Page 211 of Captivated
Zeeb huffed. “You can help strip the bunks—I’ll tidy. Well, as much as I can.”
Nate kissed the tip of his nose. “You can offer moral support.”
He rolled his eyes. “Sure. Because makin’ beds issucha stressful job.”
When they entered the bunkhouse, Zeeb noticed the change in atmosphere instantly. The quiet that pervaded the space made his scalp prickle.
“Whassup?”
Matt pointed to Walt, who sat at the table, frowning. “He just got a call from Donna. You know, the girl who works at the post office in Bozeman?”
“Sure, I know Donna.” Zeeb gave Walt an inquiring glance. “What did she have to say for herself?”
“I asked her to keep her ear to the ground, you know, to see if she could find out anything about the attack on you an’ Toby.” Walt gave Teague a nod. “An’ y’all need to hear this.”
“What did she need to know?” Matt retorted. “They’re a bunch of hating assholes.”
Walt arched his eyebrows. “And they just decided one morning they were going to beat up a couple of guys from the ranch? If they planned this—and that’s the way it looks—then maybe they had a reason.” He scowled. “Apartfrom being hatin’ bigoted assholes. Well, Donna did some digging—and she uncovered a few things.”
“Such as what?” Nate joined Walt at the table.
Walt scraped his fingers through his hair. “Did you know the town is struggling financially?”
Teague snorted. “Everyone knows that. Been going on for a couple of years now. But what does that have to do with anything?”
“Well, word had gotten around that Salvation is attracting outsiders who don’t contribute a bean to the ‘real’ economy,” Walt air-quoted.
Teague guffawed. “Yeah, right. Where do they think we buy our feed from? Our supplies? There has to be quite a bit of money from the ranch flowing through their coffers, only those dickheads are too dumb to work that out.”
“And three or four of those guys who were arrested had been laid off recently. Put that together, an’ what’ve you got? Frustration, a shitload of conspiracy theories buzzin’ around in a social media echo chamber…” Walt’s brows furrowed. “Those guys weren’t lashing out at Toby and Zeeb specifically, but at what they represent—a whole lot of urban, queer, kinky outsiders ‘taking over’ their town. Which is bullshit, but Donna might have nailed it.”
“I’ve been thinkin’ about this. There could be another reason,” Butch said, frowning. “Any of you heard of this new preacher who came to Bozeman maybe three months ago?”
Matt guffawed. “And when was the last time any of us set foot in a church?”
“What about him?” Zeeb asked.
“Just rumors,” Butch said with a shrug. “I don’t know his name—and I haven’t been bothered enough to find out—but it seems he’s been preaching some fiery sermons about ‘cleansing the town’ of sin and ‘perverse influences.’”
Teague scowled. “Three guesses who he’s painting as those influences.”
Butch nodded. “The thing is, it sounds like he’s portraying this as a holy war. Maybe some of those guys took him literally. The preacher painted a target on Toby’s and Zeeb’s back. He could’ve made them out to be enemies in whatever black and white world these assholes live in.”
Teague coughed. “And speaking of rumors… Did you know one of the ranch hands was involved in an assault on a minor?”
There was an explosion of noise.
“Like fuck. Never happened.”
“What kind of bullshit is this?”
“Who are they naming as their suspect?”
Teague held his hands up. “I only heard about this yesterday, from Robert. He had a call from the Sheriff—who, by the way,knowsit’s bullshit—who wanted to give him a heads up. He’d sat on it for maybe a month or two.”
“They’ve made it up,” Walt protested.
Teague rolled his eyes. “Ofcoursethey made it up. But then they spread the rumor, and no one makes any effort to fact-check it. They see the Sheriff doing nothing, so they decide to take the law into their own hands.” He gave Zeeb a sympathetic glance. “I would’ve said you and Toby were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, except that’s hogwash because we know they planned this. Those morons thought they were handing out justice. What they really did was be someone’s pawns.”
