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“Do you actually think those men back there haven’t considered every possibility? Sure, if you’re lucky, theymightleave you alone. But I doubt it.” He shook his head again. “No, you need to go somewhere they won’t be able to find you. Do you have friends out of state?”
“Out of state? No, everyone I know lives here. My mom just moved to Colorado Springs. She didn’t have any other family and her parents passed a few years ago. I could go stay with her.”
Ian let out another extended sigh. He’d lost his patience. “I’m only going to say this one more time. If they know who you are, they’ll be able to find out where your mother is. If they want to get to you bad enough, they will look for any connection you have with your family. And that’s where they’ll start. Do you honestly believe Tucker didn’t tell them anything about you?” He muttered something unintelligible under his breath. “I’m taking you to my place until we can figure out what to do with you.”
She gasped. “What? Absolutely not. What makes you think your place is any safer than the sheriff’s station?”
Ian glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “For one, my place is surrounded by hundreds of acres. There’s only one way in unless you go by horseback. And we can see people miles away before they actually arrive. For two, I have five brothers and all of us know how to handle a gun.”
Jessica gaped at him. “Guns?” she squeaked. Her pulse accelerated and her breathing became shallow. The only experience she’d had with firearms was not even fifteen minutes ago. If she never saw another gun, it would be too soon. “Why do you need guns when you live all the way out here?” A small thought of doubt wriggled in her mind. Maybe learning how to handle one wouldn’t be so bad. She stared out the window at the fast-moving trees and endless fields that glowed under the moonlight.
“We’re cattle ranchers in the mountains. I’ve seen cougars, wolves, even bears. You tell me. Would you want to be out there without a gun?”
Jessica’s stomach roiled. “And you’re taking me there? Seems to me you’re taking me from one dangerous situation right into another.”
The corners of his mouth twitched.
“I’ll come along under one condition.”
Even from her vantage point, she could see him rolling his eyes.
“When we get there, you let me call my mom. And the sheriff.”
“I can’t agree to that.”
“What? Why?”
“Not yet anyway. We need to make sure they’re not being watched.”
Jessica snorted. “How on earth are you going to figure that out?”
He let out a sigh. “You talk a lot, you know that? Just—” He shook his head. “Just trust me, alright? I’ll figure something out.”
She opened her mouth. There was no way she was going to trust anyone at this point, especially someone who was practically kidnapping her. Then she snapped her mouth shut. There was no point in arguing with him. Ian wasn’t going to turn the truck around. His body language had turned him into an immovable mountain.
Her only shot at getting out of this was to appeal to one of his brothers. Five brothers. Wow. What must that have been like? Was he the oldest? Youngest? Where exactly did this quiet, brooding brother fall in the lineup?
Jessica huffed. It didn’t matter. She wasn’t planning on staying at his ranch for long. The second she got a chance to get out of there, she’d take it. Of course she’d be smart about it. She wouldn’t go straight home. She’d call a friend or a neighbor and have them get a few of her things. Then she’d head to the city.
Ian might have a point about them tracking her down, but it was unlikely whoever those guys were would find her mom. They didn’t share the same last name. Tucker didn’t even know much about her besides that she lived somewhere in the city. Maybe she’d be able to convince her mom that the two of them needed to pack up and move out of state. The farther they got from Colorado, the better.
She eyed Ian. Then again, she could be completely wrong. What did she know? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. She’d been dating Tucker off and on for a year, but had she been too blind to see what was right under her nose the entire time? Tucker had claimed he was an influencer and that he was getting real good at it. Right. He was a criminal. There was no way an up-and-coming influencer would be able to afford half of the fancy gifts he’d given her over the past year.
Resting her elbow on the truck door’s armrest, she placed her chin in her palm and stared out the window again. Her chest tightened to the point of pain. Emotion burned behind her eyes and she blinked futilely. A hot, salty tear skittered down her cheek and landed in the palm of her hand. Then another tear and another followed suit. She sniffled and her breath shuddered. Tucker was dead. She couldn’t go home. Her life was in danger. And she sat next to a complete stranger on the way to only heaven knew where.
The life she knew was over, and it was time to accept it.
Ian slowed the truck enough to make a turn onto a dirt road that appeared out of nowhere. The vehicle bounced and jostled her as they made their way through a thicket of trees. She couldn’t see anything out her window, and the dirt road that twisted up through the hillside in front of them didn’t offer much either.
Jessica brushed at the damp streaks on her cheeks and straightened as a huge ranch house came into view. It had two stories, a lot of windows with contrasting shutters, and a huge double door. From what she could see, a covered porch wrapped around the entire house. Glowing lanterns hung beneath the awning. On the porch, a cute little swing swayed in a breeze and a few rocking chairs adorned the other. There were probably five stairs leading up to the front door.
She drank it all in. This was no rinky-dink ranch. This place was bigger than she’d ever thought possible. There were a few other buildings cast in shadow a few hundred yards off the side of the property. A large tractor-shaped silhouette lounged in what looked like a field.
Ian pulled up to a standalone structure and climbed out of the truck, leaving it running. He wandered up to the building, the headlights at his back, and pulled up the garage door. The muscles in his arms rippled with the effort.
Her eyes continued to follow him as he returned to the truck and climbed inside. He put the truck into drive and slowly pulled into the garage. On one side of the garage were numerous vehicles parked at an angle. Ian drove down the line until he hit an empty space, then parked.
Ian sat back in his seat and turned to face her. “I want to warn you. My family can be a bit…” He seemed to search for the words.
“What? Judgmental. Rude. Anything they are, I’m sure I can handle it.”
“Loud.”
Her brows lifted. “You’re worried because your brothers areloud?” She laughed. “Ian, we just ran for our lives from a group of gun-wielding drug dealers.”
“It’s more than that. Some of them can’t keep their mouths shut. Just don’t listen to anything they say and you’ll be fine.”
She smirked. “Whatever you say.”
