“Are you honestly asking me that question?”
“I honestly am. You went out to L.A. as a kid. And you screwed around. That’s it.”
“I screwed around?” Cole growled.
“Yes,” Easy said. He wasn’t shouting anymore, but his voice was still rough with anger. “You screwed around the way that kids do.”
“My dad—”
“And you’ve been hiding from it ever since.”
“I haven’t been hiding from shit! I came back home. It’s where I belong.”
“Is it?”
The quiet words froze Cole to the bone. “Excuse me?”
“How do you know you belong here when you’ve never done anything else?”
He didn’t like this at all. He didn’t like the sad look in Easy’s familiar eyes. “Why are you asking me this, Easy?”
“Because you came back here to lick your wounds. Then you just never left.”
“I didn’t leave because this is where I belong.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe, my ass. I’ve been saving up to buy this land for a dozen years. You need me to prove something now? Me?”
“Maybe I do. See, I was wondering how you’d react to our new friends out there in the yard. It’s been a long time, Cole. Too long for you to look so spooked.”
“I’m not spooked, damn it. I don’t like these people. There’s a difference.”
“Is that what it was on your face? Dislike? Looked more like panic.”
He didn’t think he’d felt panic before, but he was starting to feel it now. What the hell was Easy trying to pull? None of this made any sense. They’d talked about this years ago. Easy would run the ranch until he couldn’t, and then Cole would buy it from him at a fair price. Slightly below market, maybe, because Easy didn’t have any kids and Cole was like family. But a fair price for the small ranch.
So maybe Easy had changed his mind. Maybe he’d decided not to retire or sell his land. Or maybe he’d gotten a better offer. “You thinking about selling to someone else, Easy?” Cole asked quietly, hoping it would sound like mild curiosity. Instead, it came out sounding like fury, even to Cole’s ears.
“I haven’t thought about selling to anyone else since the moment you told me you’d buy it.”
“Until now?”
“This isn’t about someone else. I took the offer from the producer because the money’s good. I wasn’t thinking much about you until you showed up here yelling. Now, if you haven’t spent thirteen years hiding, show me that.”
“I’m telling you I haven’t.”
“Yeah. You’ve also got a whole heap of pride and arrogance and stubbornness pushing those words out. So show me.”
“How?” he snapped. “By playing lapdog to a bunch of Hollywood assholes?”
“Yep.”
“Fuck you, Easy!”
“Nah, that won’t help.” There wasn’t an ounce of tension in Easy’s voice now. In fact, he sounded genuinely amused with himself.
Cole’s shoulders fell. Hell, Easy was a misnomer. Oh, sure, he seemed laid-back and good-natured, but underneath that, the man was made of pure steel.