“You don’t live here,” I reminded him.
His cold glare cut back to me. “I’m taking it.”
“All that shit he just laid out,” I said through gritted teeth, “needs to be taken care of from someone here. Again, that can’t be you.”
“All right.” Hunter’s head bobbed quickly. “Then let’s give it to Cayson—oh, wait.” He sat back in his chair, jaw working with his irritation. “I’m taking it.”
Silence crept through the dining room for a few moments, thick and ready to explode before the lawyer said, “Okay then, and you are . . . Hunter, correct?”
Hunter gave a jerk of his chin but didn’t say anything more.
“Then I have some paperwork for you that I’ll get from my car, but that’s it for the will.” He stood, gathering everything in the envelope and offering us sympathetic smiles as we stood with him. “Thank you for your time. I am truly, very sorry for your loss.” With a glance at Hunter, he said, “I’ll be back.”
I watched until he was out of the dining room before turning on Hunter. “So, what, you’re just moving back then?”
“Didn’t hear you offer to take it, and someone has to.”
“And if I had?” I challenged even though there was no way in hell I could handle the ranch on top of everything else.
His stare drifted to the side and remained there when he said, “The ranch is mine.”
“What about the Army?” I said tightly. “What about Kansas and your fucking fiancée who handles all the shit that’s apparently not worth your time? Don’t you think you should run this past her?”
His stare had snapped back to me, a crease forming between his brows. “What are you talking about?”
A huff escaped me as I started to leave. “Whatever.”
He grabbed my shoulder, turning me back around without a care as to what I might do. “The hell is your problem?”
“My problem’s that my life is a hell of a lot easier without you in it.”
Hurt tore across his face before he masked it. “I’ve noticed,” he muttered. After a moment, he shrugged. “Then I’m not in it.”
“Boys,” Mom said, voice weighed down with exhaustion and emotion.
“Lost almost everyone else in my life, might as well keep it going,” he said bitterly. “Sawyer, you up next?”
“Leave him alone,” I ground out.
Confusion and anger flared in Hunter’s eyes as he stepped closer, but I kept my fisted hands down at my sides. Forced myself to breathe through the darkness creeping in. Thought about the feel of Savannah in my arms instead of the sick need coating my veins.
“I used to be your best friend. But you’ve pushed me away for years, then you stand up for Saw?” he asked, voice soft. “Fuck you, man. You wanna be done? We’re done.”
A vicious smirk tugged at my mouth as I forced myself to take a step away. “Enjoy your ranch.” Turning, I reached for Mom. “Come on, I’ll get you out of here.”
“She doesn’t have to go,” Hunter snapped from behind me. When I ignored him, he jerked my arm back from helping Mom up. “Don’t be an asshole.”
I snatched it from his grasp.
Body twisting.
Fingers clenched tight and muscles tensed in anticipation.
Chest heaving as I stared at him, arm slightly cocked back before I’d managed to lock it all down.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I forced each painful breath in and out until my trembling hand was at my side. Until I was turning away from him before I could do something I’d regret for the rest of my life.
“Beau—”
“She doesn’t wanna be here,” I ground out. “I told her I’d get her out, I’m doing that.”
Hunter ignored me, leaning around me to reach for her. “Mom, I don’t care what the will said, this is still your home.”
I slowly looked over at him, voice low. Lethal. “Was that ever in question?”
He exhaled heavily, nostrils flaring as he met my stare. But before he could say anything else, I led our mom out of the dining room just as the lawyer was coming back in.
“Is there anything you need before we go?” I asked her, watching as Sawyer bolted past us, heading for the kitchen.
“Make sure Sawyer gets the food for Leighton,” was all she said as she turned for the front door.
I didn’t answer, mostly because I was sure that’s what he was doing. I just waited until he came running back out with the bag Mom had been filling up earlier and stopped him with a hand to his shoulder. Searching his eyes that were at once haunted and exhausted as his body jerked anxiously.
“I’m driving you.”
“I’m good,” he said dismissively.
“You’re not.”
“I am, and you’re keeping me here when I need to be there. So, let me go.”
“Saw—”
“Let me the fuck go. I need to get to Leighton.”
I let out a slow breath, nodding as I did. Squeezing his shoulder, I mumbled, “Get some rest soon, yeah?”
He made a noncommittal grunt, running past me and out the door as soon as I released him.
I followed after, grabbing my mom’s purse as I went. Refusing to look in the direction I could feel Hunter’s icy glare coming from. Refusing to take one last look at the house I was afraid I’d never see again.
Once Mom and I were in my car and headed to the plantation house, she eased out a strangled sigh and said, “I don’t want to be there.”
“I know, Mom.”
“I can’t be there.” Her head moved in a mess of shakes and nods. “Hunter can have it. Anyone can have it. I don’t want it.”
“Mom—”
“I don’t,” she cried out. After a few seconds, she continued. Voice calmer . . . softer. “It’s too big. Too painful.”
“What about Sawyer?”
She stared out the window for a while before saying, “I’m not sure he wants to be there anymore either.”
“All right.” I cleared my throat. “I’ll talk to him. We’ll figure something out for y’all.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. “Now, please go make things right with your brother.”
I stared at the road, memories flashing. Racing. Threatening to pull me under and destroy what was so perfect in my world.
“Yeah, we’ll see,” I mumbled, the lie falling from me like poison.
The past few weeks played in my mind on repeat as I tore up the old kitchen floor a while later. Movements jerky and agitated as I battled the emotions tied to each hit to my family.
Savannah’s parents leaving.
Cayson disappearing.
Dad dying.
Hunter returning.
Leighton wasting away before us.
My family fracturing and falling apart from it all. And there was no fixing it.
Weeks . . . that was all it took for everything to shatter beneath me.
“Beau?”
My head snapped up at my name. My chest wrenched at the pain twisting that voice—her voice.
I dropped the scraper and pushed to my feet, already running out of the kitchen before the front door ever shut. Finding Savannah rushing through the entryway and grabbing her up in my arms just as she broke.