“Listen, I won’t take too much of your time. My name is Roger West, I am a Development Representative with Horizon Group, and we’re looking to bring prosperity to this lovely county, and we’re extending our work out here to Bell River.
“I noticed you placed a piece of property near Hollis Ranch on the market, and if you take it off the market now, Horizon is willing to double the market value,” he explains, his smile as slimy as the pitch itself, gel cracked stiff in his hair.
The last name,West,resonates with me because it’s the same name that pulled the county commissioner away from our meeting.
This guy could very well be the reason why I’ve been stonewalled at every turn—and who’s to say he isn’t directly responsible for the illegal piping?
I still want my escape plan if I need it, but saying yes to this man feels wrong. Quietly selling this land wouldundo everything I just did to bring the ranch back into compliance and restore its water.
Horizon wouldn’t stop at just this piece of land; they will do everything possible to push Gage to sell the entire ranch, and that is something I am unwilling to do.
“I’ll think about it,” I reply, and he blinks, taken aback. I guess he assumed if he gave me a price that seemed too good to be true, he’d be able to secure our deal right on these stairs. Sounds like he’s never done a deal with someone like me, and I don’t bend so easily.
“Oh, of course, here take my card,” he says, holding his card out to me. As I reach to grab it, he holds it tightly so it’s a contest between us. “I look forward to hearing from you.” And there’s that slimy smile again, like he won this deal despite my never agreeing to anything.
He lets it go, and I take it, not bothering with pleasantries any longer.
As soon as I get in my car and turn the engine on, I make a mental note to scrub my skin when I get back to the ranch. No wonder Gage hates suits so much.
They suck.
The moment I get into the shower, I feel grateful. Scrubbing the soap on my skin felt like I was washing away all the scum Roger left in my orbit. Probably dramatic, but he gives me a bad vibe.
As soon as I go for my shampoo and place it in my hair, the lights cut out. Oh no, what the hell? Even in the shower, I can hear the sound of the door opening and closing, followed by stomping up the stairs.
The door of the bathroom swings open, and my eyes widen, grateful that the shower curtain blocks everything. “Sloane?” I calm my racing heart when I hear it’s Gage on the other side. “You alright?”
“I’m fine, what happened?” I ask, finding a quiet comfort in knowing that the moment the power went out, his initial thought was to run and check on me.
“There’s a blackout, and I got the guys working on the generator, but the thing is older than dirt. I’m thinking we’ll be out for a bit,” he says as I wash my hair out. “Do you need candles in here until you finish up?”
I squeeze my hair out of any excess hair, my brows furrowing at how nice he’s being to me. The Gage I met on the first day only grabbed my suitcase out of some type of obligation, but this Gage tonight is completely different.
“No. I’m okay. I’ll be finished in a moment,” I tell him before I hear the quiet clicking of the door shutting behind him.
I quickly finish up with my shower, and as soon as I get out of the bathroom, I see the soft glow downstairs.I follow it, the steps creaking under my bare feet. Peeking down, I see Gage sitting on the couch with a beer in hand.
He looks up and nods to me. “Care for a beer?” He asks, and I blink, surprised. My brain is telling me to stay as far away from him as possible, but my heart is telling me that if I do, I’ll regret it.
“Sure.”
He gets up and walks into the kitchen to grab a beer, still cold in the fridge. I walk into the living room and sit on the couch, the reminder of what happened the last time we sat here in the dark flashes in my brain.
He takes a seat and pops the cap off, handing it to me. I take a sip and then nurse it by the neck. “Why are you being so nice?”
“You’d rather I be mean still?” he asks, and I scoff, taking another swig.
“Not at all, but surely my telling you about my dad isn’t going to just change how you feel towards me, clearly. You couldn’t even listen to me before.”
He sighs, running his hand along the back of his neck. “It’s because I didn’t want to.” He looks towards me, his eyes glowing in the candlelight. “I had this ex, Marlene, she and I were great together by all accounts. We worked well together and honestly, I thought I was going to marry that woman,” he explains, before shaking his head again.
“So, what happened?”
“She was muddying the books, stealing from the ranch’s profits, and hiding it away so she and her boyfriend on the side could live comfortably. Nothing was getting paid because even though Uncle Sam passed recently, I was already manning the thing.
I nearly lost everything because of her, and I swore I wouldn’t let another woman catch me off guard like that again.” This was the answer I was waiting for, and somehow it didn’t make me feel any better.
It helps me see him more, of course, but knowing this woman crippled his ability to trust anyone is heartbreaking.
