Page 17 of Where They Belong

“John,” Mason said a bit louder than necessary. He cast another narrow-eyed look at Colt before continuing. “Thad had an accident, so I need to go to the hospital.”

“What?” John’s complexion paled. He scanned the courtyard again, paused and frowned, and turned back to Mason. “Is he okay?”

Colt noted the reaction. John hadn’t askedwhathappened, only if Thad was okay. In and of itself, it didn’t add up to anything more than concern for a coworker and friend. But Colt couldn’t shake his suspicions that John might have had something to do with what was going on—or knew something, at the very least. In Colt’s line of business, gut instincts were ignored at your own peril.

“Sheriff Chambers says his injuries aren’t life-threatening, thankfully, but I still need to get there.” Mason ran the scraper over Cuervo to flick excess water from his coat. “Can you stay here and keep an eye on Cuervo until I get back? Brett can take over your work until then.”

“Sure thing,” John said, his eyes downcast.

He sounded distracted to Colt, his voice shaky, but that could be expected due to the morning’s dual events.

Colt waited for Mason to finish cleaning Cuervo, not missing that John didn’t give him a single glance. His gaze was locked on the blue-stained ground under Cuervo.

“Okay.” Mason walked a circle around Cuervo, his gaze roaming over the horse. Seeming satisfied, he turned the water off and rolled up the hose, dumped the soapy water, and threw the bathing items in the bucket. He untethered Cuervo and handed the lead rope to John.

“Walk him for a few so he dries off some before putting him back in his stall. Actually, just turn him out after. A good roll in the dirt will make him happy.”

John nodded and took the lead rope, and Cuervo obediently followed.

“Let’s go,” Colt said with a tip of his head. He pulled his phone from his jacket pocket. “I’ll let Wes know to keep an eye on things while we’re at the hospital. He can talk to everyone while we’re gone.”

“My crew wouldn’t do something like this,” Mason groused from the passenger seat a couple of minutes later, after Colt ended the call and climbed into the cab.

“I didn’t say they did, but they may have seen or heard something,” Colt said patiently and considered what he wanted to say before speaking his thoughts aloud. He needed to tell Mason what he was thinking. To make sure Mason didn’t exclude anyone as a suspect, that his life literally depended on it. But Mason was already riding the edge, and Colt didn’t want to send him over it.

“Right.” Mason sank back in his seat. “Yeah.”

He turned toward Mason, who sat stiffly in his seat, attention focused straight ahead, and took a second to admire his profile. Mason’s nose was straight, his cheekbones high and sharp. Fine lines feathered from the outside corners of his eyes from either squinting in the sun or laughing. Remembering the Mason from his youth, he’d bet those were laugh lines.

Though Mason hadn’t seemed at all happy since Colt and his brothers arrived, Colt knew there’d been happy times in his life. Without Colt. A sense of regret twinged in his chest that he hadn’t been there to share them. He gave himself a second to sit with the feeling and then shoved it back in the mental box with everything else he didn’t want to think about. Mason had turned his back on him. He needed to remember that. He needed to focus on the job, not what Mason’s life had been like and how it had changed him in subtle and hard ways.

“You said John has worked here the longest?” Colt figured that was a safe way to start.

Mason snapped his head toward Colt. His eyes blazed, and the voice in the back of Colt’s mind that he’d tried to keep quiet piped up and said,Well,hello.

“John did not do this,” Mason bit out, his voice low and firm, and Colt’s inner voice shut up.

Okaaay, maybe not.

“I didn’t say he did, but I think he’s worth a deeper look.” Colt kept his tone level and as reasonable as possible. He didn’t want to set off the firecracker sitting beside him. At the same time, a deep-buried part of him wanted to light that match just to see what would happen. Fired-up adult Mason was doing funny things to his insides. Things he couldn’t afford to acknowledge but that snaked into his thoughts regardless.

Mason shook his head and looked out the windshield again. He crossed his arms over his chest. “Do you plan on driving anytime soon?”

“Mason.” Colt swallowed a sigh and pushed the Start button. His truck rumbled to life. “Until we can rule out anyone, we have to consider everyone a suspect.”

“I trust my crew with my life,” Mason argued. “Not a single one of them would do something like this. Especially not John. He’s been here for more than fifteen years, and he’s been nothing but a loyal and reliable hand. A friend, even.”

“I get you feel that way, but—”

“Motherfuckingsonofabitch!” Mason roared.

Colt’s heart shot into his throat as Mason yanked off his seat belt, the buckle smacking the door with a loudthwack, and jumped from the truck. Colt quickly scanned the area for threats while at the same time cursing Mason for charging off.

And charging he was.

Mason stormed into the center of the yard, looking every bit like a raging bull facing off against a matador—the matador being an olive-green SUV pulling into the yard. An oval logo that readGreat Adventure Hunting & Outfittersset into antlers was displayed on the vehicle’s side.

The SUV stopped right in front of Mason. Too close for Colt’s comfort. He unclipped his gun from his shoulder holster as he jumped from his truck and rushed to Mason’s side.

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