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“Oh?” Cade quirked an eyebrow as I felt Boone’s low laugh rumble through his chest. God, being alone with these two men was a constant test of my self-control. “And what gene would that be?”
“The two of you might approach the world a little differently,” I said. “But you’re both good guys, and you do the right thing. And I saw a look in his eyes tonight that I’ve seen in yours before. I’d hate to be the person who gets on your bad side.”
Cade shook his head and gave me another of those wide, easy smiles. “You’ll never have to worry about that, beautiful. We’re all on the same side here, and that’s exactly where we’re going to stay.”
“Good,” I said, closing my eyes as Boone held me tight next to him. “That’s exactly where I want to be.”
And tonight? I really didn’t care whose side we were on as long as I was with my guys.
They were everything I wanted and all I needed—and God, I didn’t even want to think about the day they’d have to go back home.
Chapter 14
Janessa
God, it had been an impossibly long day. It felt like years had passed since Uncle Justin, Cade, Boone, and I had been sitting around the breakfast table this morning.
And now?
I’d never been happier to see my comfortable bed or to pull the warm covers up around my ears. Yeah, I was definitely going to be asleep within minutes.
I closed my eyes and then immediately cracked one open again as my phone started ringing on the bedside table next to me.
No.
Nope.
Not tonight.
I didn’t know who would be calling me at eleven at night, and I didn’t care. I reached over and swiped to ignore the call without even looking. Whoever it was would just have to wait until tomorrow.
It couldn’t have been ten seconds before the phone started ringing again. I ground my teeth together and inhaled through my nose, completely ready to ignore the call again.
But unfortunately, my sleep-deprived brain was a little more alert this time—alert enough to make me wonder if the call might be about something important.
What if it was Derek? Or the sheriff? What if they’d caught the person behind the poisonings?
I slowly exhaled the breath I’d been holding in and reached for the phone, swiping to answer and bringing it up to my ear as I tried to muster a polite tone. “Hello?”
“Janessa?”
My eyes snapped open at the voice. It had been forever since I’d heard that voice, but I would have known it anywhere.
“Daisy Lynn! Girl, I thought you were—” And then I stopped because I suddenly realized why she was calling. “Oh, my God, please don’t tell me you’re in town.”
“Um, yeah? That’s why I’m calling…” She sounded confused and maybe a little annoyed. “Becca and I got to the bus station about thirty minutes ago. Where are you? Are you on your way to pick us up?”
And that was why she had every right to be annoyed. Because no, I wasn’t on my way. I was in bed. I’d forgotten that my two best friends were coming to visit. How could I have let this happen?
Well… I hadn’t forgotten they were coming, exactly. I’d just… sort of forgotten that they were coming today. In my own admittedly weak defense, I still wasn’t sure what day it was. They’d all been just been running together in a crazy blur lately.
“I just got back to the ranch,” I said, which was sort of true. We hadn’t been back that long, anyway. “There was a bunch of drama that I’ll have to tell you about later. But stay right there. I’m on my way right now, okay?”
I heard a sigh on the other end of the line, but the hint of annoyance in her voice was gone and replaced by weariness when she answered me again. “Okay. We’ll be waiting. I can’t wait to see you!”
“Can’t wait to see both of you!” I answered, smiling in spite of the fact that I was a terrible friend. “I’ll be there soon.”
I hung up the phone and threw on some jeans, then grabbed a light jacket to wear over the extra-large t-shirt I’d worn to bed. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail and winced as I looked into the mirror above my dresser. I definitely wouldn’t be winning any beauty awards between here and the bus station, but whatever. The only people who were going to see me were Becca and Daisy Lynn, and honestly? They’d seen me looking much worse than this over the course of the year we’d lived together at school.
