Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 100226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
I wave as he pulls up in front of me and then hops out.
“Thanks for coming out here,” I tell him as I shake his hand. Bridger’s been my friend since I was a kid. I was fucking pissed when I thought he might have something going on with Millie, and when I confronted him about it, he wouldn’t confirm or deny.
Likely at her request.
I should spank her for that alone.
“No problem. Are you going to kill me and bury me somewhere out here just because I’m friends with Millie?”
“Not today.” I give him a toothy grin, and he shakes his head with a laugh.
“You’re an ass.”
“Takes one to know one.” I clap him on the shoulder. “I need to burn some shit down.”
His eyebrows climb into his dark hair in surprise. “What shit would that be, exactly?”
“Every standing building on this property. Including this barn, but it’ll have to go last because I need it until I can have something else built. We’ll start with the farmhouse.”
Bridger scowls and props his hands on his hips. “What the fuck, Holden?”
“Come on. Let’s go have a look.” I climb into the passenger side of his truck so he can drive us the quarter mile or so to the farmhouse. When he’s behind the wheel, he glances over at me. “I’m not crazy, man. Just trust me.”
“You sound crazy,” he mutters, but drives us over to the house that haunts me every minute of every fucking day. When he’s parked, we sit here for a minute, staring at it. “It’s a fucking creepy house.”
“It’s about to be gone. We start here. I want this house, and everything in it, reduced to ash. Then we’ll move on to my cabin and the other outbuildings.”
Bridger looks my way. “Why?”
“Because my father ruined everything he touched. He killed my mother in that house.”
My friend’s eyes widen, and his jaw drops. “Holden, everyone was told it was an accident. You told me it was an accident.”
I remember watching my mother fall down those stairs and shake my head.
“No. No accident. Not one square inch of this house holds anything good in it. The girls came and got whatever they wanted, and now it’s time for it to go.”
“All the girls?” He frowns over at me. “Even Dani? She’s in Bozeman.”
“She’s moving back here,” I reply, shaking my head and continue staring at the fucking farmhouse. “Now that he’s dead, she feels safe to be in her own hometown again. It’ll be good to have all my girls here, where I can keep an eye on them. Anyway, back to this. I didn’t want to just pour some gasoline and light a match. I don’t want to start a forest fire.”
“I appreciate that,” he says dryly, then rubs his hand over his mouth. His hand isn’t altogether steady. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“If my dad had been your father, would you have told anyone? Even your best friends?”
“No.” He shakes his head. “Okay, we can do this. You’re outside the city limits, so you don’t need a permit. We can use it as a training exercise for my guys. That would be great, actually.”
“I’m down for that. Anything good that can come from this, I’m all for it. Can we do the cabin and the garage at the same time?”
Bridger climbs out of the truck, and I follow suit, and we stand side by side, looking out over the property.
“Yeah,” he says slowly. “We could do them one after the other and simulate an accidental fire, where one blaze ignites the next.”
“Good. When?”
“As soon as next week, if you want. Hell, I’ll call some neighboring departments and see if they want in on the training. We don’t get this opportunity often.”
“I’ll have my guys here, too. I wish I had another place to store the horses so they’re not afraid of all the noise. I can move the cattle out a ways, so they won’t be any the wiser.”
“You can board the horses at our ranch,” he offers without hesitation. “I’ll call Beckett today. There’s plenty of room in the barn.”
Emotion runs through me. The fact that these men would help me after all the shit my father pulled means a lot.
“Appreciate it.”
Bridger nods, biting his lip. I can tell that he’s still running scenarios through his head, the best way to run the fires and what all goes into it that I don’t know anything about.
“So, you weren’t fucking my wife.”
He doesn’t turn to look at me for a second, and then he blinks and scowls, as if my words just penetrated his brain, and he spins to me.
“What the hell did you just say?”
“You weren’t fucking my wife. I asked you, over and over, and you wouldn’t answer me. Pissed me the hell off.”
“I’m sorry. Who in the hell is your wife, Holden?”