Forever For Us

• Jump to Ordering Options
• Content Warning
• Listen to an Audio Excerpt

“Wyatt! Wyatt, wake up, brother. Wake up.”

I blinked open my eyes, the world coming into sharp focus for a second before blurring back out. My head ached, my eyes shutting once again.

What the hell happened?

“That was my question to you,” Brooks said.

I hadn’t realized I spoke aloud until I heard my brother’s reply and the worry laced through his tone.

“Yes, you’re still speaking aloud. And not slurring, so I guess you don’t have a concussion. Or maybe you do, and since I’m not a doctor I should stop trying to diagnose you. Can you open your eyes for me? Come on, come on, I’m going to get someone to call an ambulance.”

I shook my head, not wanting to deal with an ambulance, and immediately groaned, clutching my temples. “Okay, note to self, don’t shake your head.”

Brooks mumbled something under his breath that I couldn’t hear over the scrabbling of somebody else entering the bar.

That’s right. I was in my bar. The one that I owned with my family. I slowly sat up, my eyes opening again to see my older brother Brooks kneeling in front of me, holding out his hands.

“Okay, take it easy. You want to tell us what happened?”

I winced as I put my hand on my ribs and cursed. “I don’t know. Someone came at me from behind. Hit me in the head. But I think I blocked it partially?” I asked, and then looked down at the newly forming bruise on my forearm. “I don’t think it’s broken, but fuck that’s going to hurt if it’s already bruising.”

“And you touched your ribs too. He got you there?”

“I think a kick?” I asked.

“Are you asking us, or do you know?” my other brother, Ridge, said, as he frowned, phone in hand. “I called 911. They’re sending an ambulance and the police, because somebody fucking attacked you. On our property.”

I sighed at Ridge’s words, but knew he was right. He and Trace were in charge of security on the Wilder property. Our family owned and operated it, but we all took our jobs seriously. Ridge had to protect the entire property, all the guests on the resort, winery, and distillery, and keep us organized.

He was going to blame himself for this, just like I blamed myself. Of course, before I could do that, I had to get my head back to its original size and stop seeing double.

“Whatever happened is not your fault,” I offered, and Ridge narrowed his gaze.

“It’s cute you think I’m going to let you say something like that. Did they take anything?” Ridge asked, and my eyes widened before I tried to scramble up and look around.

Sharp pains shot through my side and my breath came in pants. “Fuck.”

“Don’t hurt yourself.”

“You say that as if I have a choice,” I mumbled, annoyed, then realized what was missing from beside me. “Hell. I think they took the money bag.”

“Fuck,” Brooks whispered, as he forced me to keep sitting.

“You had the money bag out?” Ridge asked, glaring at me.

I held up one hand, the other still on my ribs. Maybe if I put enough pressure on them, they wouldn’t hurt so much. As another sharp pain sliced through me, I realized that wasn’t the case. I didn’t think anything was broken, because I’d had broken a rib before, and this didn’t feel quite as bad. It still hurt like a bitch.

“Most of it is in the safe; I had one out to put in the other safe. I was closing up. The door was locked.” I frowned. “At least I think it was locked.”

This time Ridge’s neck went red in anger. “What the hell, man?”

“Isabelle and Aaron showed up. They needed to talk.” I grimaced. “And she wanted to hand over the divorce papers. I’m pretty sure I locked it after they left.”

Brooks gave me a look, and I knew we would be talking about the divorce papers later, and Ridge went over to the door.

“I didn’t notice when we first came in, because we saw you on the ground when we looked through the window, but it looks like somebody jimmied the door, so it was locked and they got in without breaking the door. That’s something we’re going to fucking fix later.”

Ridge pulled out his phone again and I knew he was calling Trace, or maybe Aurora, his fiancée.

I was tired, achy, and still so damn confused about what happened.

“Did they take anything else?” I asked, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“It looks like they just beat the shit out of you and took that bag. But we’ll do a full review to be sure. Hell, brother, you look like shit.”

