All Jacked Up (Rough Riders #8)(80)

“So you guys weren’t fighting again?”


“Not this time.”


“When did this happen?”


“At some point in the last two hours she got in her truck and took off and… Shit, I’m worried because I know she’s upset. Jesus. I’m upset. And I will wring her neck if I find out she’s driving all the way back to Sundance this time of night by herself.”


AJ was quiet. “Let me try calling her. Maybe she’s just not answering your calls.”


Jack closed his eyes. “Thank you. Call me right back. Please. And if you do talk to her, tell her I’m sorry. So goddamn sorry and I had no idea that she’d gotten stuck—”


“Jack. Calm down. Let me try her first before you start relaying all the things you want me to tell her, okay?”


“Okay.”


He flexed and smacked his fist into the mattress while he waited for AJ to call. His phone rang five minutes later. “What did you find out?”


“She’s not just ditching your calls. She didn’t answer when I called from my cell, or from the house phone, or even from Cord’s phone.”


Fuck.


“Either she’s really really pissed or she’s driving through Wyoming where there’s no cell service.”


“That doesn’t help much.”


“I don’t know what else to tell you.”


He didn’t buy it. “Where is she?”


“I don’t know.”


“She’s your best friend. What’s your gut feeling? Is she driving home?”


AJ sighed. “My gut feeling is no. She needed time alone to sort things out and she’s smart enough after the accidents in her family not to act rashly when she’s upset.”


“Where would she go?”


Silence.


Jack knew AJ knew exactly where Keely had gone. “AJ. I know your first loyalty is to Keely. I get that. I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t losing my f*cking mind. Jesus. I need to make this right. She walked into something tonight that had nothing to do with her and I didn’t warn her. That part is my fault, okay? But that also means I need to fix it. Christ. I’ll do anything to fix it. Please. Just help me find her.”


AJ sighed again. “When we went to school in Denver and we were missing home, we’d head to the Quarter Past Midnight Stables. Keely got chummy with Darla, the owner, and exercised horses and cleaned stalls for fun. After I married Cord and moved home I know she spent lots of time there.”


Sounded like Keely. Making friends all over the damn place and finding fun and solace in a damn barn. “What if she’s not there?”


“There is another place she’s goes, but it’s much closer to home. We’ll cross that bridge if it comes down to that.”


“Thank you, AJ.”


“You’re welcome. After you find her, make her call me, Jack Donohue, so I know she’s okay. Or I swear to God I will sic her brothers on you. One at a time. Before I call Carson.”



The wrath of an angry pregnant woman scared him almost as much as Keely’s dad. “I promise.”


Jack went to find his cowgirl.


Two vehicles were in the parking lot at Quarter Past Midnight Stables. A Dodge Ram with Colorado plates and Keely’s dirty, beat up black Ford. Jack almost kissed the bug-covered grille.


The office door was unlocked. A buzzer sounded and within a couple minutes a bleary-eyed woman appeared in the enclosed office space. She slid open the glass partition. “Help ya with something?”


“Ah. Yeah. I’m looking for Keely McKay.”


The bleariness vanished and her focus turned razor sharp. She flipped her long, gray braid over her shoulder and folded her arms across her abundant cleavage. “And who would you be?”


“Jack Donohue.”


“Never heard of ya.” She slammed the partition and turned her back on him.


Jack rapped on the glass. “Darla? AJ McKay said I could find Keely here. I saw her truck in the parking lot. I know she’s here somewhere. Please. I need to see her.”


Darla whirled back around but didn’t open the glass window.


She studied him. “You say you talked to AJ?”


“Yeah, she gave me hell too.”


“I always liked that girl.” Darla shook her finger at him. “Keely’s in the south white barn. If she don’t want you here, I’ll escort you off the premises with my shotgun, we clear?”


“Yes, ma’am.”


Darla hit the switch that unlocked the gate.


Jack forced himself not to run when he saw the white metal siding of the barn on the south end of the property. The door was already open. The pungent odor of horseflesh and horseshit blasted him as he walked in.


The dim lighting revealed little beyond twelve stalls lined up, six on each side. Very quietly he started down the center section and tiptoed past curious horses until he found her.


Keely had her back to him. Her glossy black braid hung past her shoulder blades. She wore a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Faded jeans tucked into old shit-covered boots. One hundred percent country cowgirl. One hundred percent his.