A Little Harmless Ride (24 page)

“
If you order me to do something one more time, I’m going to stab you with a fork. I want to be there to keep you from killing him.”

“
And why would you want to do that?” he asked.

“
I don’t want the man I love in prison for killing someone. Let’s go.”

With a sigh he gave Dillon a look as she marched off. “We might as well let her go.”

Dillon nodded. “I’ll call the office, see if they have anything else. Plus, Maura was trying to hack into some…sites.”

Eli chuckled thinking of Dillon’s sister. There was a good chance that whatever she was doing, it was illegal.

“
Give us ten minutes then we can go kick Kaheaku’s ass.”

And with that, the jogged up the stairs. The bastard had a lot to answer for if he set Sam to attack the ranch. Bastard would pay for doing that.

Chapter Twenty-Three

The minute Sean opened the door, Eli punched him. He stumbled back as Eli advanced on him. Fear for both of them, knowing just how pissed Eli was, Crysta grabbed his arm, but he shook her free. He hit Sean again before the other man had a chance to recover.

“
That’s enough,” Crysta yelled out.

They both ignored her. She looked at Dillon, who looked bored. “Aren’t you going to do anything?”

He shrugged. “I figure one of them will get the better of the other. Then we can talk.”

“
Oh for the love of God.” She grabbed Eli who was about to punch Sean again. Crysta held onto his arm and he gave her a mean look.

“
Let go, Crysta,” he growled.

“
No.”

His frown turned darker. “He shot at you.”

“
You don’t know that,” she said. As soon as the words left her mouth, a fist came flying up and caught Eli on the chin. Eli fell back. Sean scrambled up and was about to hit Eli again when Crysta smacked him on the back of the head. He looked at her, his eyes wide with astonishment.

“
You hit me,” he bellowed.

“
Yes. And I’ll hit you again.”

“
That’s a girl,” Eli said.

She looked down at him. “And I’ll hit you too. We don’t have time for this.”

Dillon stepped forward. “I have to agree. We need to talk about things and we need to sort it all out.”

With a sigh, Sean moved back and stood up. It struck her then that he was as graceful as Eli. As if they both had the same training.

She was surrounded by people who hid their true selves all the time. It was getting to be annoying.

“
Come with me to the kitchen.”

Sean didn’t wait for them to agree. He just wandered off. She looked at Eli, who shrugged and followed him. Dillon and she did the same.

“
Tell me about these connections we found,” Eli said.

Sean spit out some blood in the sink as he dabbed at the cut on his lip. “What connections are you talking about?”

“
You seem to have some very dangerous men you consort with. Did your stepfather put you up to it?”

“
Sam? What the fuck are you talking about? I thought you were talking about Crysta.”

He glanced at Crysta, who rolled her eyes.

“
Do you really think they would show up here to talk to you about that?”

“
Dillon might not, but I would, love,” Eli said quietly. “Just thought you would know he’d be in worse shape.”

She gave him a nasty look and looked back at Sean. “We’re talking about that cow mutilation and the shots.”

“
What?” He shook his head.

“
We had a cow mutilated. Yesterday, someone took shots at Jerry and me.”

He looked from Eli to Dillon then back to Eli. “Yeah, I had nothing to do with that. I just got back.”

“
Try again, Kaheaku,” Dillon said. “You haven’t used your passport and you weren’t on any plane.”

He studied the other two men, and again, she was struck by the similarities among them. Not just Eli and Sean, but there something about all three of them that screamed specialized training. It was military or federal law enforcement. The aura of authority dripped off all three of them.

“
Fuck me,” Sean muttered as he turned to rinse the rag off.

“
You bloody did fuck yourself up. Why would you kiss up to that old man after the way he threw you out?”

He sighed. It sounded like a strange mixture of sadness and frustration. “I didn’t kiss up to Sam. I was out of the country on a job.”

“
What?” Dillon asked.

“
I got a contract for some work in Indonesia. I’ve been gone since the day after I met Crysta at the grocery store.”

Eli glanced at Dillon, who shook his head. “You have not been out of the country.”

“
You better talk to your contacts again, Dillon. And when you do, talk to Homeland Security. They can tell you all about me.”

“
I don’t have those contacts and you bloody will tell me just what the fuck you are talking about,” Eli demanded.

Sean’s expression turned even more remote. Apparently, he wasn’t going to be talking any time soon.

“
Sean,” Crysta said. “We’ve had a bad couple of weeks here. And what these two are not telling you is that we seem to be under attack on the ranch.”

He frowned at Crysta even as his expression softened. She noticed Eli flexing his hands. He was ready to attack Sean for just looking at her. This was not a good situation and it would prove to be counterproductive if she didn’t get Sean to answer their question as fast as possible.

“
Under attack?” he asked.

