Free Operation Mustang [The Service Club 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) by Tonya Ramagos Page B

between himself and the front of the truck in four quick strides.
    Mustang glanced at him. The little boy had morphed instantly into the protective surrogate brother.
    “Who?” Chester asked.
    “Well, if I knew that, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
    “Were you hurt? What happened? How do you know?” Thomas fired off questions, his eyes blazing.
    With his red hair, freckles, and fair complexion despite countless hours of working in the sun, he’d always reminded Mustang of John-Boy Walton. They’d even kidded about it growing up when he and Chester stayed in the main house for many years before relocating to the cabin her father and Chester built on the backside of the Circle M.
    She shook her head. “I wasn’t hurt.” She hesitated, not knowing how to answer his other two questions without telling all. “And how I know is irrelevant. Whoever it was got past all three of the Rylon brothers without any of them hearing a sound.”
    “They stayed in the main house last night?” Chester asked evenly.
    Mustang locked gazes with him and saw a world of knowledge and understanding in his eyes. “They each took a guest room.”
    Intrigue and what might have been a trace of disappointment moved through Chester’s expression. Did he think her strong enough to resist them in her bed when they planted themselves in her house? Maybe she hadn’t revealed as much as she feared, seeing as how they hadn’t stayed in her room.
    “How do you know it wasn’t one of them?” Thomas asked.
    “Because they told me it wasn’t.”
    Thomas made a disgusted sound. “And you believed them?”
    “Yeah, I believed them.” Mustang couldn’t hide the sarcasm in her tone. “Why in hell wouldn’t I?”
    “Those men have a reputation in this town.”
    “And a damn good one, too.”
    “Not when it comes to that club they’re in,” Thomas argued. “Fuck, Mustang. They could’ve let any one of those perverts they call friends into your room last night.”
    “Watch your language, boy,” Chester reprimanded him.
    “They wouldn’t do that.” A sliver of doubt stabbed into the certainty she felt. Would they? No, she was almost positive of it, at least not without telling her. They would have wanted her to know, would have used it as a way to heighten her arousal.
    “Wouldn’t they?” Thomas pushed. “We haven’t had a minute’s trouble on this ranch in years. Diek and Gunner are here less than twenty-four hours, and already you’re being defiled and your brand-new horse is nearly killed. Tell me it ain’t connected somehow.”
    “Fine, it isn’t connected.” But he had her thinking. Could the incidents be linked in some way? Did it have something to do with the Rylon brothers?
    The sliver of doubt turned to a familiar dart of fear. She knew of only one way it could be connected, and it had every bit to do with the Service Club.
     
    * * * *
     
    “This is some room you’ve got here.” Justin Bryan tipped back his cowboy hat as he studied Lucky’s living quarters. “I bet Mustang loves it.”
    “She will,” Lucky predicted. He propped his elbows on the rail and looked down into the barn. From where he stood, he could see the colt—steadier now after his episode that morning—feeding from Raven. He could see the door leading outside, too, and silently beckoned it to open, for Mustang to come inside even though he didn’t want her present for the conversation they were about to have. “As soon as I get her in here. So far I haven’t managed to get her to look up when she’s in this barn, let alone climb the stairs. She acts like this room is a quarantine cave or something.”
    Gunner barked a laugh. “That probably isn’t far from the truth.”
    Lucky turned and rested his back against the rail. He couldn’t disagree. He’d claimed the loft over the horse’s stables when he came to work at the Circle M and turned it into a studio apartment. He kept it simple, furnishing it only with a small