Free Southern Comfort by Ciana Stone Page A

that your first course of action is to get it back."
    "And then go to prison?."
    "If it comes to that, yes. Come now, Rodrick. Should you go to prison, it's highly unlikely that you'd be there for more than a few years. And it's not as if you would be sent somewhere that hardened criminals such as murderers and terrorists are housed. For god's sakes, act like a man for once in your life."
    Rodrick was dumbstruck. "Act like a man?  How dare you?  How dare either of you sit there and tell me you're going to frame me for the shit you got us into?  What if I say no?  What then?"
    “The decision has been made. If anyone looks, the trail will lead to you. Denying it will serve no purpose. It's done. You will be amply rewarded."
    "Fuck you." Rodrick couldn't believe what he was hearing. What made it worse was the smug smile on his brother's face. "Fuck both of you."
    With that, he stormed out of the house and jumped in his car. The moment he did, he pulled out his phone and called Gina. "I need to see you. Now."
    Seconds later he roared down the drive of the estate, headed for the city. His mind whirled with futy. He had to come up with a way to thwart his father's plan because there was no way in hell he was going to prison.
    *****
    Riley spotted Cody when he pulled up at the ranch house. She was standing outside the paddock, one booted foot on the bottom rail of the fence, leaning on the top rail. He climbed out of the truck and made his way across the uneven ground.
    He hadn't seen Analise since the day she arrived in Cotton Creek. They had texted a few times and had spoken once on the phone, but things felt strained and uncomfortable. That kicked him in the gut. Damn if he didn’t miss taking to her over the ‘net.
    Cody said Analise had been pretty upset at first because she felt that he'd deliberately misled her. She confided in him it probably had a lot to be with Analise being such a big Nate Bridges fan. It's hard for anyone to come face-to-face with their movie idol. Finding out that the idol and the friend are one and the same might just throw anyone for a loop.
    He was fair-minded enough to agree. Friends he’d had before he became a star had faded pretty fast from his life when he became famous. Some of that blame was his. He just quit calling. But he’d lost a few friends just because he was famous and they suddenly didn’t know how to be themselves around him. He’d not found a way to repair things back then and didn’t know how to now.
    Once again, Cody came to the rescue.
    As it turned out, Analise was gung ho about learning everything there was to learn about ranching and had been shadowing Cody day in and day out. Whatever work there was to do, she volunteered to help. Cody said that surprisingly, Analise had a real way with animals.
    She was learning to ride, and Cody had joked that maybe she was practicing too much because there were some evenings she could barely sit – or stand for that matter.
    When she had called Riley early that morning to ask him to join them on an afternoon ride out to Cotton Creek near Rascal Flats and have an old-fashioned camp out, he had almost begged off. She reminded him that if he wanted to mend fences he was going to have to start somewhere, so he agreed.
    "What's up, half-pint?" He said as he came up behind Cody.
    "Check this shit." She pointed toward the interior of the paddock.
    "Is that…?"
    "Hell yeah. Can you believe it? Twostep freaking loves her."
    Riley shook his head and watched. Analise was in the paddock with a bunch of carrots in one hand stroking Twostep’s nose with the other. As he watched, she stopped rubbing the horse, and headed for the opposite side of the paddock, turning her back on Twostep.
    The horse whinnied, pawed the ground once and whinnied again. She ignored him and kept walking. Twostep blew a breath, shook his head and followed. When he reached her, he bumped her in the back with his nose.
    Analise turned and offered him a carrot. He