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Serena nodded, relieved that Ellie had offered. Serena didn’t have a lot of girlfriends. Her ex had made sure of it. He’d cut her off from her friends, family, and the rest of the world. In fact, he’d made her very suspicious of other women, simply by parading his working girls in and out of their home.
She’d suffered outright abuse from her stepfathers—all four of them—and then moved in with Thorn, thinking he was the answer to all her problems. After years of abuse, mostly mental, she had moved to Trouble in hopes of living a stress-free and happy life.
At the moment, she wasn’t exactly miserable but she wasn’t jumping for joy. And she was stressed to the hilt.
“I’ve told you my story, or at least most of it. You know why I ended up here. What I’ve never really told anyone is why I didn’t end up with Allister, Ryan, Derek and Bradley right from the start.”
“You went to high school with them. Right?”
“Yes I did. And I had a mad crush on Allister McCall. I always thought of him as the one who slipped away, and not because he wouldn’t have wanted me then but because I let my parents steer me in a certain direction.
“Even still, I can’t blame them entirely. I was young and impressionable but headstrong, too.” She paused and then her smile faded. “And I was terrified of my feelings for four men. The feelings I had for each man were so similar and real.
“Ultimately, I didn’t follow my heart, Serena. I followed what society deems acceptable. Beyond Trouble’s gates, it’s not politically correct to sleep with four men at one time, let alone commit to that many.
“It’s not okay to go on vacations or be seen in public showing affection for four guys instead of just one. The truth is, while I’ve seen the looks of contempt from others, I’ve also seen the stars in many a woman’s eyes. Sometimes it starts at curiosity, but inevitably it ends up as either contempt or envy and I’ve seen the jealousy stamped upon plenty of faces.
“But none of that really matters. Ya know?” She sipped her wine and Serena watched her as she settled her back against the sofa cushion. “In the end, Serena, what matters is your happiness. What matters is what you feel inside. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks.”
“Not even Draegan?”
Ellie opened her mouth to speak. Suddenly, she was seemingly at a loss for words. She leaned forward and poured another glass.
“Go ahead. Drink the whole bottle,” Serena said, taking that seat next to Ellie then. “You’re gonna need it.”
* * * *
Somewhere away from Trouble, Markie stared up at his bound, bloody wrists. He’d fought the hard fight, the losing battle, and now he
re he was strung up like an animal, wavering back and forth as he tried to see clearly enough to figure out if he had a way to save himself.
He suspected where he was being held, given his captor, but he couldn’t say for sure. The last time he’d been held against his will, he’d been in the depths of a musty well somewhere on the Vance property.
Irony sure was a cruel bastard when a man was brought full circle.
A rickety door opened and closed. A few flashes suggested someone had entered long enough to take some pictures.
Markie immediately relaxed, as much as one could given his current status. From the moment he’d arrived there, he’d feared he had seen the last of Trouble’s gates. He was convinced he’d been brought there for one purpose—a murderer’s plan, a killing agenda. His captor had kept muttering something about an “eye for an eye” and Markie had feared somewhere down the line, he’d cost some poor son-of-a-gun his sight.
He still had both his eyes but given the slash marks to his torso, he had seriously wondered if his assailant meant to carve out a rib.
Bound and gagged, bleeding and in tremendous pain, Markie tried to focus on the imaginary light at the end of the tunnel. The flashes suggested the bastard holding him would soon hit up the McCalls for ransom.
The McCalls would pay. Then they’d come for retribution. That’s the way they operated. If Markie could just hold on.
One day soon, he’d enjoy dishing payback. He just needed to hold out for hope and wait for Draegan and the others. Justice would soon be served. Revenge would be delivered.
A day of reckoning was coming.
Chapter Seven
“I didn’t expect to see you here.” Allister entered the office, took a seat, and threw his booted feet up on the edge of Draegan’s desk.
“Well, here I am.”
“Grouchy as ever, too,” Allister pointed out. “Wanna talk about it?”
“I do not,” Draegan said, scribbling some notes down for the morning shift. He paused and looked up. “How many loads of cattle came in today?”
