Love At Peace (Hometown Heartstrings #3)

Chapter 22

Roarke

I wasn’t sure when I would see Heather, but I hoped I’d be able to spend the evening with her. Since we’d reconciled, things still seemed shaky. She’d shed a lot of light on her past, and I wasn’t stupid. I knew how hard that was for her. Opening up wasn’t something she did lightly. That made it matter so much more.

She’d taken that hard, difficult step of sharing with me, and it was proof that she wanted to commit. That she cared to let me into her life.

How can she want to let me in if she really plans to take off soon?

Deep in my heart, I wanted to refuse that notion. She couldn’t actually leave. Not just because I was here, but because this was her home. Eric was here. Her job that she seemed to enjoy was here. And I could tell that she wanted to stay because she couldn’t completely hide her enthusiasm when looking at houses for sale.

She doesn’t want to go. I felt like that had to be an accurate assumption.

Until David could be dealt with, though, it was an awful waiting game.

We were all expected to show up today, the day after Thanksgiving, but it turned out that there weren’t too many urgent things to handle. So far, it was a normal Friday. It was so slow that we ended up splitting up, and I wondered if my coworkers were feeling the effects of too much turkey and beer from the day before. I wasn’t sluggish, not physically, but I appreciated the chance to ride out to check on a section of fence. It had been replaced a couple of years ago, but some cattle was still slipping through from somewhere.

The time alone wasn’t boring. It wasn’t a drag. Out here, alone with the grand, wide-open views of the landscape stretching out before me, I was almost at peace. But I couldn’t rest easy until David was out of here. I wouldn’t truly relax until Heather gave me an indication that she would stay with me or try to give us a chance. And I would lower my guard until Nevaeh came to her senses, any senses, and grew up to be responsible for once.

My thoughts kept me company as the horse took me further out. Daydreaming about Heather was an excellent way to while away this downtime as I rode along the fence, inspecting it. But worrying about my niece kept me too hung up on the hopelessness of my relationship with her.

I wasn’t her parent, but I was a concerned relative.

I wasn’t her boss, but I was nervous that she’d never take care of herself and have an income to live on.

What about the baby?

Is she going to be able to take care of a child?

It didn’t seem likely.

Is David helping her at all?

His word wouldn’t mean much, but he was wealthy from what Heather said. Marty looked him up and seemed to believe the man was loaded. If he was a lawyer, even a corrupt one, he’d have some funds to live on.

So why would he want to stick around here for long? His work is in Chicago and that’s not a short drive. Is he going to take Nevaeh there with him? Does he even know about the baby? Does he want to acknowledge the baby?

Questions hit me without pause, and I realized I’d have to try again. I had to reach my niece somehow and just make her see reason. It wasn’t just her life she was playing with anymore. An innocent baby would be impacted by her choices and actions.

Buzzes vibrated in my pocket, indicating a call was coming it. Way out here, in this area of the land, reception was spotty. I slowed the horse, though, stopping him near a thin tree line so the wind wouldn’t make too much noise as I answered my phone.

Seeing it was Gavin, I wondered what he’d want. He was further back, checking a different part of the fence.

“Hey,” I answered. My horse shook his mane and stomped a foot.

“Roarke, he’s got him,” he answered.

“What? Who’s got who?” My first thought was David, that Marty had him in custody. But I checked myself, not letting my hopes get too high yet.

“Marty. He’s going to be able to get David.”

I grinned. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah. Remember Wendy talking about Mindy Rosario and her family coming back home? They checked the Ring camera footage, and they have a picture shot of Eric’s front yard and his porch. David showed up at his place and urged him to get into his car. He was seen with him.”

“About time. About time we get a damn break like this.” My heart beat so fast, thrilled for Heather.

“Not only that, but it seems that someone shared a video of him trying to slip drugs into a woman’s drink at the bar,” he said. “It’s all over social media.”

“Hot damn.” I laughed, loving it. Karma was a bitch like this.

“Wendy heard from Mindy about the camera. Then she saw the video being shared. He’s not going to be able to escape any of this now.”

