Page 2 of Brooke's Bliss
“Are you sure?”Andy’s voice could be heard.
“Yeah.I don’t think the idiot knows.”Dennis’s voice cameand went, with Shane catching maybe half of it.“…witness.You know…aboutwitnesses.”
Witness?First, who was the idiot?It could be either ofthem.It wasn’t like Dennis thought much of anyone.They were all dumbasses.The only smart one was Meli.She’d been the only woman in the bunkhouse, andshe’d packed up and left one day, saying she decided to go home.He had no ideawhy she’d left, but he was kind of jealous of her.
What would he have witnessed?
He thought briefly about the glint of metal in the boxes hemoved from the back of Dennis’s truck.He’d been helping out, lifting the heavybox so Dennis wouldn’t have to.He hadn’t meant for the cover to slip slightlyso he saw that hint of gray, smelled the scent of gun oil.
Was that what he meant by witnessed?
Those guns could be for anything.It was a ranch.Of coursethey had guns.
He’d gotten the impression they weren’t rifles.
“We need to make a run,” Dennis said with some finality.
Andy sighed.“Seriously?You honestly think that dumbass…”
Shame washed through him.How many times had he been toldhow dumb he was?
Well, he wasn’t so dumb he didn’t realize what making a runmeant.He’d heard the rumors.His damn ears worked, and the other hands talked.Oh, he’d thought it was all gossip meant to bring some drama to an otherwisedull existence, but he was putting it all together now.
One of the things that Kale Kingman liked when hiring hishands was no real strong family ties.At least in the men who lived onproperty.He’d heard one of the hands who commuted ask why he couldn’t move outhere and Dennis had told him maybe when his momma passed on he could live here.
It seemed like nothing more than a cruel taunt at the time.
What if it was something more?
“Iain’ttaking them out tonight.I suppose we have to do both of them,” Andy said with a long-suffering sigh.“It’s too fucking cold.You want to… Maybe you should think about waiting ’tilspring.”
Dennis snorted.“Tomorrow’s soon enough.”The sound of bootsmoving across the wooden floors above crackled through the barn.He was walkingto the stairs.“Tell ’emyou’re taking them intotown.Don’t make a mess.”
“Damn it, they’re good,” Andy said.
“One of them is, but unfortunately, I don’t think he’s goingto stay on after his brother disappears.It’s precisely why I advised Kale tonot hire fucking brothers,” Dennis shot back.“Tomorrow.”
Shane slipped out of the barn, his gut in knots.
He’d fucked it up again, and this time it could cost Bay hislife.
He moved through the snow, circling around the barn so itwould look like he was coming in from the north field where he’d been repairinga fence.He prayed his face didn’t give away the panic he felt.
* * * *
Bailey Kent stared at his brother.“What do you meanthey’re…”
Shane slapped a hand over his mouth, his eyes going wide.“Shhh.I don’t care if it seems like everyone is sleeping.You know this place has ears on at all times.”
It was two in the morning, and his brother had been actingcompletely weird since he’d come back in from the north field.He’d been weirdthrough dinner and hadn’t wanted to play cards with the others.He’d barelytouched his beer, and Shane was coming to love his beer more and more.It kindof worried him how much beer his brother could go through lately, but Shane noteven finishing one was concerning.
He was pretty sure his brother wasn’t going on a healthkick.He had his “it’s all about to fall apart” face on.He’d had thatexpression on his face way too often the last couple of years.
Not that anyone else seemed to notice, but then that mightbe because Shane didn’t have a ton of facial expressions.He was a stoic dude.Still, Bay couldn’t remember a time when he wasn’t close to his brother, so hecould tell.He could sometimes feel when Shane was in turmoil.
They were only half brothers, but they almost nevermentioned that to people.When some folks they met thought they were twins,they never corrected them.Just because they hadn’t shared a womb didn’t meanthey didn’t share everything else.
“We need to get out of here,” Shane said in a whisper.Hewas kneeling beside Bay’s bed.Bay always took the lower bunk and Shane tookthe top.Like when they were kids and he made Shane sleep on the top bunk so itwas harder for his mom to come in drunk off her ass and start beating on him.She was short, and Shane had learned to sleep close to the wall.
