Chapter Twenty-One – Swayze

I knew it was coming.

Sure, she’d hoped that Kaden would let her stay long enough to get a few good paychecks, but never expected it.

Abigail had brought Kathryn by the day after to apologize like it’d been her fault. Swayze hadn’t felt welcome since the moment Mont asked her to take the job.

Kaden had never liked her, and she was okay with that.

She’d find another way to bring in extra money until she could save enough to…she didn’t know.

Leaving Montgomery seemed like a mistake, but staying had too many consequences. She wanted so badly to be selfish and stay there with the man she wanted, but if Lucas did something to him—

“Swayze Sways, what you over here daydreaming about?”

She looked up at him from the lounge chair in his backyard. Tan lines had started to form around the inside of her toes from the cheap black flip-flops she wore and sweat beaded along her upper lip.

Montgomery winked at her, and she felt it in her stomach. “What’s got you dazed over here? Thinking about what’s gonna happen tonight?”

Swayze looked over his shoulder toward Ryker, who played with a plastic sword. “Like the last two nights?”

Mont smiled; his scruffy cheek hid that dimple, but she knew it was there. “And the nights to come…”

“Of course I was,” she whispered.

Montgomery bent down next to her. “You thinking about leaving?” He knew it lingered in the back of her head.

“Nah, not today.”

He made a low sound in his throat and stroked her lip with his thumb. Mont stood up and walked back over toward Ryker. Swayze had watched them attempt to build a fort for hours. Ryker was on cloud nine.

It felt too good to be true.

And with Swayze’s experience, that normally meant it was too good to be true. Something felt off, but she couldn’t pinpoint what exactly.

She checked the time on her phone and realized it was near Ryker’s nap time. She stood to get their attention, seeing Montgomery standing completely still with something in the palm of his hand.

“Mont,” she said.

He didn’t acknowledge her.

Swayze made her way over, looking at the small purple flower in his hand. “What’s the matter?”

Mont shook his head, letting the flower fall to the ground. “Nothing, I guess it’s my turn to daydream huh?”

“You looked lost.”

“Nah, girl,” he said, bending down to pick up Ryker. “I haven’t been lost since you got here.”

Swayze laughed. “Oh, wow, smooth talker.”

Mont winked and took off running with a wailing Ryker on his shoulders, toward the house.

***

Montgomery’s fingers slid over the curve of her back, shivers racing behind them. “Morning, sunshine. Get up before buster over there hears us.”

Swayze peeked her head from the pillow to see the clock on his nightstand. “Montgomery, if you don’t remember, your brother fired me. So, I think I would love to sleep in until the monster gets up. Thank you.” She turned her head and snuggled into the pillow.

Mont grunted but scooped her up into his arms. Swayze held in her yelp and clung to his wide shoulders. Mont didn’t put her down until he’d lugged her all the way down the hallway and into a room.

Swayze scrunched her face and went to tell him a piece of her mind when she noticed the room she stood in.

Ryker’s room.

What in the—

The walls were light gray with blue vertical stripes. His name was printed in big letters beside one of the large windows. Spiderman and Hulk memorabilia covered the walls. The big white toy chest was full of toys that weren’t his because he didn’t have many.

The twin-size bed had an Avengers comforter set and a matching plush Spiderman. Why would Montgomery do this if he knew she debated leaving? It wasn’t to bribe her because he wasn’t that way.

The thought was from his heart.

Swayze looked up through blurred eyes to Montgomery standing next to her. His posture was tight like he wasn’t sure what her reaction would be, but his face was set stern. That jaw she loved to kiss was locked, and his eyes were heavy-lidded. There was so much seriousness about him, it shocked her.

“Montgomery, you—stubborn ole—”

“Man? Your ole man?”

Swayze couldn’t help but laugh and wipe away the tears that threatened her. “Ryker is going to flip out when he sees this. I can’t believe you did this for him—for us.”

Montgomery took her cheek in his palm. “I told you what I wanted.”

He had, and he was proving himself to her.

Like he hadn’t enough already.

“Montgomery—thank you. I love you.”

He waited for more. He wanted to hear her say she’d stay, and she wanted to so bad it hurt. “I want to be here so bad. I want to stay. I’m scared. It’s a broken record, I know. I’m scared for you and your family. The King Ranch.”

“I’m going to find your brother,” Mont said softly. “And I’m going to end this struggle for you because I want this.” He gestured toward the room and down at her. “You. Say you’ll stay.”

Tears immediately began to drown her cheeks. Montgomery wiped them away quickly. “Why are you so sad?”

Swayze pushed back her chocolate hair and tried to compose herself. “Because I want this too, and if you swear not to kill my brother when you do find him, I’ll stay.”

Montgomery smiled a huge lopsided grin. “Baby, I won’t touch a hair on his head.”

He picked her up into a bear hug. “This is the happiest day of my life.”

Ryker’s footsteps padded along the floor toward the opposite end of the house, and then they heard a faint, “Momma.”

“Down here, buddy,” Swayze hollered.

His quick feet closed in and stopped at the doorway. Ryker’s mushed hair looked like a mix between Alfalfa and Joe Dirt. His pajama top showed the top of his belly.

“It’s mine!” Ryker yelled, running to flop on his bed. It’d been almost two years since he’d had his own bed. He’d been with Swayze so much that he didn’t know any different.

Now he had his own space.

Mont laughed while Ryker jumped on the bed and turned to look at Swayze.

“I think he likes it,” he said.

