Page 126 of Shadow Sabotage
“It’s too bad I can’t stand you.” I winked.
The following March
I slapped at my phone,trying to stop the incessant buzzing that disturbed my sleep.
“You should answer it,” Vance murmured before nipping my neck with his teeth.
I smiled lazily, stretching a hand behind me to feel the glorious body that wrapped around my own. “It’s my day off.”
He grabbed my phone from the nightstand. “It’s Beth.”
“Shit.” I yanked the phone out of his hand and sat up, answering it. “Hello?”
“Claire, we need you.” Beth’s voice was frantic.
“What? Why? What’s wrong?” I rolled out of bed, grabbing the bra and panties that had been discarded on the floor the night before.
“It’s Jonathan.”
My heart stopped. “What happened? Is he hurt?”
A million things could go wrong on a ranch.
“No. He’s … gone.”
“Gone?” I blanched, looking helplessly at Vance.
He pulled the phone out of my hand and took over while I threw my clothes on. “Beth? It’s Vance. Tell me what’s going on.”
He listened, saying little, as I stuffed my feet into my boots and grabbed my keys. He made a motion for me to wait for him.
I paced frantically, wanting to rip the phone back out of his hands.
“We’ll be right there,” he finally said. Then he hung up and put his hands on my shoulders. “Breathe.”
“He’s missing,” I said, pain stabbing my chest. “I have to—”
“No.” He shook his head. “He’s not missing.”
“What do you mean? Beth said he’s gone. He—”
“He pulled a Rhett,” Vance said calmly, letting go of me so he could pull his jeans on.
“A Rhett?” My jaw dropped. Rhett had left in the middle of the night over ten years ago, breaking all of our hearts in the process.
Vance nodded. “A Rhett—and a Cole, for that matter.”
I sank onto the bed, his words becoming clear. “He joined the military.”
“Yep. Didn’t tell anyone he was doing it. Left them a letter. He’s safe, but your mom is a wreck. We need to head over. Beth asked us to stop at Travis’s on the way.”
“Why?”
“She said he’d take the news better coming from you.”
“He doesn’t know yet.” My stomach clenched.
This wouldkillTravis. Jonathan was his right-hand man running the cattle side of the ranch. Travis was already overworked and stretched too thin.
