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“Oh no.” Jase backed away, shaking his head, waving his hands. “Not me.”
“You don’t have any choice. I have to show Mecate the place he bought the ranch to find, which means you have to leave with the As, and all their little friends, on the second leg of the program this afternoon. You should have gone this morning.”
Jase stopped backing away and dropped his hands. “You can’t take Mecate there. Granddad says that place has bad juju.”
“I have never in all my life heard Isaac utter the word juju.”
“You know what I mean.”
She did. The Ute had believed the place cursed even before her parents had died there.
“It doesn’t matter,” Gina said. “I still have to take him.”
Quickly she gave Jase the CliffsNotes version of Teo Mecate’s life story, watching Jase closely when she mentioned the sorcerer, the magic, but his only reaction was an eye roll and a sneer. He obviously hadn’t heard a similar tale from any of the Ute elders. Nor had he suddenly remembered hearing insidious whispers during the time he and Gina were buried down there.
Only she had.
Should she feel better knowing that or worse? On the one hand, if she was imagining things, then the place they were headed to was just a place. Full of bad memories, sure, but nothing more than dirt and rocks and trees.
On the other hand, she was imagining things. And had been for nearly ten years.
“He isn’t going to give me what I want unless I give him what he wants,” Gina finished.
Jase shot her an evil glare, but thankfully he kept his no-doubt obnoxious comment to himself.
She’d considered leading Teo on a wild-goose chase until he gave up and went away, but considering what he’d told her about his mother—her life and her death—she’d be wasting her time. Since he owned the ranch now, he didn’t have to leave. Ever. If she wanted it back, she had one choice.
Take him where he wanted to go.
Maybe if she faced the place again, saw that it wa
s just a place … watched him dig and find nothing … maybe then she’d start to believe it herself. She’d stop hearing her name on the wind. Avoiding the area certainly hadn’t helped.
“I’ll do it,” Jase said.
Oh, that would be grand. One of them would wind up buried in the forest. And she had a pretty good idea which one.
“You ended any chance of him putting up with you for more than a minute when you blabbed his true identity before God and everyone else.”
“I shouldn’t have?”
“There are better ways to handle something like that than an ambush.”
“You’re just mad because I interrupted him before he could get in your pants.” Jase’s mouth tightened as his gaze scanned her face. “Or did I?”
“Kiss my ass,” Gina said sweetly. She’d never discussed her sex life, or lack of it, with Jase and she certainly wasn’t going to start now. He might be her best friend, but he was really more like a brother, no matter what Teo said, and that was just icky.
“Fine,” Jase growled. “Just show him the tree, let him do whatever the hell it is he has to do there, then get rid of him as fast as you can.”
That was the plan. The longer Teo stayed, the harder it would be for everyone.
“I’ll distract Granddad,” Jase said.
“What? Why?”
“You think he’s gonna let you go anywhere near the end of Lonely Deer Trail again no matter what reason you have for it? I wouldn’t be surprised if he locked you in the barn and used his shotgun to get rid of the professor.” Jase’s lips twitched. “Permanently.”
“Hell,” Gina muttered. She hadn’t thought of that.
