Page 128 of Downpour

Ray pressed his lips to my temple. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. I just thought I saw lights on at the lodge. It was probably just the sun on the windows.”

He grabbed a piece of candy from the bag. “I don’t think they’ve got the electricity up and running yet.”

Anarchy was grazing from a patch of grass behind where CJ was seated. She stopped and glared in the direction of the lodge. Her ears twitched, and she let out a displeased grunt.

Laughter and music bubbled up from the bonfire. I closed my eyes, soaking it all in.

“This feels like home,” I said softly, so it stayed just between Ray and me. “I haven’t felt this in a long time.”

He wrapped his arm around me and held me close. “Sometimes I worry you like my family more than me.”

I laughed softly. “They have less groveling to do.”

“Are the construction crews still here?” Cassandra asked as she checked the time on her phone.

Heads turned toward the lodge, where flashlights danced through the second floor.

“The crew left two hours ago,” a ranch hand said as bodies began to rise.

“We’ll go check it out,” Ray said as he put the golf cart into drive.

CJ called Anny over and mounted her. “I’m coming.” A handful of his boys joined in.

The golf cart jostled and bumped along the divots in the road. As we got closer, the flashlights dancing inside the lodge grew more frantic.

My heart jumped in my throat, and I squeezed Ray’s arm. “There’s people in there. More than one.”

“Maybe one of the workers forgot to put the tools up or something,” he said.

The ominous pounding of Anny’s hooves echoed like a sinister roll of thunder. CJ rounded the front of the lodge and hopped off her back.

“Who’s up there?” he shouted into the framework.

Profanities were mixed in a scuffle as the lights danced over the site.

“Hey!” Ray shouted at CJ as he stormed into the lodge. His knuckles went white against the steering wheel.

I knew where his head and heart were. Ray wanted to be the one going up there to see who was messing around inside.

Boots thundered on plywood sheets. Shouts rose up, drawing the attention of the rest of the ranch hands and Griffiths.

A shadow darted out of the lodge.

“Oh my god!” I clapped my hands over my mouth. “That’s?—”

CJ tackled the man, and he yelped. I recognized that voice instantly. I used to dread hearing it through my bedroom door.

CJ and my former roommate, Nick, grunted as they rolled across the dirt.

Something slick and black glinted in the moonlight.

“Carson!” Ray roared.

BANG!

I screamed and ducked into Ray as a gunshot cracked through the air, not sure where it had been pointed.

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