A cold rush raced down my arms and legs. “Liar,” I growled, squeezing my fists at my sides so I wouldn’t hit him.
Head cocked, he assessed me. “Your farm is coming undone. You’re about to lose everything. Olivia has the good sense to see that, but I can’t say I’m surprised you don’t.”
“You did this,” I said through my teeth. “You took down our farm, hobbled us so you could acquire it. And you expect me to just roll over and let you have it? You know me better than that.”
“I’ll say it again—I didn’t have anything to do with it, Jake. I wouldn’t do that to Olivia. You? I wouldn’t think twice. But not her.”
Again, I felt that prickle in my gut that said he was telling the truth. “Then who? Because I can only think of one other person.”
A heartbeat, and Chase’s expression shifted. “You think—”
“I know. If I went out to your barns, would I find my herd? Or did you and your daddy already sell them?”
He shook his head, put a hand out. Nothing in his posture was aggressive, which pissed me off.
I wanted to hit him real bad, but I was no animal.
“How many cattle?” he asked.
“Forty heads. Three trailers’ worth.”
He scrubbed a hand over his mouth, his eyes bright with calculations. “And it started a couple weeks ago?”
“Three.” My fists loosened. I watched him.
He thought a second longer before shaking his head. “It couldn’t be. Dad wants your farm, but not like this.”
“You mean to tell me he hasn’t been using you to do his bidding like the tool you are? Olivia already told me you were working on her.”
“Sure, but I told her I wouldn’t take part in it anymore, and I haven’t. I don’t know anything about the trouble at your farm, Jake.”
My eyes narrowed in suspicion. If he knew anything about it, he’d be slithering around me just to watch me squirm. The man in front of me was shocked and concerned. And playing dumb had never been Chase Patton’s style.
“How’d he get all this past you?”
He sobered. “Dad has been nudging me in Olivia’s direction, sure. But he came to me just after your fire and … fuck. I should have known.”
“Known what?”
“Known better than to believe he actually gave a shit about your farm. He came to me, talking about how rough you were having it since Frank passed. Said he wanted to help and wanted me to figure out how. But our overseer—you know Garrett—he’s been acting funny. You know, shifty. He and Dad have been Velcro lately. I’ll catch them talking, and they shut up the second I’m in the room. And I might know something about your stock—”
I took two swift steps in his direction, arching over him. “Chase, if you know where my cattle are, you’d better fucking tell me right now.”
He squared up, but his face was more gentle warning than outright aggression. “Let me do some digging. It’s just a hunch. Let me see it through.”
I drew an inhale through my nose so hard, my nostrils flared. “I’m coming with you.”
“You come with me, and I’m not gonna find anything. In fact, if anybody sees you here, you might blow it.”
“Let me help give you a good story.”
Before he could ask what, I popped him in the eye.
He doubled over, hand to his eye. “Fuck!”
I shook out my fist. “They can’t help but believe you since I gave you a black eye.”
“You fucking asshole! Jesus, I’m trying to help you!”
“You already did,” I said with a wry smile. “Haven’t felt this good in days.”
He growled. “Get the fuck out of here. I’ll be in touch.”
“My pleasure.”
My smile faded as I walked to the truck where Bowie waited, panting out the window at me. I’d just been handed two surprises, one good and one bad. Chase might know where my herd was, and that was hope I’d lost.
The bad sat in a folder in Olivia’s possession.
I didn’t want to believe she’d accept such an unholy piece of paper. That she’d consider cashing it. This was where she’d gotten the idea to ask the Pattons for help. Where she’d driven a wedge between us.
How long had she had the check? How long had she been sitting on it without telling me? Could it have been weeks?
I hated that I didn’t know—and for more than knowledge’s sake.
I didn’t know that I’d believe whatever she told me. Not after I’d given her my trust, only to have her make a deal with the devil behind my back.
My heartache was complete—I felt it from brow to boot.
I didn’t trust her, and I could never be with someone I didn’t trust.
No matter how much I loved her.
28
Belonging and Other Lies
OLIVIA
My fingers fiddled with Alice’s crop of hair as we sat together on the hay bed floor of the medical barn that afternoon. Miguel had hooked her up to an IV, administering some medicine with a long and forgettable name, and told me to keep my chin up. We’d caught it early enough that there was a good chance for her.
The rest of the cattle wouldn’t be so lucky.
Most of them had advanced too far to save. Some had been affected by the poisoned water just before quarantine and were at the same stage as Alice—those we could maybe help. Over the days, as new water had been pumped into the tank, the copper solution had thinned out, resulting in lower numbers of new cases. And size mattered—though there were sick cows across the herds, the smaller they were, the faster they died.
We’d lose some barn animals too. But now that we knew what we were dealing with, we could act, and acting was always preferable to the hell of endless, helpless waiting.
Now the farm could move on.
It was the first bright spot I’d seen since Jake walked away from me in the red barn. Had it only been a yesterday? It felt like a week.
The long hours of the night had passed here with Alice, and I spent the time thinking. Thinking about all he’d said, all the ways he’d hurt me and how I’d hurt him. The ways he’d been right and how he’d been wrong. Maybe I had been naive. Maybe Chase had no good in him, despite what I thought. Maybe I was a sucker and a fool. Or maybe Jake was wrong.
All I knew was that we’d hurt each other again. He saw me as a liability, and I saw him as a roadblock. Here in a bit, when he’d had a little more time to stew, I’d find him so we could talk. We’d be fine, so long as we both apologized and found a way to communicate.
Hope sprang, sparkling and bright, at the thought. And I put all my focus on that in the interest of willing it to fruition.
That hope was dashed by a blood-red slash when Jake walked into the medical barn.
If I hadn’t known what’d happened by the grim calm on his face, I would have figured it out from the slip of paper in his hand.
My heart lurched and my stomach sank, my gaze hanging on the check.
His steps were long and measured as he approached, looking down at me like a furious god. “Have anything to tell me?” he asked quietly, darkly.