44
T he pain radiated from the lump she’d felt his firm fingers feeling at the back of her head, but it was better now than before. Still, she hated laying here like an invalid staring up at the sky.
“Can I sit up?” She squinted as much from the bright light as from the pain.
“Slowly. Make sure you’re not dizzy or nauseated,” the man she thought was named Sterling or Silver, something metallic, no, those weren’t right, but it hurt too much to think about it right now, said.
A hand cradled her neck and helped her sit up, she sat for a moment, blinking. It was easier to open her eyes without the sun shining down into them.
“How are you feeling?” Aaron asked. It was his hand on her neck, and still holding one of hers.
“My head hurts, but I don’t feel sick.”
“Good, sit like that for a minute and give yourself a minute. If you’re still good then, we’ll let you move a little more,” the metal man said.
She looked around, wondering where they were and how long she’d been out. It didn’t take her long to realize they were still on the ranch, if only barely.
“What are they going to do to them?” She nodded to where several men had the guys who had stopped her on the road out of the truck and stood in a semi-circle trapping them against the truck.
“That depends. Tell me what you remember.”
“I was walking, like I told you, when I saw the truck coming up the road. I stopped and stepped out of the road, expecting them to pass by so I could continue. But they stopped. Said I made it too easy for them. I was backing away as they came closer when I slipped. Falling is the last thing I remember.” She blinked several times at Aaron, wondering how he’d known so quickly that something was wrong, but didn’t want to ask, not now.
After several breaths she braced her hands on both sides of her hips and used them as leverage to twist, swinging her legs off the tailgate.
“Hey, what’s up?” Aaron asked.
“I’m getting ready to move.”
“Steele said to take it slowly,” he said.
She looked up and saw the crease between his brows, his worry for her touched her heart. And Steele. That was metal man’s name.
She frowned and glanced around. “I am taking it slow. I’m just putting my feet down. Where has he gone?”
“He went to see if the others need any help.”
She glanced in that direction but turned back to Aaron after just a moment. She was curious but couldn’t gather enough will to care overmuch. Heather let her head hang as she took several deep breaths. She just wanted this over with. Wanted to get on with her life. What would it take to make this all stop? Did she need to go back to Alabama so people would stop following her, stop looking for her? The idea made her stomach churn. Leaving Aaron was the last thing she wanted to do, but she hated bringing trouble to his doorstep.
That thought alone told her she wasn’t thinking clearly. Now wasn’t the time to make any long-term decisions. Especially not anything rash like turning herself over to a motorcycle club that had driven her to flee more than a thousand miles to begin with.
“Can I get down yet?”
“How’s your head?”
“Painful but I’m not dizzy.”
“All right. Then let’s try it.” Aaron’s hands were gentle as he cupped either side of her waist and helped her slide off the tailgate. “Don’t try to go anywhere yet. Just stand still and get your bearings.”
Pain shot through her entire body as her feet hit the ground, but she bit back the groan that fought to escape. She could do this. It would pass, a deep breath helped, then another. After what seemed like only a few seconds, but was likely a minute or longer, she tilted her head back to look up at Aaron.
“Ready to move?” he asked.
“Yeah, where are we going?”
“We’re going to go around and get in the truck. You good with that?”
“Yeah.” All she wanted was to get back to the ranch, to her trailer, maybe even to her bed where she could stretch out, hopefully with him next to her and rest until her head quit hurting. Maybe take something and see if that would help.
She started slowly, then after the first steps didn’t make her head hurt any worse, she moved faster. It didn’t take long before she was sitting in the passenger seat, door closed and waiting for Aaron to go around to the other side.
“This isn’t your truck,” she said when he climbed up into the seat.
“No, it’s Iceman’s. He told me to take it while he got the others when we realized something was wrong.” He started the engine, then had to maneuver it back and forth a couple of times before they were turned around and headed back to the main ranch.
Something needed to be done to make this stop but she didn’t know what and she didn’t know how. She’d have to think more about it later, because her head hurt too much to think it through now.