We have plenty for them to do.” Water dripped from the rim of his hat onto his shirt.
“You got it. Bye.” Greg disengaged the call.
Trent looked up to see both of his brothers staring at him, Zachary with a shit-eating grin and Zeke with his usual frown. “What?”
“I thought you were moving back to the club and forcing Wyatt to take over the ranch house. Said it was too quiet out there.” Surprisingly, it was Zeke who spoke first.
Trent shrugged. “It’s a better environment for Hallie than this party place, at least until I figure out what’s going on with her and send her on her way.”
“Is the city girl in trouble?” Zeke asked.
“Yeah,” Trent said softly.
Zachary tested the lock on the entry door to the second garage. “Our kind of trouble?”
“I don’t know. Yet.” Trent glanced up at the rolling black clouds.
Zachary grew still, his amusement disappearing. “We don’t bring trouble home. You know that.”
“No kidding, Zachary,” Trent returned, looking around. “That’s why I’m taking her to the ranch house and away from our home here.” Now wasn’t the time to discuss any of this. “We’d better get on those fences.”
“Affirmative.” Zeke headed for a silver Dodge truck with Zachary on his heels. “Give us a call when you hit the south pastures, and we’ll meet up there. Midafternoon.”
Zachary climbed into the passenger’s seat, his limp barely noticeable even though he’d taken a knife to the leg just a few months ago. “Tell the city girl I have a couple hours free this weekend if she wants a tour of town.” He shut the door before Trent could tell him where to put his free hours.
Zeke paused with his arm on the door. “You have to stop takin’ in strays, brother. Zachary, in his smooth way, is right. We don’t need missions close to home. In fact, we agreed there would be no missions touching this place—remember?”
True, but Zeke hadn’t seen the panic in the woman’s blue eyes that morning. Or the night before. Trent sobered. “I know. I’ll sort her out fast.” Then he’d get back to his casual and easy life. Alone.
Zeke’s eyes remained perfectly blank. “If you need help, let me know.” On that note, he stepped into his truck and ignited the engine, spinning around.
Yeah, his brother, all of his brothers, would have his back no matter what—even if he was screwing up what they’d so painstakingly built out of blood and death. Trent watched the taillights through the rainy day before making another call, this one to the ranch-house housekeeper. “Hi, Mrs. Leiton.”
She harrumphed through the line. “Trent? What the heck did you get on this white shirt the other day? I swear by all that’s holy, you’re not a teenager any longer. The last thing I need is to try and get”—she sniffed loudly—“dark rum and Coke out of a white shirt. Why can’t you be a normal man and drink clear liquids? Rum is for girls. For the love of Pete. Turn to gin or vodka.”
“I think that’s actually Bart’s barbecue sauce.” It had tons of rum in it. He looked around at the now quiet and lonely clubhouse. “You know, I think you have a point.”
She paused. “Excuse me?”
He rolled his eyes. Despite her sixty years, his housekeeper was more of a drama queen than anybody he’d ever met. “I have been overworking you. How about I pay to fly you to visit your sister in Arizona for a week? You could get out of this rain and soak in some sun.”
Quiet spun for a moment. “What the heck have you gotten yourself into now?”
He leaned against the garage door and knocked his head against the metal several times. “Would you believe I’m actually trying to do the right thing?”
“I would, but that doesn’t mean you have a lick of sense.” She’d worked for him the last few months, and she was good at her job. The woman was also a menace when she held a wooden spoon in her hand, and she’d whacked him more than once with it. “What is going on?”
“First class,” he said, sweetening the pot. “And a rented convertible the second you land.”
She gasped. “I adore you, but there’s no way I’m refusing that offer. I have to go home and pack. I can be on the seven o’clock flight tonight, and Muriel is having a pool party tomorrow. She’s been holding it over my head for a week, considering we’re in a tsunami here, and