Half a Cowboy Page 19

  “What is it you want?” Ashton asked with surprising calm.

  Dallas shifted his gaze, pointing the gun at Ashton now. “I want what’s mine.” The curl of his lips was almost Disney villain–like in its venom.

  “There is nothing of yours here.” Ashton moved closer. “Ben doesn’t belong to you. And he doesn’t belong to me. He isn’t property, because you don’t own the people you love.” Ashton caught Ben’s gaze just as the air raced from Ben’s lungs. “You give to them, and they do the same in return. Love is so much more than anything someone like you can understand.”

  Ashton loved him? But Ben didn’t have time to think about it before Dallas interrupted.

  “You think he’s yours?” Dallas practically screamed.

  Ben rolled his eyes. “Stop talking about me like I’m a damned table. You always think that everything belongs to you. What sort of crazy asshole are you?” He knew he was losing control, but he’d had it. He wanted what he had with Ashton, and he was sick and tired of Dallas and his threats. “I’m a person, not property. I get to make my own decisions.” Ben held Dallas’s gaze. “You need to leave right now. The police and security are on their way.”

  “Those idiots are at the hotel,” Dallas said with a sneer.

  Ashton shook his head. “Ben is right. If you don’t leave now, you’ll never get out of here. They already saw through you and are on their way.” He smiled and crossed his arms over his chest. “I know you think you were smart, but….”

  A click off to the side stopped Ashton, and Ben stilled completely.

  “You want me to kill him?” a deep voice Ben didn’t recognize asked.

  “Not yet. Benji needs to understand the cost of running away.” Dallas glanced around. “Shoot one of the horses.”

  Ben gasped. “Is that how ugly you’ve become?” he asked. “You think I’d go with you?” He stopped his knees from shaking. This was one hell of a standoff, and he and Ashton were weaponless. He kept listening for sirens but heard nothing. That unnerved him. What in the hell could be taking everyone so long? He wanted to check his watch to see just how much time had passed since Ashton had come in. It couldn’t have been that long, but it felt like hours. Hell, he wasn’t sure of anything with the dark spots dancing in front of his eyes as he stared down Dallas’s gun. “I’d rather die than be with you.” He stepped forward slightly. “I hated being with you. Your touch made me feel dirty. I used to pretend to be sick or sleeping just so you would leave me alone!”

  Dallas closed the distance between them and grabbed Ben by the hair, yanking him down until he fell on his hands and knees on the cold concrete. “You piece of shit. I gave you a home and made you into something. You were nothing but some dancing hustler when I found you, spreading your legs for anyone.”

  Ben coughed. “I may have danced, but I didn’t sell myself to anyone… until you came along. And then I realized the price was way too high. You weren’t worth it.” Once he started, he couldn’t stop. Ben needed to say what had been eating at him for years and get it off his chest. He had cowered from Dallas for long enough.

  Ben didn’t see the foot coming. He grunted as Dallas kicked him. Rolling to the side, he curled into a ball, landing against the stall door. He had no place to go now and couldn’t lessen any of the blows when Dallas came after him.

  “Enough, asshole!” Ashton screamed, but then he went down to the concrete.

  “Look at him, so weak he can’t stand without the cane,” the stranger said. “This is going to be like shooting fish in a barrel. I’ll take care of both of them.”

  “I’ll make sure anyone in the house is finished too, and then we’ll get the hell out of here.” Dallas looked as though he was going to shoot, but then turned and stomped out of the barn like they weren’t worth his trouble.

  Ben breathed carefully, his side aching like hell, each breath sending pain through him that thankfully lessened as the seconds passed.

  “Now, which of you will be first?” the asshole said.

  Ben had to do something. Opening his eyes, he looked into Ashton’s, wishing he hadn’t brought this down on both of them. Ashton didn’t deserve to die like this. Ben sent Ashton a silent goodbye and closed his eyes, unable to watch if Ashton went first, bracing for the pain that was certain to come.

