Tough Stud (Big Rock Ranch Book 3) Read online

  Tough Stud

  Kasey Krane

  Copyright © 2021 by Kasey Krane

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  1. Harris

  2. Melody

  3. Harris

  4. Melody

  5. Harris

  6. Melody

  7. Harris

  8. Melody

  9. Harris

  10. Melody

  11. Harris

  12. Melody

  13. Harris

  14. Melody

  15. Harris

  16. Melody

  17. Harris

  18. Melody

  19. Harris

  20. Melody

  21. Harris

  22. Melody

  23. Harris

  24. Melody

  25. Harris

  26. Melody

  27. Harris

  Sneak Peak at Hard Stud

  About Kasey Krane

  More Books by Kasey Krane

  One

  Harris

  I stood there, waiting for Tate to say something in response to what I’d just revealed to him, but my brother stared back at me for a hot minute, then shrugged.

  “Do you even hear what I’m saying to you?” I growled at him.

  Tate looked over my shoulder, trying to peek into the kitchen. I knew he wanted to go join Amanda and his daughter, along with the rest of our family. It was our weekly family dinner at Everett and Keira’s house, and the alcohol was flowing. Tate was in the mood to have a good time, relaxing, introducing his daughter to the rest of us.

  Sure, I was just as excited to get to know Daisy. She’s my niece and for the past four years, none of us even knew she existed. We were happy to welcome her into the family. We were happy for Tate, that he and Amanda had finally gotten back together.

  However, I really needed him to focus on the problem at hand now, but it seemed as though he wasn’t even paying attention.

  “Yeah man, I heard you. You think Aspen used to work for Mendez,” he finally said.

  Samuel Mendez was our father’s biggest business rival. Aspen, who claimed to be our long lost sister, had a connection with the Mendez company. Why? It had to be more than just a small coincidence.

  “It’s not my opinion man, it’s fact. I have proof through the people looking into her history.”

  Tate breathed in deeply, then nodded.

  “What kind of proof is this? I mean, Harris, come on, who are these people you’ve got spying on Aspen? Where did you find them? Some small-time detectives feed you information and you lap it up?”

  “What the fuck is going on?” I was confused by Tate’s reaction. I hadn’t told the others yet in fear of the explosion that’d set off in the family. Everett would probably have killed Mendez if he could get his hands on him. I thought it was best to keep Jack and Oliver out of it for the time being. So, Tate was the only one I could discuss this new development with and he wasn’t even taking it seriously.

  He put a hand on my shoulder to calm me and I shrugged it away.

  “This chick has appeared out of nowhere and she’s claiming to be our sister. She told us a sob story about how our mother gave her up for adoption because nobody wanted her in the family; and you’re taking her side? You think my sources are unreliable?” I chuckled viciously and Tate shook his head.

  “Okay, here’s the thing man, I don’t know who to believe. I have my guards up around Aspen, and yeah sure, I’m not her biggest fan. I’m not ready to welcome her into our family with open arms, but at the same time, I don’t see what the problem is.”

  “The problem is she could be an imposter!” I shouted, lowering my voice when Tate threw me a warning look. “In fact, I’m pretty sure she’s an imposter. You really believe this cock and bull story? That Mom abandoned one of her children? That she’d kept this a secret for all these years from all of us? Including Dad?”

  Tate clenched his jaws tightly, like he didn’t approve. I knew what he was thinking. At the moment, the memory of our mother didn’t fill him with confidence because he’d recently found out she had stood between him and Amanda, the love of his life. Our mother was the reason why Tate never found out about his daughter.

  I brushed a hand through my hair and he scowled.

  “Like I said, I’m not Aspen’s cheerleader. I’m not saying she’s a part of the family now, but I also don’t know if Mom and Dad were always one hundred percent honest with us. Everyone has their secrets, right?” He narrowed his eyes at me and I looked away. It made me uncomfortable because for a second, I thought he knew what I was hiding. But he didn’t. There was no way he knew.

  “Right now I just want to focus on my family, okay? After all these years, I finally have Amanda back, and now I have a daughter I never knew. I don’t want to waste any time or energy chasing random information about a girl who isn’t even on my radar. As far as I’m concerned, Aspen who?”

  He thumped my shoulder again, smiled, then walked to the kitchen. I heard the sound of Daisy’s excitement when she saw him.

  Who was I kidding? Tate was a dad now. He was fulfilled, and there wasn’t any space in his life for rage. Whereas, the only thing I had in my life were empty dark holes.

  I sat at the dinner table with the rest of my family. Everyone else was focused on Daisy and Amanda, bursting with questions and energy. Just a few weeks ago, Tate used to be the quiet one at these family dinners. He was troubled over what was going on with him and Amanda. At least I felt like I had an ally. Someone who had his own darkness within him, but now I felt like I was alone in this.

