Undertaker had gotten the call telling him there was a truck making its way from Austin to the Mexico border carrying steers. And some of those steers carried his brand. They’d been lookingfor the cattle thieves for the past three years. Now, they had the answers and the names. Federal law stated ninety-nine years per animal rustled. The feds could have what was left of the rustlers after Undertaker took them to task.
Switch was a nomad that worked for the department of transportation and had stopped the truck after they had passed an open weigh station.As he checked the cargo, he noticed the brands on the steers, the one from Big Star Ranch had stood out. He didn’t recognize the driver or the passenger as members of the club. But one of them had a t-shirt on with the club’s logo blazing across it.
The two names they’d given Switch had triggered it for the brother, Tiny and Booger had just moved up to prospects after three years of being hang-arounds. Now, they were gonna learn fast and hard what it meant to go against the club.
Switch had put a tail on the truck, and it was now parked in the back lot of a truck stop two hours away. Frost stared straight ahead, keeping alert as he rode at the back of the pack. Next to him road Pistol and behind them pulling up the rear was Jinx as he was the Road Captain. Tonight there were no prospects or hang-arounds riding.
Normally non full patches were allowed around business like this. But the two prospects they had were the two people that had betrayed them. So, yeah, they were gonna be up close and personal to this shit tonight. If anyone knew the sound of a pack of Harleys blasting down the road they’d know they were coming as the pack exited the freeway. The truck stop stood up on the right-hand side of the road.
Frost followed the rider in front of him knowing Undertaker had given instructions. They circled the building. Some of them parked by the entrances and exits as others rolled through the parking lots looking for the truck.
The low loping thump, thump, thump of the motors bounced off the brick and the concrete. Frost kept his eyes peeled watching for movement. He could see patrons in the truck stop’s restaurant staring out the windows. Unfortunately, this was a busy stop for motorists.
They found the truck parked at the back of the lot. Frost pulled around the back of the truck and shut down his bike. Swinging off his bike he reached for the trailer rails and started to climb.
The steers snorted as they moved around in the tight quarters. Reaching behind his back Frost unholstered his gun and flipped the safety off.Dropping off amongst the cattle, Frost swore under his breath as he landed in cow shit. Undertaker owed him new damn boots after this shit, literally.
Frost’s entire body hummed. His skin crawled with it. Easing thought the cattle he knew Undertaker and Maddog had him covered, at least he hoped they did. Somewhere amongst the steers were Tiny and Booger hiding. Shoving the steers they moved just enough for him to squeeze through searching for the two fuckers.
Noise on the rails had Frost glancing up to see Maddog and Undertaker crawling over the rails holding cattle prods. Fuck, he needed to get out of the trailer before he got trampled on.
He barely got a foot and hand on a rail tugging himself up when a high-pitched scream broke the night. It was Booger. Undertaker had poked him with the cattle prod. Movement across the bed of the trailer Frost caught sight of Tiny trying to climb out.
Whistling to Maddog who was closest, the brother literally ran over the backs of the steers grabbing Tiny throwing him back into the bed of the trailer.Both Tiny and Booger were having a shitty night. And it was only getting started.
A semi-truck pulled up next to the trailer, Switch stepped out of the driver’s side door just as Tiny squealed again.
“You boys need someone to drive this rig back to Broken Bow,” Switch asked.
It wasn’t a bad plan. The semi was owned by Tiny. They knew he was a cross country trucker but had never once thought he was stealing from them.
“Get up, both of you.” Undertaker shouted.
Frost watched as both men stood, each looked like they rolled in cow shit, he chuckled at the sight.They tied them together and left them at the front of the trailer. No one cared if they lived or died on the way back to the Big Star Ranch.
Chapter Thirteen.
The lights had stayed on all night. Fear of him thinking she wouldn’t be waiting for him. But she had…stayed up all night. The few times she fallen asleep, noise outside the window or from the front room woke her.
At one time she’d stepped outside onto the porch hoping she’d see the headlamp of his bike coming up the road. All she found was the chatter of foxes moving across the field. Or it might have been coyotes she hadn’t stuck around to find out.
With the sunup pouring light into the cabin Constance stood in the kitchen waiting for the coffee to brew. She hoped Faith could bring her home. She had things to do all though she didn’t know how she would concentrate while she worried about Frost.
If she wasn’t careful the worry of the unknown would cripple her. She knew how fast someone could be stripped from your life. Constance thought about her late husband.
Gripping the counter she felt a pang of guilt as the coffee dripped steadily into the pot, a low, steady rhythm that did little to quiet the flutter in her chest.
She held onto the counter, staring out at the field of golden hay. The morning sun was climbing, brushing the tops of the stalks with light, and for a moment, everything seemed to hold its breath. Almost peaceful.
But her mind refused the calm. The memory of Frost leaving in a rush, the sound of his bike roaring away until the silence was deafening. She’d tried to relax in the tub but calm nevercame.Now It had crawled back in, sharp and insistent, and with it came the familiar ghost of guilt. Three years. Three years since the accident, since her husband had been ripped from her world, leaving silence behind.
And still… still the thought that she could care for someone else, even in the smallest way, made her chest tighten.
She had loved her husband—truly—but it had not been the consuming fire she’d imagined in her youth. It had softened into something gentler, more companionable than thrilling.
That should have been enough to free her from this lingering guilt, but it wasn’t. Because now, thinking of Frost who had left her with racing heartbeats and quickened breaths made her feel as if she were betraying someone sacred.
Her eyes followed the wind across the hay, golden waves bending and twisting.
