“Are you hungry?” Marj asked. “We can stop and get something. Jade and I already ate.”
I shook my head. No, I wasn’t hungry. I was rarely hungry. I ate for sustenance. Fuck. I’d missed Marj’s steak dinner last night. I’d have to apologize. God… I hated hurting my sister. Hated hurting my brothers.
“I’m so sorry all this happened, Talon.” Marj’s eyes misted up.
I could stand anything but her tears. So many tears had been shed over me during my life. I was damned sick of it.
After that, Marj stopped talking, and we were all silent during the half-hour ride out to the ranch. I sat in the front seat next to Marj, and Jade sat in the back. I couldn’t see her, but her presence surrounded me, enveloped me, permeated me. She was inside me, and I was being pulled in different directions. One part of me wanted her more than anything, but the other part pushed her away. I couldn’t bear the thought of hurting her, and if she stayed near me, she would get hurt. I was a mess—a mess she, or anyone else, shouldn’t have to deal with.
We pulled into the ranch, and Jade went into her room without another word. I watched her walk down the hallway. Only she could make a navy-blue conservative suit look hotter than hell. I wanted to rip that tweed off of her and fuck her good right there.
But that would have to wait. Marj was coddling me, fawning all over me. Guilt raced through me. I’d missed her dinner, but she didn’t mention it. Instead, she made me a pot of tea and told me to go to my room and rest. Rest was the last thing I needed. Yes, I was perpetually tired, but right now, my body was agitated. I needed to keep moving, needed to work off some steam. Needed to release…
And I knew just where I could find one. How to get past Marj was the problem.
After I had waited a while, I sneaked out of my bedroom and down the hallway toward Jade’s room. I knocked lightly on the door.
“Come in.”
She had changed out of her stuffy suit, and she sat on her bed in a pair of denim cutoffs and a hot-pink tank top. My cock reacted at the sight. On the bed was a manila folder, and several documents were splayed out.
She looked up at me. “Hey, I was just looking over your case file.”
“So you’re really going to prosecute me, huh?”
She shook her head. “Not if I can help it. But I need you to cooperate.”
“You think you can get pretty boy to drop the charges?”
“I will try. Even if he doesn’t, you have a great chance to get a good plea bargain. But honestly, we’re putting the cart before the horse. Formal charges haven’t even come in yet.”
“Well, you’re the city attorney. You file the charges, right?”
She shook her head. “Larry does that, I’m afraid. But I will certainly recommend to him that we go lenient on this.”
“Don’t hold your breath,” I said. “The good folks of Snow Creek like to stick it to the Steels.”
She arched her eyebrows. “Why would you say that?”
I wasn’t sure why I had said that, to be truthful. As far as I knew, no one had anything against us in town. “I don’t know. Because we’re the rich ranchers. We own half the damn town.”
She nodded. “I see.” She paused a moment. “So where were you last night, anyway? Marj worked her butt off cooking that great dinner for all of us. She was really hurt when you didn’t show up.”
I gulped. What could I say? Turned out I didn’t need to say anything, because Jade kept talking.
“And then that cop comes around looking for you, saying he has an arrest warrant. Do you have any idea what you put all of us through? I was worried sick. But never mind me. What about Marj and your brothers? None of us got any sleep last night.”
I let out a guffaw. “Join the fucking club.”
“No way. Don’t turn this around. I get that you have trouble sleeping, and I’m sorry. But that doesn’t negate what you did last night. And you have sleeping pills now. Why aren’t you taking them?”
I didn’t know what to say. She kept talking.
“You owe your sister an apology. And for God’s sake, where were you last night? People here care about you, you know. You can’t just take off like that when your sister is expecting you for dinner, and then have some cop come along—”
“Hey, I didn’t know Steve was coming around. It’s not my fault that jerk ex of yours had me arrested.”
“Not your fault? Do you listen to the words that come out of your mouth, Talon?” She shook her head.
I looked down. I don’t know why I’d said it wasn’t my fault. But he’d been kissing her, touching her… “I told you I’d plead guilty.”
“And back to that again.” Jade sighed. “You really are determined to fuck up your life, aren’t you?”