  I focused on the roasted potatoes on my plate. I pierced one piece with my fork and popped it in my mouth. These days, I couldn’t even taste food anymore. Nothing smelled good. The only thing that brought me any peace was alcohol. I knew I needed to stay away from going down that rabbit hole. I’d seen firsthand what it did to Everett. If Keira hadn’t shown up in his life when she did, we probably would’ve lost him by now.

  But if I didn’t drink, then I couldn’t get the sounds of the mines out of my head.

  Landmines. They were everywhere on that mission. The desert landscape was beautiful and despite the searing heat and the sweat dampening every inch of my body, I stood in the tank as we rolled down the busy market streets. I used to stare out in the distance at the sandy backdrop, keeping a firm grip on my weapons. The desert on the horizon was vast and endless.

  But the landmines made it dangerous. It was nearly impossible to predict their exact locations and they could go off any moment, anywhere, taking out limbs and lives. Very often, lives.

  The militant terrorist group we’d tried to fight didn’t give a shit about the locals, who were supposed to be their own people. They didn’t give a shit how many people they wiped out or who they were. The only thing they cared about was war. Money. Power. Winning.

  I was there because I was a Marine and I’d taken an oath to dedicate my life to the defense of my country and those who needed my help. The innocent victims in that country needed my help. They were the reason we patrolled those streets, trying to keep the peace. And each time a mine went off, taking more innocent people with it, I questioned my purpose and my life. I questioned if I was even making a difference.

  That question still haunted me. After everything that’d happened, I knew I wasn’t good enough.

  “Harris?” I heard a voice strike through my thoughts and then Jack nudged me with his elbow. “Everything okay?”

  It was Keira from across the table. She stared at me with a worried smile on her face. She must have noticed the faraway look in my eyes. When she spoke to me ,she caught the attention of my other brothers and now everyone was fuckin’ staring at me. Including Daisy.

  I cleared my throat and put down my cutlery.

  “Yeah, everything’s fine. I just remembered I had to get on a call with our clients in Japan.” I eyed Tate who had his brows furrowed. We worked closely at the office and I had a feeling he knew I didn’t have any meetings tonight. Not at this hour.

  However, he didn’t try to stop me when I stood up, taking a last sip of water.

  “I’m sorry, I should’ve moved it but I forgot. Sorry about this, Keira.”

  “No…no problem,” she smiled weakly, exchanging looks with Everett.

  “See you around, kid,” I said to Daisy, giving her a mock salute, making her giggle.

  Nobody tried to stop me and I walked out of Everett’s house, heading straight for the car. I needed to get out of there because I needed to be alone. The last thing I wanted was for my family to see me this way—to see the weight I carried on my shoulders.

  Two

  Melody

  As always, I was the first one backstage. I sat tuning my guitar in the dressing room we occupied every night. The guys wouldn’t show up until the last minute and I was used to it. I trusted they’d show up, no matter how drunk they’d gotten somewhere else.

  I’d sang the same songs with the same band for the past two years and if we got lucky, we got booked more than two nights a week. Locally in the neighborhood, most people knew our band but that was about the extent of our stardom and I’d made my peace with that
. I wasn’t chasing the limelight.

  I had a few rough pieces of paper shoved in the back pocket of my tight jeans while I tuned the guitar. They were notes from the song I’d written and I hummed it now under my breath. Songs nobody else had heard because I refused to let anyone witness its imperfections. Someday, I hoped I’d be confident enough to sing one of my own songs to an audience, but that day wasn’t today.

  The guys- Jojo, Nick and Fabio thundered into the room, passing a joint between themselves. Their eyes were already bloodshot from the drinking they’d done.

  “Yo! Hey!” Their collective voices filled the room as I put the guitar away. We exchanged high fives and they fell into the chairs around me. Feet up on tables, smoke filling the room quickly. None of them offered me a hit of the joint because they knew I’d refuse.

  I was a part of the band, pretty much one of the guys and I didn’t care how they chose to live their lives—however, I never smoked and I rarely ever drank. It was a decision I’d made a long time ago and I still managed to stick by it.

  “Big crowd out there tonight,” Nick said, breathing in deeply as the smoke filled his lungs.

  “Are we switching the sets around or sticking to last week?” I asked.

  Jojo and Nick shrugged their shoulders—they were the ones who were the least interested in any decision we made. They were way more interested in the dope than the music. Fabio and I were the ones who took relative interest in our performances. This paid well after all, for our standards. We didn’t want to get booed off the stage.

  “Maybe we should switch it around a little. It’s Saturday, there’s likely to be tourists,” Fabio suggested and I nodded in agreement.

  Nick and Jojo chuckled like school boys, passing the joint around again. As long as it didn’t affect their performance on stage, I didn’t care.

