Chapter 1
ALEX
One hundred and fifty.
A rush of breath leaves my restrained lungs as I lift the weight bar and set it down on its metal rest. Sweat soaks my body as my muscles ache, and my heart about pounds out of my rib cage.
“Jesus, man, you’re going to be able to out lift all of us in no time. Look at those fuckin’ guns.”
With a chuckle, I sit up and find Roman standing in the doorway of the pool house, leaning there with a smug smirk as he crosses his arms over his chest.
“Gotta stay in shape, right? We can’t all sit around and become fat husbands.” I joke back with him, throwing a wink for good measure before I lie back down on the weight bench and grip the metal bar for a second rep.
His laugh fills the room as he walks in and stands near my head. “Don’t you know it’s dangerous not to have someone spotting you while you lift weights?”
I huff out a breath every time I lift the weights upward, flashing him a grin before my lips go thin and I fight through another lift.
“You’re bored,” he says matter-of-factly. “I get it, man. We went from having fast and dangerous lives to living in the ’burbs.”
Setting the weight bar down again, I sit up and turn on the bench, pointing him straight in the face. “Hey, fucker, this is the life you’ve always wanted. I’m only here because if I stayed there, we both know I’d end up dead.”
He grins. “You’re here because you’re my brother and we look out for each other.”
I know it to be true, but damn it, I don’t want to admit it right now—because I am fucking bored. Grabbing a towel from the cabinets, I wipe the sweat from my face and then drape it around my neck, glaring over at him.
“I’ve got something for you if you’re interested,” he says, piquing my interest immediately.
“Tell me this something requires me to carry guns and not your kid’s diaper bag.”
He barks out a laugh, grabbing my shoulder. “It’s going to require you to carry your guns plus some. You also don’t mind wearing a cowboy hat, do you?”
“I’m listening…” I urge him along.
“You remember Hannah, don’t you?”
I nod. “From the wedding? Julia’s old college roommate?”
“The very one.”
“I’m still listening,” I urge him again.
He scratches the back of his neck and moves to the small two-person kitchen table I have sitting against the wall of windows that faces the pool. “Well, she’s been confiding in Julia the last few weeks and then she just got an S.O.S. text message. I don’t know a ton, but I do know the guy she’s dating out in Montana is a real piece of work—beats her up and shit, I guess. His family owns a huge ranch out there—a pretty big and well-known family—so it’s not going to be as easy as going in there to pick her up.”
Nodding, I say, “I get what you’re saying. I gotta go in dressed like some cowboy, get hired on at this ranch, and then save the damsel in distress. Am I missing anything?”
Roman shrugs, giving me a sheepish smirk. “Sort of.”
“I don’t like it when you say that.”
He laughs. “The family you’re going to be working for is kinda like that one family on that one show… Um, Kevin Costner is the lead and—”
I wave him on. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the one. So, you’re saying I have to be extra stealthy.”
“I’m saying this isn’t Russia and these people aren’t mafia… This is a new one, even for you, Alex.”
As I throw him a wicked smirk, I yank open my equipment locker and pull out my duffel bag. “There isn’t anything I’m afraid of, Roman; you know that.”
****
HANNAH
“Didn’t I make myself perfectly clear last time?” August asks through clenched teeth, his bourbon-scented breath blowing across my face.
I hold as steady as I always do, not letting him intimidate me. This usually gets me a black eye, but it’s worth it to stand up to this asshole.
“Crystal clear,” I answer when he roughly grabs my face, digging his fingers into my cheeks. “Oww,” I cry out.
“You know I love you, don’t you, Hannah?”
I nod, unable to voice a lie. It angers him, his grip tightening as my jaw aches beneath the pressure. Telling August what he wants to hear usually gets him off my back, but he’s been drinking extra heavily today.
His crazed brown eyes flit between mine as he chuckles and releases my jaw. “Because if I didn’t, you’d be lying dead in a ditch somewhere, and not a single fucking soul would give a shit about you.”
The stone expression pins me to my spot as he glares at me, then a smile rips across his face and he holds out his arms.
“Baby, I’m kidding.”
I force myself to smile, letting out a fake, dry laugh. “Yeah, that was a super funny joke, August. I’ll have to remember that one.”
“This is why I love you—you just get me.”
He stumbles toward the bed, falling face-first on top of the blankets and doesn’t move another muscle. I wait a second in case he pops up to try to scare me, but when he doesn’t, I slowly move toward him and find that he’s already softly snoring.
“You drunk piece of shit,” I hiss out, kicking his foot for good measure.
Moving to the bathroom, I shut and lock the door behind me before I drop to my knees and reach into the cabinets beneath the sink. I have a burner phone taped up in the back corner, finding it with my wandering fingers. The tape is starting to lose its grip, easily dropping in my hand.
Please turn on. Please turn on.
When the screen lights up, I see I only have a three percent battery life and my heart sinks. I tap the messages as quickly as I can, clicking on the only person who’s in my inbox—Julia.
S.O.S. is all I can get out before the screen goes black. I’m pretty sure I hit send right before, but now I’m not sure and my brain is overthinking it. Jesus, fuck! Did I hit send?!
Author's Note:
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