He waved that off. “Bartenders are just supposed to listen. No one with a lick of sense would take advice from one.” He started to turn back down the bar.
“Marty,” she said and reached out to touch his forearm to stop him. “I don’t want to be me,” she said as she removed her hand from his arm. “I hate the person I’ve become but I don’t know how to change.”
“Everyone has days like that.”
“No, not like this one,” she said and poured herself another shot. For a moment she merely stared at the warm golden liquid. “I’m going to have to do something I’m going to regret and yet, I don’t have a choice, you know?”
Clearly, he didn’t. He studied her openly. “Don’t take this wrong but maybe you want to do whatever it is sober.”
She laughed. “Not a chance.” And threw down another shot.
JINX HAD THOUGHT she would feel better at home instead of in the hospital, but she’d been wrong. She found herself walking through the house as if lost as she kept reliving what had happened on the mountain.
She touched her throat, shuddering at the memory of T.D.’s arm locked around it. He’d cut off her air supply to the point that she’d almost blacked out. When she saw Angus appear, she’d thought she was dreaming. She’d seen the gun in his hand but thought he’d put it down. Had he fired the shot that had hit her and T.D.?
She still felt confused. Where had the shot come from? All she remembered was feeling something hit her in the head. T.D. had jerked, his arm loosening on her throat, as he stumbled back. She’d dropped to the ground, weak from lack of oxygen, blood dripping in her eyes. Hadn’t there been another shot? She recalled turning to see T.D. holding a spot high on his chest.
He had looked confused as if like her, he hadn’t known where the shots had come from. Then his expression had changed as if he saw something...someone in the distance. She’d followed his gaze and seen Wyatt holding a rifle and looking in their direction before jumping on his horse and taking off.
Wyatt had to have been the one who’d fired the shot—just as she’d told the sheriff. And yet, it made no sense. He was T.D.’s best friend, often his only friend. She frowned. Things had gotten so crazy up on that mountain, they might never be able to sort it out.
She just remembered that after she was shot, everything had happened so fast. It now felt like a blur. Angus she recalled had thrown his body over hers to protect her from further gunfire, flattening them both against the ground before Max had appeared and told Angus to go after T.D.
She could understand why both men wanted T.D. stopped. Hadn’t she told the sheriff that she would kill him the next time he showed up here at the ranch? But all this waiting, all this worrying.
She pulled out her cell phone and called the sheriff to see if there had been any word. It went straight to voice mail. She reminded herself that Harvey had promised to call the moment he heard anything. He’d always been good to his word. He would call.
Or he’d show up at her door, she thought with a stab to her heart.
Walking to the window, she looked out. It was dark outside. She blinked in surprise. Exhaustion pulled at her. She knew she needed sleep because she couldn’t account for the missing hours. Had she been pacing the floor all this time?
As she started to turn from the window, she heard the wind howling along the eaves. One of the fir trees scraped against the outside of the house as the others bent and swayed against a darkening sky. Another thunderstorm?
Jinx hugged herself, suddenly chilled. T.D. was still out there. For all she knew he was dead. But then again, she knew the man. He could be determined to the point of obsession when it was something he wanted.
If he could, he would survive and when he did, he would come after her.
Jinx shivered, hugging herself as she looked out into the darkness. Was Angus still up on the mountain? Why hadn’t she heard anything? Just the thought of him made her heart ache. He’d gone after T.D. because he’d known—just as she had—that T.D. wouldn’t stop. Not until she was dead.
She assured herself that by now half the county had gone up into the mountains looking for T.D. They’d find him. They’d find Angus. Angus would be all right. They would find T.D. alive. He would be arrested. This would end and when it did...
That was the part, though, that she didn’t have figured out yet. But she wasn’t going to get it figured out tonight. Her head ached and she felt weak and sick with worry.
She’d never felt more alone. She kept remembering that her stubbornness had causes this mess. If she’d just sold the cattle, taking a loss, and given the money to T.D.... She knew that wouldn’t have been enough for him. He wanted more than money. He wanted vengeance.
But at least she might be divorced from him by now. No longer his wife. No longer his. As long as they were husband and wife, he thought he could do anything he wanted with her. Right now she would gladly give him the ranch just to get him out of her life.
Just to know that Angus was all right.
Had Angus found T.D.? She knew T.D. would never fight fair. What if he’d seen Angus tracking him? What if he’d waited in ambush and killed him?
She turned away from the window, telling herself she had to have faith that Angus was all right. She had to because he’d made her want to go on when she’d felt like quitting, not just ranching,
