The Virgin’s Guide to Misbehaving (Bluebonnet #4)(59)
Author: Jessica Clare

And that was why Rome had never needed to say it to her.

She studied the text again. I can’t stay in Bluebonnet. Not I won’t but I can’t.

Something was wrong here, and she was going to fix it, damn it. She was not about to let Rome give up on everything now that she’d finally found him.

Dashing the tears of self-pity out of her eyes, Elise got up from bed.

She was going to get to the bottom of this, and then she was going to get her man back.

FIFTEEN

Elise drove over to the Daughtry Ranch first thing. Screw burgers—she wanted answers. To her surprise, though, the parking lot was crammed full of cars and she’d had to circle twice before backing out and parking on the side of the service road that led to the ranch. If she got a ticket, damn it, she’d just deal with it.

Marching up to the main ranch, she passed Pop, the elderly handyman who did work at the ranch. He was rushing out the front door with a paintball jumper on, his chest splattered with yellow, and he held a paintball gun in his hands. He looked rather frazzled, too.

Normally, she would have just smiled in greeting as she passed by, too shy to start a conversation. But forget that. Today, she was getting answers from everyone, come hell or high water. “What’s going on, Pop?”

He rubbed his sweating forehead and adjusted his trucker cap on his brow. “First day of the paintball course, Miss Elise. Your brother’s running around like a chicken with his fool head cut off.”

She forced a smile to her face at the thought, since he was smiling at her and it’d be expected. “Where’s Rome?”

“Well, now,” Pop said, adjusting his cap again. “I don’t know. He didn’t show up today.”

She nodded, swallowing the ache in her throat. “I’ll let you get back to work.”

He turned and dashed up one of the paths to the woods, making a beeline for the course.

She turned and considered the lodge for a moment. Instead of heading in to confront her brother, though, she went around one of the side paths and up the hill to where the row of cabins was nestled nearby. She headed to Rome’s first. His bike wasn’t parked on the side of his cabin. She was expecting that, she supposed, given her cryptic message.

But she knocked at his door anyhow, and when he didn’t answer, she opened it and went inside.

The tiny cabin had been cleaned out. The sheets and blankets were neatly folded on the bed, but all personal traces of Rome were gone. She looked at the empty coat hooks by the door, ran her hand over his pillow, and then peeked into his bathroom and even the mini fridge.

Nothing at all. It was like the place had never been inhabited.

Her heart felt heavy.

Sometime between when she’d seen him last night and this morning, her Rome had packed up and left. Not because he wanted to, but because he felt he had to. What was going on?

With determination in her step, she headed toward the main lodge of the Daughtry Ranch.

Inside it was chaos. Paintball guns and ammo were littered on every flat surface, and folding chairs were scattered throughout the lodge, along with a tray of sandwich remnants and a picked-over selection of drinks on a folding table. It looked as if she’d missed a party. In one corner of the room, at his desk, her brother was typing away, looking frazzled. Across from him, Brenna’s desk was empty but strewn with stacks of messy paper.

Grant looked up as she entered. “Hey. Did you get my message? We have to cancel the shoot this week. I’m sorry.” He rubbed his forehead and then ran a hand through his messy hair again. “The whole launch of this paintball course has been more of a mess than I hoped it would be.”

She sat down in one of the chairs across from his desk, keeping her face calm. She didn’t care about his problems, not really. Not right now. “Grant, I need to talk to you about something.”

He gave a hard, unamused chuckle. “Can it wait? I’m serious when I say this week’s gone to shit already and it’s only Monday.”

“Where’s Rome?”

Her brother snorted and picked up the phone, punching buttons. “Wouldn’t I like to know? He was supposed to be taking the lead on the paintball course and he’s nowhere to be found. That’s one reason why things have gone to hell.”

She shook her head. “He’s gone. His cabin is cleaned out. And this morning, he texted me and told me he couldn’t stay in Bluebonnet. I’m trying to understand why.”

Grant put down the phone and looked at her. He paused, thinking, then reached out and touched her hand. “Elise, I’m going to tell you this as your brother who is looking out for you, but maybe it’s best that Rome left. He’s not a good guy.”

She pulled her hand out from under his. “That’s where you’re wrong. I think Rome is a great guy.”

He gave her a look she’d come to realize was his “big brother” look. “No, he’s not. I’m not going to argue about this right now, but all I want to say is that you need to stay away from him.”

“Are you not listening to me? He’s gone. He’s left. He’s not coming back.”

“And like I said, maybe it’s for the best.”

Elise twitched in her chair. Normally she loved her brother, but he was being obstinate and a bit too stubborn at the moment. Her eyes narrowed at him. “You’re an employee short and you’re saying it’s for the best?”

Grant shrugged.

“What did you do?”

He blustered, shaking his head and picking up a schedule off the corner of his desk. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Then why do you say he’s not a good guy?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Grant, if you chased him away, I’ll . . .”

He gave her an exasperated look. “You’ll what, Elise? Be mad at me for looking out for you? For warning a guy away from my little sister?”

She stiffened in her chair. “You what?”

Sighing, Grant rubbed his forehead again. “I told him to stay away from you or he was going to find himself unemployed.”

Why on earth? She sputtered, an inkling of what had happened starting to creep through her mind. “Why would you tell Rome to stay away from me? He’s done nothing wrong!”

“Oh please, Elise. Don’t tell me you’re that naive.”

“Naive about what?” She was close to losing her temper, and she never lost her temper. But the fact that Rome had left a job and his life behind meant he knew he wasn’t welcome, and it seemed like her well-meaning brother was a big part of the problem.