Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 57423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
“I resented the hell out of my dad for a long time. I didn’t even know the man.” Though West said the words with an even tone, she thought she could detect a sorrow beneath them. “Every picture I have of him has something to do with work.”
“Is that why you left?”
“I left because my brother needed to get out.” West kept his eyes on the horizon. There was the faintest hint of a five-o’clock shadow breaking over the hard line of his jaw. “Broken Bend is a small town, and it’s stuck in an era where they don’t like their town heroes coming out as bi. Rand was the high school quarterback. He won a couple of championships. We came up here to Dallas for college. By that point, the ranch was profitable because we found natural gas on the property. A lot of it. Otherwise Rand and I would likely be right there fighting to keep a piece of land that sucked the soul out of our dad.”
She kept quiet when he did, not wanting to give him a reason to move on to another subject. She wanted to know about him, the hows and whys about him coming here. If he longed to go back. If he missed someone from his town.
“Anyway,” West continued, “when we were up here in Dallas, that was when my brother finally was able to be honest with himself and me about his sexuality. When we went back home, he thought he could be open about it, but him dating a guy was apparently one step too far. It’s not like they threw shit at him or hassled him physically.”
She knew exactly what they’d done. “Being shunned can be every bit as hurtful. Especially when they do it and when you call them on it, they swear they’re not. Please tell me your family accepted him.”
He nodded. “Yes. Clint is my oldest brother. He’s married with a couple of kids, and they all love their Uncle Rand. But Clint also understood when Rand decided to take a job up here in Dallas. He thought I should stay, though. I told him I had to come with Rand to make sure he was okay, but I wouldn’t have stayed. The only thing there for me was to live my father’s life. So I took my part of the gas money and moved up here. I finished my degree. I thought about going into some kind of law enforcement and then realized that was not for me. Wade then offered for me to go through training to work for McKay-Taggart. They usually only hire ex-military or ex-law enforcement for bodyguard positions.”
“What kind of training did you do?”
He huffed out a laugh. “What kind didn’t I do? I trained on weapons, self-defense, situational awareness. At one point, I was left out in the wilderness, and I had to find my way back. I’m going to be honest, I wasn’t sure that wasn’t some weird hunt thing. I think if I hadn’t made it out, Big Tag might have had my head on his wall.”
She didn’t like the thought of that. “That sounds terrible.”
A hint of a smile hit his face. “It was at the time, but it was also kind of fun. It was challenging, and these are some of the best people I’ve ever met. They come from all walks of life, and they get along because they all have one purpose. They want to do their jobs and have happy lives, and they work for it. There was also a lot of therapy involved. It was part of the training. Rand ended up working at McKay-Taggart’s sister company. They specialize in missing persons. He works on their logistical team. He had therapy, too. And now he’s engaged to a guy I think is perfect for him.”
She loved that story. “I’m happy for him. For them. How about you? Is there a woman in your life? I never even asked if you were married.”
“No. I’ve dated a little since we moved up here, but nothing serious,” he admitted. “I had a serious girlfriend back home for a while, but that was over when she started asking me if Rand could maybe tone it down around her. My brother doesn’t need to tone down anything.”
“No, he doesn’t.” She was glad they’d found someplace they felt comfortable. She wasn’t sure if she’d wanted that particular answer to her question. A married West would be less dangerous.
He let a moment pass before he turned her way. “Are we going to talk about it?”
She took a long breath and decided to not pretend with him. “It wouldn’t do any good to.”
“At first I thought it didn’t bother you. I thought you didn’t care what they thought.”
She was curious. His answer would tell her a lot about whether she could somewhat trust this man. “And did you think I was strong for that? Or did the words cold-hearted bitch run through your head?”