28. Holden
My body is vibrating with rage and horror. Rosie is cradled against me on the front of the ATV as I blaze over the heavily wooded trail.
Her arm is trickling blood and littered with splinters from when the door came down. The rest of her is covered in bruises, and dried blood is crusted on her shirt.
I should’ve made him suffer. A shot to the head was too merciful.
I slow the vehicle, pulling my phone from my back pocket. I hit Cash’s name.
“What happened?” He knows something’s wrong as soon as he answers.
“Don’t let anyone on our land. I need you to get to the dirt road near the old hunting cabin. We have a body to get rid of.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. Rosie is with me. Who’s at the house?”
“Sheriff just pulled in. He’s talking to June.”
I close my eyes, trying to think through the adrenaline rush and general outrage flooding my nervous system.
“Someone kidnapped her, and from the looks of it, they’re pinning it on us. Jed was holding her in the cabin.”
“Motherfucker. We should’ve killed him.”
“Well, it’s done now.”
Jed was one of the ranch hands from years ago. He worked for us for about six months before we caught him needlessly torturing the animals. We reported it to the authorities and fired him. Occasional instances of vandalism on the ranch always seemed suspicious, but other than upping our security, we had no recourse.
I guess he was still pissed about losing his job five years ago.
“Who was he working with?” Cash asks. “Sheriff is walking toward the house. Warner isn’t here yet.”
“That’s what we need to find out. They’ll ask to search the ranch. You have to refuse until we can get rid of the body.”
“It was self-defense, right?” Cash asks.
I close my eyes, pulling Rosie closer to my chest as she whimpers in pain. “Killing Cain was self-defense too. They won’t let me out this time.”
Cash exhales. I look out around us at the cedar trees and overgrown brush. It’s midday, but the air is chilly. Rosie is wearing the same outfit she had on when she left on Tuesday. She looks thin and sickly, like she hasn’t eaten in days.
When I find out who did this to her, they’re going to experience everything she did and more.
The hunting cabin hasn’t been used in years because we sleep at the main house when we hunt. We stopped leasing the ranch to outside hunters years ago. It was basically abandoned. Jed would’ve known about it, but he wouldn’t have been behind this entire scheme. He wasn’t smart enough.
“She needs medical attention and a place to sleep, and that place obviously can’t be anywhere around here. I need someone to meet me with my truck.”
“Duke just got back. I’ll send him to the northeast corner near the old windmill with a first aid kit. How long will it take you to get over there?”
I grit my teeth. “At least an hour. She needs food and water too. Tell Dolly to pack her some clothes for a few days in an overnight bag. I need some cash from the safe.”
“We’ll pack the shit you need, brother. Get her out of here. Sterling and I will get rid of the body, and Warner will deal with the sheriff.”
“No texts, no calls. I’ll get a burner and call you when I can.” I hang up the line, readjusting Rosie’s head on my chest. “We got a long ride, angel. Are you gonna hold on tight to me?”
My arm goes up under hers and pulls her body tighter to me. She winces, sucking in a breath.
“My ribs … I think they’re cracked.” Her fingers grip my biceps. She squeezes her eyes shut.
Are you fucking kidding me? What the fuck did he do to her?
“I’m going to get you somewhere safe, okay? You’re with me now. No one is going to hurt you again.”
Her eyes drift open for a split second as she nods before shutting them again.
“I knew you’d come for me,” she murmurs.
My chest is tight as I press the gas. Steering with one arm and holding her up with the other, I begin driving through the brush as fast as the ATV will go.
Duke is speedingdown the highway, assaulting me with questions from the front seat about what happened.
“Slow the fuck down. The last thing we need is to get pulled over,” I snap.
The tweezers are vibrating in my hand. I’m trying to remove all the wood splinters from Rosie’s arm without hurting her. Everywhere I look, she has bruises in various stages of healing. I have to use self-control not to go back and slowly peel the skin off of Jed’s dead body in an effort to reach retribution.
“Where are we going?” Duke asks, glancing in the rearview mirror.
“Fe Leon. You don’t have your phone, do you?”
He hands it back to me. I roll the window down and toss it out.
“Stop at the next gas station and get us a couple of burners.”
He nods, concern filling his eyes as he looks at Rosie. “Who would do this to her?”
She opens her eyes, meeting my gaze. “They were waiting for me in my apartment. They wore ski masks.”
I get the last of the splinters out, scrunching up the napkin and tucking it into the door.
