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They looked like the gates to hell

Charlie pulled her car up in front of the tall, wrought iron gates and sat there with the engine idling She didn’t dare turn off the ancient Chevy for fear it wouldn’t start again

And she’d be stuck here Staring at the gates to hell

“You’re letting your iet the best of you, Charlie,” she et out of this car”

The pep talk did absolutely nothing to get herShe wished she could cuddle Inky, but she’d spotted a ca she needed was to be caught on ca a soft toy

Stop being such a baby You’re a grown adult, act like it for fuck’s sake

She cringed at thethose words at her, his face red with irritation, body tight with anger He was right The way he’d spoken to her rong, but she was naïve She did act like a child She shouldn’t and couldn’t expect anyone else to take care of her She only had herself to rely on And Inky, her toy octopus, but besides giving the best cuddles he wasn’t much help in the real world

There is only the real world That oing to feed her or put fuel in the car or a proper roof over her head

She had a chance at earning some money for a feeeks Even better, the job came with room and board She could be safe for a while, save herwhen she left

If she could just get through the gates

Ti a wimp She couldn’t unwind the carso she had to open the door and reach up to press the speaker button Now she just had to wait for the devil to answer

Clinton Jensen dismounted from his horse and one of his ranch hands led it away Without wasting any ti strides towards thehad been a pretty pitiful affair Since the ranch cook, Neil had taken a fall and broken his leg, his assistant had been doing h and he couldn’t keep up this workload So, to give hi Ellie was lovely Sweet Kind Generous

But she couldn’t cook for shit

The eggs had been rubbery, the toast burnt, and what he thought was supposed to be haiven the Not that they would Everyone loved Ellie, and no one wanted to hurt her feelings

Thankfully, he’d just gotten word that the cook the agency was sending had arrived If the men had to suffer too many of Ellie’s meals, then he and his brother would likely have a mutiny on their hands

Unfortunately, they had no one else to take over Neil and his ere staying with their daughter in the city so he could be close to the hospital for appointments None of the men could really cook, neither could his sister, Eden Graciela had offered but she only knew one way to cook With a very liberal dose of chili

“Boss man!” Zeke strode towards hi unusual, Clint wasn’t sure he’d ever seen the other man smile

“Hey, Zeke, you let the cook through?” he asked

Technically, Zeke worked for his brother Kent ran Jensen Security International JSI’s headquarters were located up the hill, away fro from down here Which is how Kent liked it Paranoid bastard Which is also why Sanctuary Ranch had the best security of probably any ranch in the United States

“Yep, should be here any second”