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have happened to a fourteen-year-old boy in the prison system. Sweat broke out under his shirt and ran down his back. He’d been tried as a juvenile and spent the first four years of his sentence in a juvenile detention center where he’d finished his high school education and figured things weren’t so bad. Then he’d been transferred to a men’s prison and the shock had almost driven him over the edge. In many ways he’d been lucky there, too. He’d been paired with a hard-ass from Idaho called Lloyd Deter. The guy was an anti-government, racist, fascist bigot, but he hadn’t been interested in Cal sexually, even though he was fresh meat in a prison population that was only part-human. Lloyd also hadn’t wanted anyone defiling his roomie because the idiot seemed to think that being raped by another man would make someone gay, and gay was apparently contagious. Once the guy assured himself Cal was straight as a hard back chair, he’d protected Cal’s ass along with his own. So, yeah, Cal had been lucky. He’d just had to spend years listening to redneck bullshit. And maybe that was his real shame. Not being true to himself, to his beliefs. Not standing up for himself in a system where he was guaranteed to fail.
    He’d got through it. He wasn’t proud. Hell, he had nothing to be proud of.
    He heard hinges squeak as a door opened and closed. He looked up. A deputy pushed his stepbrother in front of him toward the holding cell.
    Shit . Was this Talbot’s twisted Christmas present to Terry?
    His stepbrother grinned. Terry had been eight when Cal had killed his daddy. Cal had just wanted the guy to stop hitting his mother. Sadly, Cal’s mom had died of a heroine overdose the first year he’d been locked up. Terry had gone to live with some aunt somewhere. Cal figured the kid had been better off.
    Terry and his friends had tried to beat him to death in the local roadhouse this past spring. Would have succeeded without Eliza and Nat rescuing his hide. The incident had underlined all the reasons he couldn’t afford to let anyone close. He should have left town then, but couldn’t bring himself to abandon a family who’d taken him in and loved him like one of their own. Not during their hour of need. When Eliza had been injured and Nat had spent most of his time at the hospital, Cal had picked up the slack. A few months ago, Nat had taken Eliza on a honeymoon to Australia, and Cal had run the ranch with Ryan. But now things had quieted down, they didn’t really need him anymore. It might be better all around, especially for Sarah, if he just left, went somewhere people didn’t know about his past, couldn’t use it to hurt his friends.
    The deputy shot him a steely-eyed stare over Terry’s shoulder and then undid the cuffs on his stepbrother’s wrists. Then he unlocked the cell door and held it wide.
    “I want my lawyer here ASAP,” Cal told the deputy. Before he’d been happy to wait out these assholes, but now he was done playing nice.
    “Sure thing, Mr. Landon. I’ll get right on that.” The deputy smirked.
    Terry grinned. He wore a tatty leather jacket and liked to think of himself as a biker, but Cal had met real bikers inside and they didn’t just ride hogs. They were tough as shit and crossing them was a guaranteed way to get yourself dead. Terry wore the jacket and thought that made him a bad-ass. The guy was a fricking idiot.
    The deputy left. Cal figured someone would be watching the video feed and eyed the camera and shook his head. “Been a long time, Terry.” He didn’t move from where he sat. The other guy walked along the bars until he stood opposite about three feet away.
    Terry was younger by six years, skinny and covered in tattoos. “You’ve been avoiding me, Cal.”
    Cal let a smile slip. Not well enough. “Reckon I have.”
    Terry took a step forward. “Time’s run out.” He swung, but Cal ducked.
    Cal came to his feet and dodged another fist. “I don’t want to fight you,