Texas Fall by RJ Scott Read Free Book Online Page B

that I led him on? Because that
is what Hank used to say, and that I was a tease and a whore and my family
didn’t want me because I was wrong.”
    “You know that is all
bullshit. He can say all that, he can try to intimidate you, but you have to be
the strong kid we took on at the D and the responsible young man that I trust
with the horses. I know you, we all know you, and Marcus in there loves you. So
you wanna come back in and have some coffee-soaked fries?”
    Jack smiled at him, and
the smile reached his cornflower-blue eyes. It was infectious, and Liam had to
smile back.
    “Yeah, let’s get in there.”

Chapter 6
    The knock on the door
startled Jack. He was super focused trying to compose a text to Hayley and hell
if he could get his head around the cell phone’s tiny keys to actually type a
coherent sentence. He pressed send on what he’d written so far after adding a
couple of x’s then opened the door a little. Two guys stood in the hall, both
looking different kinds of nervous. Jack knew one of them, remembered Vaughn
from when he’d come up to be trained at the D. Jack had been ill that weekend,
but he never forgot a face. And another man who he’d only seen in photos.
Darren Castille, Hank’s baby brother, the one who had covered Liam’s tracks and
helped him get away
    “Could we talk?” Darren
said. “It’s important.”
    Jack widened the door and
ushered the two men in. He wasn’t sure of the protocol of having Hank’s brother
in his hotel room but the entreaty in his eyes was somehow enough to trust. How
much Darren knew about what his brother had done to the boys on the ranch was a
matter for Jack to speculate on, but the fact Darren had been the one to
attempt to help Liam to leave the ranch scored him a few points.
    “I’m real sorry to bother
you,” Vaughn drawled. “But we have some things we’d like to talk about.”
    ”Is this something to do
with the case?” He watched when Darren moved a little closer to Vaughn, just
like he might move closer to Riley, seeking support and a connection. So
that was the lay of the land, then . Darren held out his hand and Jack shook
it.
    “I know you have no reason
to believe me,” Darren began, “but I want to help.”
    Even though Jack shook
Darren’s hand, he wasn’t convinced he should be doing so. “Are you sure we
should be talking? The trial starts in two days.”
    “This is important,”
Vaughn said hurriedly. He stopped talking abruptly even though Darren sent him
a look of support. Jack knew what Vaughn meant by important. Liam wasn’t just
an employee but a friend and part of the D’s extended family.
    Darren continued. “I’m
Hank’s brother. I knew he wasn’t right in the head, have always known it. He hated
the fact that I was gay, and our dad was a fucking bastard, told us both that
only real men…” He stopped and all the energy appeared to leave him in a rush.
    “Keep going,” Vaughn
encouraged. Jack said nothing, just let the situation play out in front of him.
    “I didn’t know about the
others,” he said. “I only knew about Liam and you can’t understand what it was
like… I…” Darren looked at Vaughn. “I was stupid, and hell, I spent as much
time off the ranch as I could, at college, then working accounts anywhere else
than my own family’s property…”
    “What does this have to do
with Liam’s case?” Jack asked. Did Darren know something that would affect
Liam’s case? Something about his brother? Was he somehow guilty as well? Jack
moved his gaze from Darren to Vaughn, who now had a hand possessively on Darren’s
arm. Vaughn was one of the good guys, Jack was convinced of that after seeing
the way he’d dealt with the attack on Liam at the D. Vaughn wouldn’t be with a
man who he didn’t respect, surely.
    Darren exhaled, then
pulled back his shoulders and closed his eyes briefly. “I’ve been at the ranch.
Most of the money has gone to Hank’s defense, what I’ve been left with