I squinted up at him. “I really hate you right now.”

“You do. But I hear the sirens, so someone will be able to take care of you who’s not me. We both know I’m not good at that.”

The police and paramedics showed up moments later, and while I didn’t need to ride in the back of an ambulance, I did go to a hospital to get checked out.

I was tired, sore, needed three stitches on the back of my head, and got lots and lots of ice.

“No broken ribs, no concussion, you’re just going to be sore for a little while,” my doctor said.

“Thanks, Doc. Really wasn’t how I wanted to spend my evening. I’m sure you didn’t want to do this either.”

My doctor shrugged and smiled. “This is my job. I don’t mind it. I do mind people being hurt, but that’s why I’m here. Now, there’re a couple cops outside this door who want to talk to you. You up for that?” he asked.

I leaned back against the pillows and sighed.

“Don’t really have a choice. But I want to find out who did this. And who robbed my place.”

“The things people will do for money.”

“If it was somebody who was broke and hurt and needed something? That’s one thing. But they didn’t need to knock me out to do it, you know?” I said.

“I see a lot of people come in here who need help, and I get that. Let’s just hope it’s some person who has everything and wants something more, and not someone who truly needs help.”

I shook my head, holding back a laugh because everything hurt. “That’s one way to think about it.”

“I try. You also have a few guys who look just like you out there, want me to send them in?”

“Send as many as the nurses will allow because I know you have limits on these rooms.”

The doctor gave me a two-fingered salute as the nurses laughed beside us and soon Ridge and my cousin Eli were in the room with us, followed by two cops.

“Am I going to need a lawyer?” I asked, and one of the cops raised a brow.

“Not unless you have something to hide.”

“I can get LJ out here in a minute,” Eli said, looking me over. “You look like hell.”

“That is a common consensus. Makes me feel all warm and cuddly inside.”

“We just want to know what happened so we can get the person that did it. You’re not in trouble here,” Cop Number Two said, but Cop Number One kept scowling. Did he think I did this to myself? I wasn’t going to ask and antagonize him though. I just tried not to look like I was in pain.

I wasn’t in much pain right now because of the good drugs I got earlier.

“So, tell us what happened.”

“I was closing up shop and I heard someone behind me. I thought I was alone, and had locked the door, and the bat or whatever to the head hurt like hell.”

“Got hit with a bat?” Ridge asked.

“I don’t know what it was. I don’t think it was an actual bat. Something cylindrical, didn’t break my arm thankfully. And they didn’t seem to use all their strength in the hit, or I might be dead right now.”

Eli cursed as I did my best to make light of the situation. Mostly because that had been scary as fuck.

“So, walk me through your night,” Cop Two ordered, as Cop One continued to glower.

“We had a good night, made good money, sold a lot of beer and vodka. I was closing up, because I live on property so it just makes sense for me to do so my team can get home at a reasonable hour. I don’t know who did it. Maybe it was just somebody who needed the money. I just wish they wouldn’t have hurt me in the process.”

“So you were alone. No one else came after your last customer? What time was that?”

“My ex-wife Isabelle and Aaron, her fiancé, showed up after the last customer.”

Eli gave me a sharp look while Ridge sighed. Great, I was going to have so many amazing conversations later.

“What time was that?”

“About ten minutes after closing? I don’t know. I didn’t look at the exact time, but it couldn’t have been long after because I was still there.”

“And what did they have to talk about? Do you talk with your ex-wife often?”

I snorted, but then winced at the fiery pain in my side. “No. Sorry, laughing hurts. I was waiting for her to sign the divorce papers. She was dropping them off.” I frowned. “They should still be somewhere in the bar. She said she forwarded it to the lawyers, and I don’t really want to go through that again.”

“We’ll handle it,” Ridge said, and I had a feeling he was going to handle it thoroughly.

“And what time did they leave?”

“About ten minutes after that. And I did lock the door behind them. I’m not imagining that.”