  A whoosh caught his attention, and Ben opened his eyes in time to see the assailant’s gun go flying and Ashton get to his feet, waving his cane like a weapon, bringing it down again and again, the thuds reverberating through the barn.

  “Ashton,” Ben called.

  Ashton stopped, stepping back, leaning against the stall door.

  Ben raced to where the guy lay near a bale of hay, picked up the gun, and pointed it at the gunman, who groaned.

  “Don’t move!” Ben snapped.

  “Fuck,” the man on the floor groaned and turned to Ben. “Like you’re really going to shoot me. You got the guts?” He slowly got to his feet.

  “I sure as hell do,” Ashton said as he swung the cane once again, catching him on the side of the head and sending him sprawling to the concrete. This time he didn’t get up.

  “I had him,” Ben said.

  “I know you would have protected me.” Ashton came over and picked up his gun. Then he pointed to the gun in Ben’s hand. “We need to help the others.”

  “Where’s your phone?” Ben asked. Ashton pulled what was left of it from his pocket. “Damn.”

  “There’s a line in the tack room. Stay here and watch him. Shoot him if he moves. I’ll be right back.” Ashton hobbled to the back of the barn and returned a few minutes later. “The sheriff is almost here. I told him that Dallas and another man were in the house. He said to stay where we are.” Ashton sighed. “I don’t think I can be of any help anyway.” He slowly sat on a bale of hay, extended his leg, and kept his gun trained on their captive.

  “We can’t just sit here,” Ben said. “Dallas is in the house, which means Clay and the others are in danger.”

  Ashton nodded. “Go into the tack room. There’s some rope in there. We’ll truss this guy up like a hog.”

  Ben liked that idea. He hurried to retrieve the rope, then helped Ashton tie the man up.

  He was groaning by the time they were done. “What the hell did you do to me?”

  “It’s very simple. You move and the rope around your throat will tighten, and eventually you’ll strangle yourself.” Ashton got nose to nose with the dark-haired man, who didn’t seem anywhere near as confident as he had been a few minutes earlier. “Not that we really care. We have your phone, your gun, and everything else.” Ashton grabbed the roll of duct tape Ben had brought as well and put a piece over the guy’s mouth.

  Sirens finally sounded, getting closer. Ben and Ashton stayed just inside the door as the sheriff’s vehicle pulled into the yard. “I think Dallas and at least one other man are inside with Marcel and two others,” Ashton reported.

  “Okay. You go around to the back, and we’ll try talking to them.”

  “Sheriff, remember they can see us, but we can’t see them.”

  Reg grinned. “Not anymore. I changed the passwords on all the security devices as soon as you said they were inside. They’re blind now.”

  The front door opened. Clay stood in the doorway. “They have us in here,” he said as the dogs barked up a storm in the background. “They say they’ll kill us if you don’t back away.”

  “We have to get in there,” Ben told the others. “They’ll kill them anyway. Dallas isn’t stable. He isn’t going to just walk away. Not after all this.” He was sure of that. “Let me talk to him.”

  “No. Stay out of the line of fire,” Ashton said.

  Ben shook his head. “I’m the only one he’ll listen to. He’s a snake and he’s cornered, remember? Now is when he’s most dangerous.” He turned to the sheriff, who nodded.

  “Stay behind the cars.”

  Ben nodded and got into position. “Dallas, it’s Benji,” Ben said, h
oping he could get him to talk. “You need to stop this.” More cars pulled into the yard, and deputies headed around the sides of the house.

  “You could have stopped this before, but you didn’t,” Dallas called out from behind Clay. “If you’d done what I wanted, none of this would have happened.”

  “But it’s done now, and you need to come out. You can’t win. The only thing you can do is give up.”

  “I can shoot these damned dogs. How about that?” Dallas asked, and a shot rang out from inside.

  Ben jumped and then shook as he thought of one of his pack being hurt. If Dallas had touched one hair on any of their heads, Ben was going to rip him apart with his bare hands.