Swayze nodded. “I believe so. That and the tree fort in the backyard, I think he’d never want to leave.”

His intense stare drew her attention. “That’s the point, sweet girl.”

“You like it, baby?”

Ryker continued to jump, holding his Spiderman and grinning.

***

It was his first day back to work since Kaden had let her go. Part of her was glad she was shed of him, but the other part liked having her own money. Ryker and she slept in, which felt wrong on so many levels. It’d been many days since she’d felt the relief of not working two jobs or struggling to pay bills.

The refrigerator needed to be stocked, so she did her best to make a list of things she thought Mont liked and gathered Ryker up.

Mont had given Swayze permission to use his backup truck, a small, single cab pickup with enough mud on the tires to start a landslide.

Montgomery had already strapped Ryker’s car seat into the passenger side, so she loaded them up, and they started toward the grocery store.

She’d planned to go as soon as they woke up to avoid many customers. She still felt like she needed to stay as quiet as possible, even if Montgomery had everything under control.

Swayze brought a cart around to put Ryker in and walked them up the sidewalk toward the entrance. The soft music that played reminded her of elevator music.

The cashier gave her an acknowledgement and went back to stocking the tobacco behind him. Swayze started going down the small aisles, picking what she needed, and ignoring Ryker’s cries for everything.

She finished her shopping within thirty minutes and avoided any conversations besides when checking out. Ryker sucked on the popsicle she bought him and didn’t give her too much fuss getting into his car seat.

When she pushed the cart back over to the store, she saw someone standing close to the edge of the building. At first, she didn’t want to seem alarmed, so she walked casually over toward the driver’s side, noting the person had a hat on with a black hoodie. She couldn’t tell from the distance if this person was male or female, but it had been months, and he’d been known to shed pounds easily when he wasn’t working out.

Once she got close enough to the truck door, the person turned and bolted around the building. Feeling adrenaline pump through her, she ran around the corner, but whoever had been there was gone.

Panic set in her blood. Her brother wouldn’t have run, would he?

She didn’t know. Maybe she’d caught him off guard? Maybe he couldn’t find her, and just happened upon her, but ran because it was daylight?

She didn’t know which one made more sense. Her brother was irrational and, from her short time as a psychology major, probably bipolar. Nothing was crossed out when it came to him.

She started the truck, letting it warm up first, and spun tires out of the parking lot. The debate whether to tell Montgomery now or later haunted her for over an hour. She didn’t want to drag him away from the ranch, knowing he’d have to tell Kaden. So, she decided to set the alarms, lock the doors, and wait until he got home.

Putting the morning behind her was easy once she started cleaning Montgomery’s house. It was clear someone had come and cleaned while he was gone to the rodeo, but it needed some more elbow grease.

The roar of his truck hit around five o’clock, and Ryker cheered with joy when the front door opened. Montgomery took off his hat first, his eyes meeting hers over an excited Ryker. He scooped him up, kissing his cheek, but not losing eye contact with her.

Those work boots he kicked off at the door made Swayze’s heart thump. His husky voice as he spoke to Ryker about who-knew-what because she couldn’t think straight. “Momma’s got the house smelling clean and like food. I didn’t think I’d ever come home to that kind of love,” he drawled.

Swayze smiled and brushed a strand of hair from her forehead.

He rounded his arm around her waist and pulled her to him. “I missed you today.”

She let him kiss her nose and laughed when Ryker started to push them apart. “No, my momma.”

Montgomery nodded. “You’re right, Hoss. That’s your momma.”

Ryker nodded his head one hard time and demanded he be put down. His song started blasting from the living room TV.

Mont bent forward and inhaled against her neck. “You smell like heaven.”

“Too bad you smell like death.”

Montgomery grabbed her ass in his palm and then swatted it. “I’ll take the hint and wash my own ass.”

She watched him unbutton that shirt as he walked down the hallway. Thoughts of her joining him in the bathroom surfaced, but dinner still had ten more minutes.

Once she pulled the rolls from the oven, Mont had walked out of the shower, smelling like man.

God, it was addictive, that smell of him.

“Anything happen today? I see you got groceries. Good.”

He opened the refrigerator and looked over his shoulder. “You okay?”

She hadn’t realized her thoughts lingered on her face. “I’m fine.”

“Did something happen?” he asked, running fingers through his wet hair. “You look lost this time.”

Swayze hesitated and bit her lip. “I saw someone watching me today at the store.”

Montgomery let out a huge breath and palmed his forehead. “Why didn’t you call me, baby? Somebody could have followed you home.”

“No,” she said. “I can’t tell if it was my brother or not. Whoever it was seemed smaller than the last time I saw him, but he does lose weight in serious situations. But…he ran, Montgomery. Normally he is after me, not running from me.”

“What are you saying? It was somebody else?”

“There is nobody else. He killed my somebody else.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded.

“Okay,” Mont said. “I’m gonna call in tomorrow, and we’re gonna talk to the sheriff. We don’t have to tell him anything serious—”

“My ID is fake, Mont. I can’t go to the police.”

“We can trust him,” Mont said. “Believe me.”

“You’re sure?” she asked.

“Positive.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

Mont bent his legs to look at her in the eyes. “We’ll find him. Now, let’s eat before Ryker gnaws my leg off.”

Swayze looked down at Ryker hanging on Mont’s leg and biting his knee cap. “Manners, please?”

He hissed at her and crawled toward the living room.

“Don’t be scared. I keep all of my promises, Swayze.”

She knew he’d try but didn’t know if he’d win.