but Rowdy was insistent and Sadie seemed to finally acquiesce. When Rowdy ended the call, he turned to me, his eyes wide.

“JD, that asshole from the front office? He kicked in the door to their trailer and was aiming to attack Sadie in her bed.”

“Jesus. Is she okay?”

Rowdy nodded, swallowing thickly. “She’s okay, but only because Jaxon intercepted him and threw him—literally—out of the trailer. JD landed funny and nearly died, which is why the officer arrested Jaxon, too. Sadie thinks they took him to Travis County.”

“Jaxon’s thirteen. No way he should be anywhere near TCCC.”

“I know! But the officer didn’t believe her, and Jaxon didn’t have an official state ID or anything. The officer didn’t believe the middle school ID that he showed him because Sadie was too upset to remember where she’d stashed his birth certificate from the last time.”

“We’ll hire my friend for the trial, but I’m a lawyer. I can get him out of jail.”

“You can?” Rowdy asked, miserably hopeful.

“Yes, I can. I may not know what the hell I’m doing and will probably piss somebody off, but I’m not waiting for someone to be available. We need to get him out of there right now.”

Rowdy agreed, and we got dressed in record time. We headed out to my truck, and I tossed him my keys.

“You drive,” I said, hopping into the passenger side. “I need to make a few calls.”

Rowdy fired up the engine and carefully backed out of the garage. We made our way down the drive and spotted Woody on Shadow. We stopped to let him know what happened. He looked about as pissed as we felt.

“We can put them up at your place or ours,” he offered, “but I already talked to Kit about Sadie and Jaxon. He was thinking he’d let them stay in one of his cabins so they could see what the place was all about. What do you think they’d prefer?”

Rowdy bit at his lower lip. “Honestly, I think she might need someplace where she can just decompress from all of this, you know? Unless you think it’ll turn Kit off from hiring her.”

Woody shook his head. “He already knows their situation, so I don’t think he’d judge.”

“Then let’s have them stay out there.”

Woody gripped the side panel, then looked between the two of us. “It’s nice to see you two together.”

Rowdy flushed, rubbing his thumb along the door handle. “I love him, he loves me,” he lightly singsonged. He then looked over at me, his eyes worried. “Right?”

“Right,” I said, kissing his temple to reassure him.

“Can you please go get the thirteen-year-old out of jail now?” Woody asked, knocking the side of the truck.

Rowdy shifted into Drive. “Yes, cousin. We’re going now.”

Rowdy took off, flying down the curves of Devil’s Backbone like nobody’s business. Travis County Correctional Complex—TCCC—was out in Del Valle, not too far from the airport, so we headed in that direction. I was just grateful we didn’t have to travel through Austin proper.

Still, with barely any traffic on the road and going faster than we should’ve, it took us almost an hour to get there. I woke up one of my buddies on the way.

“Wait, did the teetotaling Mr. Kessler finally get popped for something salacious?” was his first question.

“Shut up,” I said. “A friend of ours, this really massive kid who’s thirteen , didn’t have a state ID on him, so they took him to TCCC. I can handle his bail, correct?”

“Yes, but you’ll want to make sure to get it right or you’ll just piss off the people in charge of everything.”

My buddy spent the better part of the ride out to the correctional facility walking me through the steps and promised to send me an update on this JD asshole. I was glad I didn’t walk in blind because I could’ve made it worse for Jaxon. As we pulled into the parking lot, Sadie, with that awful car of hers, pulled in right behind us.

We parked next to each other, and she held up a piece of paper. “I found his birth certificate.”

“Perfect. I think that should expedite things nicely.”

That was exactly what we needed. Putting a thirteen-year-old in jail with other adults, after all, was highly illegal.

An hour later, after going through all the steps my buddy had given me and only fucking up twice, Jaxon was free. He and Sadie followed us in their car and we stopped by the trailer park, had them grab everything they wanted to keep, and put it in the back of my truck.

“The trailer?” I asked. “Is it something you can sell for scrap?”

“Hey,” Rowdy said, pushing my side. “You might not think much of it, but this was their home.”

“True,” I said, turning to Sadie. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Also, it’s rented. As soon as we figure out where to go, I’ll send in my notice.”

“Good.”

I then shared what I’d found about JD. Basically, he’d been on the worst kind of watch list, and he wouldn’t be offered bail after his hospitalization, regardless of his injuries.

Rowdy had been right—JD’s chivalry with the older woman had been his in . JD had guilted Jaxon into delivering sealed brown paper bags to several trailers in the park. When Sadie discovered what Jaxon was doing, she went into the office and read JD the riot act, then threw the one remaining bag in his face.

The bag broke, scattering a rainbow of pills everywhere. JD threatened to take it out of her ass if he was missing even one pill.

Jaxon had been sitting on the couch when JD kicked in the door a little past midnight, which was just bad luck for that asshole. He didn’t even get past the living room because Jaxon tackled him, carried him out to the front porch, and threw him to the ground.

Things got hairy when JD landed on a bit of broken concrete. An ambulance was called, and JD was rushed into an emergency surgery and might be paralyzed, depending on how things went. Either way, he was going back to jail as soon as he was released from the hospital, and none of us felt very bad for him at all.

Jaxon had been abnormally quiet, but then suggested, “We might not be able to sell the trailer for scrap, but maybe we could get rid of Mom’s car.”

“That’s good,” I said, then grabbed Rowdy’s hand. “We haven’t talked about this yet, but Emery and Woody are getting you more of a ranch truck and were planning on giving this one to Sadie.”

“But why?” Sadie asked, her voice hitching.

“Because, when you can help someone, you do it,” I said, pulling her in for a hug. “Also, given how many prayers to the old gods it took to get the car restarted after Jaxon was released, this is a reasonable solution for easy cash.”