  Dallas turned back toward them, and Clay dropped to the floor just as shots rang out from the sheriff’s gun. Dallas slumped to the side. “You bastard. Shoot them, not me.” Dallas slid to the ground, and it took mere seconds for what Dallas had said to sink in.

  “Holy shit.” A nearby deputy trained his gun on the sheriff, and Holmes put his weapon on the ground, surrendering. Now that was a shock and a half. Damn, they’d been wrong about Henderson selling them out.

  Ben’s feet were moving before he could stop them, but Ashton grabbed him around the waist and pulled him back down behind the police car for shelter. “There’s another guy in there.”

  Clay scrambled to his feet and raced out across the snow-covered yard in his socks. Deputies got him into a car and closed the door. “What do we do now?”

  Another shot rang out from inside the house, and Ben closed his eyes, saying a silent prayer that the others were okay. The dogs raced outside, and Ben knelt down and gathered them around him as he counted. Six… all six of the pups were there, each vying for his attention. He buried his face in their fur, holding them close. At least that was something he could be grateful for.

  “Stay right here, guys,” Ben soothed as he petted each of them, trying to keep them out of sight.

  “The house is clear,” one of the deputies called from the doorway. The rest of the deputies hurried toward the house. Ben wanted to go with them, but the man holding the sheriff shot him a stern look, so he stayed where he was.

  Eventually Marcel and Guy came out of the house, joining them near the cars just as it began to snow.

  “The deputies shot the man holding us as they came in,” Marcel said. “It’s a mess in there.” He seemed pale, and Ben helped him into one of the cars. “Where is the other guy? I heard them talking, wondering where he was.”

  “In the barn, trussed up like a pig,” Ben said with a grin. “Ashton tied him up good. He’s waiting in there like a gift for the police. Though if he struggled much, he might be dead. I don’t know… or care, really.” These people had caused enough trouble for all of them that Ben was beyond caring what happened to any of them, as long as they were out of his life for good.

  A deputy came out of the house, and Ben told him where to find the other man. He jogged toward the barn, gun ready, and came out smiling, calling over for some more help. Their captive was still breathing when a deputy took him into custody and pushed him into the back seat of one of the cruisers for his trip back to town.

  “It’s over,” Ashton said softly.

  Ben nodded and hugged Ashton tightly, burying his face against him and letting his scent soothe him. It was over. Dallas couldn’t hurt him any longer. What Ben had hoped for was finally coming true. He was free.

  THEY ENDED up staying either in the barn or in one of the cars for hours while the police did what they needed to in the house and officials arrived to gather up the bodies, as well as take Sheriff Holmes into custody. Ben was grateful that everyone on the ranch had come through the ordeal in one piece. The horses and dogs were okay as well. He could breathe easier now.

  “So Sheriff Holmes was working for Dallas?” Ben asked. He was still trying to get his head around it.

  “It seems so. He shot Toranelli at Henderson’s, probably to keep him quiet. And he had access to the house, so he was most likely feeding Dallas information about us. He fucking knew the hotel was a diversion, and yet he played along with it. Hell, he might have even helped plan it.” Ashton shook his head. “I never liked him. I should have gone with that instinct.” He sighed.

  “Yeah. But would the sheriff do that?” Ben asked, already knowing the answer. Money did a lot of talking, and Dallas had plenty to throw around. “I suppose Dallas got lucky in finding someone willing to sell you out.” He paused, still trying to wrap his mind around the situation. “So Henderson had nothing to do with Dallas?”

  “It’s possible. But I doubt it. Toranelli was probably there working as a ranch hand, sort of as cover, and I bet Sheriff Holmes helped get him the job. But we may never know for sure.”

  What Ashton said made sense. Not that Ben had any love for Henderson and his troublemaking, but the guy didn’t deserve to be another of Dallas’s victims. “I guess the big question is… why did the sheriff shoot Dallas?”

