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“Why are you…” He peered around the cavern, seeming to see it for the first time, and his perpetual scowl deepened. “Where did this come from?”
“Must have been here all along.”
He stared at the wall and the icons. “I never saw it.”
“We never saw anything but dirt.”
He turned in a circle. “And where is that dirt? It was supposed to be filling this in forever.”
“A cavern’s a cavern,” Matt said. “Filling it in won’t change that.”
McCord cast a withering glare in Matt’s direction. “We did change it. This place has been buried for ten years.”
“After it caved in.”
McCord glanced quickly at Gina, and she shrugged, which only made the man’s face darken. McCord wasn’t happy she’d told Matt about their experience here. Matt had to wonder if she’d ever told anyone, and the thought that she might not have, that he was the first, made him bold.
“You can fill this place with dirt over and over again,” he said in his Dr. Mecate voice, “but what the earth wants to be it will be. There’s some underground stream or drain or soft spot that makes the ground above collapse. You should just leave it alone.”
“Fat chance,” McCord muttered. “Granddad’s gonna fill this back in the instant your ass is out.”
“Jase, you’re supposed to be leading the second half of the tour, and that isn’t on this side of the ranch.”
McCord glanced down. “Well, we— I mean, they—”
“He changed the itinerary,” Matt murmured.
Gina’s brow creased. “Why?”
“So he could keep an eye on us.”
“Eye?” Gina repeated, then glanced from Matt to her childhood friend and back again. “Huh?”
“He’s jealous.”
“I’ve told you before, Teo—”
“His name’s not Teo!” McCord erupted. “It’s Dr. Mecate. Matt. Moldy to you.”
Gina’s lips tightened. “I met him as Teo, and Teo he is to me. You call him whatever you like. Now, explain why you brought paying customers to the shitty side of the ranch.”
McCord’s own lips went tight. His face turned dark red. In an instant, steam might come out of his ears.
Matt should have known better, but sometimes he just didn’t. “Tell her what you did,” he said. “How you’ve warned every man away from her. How you warned me.”
McCord might be big and bulky, but he moved faster than a thin, lithe snake. He stepped forward, popping Matt in the chin before anyone could stop him.
As if anyone could have stopped him.
Matt’s head snapped back and Gina cried out, but he didn’t go down. He was quite proud of that. Because his face hurt like a bitch.
He was able to stare calmly at the man, whom Gina held by the arm. “Hitting me doesn’t make what I said any less true.” Matt transferred his gaze to Gina. “Doesn’t it seem a little too weird that no one’s ever come back after a first date? You aren’t that bad.”
She laughed. Just once, a sparkling, happy sound, and Matt realized he’d done that. He’d made her doubt there was something wrong with her, made her consider there was something wrong, instead, with all of them. What man would let another warn him away from Gina? She was worth fighting for. Hell, she was worth dying for.
Gina’s laughter faded, and her forehead creased as she added two plus two and got, of all things, four. “Jase.” She let go of his arm. “Why are you here?”
The man’s gaze met Matt’s, and in it Matt saw coming retribution. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday, and someday soon, McCord was going to get him.
