They stood that way for a long moment before the distant sound of vehicles coming down the long ranch driveway to the main yard brought reality back into the forefront. Colt pulled away and, with a soft smile, gave him a gentle kiss. A tender press that felt like a promise.
“Sounds like the cavalry is here,” Colt said.
“You’re going to leave me with blue balls?”
Colt stepped back, and a chill filled the space he’d opened between them. He reached down to adjust himself, and another spike of desire blasted through Mason.
“I’ll make it up to you later,” Colt promised.
Damn well better.
Mason cursed and adjusted himself too. The last thing he needed was to greet Nick and his deputies sporting a hard-on the size of Texas.
Once they were both suitable for company, Mason led the way out of the barn and into the yard as Nick’s Interceptor pulled into the clearing. Right behind was a second vehicle, with his deputy Matt Spearman behind the wheel. Just the two of them, then.
“Mason. Colt,” Nick greeted as he stepped out of his vehicle. “Real sorry to find out John is allegedly behind this.”
Mason snorted. “Nothing alleged about it. We got him on video in the act.”
Deputy Spearman rounded his vehicle and stood beside Nick. He tipped his head toward Mason and Colt.
“Where is he right now?” Nick asked.
“The dining hall, I would assume,” Mason said as his anger flared again. “We were just headed that way.”
“Hold up,” Colt said. He tapped away on his phone, paused. A ping followed, and then he held it up. “He’s there.”
He didn’t explain further, so Mason figured one of his brothers had eyes on John and texted his location.
“How do you want me to do this?” Nick directed his question at Mason.
“I would like it to be as low-key as possible.” As much as he wanted to go whole hog on John, he knew better than to make a spectacle of having him arrested in front of the whole ranch. “The rest of the hands don’t need to see. I can explain John’s absence tomorrow.”
Nick nodded as though he’d already known the answer.
“I’ll have Levi bring him out,” Colt said as he typed another message on his phone.
They all walked over to the far end of the machinery garage and waited for Levi to come around the corner with John. Mason heard their footsteps before they came into view. John’s stride faltered when he caught sight of Nick and his deputy standing in a semicircle with Mason and Colt. He shot a look over his shoulder and then around the yard, and Mason swore he could hear John’s frantic inner thoughts as he gauged how he could get away. There wasn’t anywhere he could run, and Mason saw the second he realized there was no escape. His whole frame seemed to shrink and close in on itself.
“John Odling.” Nick approached Mason’s as of now former ranch hand. “You are under arrest for harassment, vandalism, and criminal threats against Mason Hayes and the attempted murder of Thad Millhouse.”
The color drained from John’s face frighteningly fast, and his mouth fell open as Nick finished reading him his rights. If Mason hadn’t seen hard evidence firsthand of what John had been doing, he would have thought John was perfectly innocent. Hehadthought that until this afternoon.
John balked. “I never tried to murder Thad.” There was an edge of panic in his voice. “Or Mason.”
“Deliberately tampering with brake lines that leads to a car crash is considered attempted murder,” Nick said as he closed handcuffs around John’s wrists.
“How the hell could you do that, John?” Mason stepped forward, but Spearman put his arm across Mason’s chest from one side, and Colt did the same from his other. He glared at them both but didn’t try to break their hold. He looked back at John. “Almost twenty years you’ve been here. Part of the family.”
John dropped his head, and the shine of water building in his eyes amped Mason’s anger.
“I’m so sorry, Mason,” John pleaded. “I didn’t want to, but I had no choice.”
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Mason snarled and pushed against Colt and Spearman’s hold.
“Easy, Mason,” Colt said, and Mason rounded on him.
“Don’t fucking ‘easy, Mason’ me.” He seethed.