“It looked like the lock was jimmied. So, you’re saying that your ex-wife and her current fiancé stopped over out of the blue. Does that happen often?” Cop One asked.

“No. I just said it didn’t. That’s the first time they’d been into my bar, and I don’t plan on ever seeing them again. It’s over.”

“So you guys didn’t divorce amicably?”

I laughed then, letting the pain blaze through me. “No, we didn’t. But neither of them were ever violent. I caught them cheating, and I broke it off. Now we’re finally divorced, and I don’t have that weighing over me. They didn’t do this.”

“We’re going to want their information.”

That was going to be annoying as hell, but I pulled out my phone.

“This is what I have. I don’t know whose house they’re living at.” Wasn’t that just a kick in the balls. But I wasn’t hurting from the divorce or even the cheating as much as I probably should have been.

“I don’t think it was them. Maybe it was someone who just needed a hand up.”

“Are you aware that there’ve been a few other break-ins in the vicinity?”

I blinked as Eli stood at attention.

“No, that would’ve been nice to know due to our properties being connected,” my cousin said.

He was the CEO of the Wilder Retreat and Winery. We were a huge company, with a spa, two restaurants, a full winery, an inn, and a wedding venue. Between my six cousins and two of my three brothers, we ran the place like a well-oiled machine. And we were known in the community. It was odd that Eli hadn’t known about the other break-ins.

“We were going to call your head of security, Trace Pritchett?”

“I’m Ridge Wilder, I’m co-head of security now. So we can talk about it.”

“We can do that. Have you seen a Mr. Zach Green recently?” Cop One asked, his voice gravelly.

I frowned and looked over at Eli, who let out a long sigh.

“I heard he lost his farm. But I haven’t seen him.” Eli looked over at me. “He lost his farm to his brother. It’s a whole thing.”

“And what does that have to do with me getting the shit kicked out of me?” I asked, honestly confused.

“We’re just looking into all possibilities.”

Well, that was vague. But I had a feeling they weren’t going to tell me anything else, and I wanted to get out of here. I answered a few more questions and they left, leaving me with more questions than answers.

“Okay, I’m going to get you back home and into your bed. And then we’ll figure out more security for the distillery and bar,” Ridge said.

“We need the open access on the west side,” Eli said, before I could. “It leaves a vulnerable position for the rest of the property.”

“We’ll think of something.”

“I hate being the problem child,” I grumbled, the pain coming back now that I wasn’t distracted answering questions about the attack.

“You’re not the problem child, you have a business that does good things for the family. We’ll figure out a way to make it work,” Eli offered. My cousin reached out and squeezed my shoulder, thankfully not the hurt one, before heading out.

“You can’t work tomorrow, and now that Giselle is gone, what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to be fine,” I grumbled. “And Giselle’s been gone for a week. She was a shitty assistant manager anyway.”

“Well, if you are down for the count, you want one of us to step in? Gabriel should be back soon,” he said, speaking of our youngest brother.

“Gabriel’s out on tour being the rockstar he is. I’m not going to have him behind the bar again. Last time girls started screaming and wanting to know more about him than the actual drinks.”

Ridge snorted. “Yeah, I guess he’s losing his anonymity.”

“I’ll be fine. I can work tomorrow.”

“You can’t, but you’ve got family to rely on.”

That was the reason I had moved here to start over. But I didn’t like the idea that I had to lean on them. I didn’t want to be the part of the family that fucked up. I didn’t want to be the one that screwed over the Wilder legacy.

I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I didn’t think they were going to let me go back to work tomorrow, and Giselle, my former bartender and assistant manager, had left. She not only left us in a lurch, but she also hadn’t been good at her job to begin with. I needed to hire someone. Someone who could handle the job and didn’t bring drama.

But before I could find someone to replace her, I needed to get back to work.

As I got into Ridge’s car and we made our way back to the property, I figured that at least one thing good happened tonight.

I was free.

No longer strapped to a problem that wouldn’t go away.

I was free, and I was never going to be chained down again.

So why did that make me feel depressed as hell?