“
First, you said you left, but Eli and I were on Oahu the day after we met you. We saw you at Rough ‘n Ready.”

For a second, he looked like he would deny it but then he nodded. “Yeah, I stopped at Rough ‘n Ready that night. Then I headed out. Tell me what’s going on.”

Eli stepped up, but Crysta answered.

“
We were called back that night because someone had mutilated a cow.”

He glanced around the room, settling his attention back on Crysta. “I didn’t have anything to do with that. Why would I? What would I gain?”

“
You would make your stepfather very happy,” Eli said.

“
And why would I want to do that? The bastard hasn’t talked to me in years. And why would mutilating a cow do anything for him, other than giving him some kind sick thrill. And don’t get me wrong, Sam is
that
sick.”

Crysta knew Sean was telling the truth. “You had to have heard about the will.”

When he said nothing, Eli continued. “If Crysta leaves, I lose the ranch. It goes to a trust for charities. They sell it off.”

Sean frowned. “And? Sam has no money.”

“
But you do,” Dillon pointed out. “I’ve only gotten into some of your accounts, not all of them. But you’re loaded, Kaheaku.”

“
I’d give my money to St John before I would give any to my father,” Sean ground out.

The three of them shared a look. Crysta knew without a doubt that was true. He wasn’t going to give his stepfather anything.

“
And the shots fired,” Crysta said. “That wasn’t you?”

He shook his head. “No. Believe me, if I was aiming for you, you would be dead.”

The absolute certainty in his voice was easy to hear.

“
You can also believe, I wouldn’t give that bastard any money, so there’s no way he would get the ranch with my help.”

“
I believe him,” Dillon said.

“
Dammit. I do too.”

She could tell that was hard for Eli to admit, but she agreed too. Sean wasn’t telling them the whole truth, but he also wasn’t lying about his hatred of Sam. It was odd. From what Eli had said, they had been so close when he was younger.

“
And this contract work, what was it?” Eli asked.

Sean glanced toward Crysta, then to Dillon before settling on his gaze on Eli. “What the hell? Okay, I was Special Forces for a few years, but didn’t really like taking orders—or the pay. I’m sure you understand, St. John.”

He said nothing. She wondered how many people knew Eli had been Special Forces. From the look on his face, not that many, and he wasn’t that happy about Sean knowing now.

“
No comment?” Sean asked, a cynical smile twisting his lips. “Well, I didn’t last. I was sick of putting my ass on the line for so little pay.”

“
So you sold out and became a mercenary?” Dillon asked.

“
No. I’m not a mercenary. I never liked that part of the job. What I do is surveillance, sometimes up close and personal.”

“
In Indonesia?” he asked, skeptical.

“
Or Japan, Korea…I even spend a lot of time in your old stomping grounds. St. John.”

“
So, you work in Australia?”

He nodded. “A time or two, but my looks make me a shoe in for places with more Asian influence.”

“
And you have someone who can verify that?” Dillon asked.

“
Yeah. Got pen and paper? I’ll write down my contact.”

Dillon handed him the paper and pen.

“
Of course, Crysta, I can give you my own personal information if you’re interested.”

Eli opened his mouth but she wasn’t in the mood for another round of fighting.

“
Sean, first of all, we are one step away from being related and well, I don’t want Eli to get arrested for killing you.”

Sean shook his head and wrote down the information then handed it to Dillon. “Call that man. He’ll give you all the information you need.”

Dillon took the paper and his eyebrows rose. Crysta knew then that Dillon knew the man on the paper and that probably meant Sean was telling the truth.

“
Now I’d like all of you to leave.”

“
Before we do, I want a bloody answer,” Eli said. “Why did you and Sam split ways? It couldn’t have been because of money. You went into the military and Sam was almost out of it by then. Truth is, everyone said that once you left, he lost everything, so they assume you were handling most of the aspects of the business. So—why the problem? Did you want more of the business?”

Sean’s face turned darker. It was a far cry from the man who had tried to charm her the first time she met him. He paced away, stopping at a window.

“
I came out to him.”

There was a beat of silence. “You’re gay?” she asked.

He glanced over his shoulder at the Eli, then settled his gaze on her again.

“
No, I have a feeling he would have accepted that more—which is funny and sad at the same time. I admitted to be being a bisexual. Sam didn’t like that. Didn’t like it one bit. Wanted me to take it back and, being the stupid twenty-year-old that I was, I refused. So, he kicked me to the curb.”

“
What made you do that?” Crysta asked. “I’m not judging, but you know exactly how much hate is in that man.”

He shook his head. “Wasn’t exactly my choice. Sam Jr found out and told his father.”

“
Really?” Eli asked.

“
You don’t think that little shit hates me?”

Of course he did. Everyone knew it. They were just a few months apart in age, but Sam and Sean had never been friends. In fact, it was pretty evident they rarely talked to each other.