“I mean it, Liam, you’re working with me, and I need you to tell me if there’s anything Marcus is doing that makes you unhappy.”

“He’s harmless,” Liam said. He heard the uncertainty in his own voice. Hank was supposedly harmless; the son of the ranch owner had promised a lot of things before ignoring the fact Liam didn’t want him and taking what he wanted anyway. Thing was, Marcus and Hank were so different. Marcus was all romance and dinner and making comments about Liam’s ass with a tone that bordered more on affection than open lust. Hank, on the other hand, thought the Bar Five’s staff were his to use and that included Liam. There was nothing harmless in rape. Anger and frustration curled inside him as memories washed over him.

“Liam?” Robbie’s voice was close and filled with concern.

“I’m fine,” he heard himself say.

“I’ll talk to Riley, stop Marcus from coming over.”

“No.” The memories in his head stopped building as the word instantly fell off his tongue. He looked Robbie directly in the eye. “I promise I don’t care. He comes and talks pretty, tells me stuff that makes me feel good, then we stop. I can handle it.”

Robbie looked as if he was going to argue, but then he simply leaned on the stable wall and quirked a smile.

“You ever want to talk, you know where I am.”

“I got nothing to say,” Liam lied. “But thank you.”

Robbie nodded, and with a few final movements around Solo, he left the barn, and Liam could get his thoughts back on track.

Angry with himself for even thinking about Hank and Marcus at the same time, he finished what he was doing and decided now was a good time for coffee. He walked down to the cozy place he’d created for himself at the end of the enormous barn. A tent with a cot and heater was a bit of a step down from the bunkhouse at the Bar Five, but here he was in the corner, with the walls behind him and the horses in front. He was safe here. Coffee made, he sat on the box he was using as a seat and smiled to himself. This was his last week in the makeshift accommodation because Robbie was moving, along with Eli, over to their new place behind the main house. That meant he would have their old apartment as long as he passed his probationary period. He wasn’t even sure he recalled when that was up, but Robbie was pleased with him and so was Jack, and Jack had suggested a meeting in the next few days to discuss the future when he wasn’t preoccupied with the Max thing.

The sound of someone calling his name pulled him out of his thoughts. He downed the last of the bitter coffee in one and moved out of his area and into the main barn.

“Hey, found this mail for you,” Robbie said.

“For me?”

“So it says. It was in mine and I only just looked. Sorry.”

They met in the middle of the barn, and Robbie didn’t stay after he handed over the envelope. Liam’s heart twisted in his chest as he looked down at the thing in his hands like it was a grenade about to explode. The letter had been addressed to the center he’d been staying at, and only one person even knew where he’d ended up at after his parents turned him away. Liam had texted only Darren before destroying his old Nokia.

Darren Castille. The youngest of the Castille brothers, a good guy, as far removed from his eldest brother Hank as it was possible to be. Darren had been the one to help him get away from Bar Five and up to Dallas. Hank, on the other hand, was an entitled asshole who had destroyed Liam’s innocence in one heated night. If Hank ever caught up with Liam then Liam was a dead man. Didn’t matter that he’d promised he would never tell a soul what he’d been subjected to. Didn’t matter that even as he lay bleeding in the dirt that it had been he begging for Hank not to tell anyone how he’d driven Hank to do what he did. Didn’t matter he was less than nothing to Hank and shouldn’t even be on Hank’s radar. Whatever progress he’d made in understanding he was the victim meant nothing with the memories in his head forcing their way in. Liam knew things he shouldn’t know and for that he’d run. It had to be Darren sending him something.

Carefully he opened the envelope and pulled out the sheet of paper. The letter was short and to the point.

I tried to cover it all but he hired a PI. Saw your parents. Knows you’re in Dallas and about the center. Don’t stay there. Stay safe. Darren.

Liam’s world collapsed, and he slumped down the nearest wall until his butt was on the floor. He attempted to still his breathing as the need to get the fuck out of here warred with his stubborn want to stay.

He could go now. Pack his stupid fucking bag with his meager clothes and the cash he’d accumulated from working and get the hell away from the D. If Hank knew about the center, then he was only one step away from knowing Liam was here. Then what? He’d be running forever. Here he had the chance of a roof over his head, a possible career, and friends. Out there, what was he going to do?

Footsteps grew closer and Liam panicked. If Robbie found him on the floor like this he’d ask questions that Liam didn’t have the answers for. The steps grew closer but Liam couldn’t move. When a figure rounded the edge of the stall Liam felt his stomach drop. It wasn’t Robbie that found him, that would tease him into standing. It was Jack.

He looked a frustrating combination of pissed and confused, and fuck, Liam had given himself no way out of this stall. If Jack came in here and decided that Liam needed to be shown…something…anything…then he was cornered. Instead of coming into the stall, Jack stood wide-legged at the entrance.

“House,” Jack said firmly. “We need to talk. Now.”

He turned on his heel and left. The barely controlled anger in Jack’s eyes was enough to have Liam curling over in the hay on the floor and staying where he was.

Jack won’t hurt me. Robbie won’t hurt me. I can stand.

He repeated the words over and over until finally he could push himself upright and lock his legs in place. He shoved the letter in his pocket and brushed hay from his jeans. Robbie waited for him at the wide open barn doors and his expression was inscrutable. Liam consciously kept distance between himself and the other man but was surprised when Robbie reached over and stopped his exit.

Liam stiffened. Robbie worked for Jack. Hank had minions to do whatever he wanted as well. It wasn’t a huge leap to expect Robbie to beat on him now.

“Whatever happens, whatever Jack says, I am here for you,” Robbie said gently. “I’m not letting you go in alone.”

Liam was confused by the affection in Robbie’s tone. “What does Jack want? He’s pissed at me.”

“I have no idea. But he said he needed us both.”

Fuck. The humiliation of being thrown out with Robbie there to witness it was cruel. He liked Robbie, respected him, called him friend, and he didn’t want Robbie to see him cry again.

Together they crossed to the main ranch house and skirted the cars before using the main kitchen door to go in. Robbie went in first, and Liam was never more pleased to have the wide-shouldered cowboy between him and Jack.

There was no sign of Jack in the kitchen, only Riley who had one of the twins in his arms and a look of confusion on his face.

“What happened?” Riley asked Robbie. “Jack’s like stone.”

“Fuck if I know,” Robbie said, his tone puzzled.

“He’s in the good room. Said you should go through.”

Robbie walked past Riley, but Liam hesitated momentarily. Riley was one hell of a big guy. Squaring his shoulders he followed Robbie, feeling like the axe was about to fall.

When they walked into what Riley described as the good room, it was to see Jack sitting at a table with his hands steepled and his chin resting on them. “Sit down, guys,” he said softly. Robbie slid in on the diagonal and Liam sat opposite. He was close to the door, and he judged no more than a few steps between the table and the exit.