Page 64 of Seeking Her Studs

Colt nods. I pat Reese on the back as I settle next to him.

“We’ve let anger get in between us before,” I say. “And that was the most destructive shit we’ve ever been through. We can’t go there again.”

Both my brothers know what I’m referring to. The time after our parents died was hell. We didn’t know how to process what was happening, and we were also so mad about Blaire. We took it out on each other, blaming each other for everything.

But we eventually pulled our shit together. We knew we needed to for our little sister. And hell, maybe we can do it again.

Sunny whines from my feet, knowing something is wrong. She probably already misses Blaire, too.

Reese launches himself away from the kitchen island and begins pacing again. A part of me starts panicking, as it all feels so familiar. I crouch down to pet Sunny and remind myself that no one has died this time. Blaire is alive. And that means we can still get her back here with us. But Reese’s pacing takes me back to that awful time in our lives. He was in denial for the longest out of all of us. He kept thinking he could do something about our parents’ death.

But then he snapped out of it. And that brain of his that can go a mile a minute went into action. When he finally accepted the truth, he started making plans for our future that Colt and I had never even considered. Hell, he was the one who hired a therapist to speak to Kaylee, which was possibly the single most important decision we made that month.

Reese nervously taps on the kitchen counter. I watch him closely, knowing something is brewing in that head of his.

“Who owns the land right before Route 7?” Reese perks up, looking between us.

“I think it’s the Smith’s land if I remember right,” Colt perks to attention now too, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. He sees what I see in Reese.

Reese nods. “That’s what I thought. And the Washingtons own the land right before that.” His eyes light up as he looks between us. “And then Main Street is technically private land, too. Remember our parents explaining that to us? They would always say that Solace Springs is a place built by the people and owned by the people.”

I nod. “The Aaronsons own the land in that part of town. They have a centuries-old land lease with the local government.”

“That’s right,” Reese snaps his fingers. His grin is now wide on his face. “And then…”

“Then it’s our land.” Colt grasps Reese’s face between his hands and kisses him on the forehead. “Holy shit Reese, you damn beautiful genius.”

Private land. It’s all private land. I start laughing in understanding.

“Briggs, are you still on good terms with the sheriff? Can you convince him to do a roadblock immediately?” Colt looks at me after he releases Reese.

I’m grinning like a fool. This crazy plan might actually work.

“A promise of a few of our finest filet mignons and it’s already done.” I say as I pull out my phone. Every second counts now.

“I’ll call the Smiths and the Mayor,” Colt says. “You call the Washingtons and Aaronsons, Reese. And then every single other person we have time to call and get their asses alongside us.”

Barely over ten minutes later, we meet at the horse stalls. Colt is already saddling our horses and everything else is in place.

“Turns out we work damn well together in a crisis,” I grin as I pull myself onto Pepper, my chestnut Clydesdale.

“Just took a small breakdown, but I got through it,” Reese laughs at himself as he mounts.

Even though we’ve got an epic plan, the nerves are still palpable. It might not work. Or even worse, Blaire might not want it to work. We could go through all this, just for her to decide to still drive to the airport and out of our lives. But I would still try one hundred times over, anyway.

We’re fighting for something real. We’ve had too many people leave our live so we know that this is the kind of shit you have to grab and hold on to as tight as possible. Because life might try to rip it away from you. But we’re not going down without a hell of a fight. And Blaire is worth it.

“There’s one thing we need to agree on before we do this,” Colt says as he pulls his horse’s reins in. “I’m all in with Blaire. I want her in our lives for, hell, as long as she’ll have us. Are we all on the same page? Because there’s no going back on this.”

“Colt, we don’t need to waste time talking about this.” Reese shakes his head. “You know the answer.”

I start riding and shout back at them. “Let’s go get our girl.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Blaire

“What in the hell is wrong with this ho-dunk town?” Patricia slams her phone down between us.

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