  Ashton shrugged. “Maybe he was aiming for Clay? He was always pathetic at target practice back when we were in high school. Or maybe he suddenly realized what he’d gotten himself into and had a change of heart? I’m not sure we’ll ever know. But it’s over now.”

  Ben held Ashton and tried to process all this new information. It was over, and Dallas was history. He took a deep breath, inhaling Ashton’s fresh scent before his lips curled upward.

  After a while, Ashton went to check on things, and Ben immediately missed his warmth. He returned within a few minutes. “We can go inside.”

  “What does it look like in there?” Ben asked.

  “Deputy Phillips said that they have finished gathering evidence. Reg has called some of our people, and they’re on their way out to help. They’ll scrub the place from top to bottom. Soon enough there won’t be anything left to remind us of this night.” Ashton’s voice was hard.

  Ben pulled away. No matter what anyone said, he knew this was all his fault. He had brought this entire mess—along with Lucy being shot and two dead bodies—to the ranch.

  “Okay.” He wasn’t sure what he was going to do or what Ashton wanted from him. In a few hours everything had changed. Ben was free. But what came next? They had said things to one another over the past few days, and Ben knew he had been truthful. He’d thought Ashton had been as well, but this was war, and that made for strange bedfellows. Maybe now that the conflict was over, Ashton would feel differently.

  Eventually they went into the house. Some of the mess had been cleaned up, but the carpet in the living room was stained, and the place smelled bad, like death. That was the only way Ben could describe it. The dogs avoided the room, and Ben did as well.

  Later that evening, they all sat around the table in the kitchen. Reg poured himself another cup of coffee and said, “Ashton’s sofa is going to need to be replaced.” They all looked at him, so he continued, “Dallas apparently shot the sofa through one of the cushions, probably aiming for one of the dogs, but he missed, thank God.”

  Ben nodded and tried not to think about one of the pups being hurt. “What will you guys do now?”

  “I’ll go back to California with the rest of the crew and we’ll all leave you guys alone.” He pulled out a chair. “You know, this has been the most interesting job I’ve had in years.”

  “At least it turned out well in the end,” Ashton said as he came in. “The others seem to be packing.” He patted Reg on the shoulder. “You could stay a few extra days if you wanted.”

  “I need to get back. There are things I need to oversee, and we have a new client I need to meet with.” Reg turned to Ashton. “You know, you could come with me. There’s plenty for you to do, and there are people here who could run the ranch for you.”

  Ashton glanced at Ben and then returned his gaze to Reg. “I’ll have to think about it.”

  At that, Ben left the room. It was all too much for him to take. He should be happy that Ashton was thinking of returning to
his own life, the one he had given up when he’d been injured. But Ben didn’t have a place in that world. He barely understood the life here, but he wanted to learn why Ashton loved it so much. And he adored the horses and pups, as well as Ashton. Without expecting it, he had found himself here. And it wasn’t just about Ashton. Sure, he loved Ashton, but he’d also come to love the person he’d become at the ranch. Ben didn’t want to give up either of them.

  Chapter 14

  THE HOUSE was quiet now after the longest day of his life. The people Reg had brought in had cleaned the house from top to bottom and left it smelling a little like the pine forest outside. The couch was gone and Ashton was going to have to get a new one, but at least the remnants of the brief standoff outside the house had been removed. The excess security personnel had left a few hours ago, and Reg was just about to head out himself.

  “Where’s Ben? I wanted to say goodbye,” Reg asked.

  “Out in the barn, I think,” Ashton said. “I saw him heading outside when the others left.” A wave of cold raced through him. “You don’t think he’s leaving too, do you?”

  Reg shrugged. “I don’t know. He didn’t say anything to me this time.” He shook his head slowly.

  “What?”

  Reg clapped his hands on Ashton’s shoulders. “Dude, I’ve been in this house for a week, and you two are the strangest couple I’ve ever seen. When you walk into a room, you each look for the other one first. And it doesn’t matter if you sit on opposite sides of the table—you figure out a way to end up right beside each other or touching each other. But neither of you seems to truly listen to the other one.”