  We were friends and I liked where I was in my life. It wasn’t anything fancy, I wasn’t rolling in cash, I knew I wasn’t going to become an overnight star and I’d probably never get to record the song I was writing—but at the end of the day, I was safe now. And that was all that mattered to me.

  As the lead vocalist of the band, I always stood centerstage, with Nick on the guitar beside me providing the backup vocals. Jojo was on the drums, and Fabio on the keyboard.

  The bar, which was like a second home to us by now, also programmed the same lighting every night we performed. So for the regulars who came to this place, the scene wasn’t any different tonight than it’d looked on any other night we performed.

  I held the mic at some distance from my lips as I sang a couple of crowd pleasers. Some Shania Twain and Carrie Underwood covers to set the mood, and then we moved on to Faith Hill and Connie Smith. We usually always ended the set with some Jean Shepherd classics because the crowd usually mellowed by then, not too many people paying attention anymore.

  By the time we were done, the guys were thirsty for their beers. I saw it in their crazed eyes. They’d spent too much time away from their beloved bottles and needed a few quick hits of their joints before they fell apart.

  I put my guitar back in its case and helped Fabio with the equipment.

  “Nice job tonight, yeah?” he said and we patted each other’s shoulders. Sometimes I wondered if I would’ve stuck around with this band if it hadn’t been for Fabio. I may have even given up singing altogether if it wasn’t for him. Nick and Jojo were impossible to work with alone, but I was content with the band now, the way it was.

  Fabio and I had gone out on a date once, around the time we all started working together two years ago. It was barely a date and more like having dinner with a friend. At the end before we parted ways, we shook hands. Fabio was an attractive guy and I knew he was into me in the beginning, but it would’ve never worked between us.

  It was my fault. I didn’t make an effort. If he felt a spark between us, it was one-sided because I had all my guards up. He’d stopped trying to break those walls down a long time ago.

  “You too,” I replied, smiling at him. Fabio gave me a nod, like he was thinking about it too—what it would’ve looked like if we were a couple right now. Then he walked past me and jumped off the stage. He joined the others at the bar where the drinks were on-the-house. At least a couple of rounds.

  Most nights I just went home. I didn’t have much interest in sticking around watching the guys getting drunk and hitting on every girl who looked at them sideways. However, tonight I decided to stay. I felt like I deserved a change.

  I shook my head, smiling dully at how hard Nick and Jojo were hitting on a group of girls. Fabio was talking to a girl too, but at least he hadn’t made a fool of himself.

  I sat at the bar on a tall stool, nursing my ginger ale, wondering what I was doing here. I should’ve gone home like I usually did.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man sink into the stool beside mine. I didn’t look because I didn’t want to encourage a conversation.

  “I just wanted to come over and compliment you for your incredible performance tonight.” The man raised his voice a little, to make himself heard over the country music blasting through the speakers now.

  I glanced at him and when I saw how good looking he was, I looked away quickly. I didn’t want to engage. I didn’t want to put myself in that position.

  “Thank you,” I said, not smiling.

  “Can I buy you a drink?” he continued.

  “I don’t drink, but thanks,” I murmured. I’d hoped by refusing to look at him directly, he’d eventually just slink away like most other guys did.

  “Okay, I’ll buy you another round of whatever you have there,” he persisted.

  “I can buy my own drinks,” I snapped a little.

  “All right, I won’t buy you anything. Will you talk to me then?”

  I had to look at him now. Dark longish hair reached his shoulders. He was wearing a very expensive looking suit with a tie in good taste. I had a feeling he was one of those corporate guys who liked to unwind at a place like this to get away from the glitz and glamour of their regular lives.

  “What do you want to talk about?” I asked and he smiled handsomely. He had a classically chiseled face with a dimple in his chin.

  “I want to talk about you and how talented you are. What are you doing stuck in a place like this?”

  “If you think you can insult my workplace and gain any favors with me, then you’re mistaken. But you don’t look as stupid as all that.”

  He raised his eyebrows, looking surprised by the way I spoke. I didn’t know what he expected of me, but the only thing I knew to be was honest and myself.

  “I’m not trying to insult anybody here or anything, just making an observation. You could do a lot of awesome things with that voice of yours,” he continued, recovering a little.

  “I happen to be very happy with what I’m doing now. Some people are content with their lives, you know? Not everyone needs success and accolades and million dollar record deals,” I said.

  He didn’t look like he believed me, but he shrugged anyway.

  “Whatever you say, sweetheart.”

  His tone of voice left me with a bitter taste in my mouth and despite his good looks, I’d wished he’d just go away. However, I’d already given him the green light to lean in closer to me, which he had.

  “We don’t have to discuss your career if you don’t want to,” he added.

  “I’d appreciate that.”

  There was an awkward silence between us while he stared at me and I fidgeted in my seat. Maybe I should’ve taken it as a compliment that he was interested in me, but I’d quickly lost my interest in him.