I wasn’t so sure. The asshole knew how to spin things to his favor. I wanted to be optimistic, but time would tell. “I hope so. Thanks for telling me. I was eager to know, ever since Wendy mentioned that about that camera showing who took Eric from his house that night.”

“I look forward to things being a lot more peaceful around here without a slick city boy trying to—”

Pops sounded off. They came too close, out of nowhere, but I wasn’t slow to react. When gunshots were being fired, there was no time to waste.

My horse was startled, though, standing up on his hind legs and tossing me off. Whoever had fired had done so out of the blue. I was out here alone. No one was supposed to be this far back from the ranch entrance. No one with a damn gun.

I fell onto my side, wincing at the instant hit of pain. As soon as I touched the ground, I rolled with the momentum of falling and being tossed off the horse. It cleared me out of the animal’s path, because he was out of here. Spooked by the shots, he took off, galloping back toward the house.

“Roarke?” Gavin’s voice came from far away. I wasn’t sure where my phone had fallen, but I wasn’t holding it anymore. By the time I shook my head to clear it, I was only up on one knee.

“You motherfucker!”

I spun at the sound of a man’s angry shout, but I was too tardy to make the pivot more effective, like a hit.

David lunged at me, coming out from hiding among the few trees out here. A gun remained in his hand, but at this close range, he seemed to want to run at me and tackle me, not shoot again.

“What the fuck?” I shouted as he reached me.

He struck out with the gun, to pistol-whip me, but I anticipated it and pulled his arm toward me, throwing off his momentum. We toppled together, instantly hitting and striking out. He could fight, which surprised me, but he wasn’t familiar with what it meant to take on a man who made a career out of working on the ranch. I had to wrestle bulls into submission. I’d refereed my fair share of fights, but when I was young and stupid, I’d participated in enough of my own.

He punched and kicked, trying to get me off him. I wouldn’t let him. He was going down.

This wasn’t anything like the little brawl at the bar when he’d badmouthed Heather. This was no minor scrimmage. I intended to beat the shit out of him and hold him down until I could deliver him to Marty.

“You fucking asshole,” he ranted, spittle flying from his mouth as he growled and yelled. Squirming and resisting, he tried to get out of my grip, but I wasn’t releasing him, not for a damn second.

“Heather is mine!”

I squeezed my hand harder as I reared it back to punch him. Letting all the anger funnel into my hit, I wished I could knock that line of bullshit right out of him.

“She belongs with me,” he said after I sent one of his teeth flying out.

“The hell she does. Who are you to decide, huh?”

“I’m her—” I headbutted him.

“You’re nothing. You are nothing to her but a past she wants to erase and never think about again.”

“I’m going to kill—”

I punched him again. “That’s for Eric. You piece of shit. Why’d you have to hurt him too?”

“He was supposed to encourage her to come home with me. To go back to my side where she belongs!”

There is no fucking way that would happen. “Let me guess,” I taunted. “He didn’t want to say something as stupid as that, huh?” And then he’d hit him.

“She’s mine. She belongs to me. She owes her life to me.”

“Oh, because you staged a fake crisis and pretended to save her? You’re a twisted, sick fuck.”

“No. I am her boyfriend. Her man. And she is not going to stay here in this shitty little town and shack up with someone like you.” He got a lucky punch in, but it wasn’t going to change the fate of this fight.

“I saw you kiss her. I saw you!” More spittle flew from his mouth, that was how hysterical he was. “I was walking toward her place again to tell her to come home. I was ready to show her that she would never be happy without me organizing her life for her. But no. I had to find you kissing what belongs to me.”

“She’s not property. She’s not a damn possession to call dibs on. She decides what she wants to do with her life, you asshole.”

“No. No. She’s mine. And if I have to kill you now and get you out of the way, I will.”

He finally found the gun after groping for it in the grass. As he lifted his hand, I heard the telltale hooves pounding on the earth. My horse had to be coming back now, and I refused to let an animal get hurt in the crossfire.

I gritted my teeth and lunged at him, shouldering to the side to knock that gun right back out of his hand.

He fired it though, and a loud cry of pain sounded behind me.

I whipped my head around and saw where the bullet had hit to have made that noise.

No!