Who lived here now? Shelley had put the house up for sale after Momma had passed. His mother had died while he was in the hospital detoxing. He’d had to come to her funeral with a “handler.” Leo Meyer had been quiet, helpful, and unobtrusive, but the fact that Trev hadn’t been able to help his sister out had just about killed him.
What was he doing here? He’d been offered a job in Dallas, but the call of home had been too much. When his mentor had mentioned he could get Trev work on a ranch, he’d jumped at the chance. He’d only ever been good at two things in his life—football and handling cattle. He could never walk on the football field again. He knew that now. The pressure was too much. Fame had proven to be far too much for him to handle.
He was back. When he’d left this place, he’d been a hero. He’d been the first boy from Deer Run to get a full-ride scholarship to the University of Texas. After leading the Longhorns to a conference championship, they had given him a parade. No one had even talked to him at his mother’s funeral. After ten years away, he was back, and he was utterly unsure of his welcome.
The door to the house opened, and two women walked out. He thought about jumping back into his truck and riding away, but before he could manage to move, he recognized one of the women. Straight dark hair and a wide smile. She didn’t wear pigtails anymore, but damn, he loved his sister.
“I thought you might stop here.” His sister waved to her friend and started walking down the path toward him.
She’d lost weight. Mourning seemed to have aged her a bit, but he could see the little girl in her face when she smiled at him. She was a year younger and worlds smarter than he was. She had looked up to him once.
“Did you? I just wanted to see the old place.” He glanced up, but the woman who owned the house had gone back inside. “I needed to stand here for a minute. Please tell your friend I won’t ask to come inside or anything.”
She frowned. “She’s the head of the church social league. I’m afraid she considers you a bit of a sinner.”
A bit? Hell, he’d been the chief number one sinner for so long it was probably tattooed on his backside. It would take a long while to convince these people he wasn’t still going straight to hell in a designer handbasket. “Is she going to give you trouble?”
“No. This town knows sin and gossip, but they also know about family. It’s going to be all right, Trev. Just give it time.”
He had plenty of time. Days, hours, weeks, years. They stretched in front of him. A lifetime of penance for the man he was trying to become. “So how did you know I was coming in early?”
“I called your friend, Leo. He’s very polite, that one.” Shelley held her arms out for a hug.
Trev pulled his kid sister into his arms. It felt good to hold her. Tears misted his eyes. Damn, he’d missed her.
He didn’t mention that Leo was intensely attracted to her. There was no way he could miss the way Leo’s eyes lit up any time Trev mentioned Shelley. Trev had seen it even at his mother’s funeral. Leo would never admit it, but even in Trev’s shaken, detoxifying state, he’d seen the effect his sister had on his mentor. Leo had watched her the whole time. Now Trev understood why. He’d never really thought about it before, but his sister, for all her fire, was probably submissive. And he wasn’t going to think about that.
His sister was also married. Sure, Bryce Hughes was the biggest asshole in the county, but she’d married him and showed no signs of divorcing. Leo was shit out of luck.
“Leo prides himself on his manners,” Trev explained. He moved his hat back. The early fall heat was making a sweaty mess of his hair. The air conditioner was out on the old Ford. He would need a shower before he met with Bryce. “So he told you I left early?”
“Yep. He gave you up really fast, big brother. Now, can you explain why you’re not staying with me?” She pulled back and put her hands on her hips.
Leo hadn’t been happy about that, either. But there was no way Trev was going to upset his sister’s marriage. Bryce had been his biggest fan at one point in time, but he’d fled along with all the rest. He knew Shelley would fight for him, but in this case, he didn’t want her to.
“I have to be on my own at some point, Shell.” It scared the hell out of him. He’d spent the last two years of his life under careful scrutiny. He’d stayed on at The Club for a whole year after the initial period because he liked the routine. He hadn’t had a chance to fuck up. Now he was out on his own. The only thing that kept him from a bottle was his willpower. He wasn’t sure that was enough.
“It’s not that,” she said. “I just thought it would be nice to have you around.”
Yeah. Bryce had made it plain at the funeral that Trev wasn’t welcome. He’d called Trev a loser and an addict who’d failed everyone.
Trev knew his limits. He didn’t need to be around Bryce.
“So you’re going to live out on the O’Malley ranch? I’ve heard some crazy stuff goes on out there.”
Trev stared at his sister. He sincerely hoped she hadn’t given in to small-town small-mindedness. “Lexi O’Malley is a very nice lady.”
He’d met her a couple of times along with her husbands. He’d spent a bit of time with Lucas O’Malley. He knew Aidan in passing. He knew Aidan’s brother, Bo, better, but Aidan seemed all right. He was a good Dom. That meant something to Trev.
Sometimes being a good Dom was all he had.
Shelley shook her head. “I know she is. I like that girl. She’s the funniest thing to hit this town in forever, but you should know that not everyone accepts what goes on at that ranch. They tolerate her because everyone knows her stepdad can be one mean son of a bitch when he thinks his family is being mistreated. I don’t know if they’re going to be any nicer to you, brother.”
They wouldn’t. It would be worse for him. He didn’t have a mean son-of-a-bitch stepdad with more money than god backing him up. He could handle it. He’d earned their disdain in a way Lexi hadn’t.
He was used to people turning up their noses at him. He’d found out the only thing people hated more than a fuckup was a fuckup who had it all at one point in time. People gloried in the fact that he had fallen from grace. His screwups had been played out in all the tabloids until Julian Lodge had taken over his life. There hadn’t been a single newspaper story about him since the day he’d walked into The Club. Trev was very aware that he owed his life and his sobriety to three men. Curt Goff, Julian Lodge, and Leo Meyer had shown him how to control himself. He would never forget that. His sobriety was a gift he worked to earn every damn day of his life.
“Well, I don’t really care what everyone else thinks. I’m going to be the foreman of that ranch. They can like it or leave it. It doesn’t much matter. The cattle don’t care what goes on in the ranch house.” And they wouldn’t give a damn that he’d had it all and thrown it away for a momentary high.
Shelley grinned. “You have to get me invited to dinner. I’m so curious I could scream. I hear they spend a lot of time at that club where you worked. I would give a lot to find out what goes on there. Does Leo work there, too?”
He felt his brows draw together. “It’s a BDSM club, Shell. I hardly think your husband is going to show his face there.”
Her whole body seemed to deflate. He wished he hadn’t said it. It was just a little fantasy for her. Wasn’t she entitled to that? “I guess so. I’m just a small-town girl. That’s a bit out of my league.”
“Hey, if you want to go, I’ll get you in. Hell, I’ll have Leo give you a tour.” If his sister wanted to leave the rat bastard she married for Leo Meyer, Trev would facilitate her adultery. It wouldn’t be like she was cheating on a faithful man, from what he’d heard. It was another reason he didn’t want to stay with his sister. He was worried the temptation to kill his brother-in-law might prove too much for him to resist. He wasn’t very good at resisting temptation.