It wouldn’t be much, but it would help.

That decided, we piled into my truck and headed out to my place. I was driving when Kit called Rowdy. Woody had called up his friend and told him everything. When Kit discovered that the case involved a horrifying creep and a child being thrown into jail, he was more than happy to help and insisted that Jaxon and Sadie stay in one of his cabins.

“I can help him with whatever chores he has,” Jaxon volunteered. “And don’t make a fuss about it, Mom. I can help.”

Rowdy looked back at him. “I think Kit would appreciate that very much. How are you doing back there? Are you okay?”

Jaxon pursed his lips. “Not really.”

“Did anybody try to hurt you in jail?” his mom asked.

We’d already asked him that question, but it was telling that she thought she needed to ask again.

“I told you—I was the biggest one in there. They just assumed I was an adult, and everybody sat on the other side.”

That was amusing, if terrifying.

“My defense attorney friend will help you with the criminal defense case, but another buddy of mine, one of the clerks for the city attorney, says he’s pretty sure they’ll drop the charges. He also thinks there’s a pretty damn good case for suing both the officer and the department for not following protocol.”

Sadie nodded, then started hiccupping. She broke down, crying on Jaxon’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you from that.”

He patted her arm. “It’s okay, Mom. I protected us.”

“You shouldn’t have had to.”

God, this was an awful mess. We were going to have to put both of them into therapy, that was for sure.

I drove them out to the dude ranch, a gorgeous spread of land between a winery and greenbelt. We drove onto the property, and Jaxon whistled.

“Wow, this is like a rich person ranch.”

“It’s actually a dude ranch,” Rowdy explained. “People stay here for vacation and work with the horses and other animals.”

“People go on vacation to go to work?” he asked, shaking his head. “Like I said. That’s rich people shit.”

“Language,” Sadie said, then hugged his arm.

He laughed. “It’s okay, Mom. It’ll be okay.”

“I’ll know it’s okay when you no longer feel like you have to reassure me, son.”

We drove up to the main house, which was like a log cabin on steroids. Rustic cedar siding, a tall entryway, and a grand carport allowed us to drive right up to the front door. Kit was waiting at the front door, and Rowdy grinned.

“He’s actually wearing the brace,” he said, pointing out a pretty serious-looking hinged knee brace that went from his calf to mid-thigh.

“Welcome to the Baker Ranch. I’m Kit, and this here is Lane, our new land manager.”

Sadie and Jaxon introduced themselves. Jaxon shook Kit’s hand with a firm grip and looked him in the eye, something I bet the cowboy really appreciated.

“I’d like to help where I can,” Jaxon said. “I’m really strong, but I don’t know much about animals. Yet.”

“Strong and teachable are two incredible qualities,” Kit said, patting his shoulder.

Kit was a rangy six feet tall, but Jaxon looked like a giant next to him. “And you’re only thirteen?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fourteen soon.”

“Gotcha.” He turned to Sadie. “Woody tells me you have years of management experience.”

“Yes, but only in restaurants,” she said, a little thrown by the comment. “Who’s Woody?”

“That’s my cousin. He owns the sanctuary that I manage,” Rowdy explained.

“Oh, right.” She turned to Kit. “I manage, or used to manage, the cafe over on 290.”

“Good. I bet office manager to a bunch of roughnecks probably wouldn’t be that much different.”

“You want me to work here?” she asked, shaking her head. Things were moving so fast; it was going to be awhile before she caught up.

“Yes. Woody said that Rowdy here had been working with you and your son for over a year now, and that he wouldn’t hesitate to recommend you.”

“That is one hundred percent true,” Rowdy said, sending her a smile. “Sadie has been working hard for a really long time.”

“I only have my GED,” Sadie protested, still not getting it. “And I’d need to get Jaxon into a local school.”

“There’s a bus stop right in front of the ranch, and our schools are some of the highest rated in the state,” Kit said with a smile. “And lots of my employees have GEDs.”

She waved both hands, nervous. “What if I’m no good?”

He put his hand on her shoulder. “Then we’ll find what you’re good at and put you to work doing that. It’s a big place with a lot of jobs that need doing.”

She ran her fingers through her hair and stared at Rowdy. “You did this for me?”

“Woody was the one who reached out to Kit.”

“But why? He doesn’t even know me.”

He pulled her in for a hug. “He does know me, and trusted me when I told him that all you needed was a chance,” he whispered into her hair. “I know it sometimes doesn’t feel like you deserve good things, but you do. Accept the help.”

“But—” Her voice broke, and the stress of the day finally led to the tears she’d been holding back, probably for years. “Thank you,” she said through sobs.

After a while, Rowdy patted her back. “Maybe we should get you and Jaxon into your cabin so you can at least get some sleep?”

“Okay.”

Kit nodded and pointed to the cabin closest to the house. “That’s where you’ll be staying. There are two bedrooms and a living room, plus the kitchenette. I can talk to the kitchen and get you set up with some supplies, and you’re always welcome to join us for the meals we have in the dining hall inside,” he said, handing Sadie and Jaxon their own keys.

“I don’t even know how to begin to repay you,” Sadie said.

He gripped her forearm. “We take care of each other. I’m sorry this happened to you, and I’m just glad your son was able to step in and take care of the trash.”

Kit looked between me and Rowdy, and I realized that I had been resting my hand on Rowdy’s waistband. “You two finally figured it out?”

Rowdy grinned, making me smile. “He’s slow, but he got there.”

“Hey!”

Rowdy grinned up at me, and everyone around us laughed. I guess we were pretty obvious.

Not that I minded. Not that I minded at all.