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I knew that, but I also knew my brother, and I doubted he’d been getting anywhere near adequate sleep. “How much has Rhys told you about Paradise Ranch?”
“How am I? Oh, I’ve been doing fine, keeping myself alive, contrary to your prediction. I had a shit run last weekend, but I’m heading to San Antonio on Thursday to redeem myself. What have you been up to?”
I sighed. “I didn’t think you’d want to make small talk with me.”
“I should have known better than to expect it, but a little interest in my life before telling me off for whatever I’ve done now would’ve been nice.”
Shit, I was fucking this up. “I’m sorry. It’s been so long since we talked—like really talked—that I may have forgotten how.”
Rogue’s eyes went big. “Did you just apologize?”
“Yeah. It stung.”
“I bet. Sit down.” He waved toward one of the camp chairs set up under the RV’s metal awning. “I’d invite you in, but it’s hot and messy as hell in here. I’ll be right back. I just need some clothes.”
I plopped down in a chair. If it was hotter in the RV than it was out here, I didn’t see how Rogue slept at all.
When he returned, wearing worn jeans and a tank top, he settled into the chair next to me. “If you’re here for an in-person version of your monthly Tell Riley Off speech, don’t bother. I can recite it from memory. Besides, you’re the one who got kicked out of the marines. I haven’t ever—”
I grabbed his shirt and twisted my fist in it, pulling him half out of his chair. “Don’t challenge me about that. You don’t want to know what will happen.”
“Are you going to beat me up? I thought you wanted me to quit the rodeo so I wouldn’t get hurt. You’ve got to make up your mind.”
I let go of the fabric and shoved at his chest. He tipped backward in his seat but managed to right himself before he fell over. “I can’t let you go around thinking you’re always right. You make mistakes too.”
I snarled. “Saving my men wasn’t a mistake.”
Rogue sighed. “Of course not. Who thinks that?”
I studied him for a moment. “So you believe I did the right thing? You don’t think—”
“Hell no. I may hate how fucking bossy you are and how you’re probably never going to think of me as a grown man, but I know how willing you are to sacrifice yourself for anyone you’ve taken under your wing. You’re a good man, Grant. Maybe a bit too much of a martyr but a good man.”
I clenched my jaw and balled my hands into fists. I wasn’t actually going to hit him, but I might punch back with words I’d regret later.
The main reason I’d been putting off seeing Rogue was that he often saw me more clearly than I saw myself, and he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. Rhys would give me silent, judgmental stares, but he wasn’t a shit talker like his brother.
“If I didn’t hold everyone together, who would?”
“I’ve been doing okay for the last few years.”
Rogue was right. He’d done a fine job keeping himself alive with me halfway around the world, but he looked tired and so much older than his twenty-eight years.
I needed to take back control of the conversation. “I’m here to offer you a job.”
Rogue narrowed his eyes, looking just as his brother had before I’d left the ranch. Their countless attempts to trick me about their identities were legendary. It wouldn’t work now, though, they each had too many scars.
Before Rogue could interrupt me, I outlined X’s offer and told him about the crew I’d lined up for the ranch so far.
“You actually agreed to this?”
Heat rushed to my face. How many times had I told him not to get involved with anyone from our past when I’d known he wasn’t listening? I’d done everything I could to extricate him from the world of organized crime. That was the other reason I’d been avoiding him.
“I didn’t have a lot of choices, and I need to take care of my family somehow.”
Rogue shook his head. “You would have found something else.”
“No. There won’t be other offers like this one.”
