All Jacked Up (Rough Riders #8)(17)

Jack paced to the living room. Muttered to himself and stalked back to her. “Fine. But if anything happens, and I mean a single rock chip or an itty bitty scratch, I will take it out of your hide, understand?”


“Completely. I’ll treat it like it’s my own.”


And that’s probably why Keely got a speeding ticket not two hours later.


But it’d been so damn tempting. A V-12 with 360 horses under the hood? And a long stretch of empty black road in front of her? Sheer heaven.


She’d neglected to mention her love of fast cars to her intended. Trading in her old Corvette, after the years she’d spent zipping through traffic in Denver and opening the throttle on the deserted highways of the west, had broken her heart. But when Keely moved back home for good, she knew Wyoming weather could change in a heartbeat. Making the long, lonely drive between Sundance and Cheyenne in the winter months was dangerous and necessitated a four-wheel drive truck.


So if Keely stumbled on the chance to rod the piss out of a car meant to be driven hard and fast and loose, she did so without an ounce of guilt.


Just her bad luck she’d blazed past a Crook County Sheriff’s car as she’d hit the one hundred thirty miles per hour mark. When the flashing lights finally caught up with her, she hoped Sheriff Shortbull was behind the wheel. He’d let her off with a warning. He always did. She manufactured a charming but contrite smile.


Keely watched in the rearview mirror as the driver’s side door of the cop car opened. Her smile dried up. Her stomach dipped. The unmistakable hulking form of her brother Cam started toward her.


Shit.


She reluctantly rolled down her window. “I can explain—”


“License and registration.”


“Cam. Seriously. Just listen for a sec.”


He stuck his head inside the car. “Not. Another. Word. License and registration.”


Keely popped the glove box and found the vehicle registration right where it was supposed to be. She passed it and her license through the window, waiting while Cam did his cop thing. “Exit the vehicle and come with me.”


Keely trudged to the passenger side of the cop car and climbed in.


“Did Jack really let you drive his car? Or did you steal it when he wasn’t looking?”


“He let me have it. We traded. He needed my truck.”


“Does he know you drive like an idiot?”


She glared at him.


“And what is this bullshit about you and Jack Donohue getting married anyhow?”


Big brother number four didn’t beat around the bush. She allowed him time to recant his jerky statement. When he didn’t, she offered him a haughty, “It’s not bullshit.”


Cam ripped his sunglasses off. His eyes snapped fire. “Yes, it is. I know you. I’ve seen the venom in your eyes when you look at him, so don’t give me that ‘I’m madly in love with him’ crap. Come clean. Right now.”


The truth was, Cam did know her to the bone and she had one chance to deflect the conversation.


“Okay, smarty, if you know me so well, then what have I been working on for the last four months?”


He squinted at her with his I can toss your smart ass in jail stare.


Keely didn’t back down. “You don’t have a clue, do you?”


“Well, sweetheart, whatever you’ve secretly been working on, you’ve done a damn good job of hiding it, not only from me, but from the family. And I would know all about hiding stuff, wouldn’t I? So who better than me to ferret out the truth?”


“But—”


“Uh-uh. I ain’t done. What I do know, little sis, is Jack Donohue did something to you at Colt and India’s wedding reception that made you cry. I’ve never pushed the issue, even when I wanted to castrate the son of a bitch for hurting you. And if I thought he’d physically injured you? I would’ve killed him on the spot. Period.”


Yikes.


“So tell me the truth.”


She hated to lie to her brother. Cam considered lying the ultimate sin, the biggest betrayal, but she did it anyway. “Yes, I hated Jack. No doubt we’ve had a rocky past. The reason I haven’t told you what went down between us that night is because it’s between me and Jack. You also know me well enough that if he would’ve hurt me, I would’ve sliced off his dick before you’d gotten the chance. That said, I’ve changed.


Jack has changed. When I needed his help, he really came through for me.”


The squinty-eyed stare he’d inherited from Dad appeared again. “Help with what?”


“The building I bought in Moorcroft.”


“What building? Jesus, Keely, why haven’t I heard about this before now?”


“Because it’s none of your business.” For the one-trillionth time, Keely explained. Cam wasn’t any happier with the explanation than anyone else had been.


“We—me, Cord, Colby, Colt, Carter, Kade, Buck, Quinn and Ben—would’ve helped you check it out. We’re family. You should’ve come to us first.”