“Do you have any food?” she asks.
“Where’s the food you packed?” I ask Duke.
He hands back a lunch box. I unzip it and offer her the contents. She points to the bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich Dolly must’ve packed from this morning’s breakfast. I unwrap it for her. She takes it with trembling fingers.
“When was the last time you ate?” I ask, fearing the answer as I move my hand to gently cup the back of her thigh. I can’t stop touching her, but I’m afraid I’ll hurt her.
She shrugs. “I got a sandwich yesterday, I think. Maybe that was the day before. I can’t remember.”
I’m overcome with a new wave of rage.
I try to keep my voice steady. “They’re all going to die soon.”
She takes a bite, chewing slowly. “Who would’ve thought you’d end up killing for me?”
I’d do more than kill for you.
“What else hurts right now? Do you need a doctor?”
She shakes her head. “My ribs hurt, but they can’t do anything about that. They have to heal on their own. I just need to eat … and shower.” She looks embarrassed, pulling back from me. “I know I smell bad. How long has it been?”
“Six days.” I don’t even need to count. Each one has been agonizing.
Her eyes grow wide. “Six days?”
“Someone texted Dolly from your phone. They told her you were with your family, looking for your mom. When you didn’t show up for work this morning, your aunt came looking for you. That’s when we knew you weren’t with her and your father.”
She blinks with uncertainty before taking another bite of the sandwich. I reach up to brush a piece of tangled red hair out of her eyes. Again, she pulls away from me.
“I’m a mess.”
“You’re perfection.” I grip the bottom of her chin, my eyes focused on her lips.
I should’ve kissed her by now.
She licks her chapped lips, biting the bottom one. “Have you been sleeping enough?” she whispers.
I narrow my eyes. “You just got kidnapped, tortured, and starved while being held captive for six days, and you’re asking me if I got any sleep?”
The first hint of a smile ghosts across her lips.
She leans her head back against the leather seat. “I kinda like that you can’t sleep without me. Did you?”
The energy between us is charged and vibrating with need, fear, and desire. Our mutual hunger for each other is crashing down in waves, rendering me incapable of resisting my unquenchable thirst for her.
If she wasn’t injured, I’d be kissing her neck.
I shake my head. “Not without some heavy sleep aids. After the third day, I started seeing things. Dolly had some leftover sleeping pills from when I was locked up, so I took those last night. I got four hours.”
“So, you still can’t sleep without me.”
My fingers brush against the tender skin between her jawline and neck. “I still can’t sleep without you,” I say softly.
She licks her lips again, like she’s holding back a satisfied smile. “Good.”
She shifts her body so that her head is lying on my shoulder. I take the other half of the sandwich from her, hoping she finishes it when she wakes up.
I look up to see Duke’s eyes watching us from the rearview mirror. He looks away, gripping the steering wheel as he drives us toward New Mexico.
Trust me, I’m not happy about needing her so much either, brother.
We make it to Fe Leon in five hours. Duke stops at the first motel off the highway. It has an extra parking lot in the back, where mostly eighteen-wheelers are parked. He finds a spot hidden between two of them before going to get us a room.
“Just one. We’re not leaving her alone,” I tell him.
He nods, dipping his cowboy hat as he steps out of the dual-wheeled ranch truck. Rosie is still fast asleep on my shoulder when he returns. I don’t want to draw any suspicion by carrying an unconscious woman into a highway motel.
“Hey.” I squeeze her hand.
She blinks at me, sitting up quickly. “Where are we?”
“Outside Fe Leon. We’re going inside, and you can go back to sleep.”
Duke grabs the bag Dolly packed for her, along with one he must have gotten for us, while I guide Rosie out of the truck. I grab a spare jacket from the front seat, wrapping it around her shoulders. Even if she walks in, she looks like an injured, recently starved, and kidnapped woman.
We walk by a truck driver who doesn’t pay us any mind. Duke takes us to the room, which faces the parking lot instead of the highway, using the key card to open it up.
There are two queen-size beds with cheap comforters, thin brown carpet, and Spanish-style prints of clay vases and empty deserts with cactus plants. It’s clean enough with one door leading to a small bathroom. The blackout curtains and double locks on the door are the main things I’m relieved to see.
Rosie walks straight toward the bathroom, shutting the coral door behind her. All the walls and trim are the same shade of muted orange-pink.
“How many guns are in the truck?” I ask.
Duke rubs a hand over his face. “Uh, I think six. Two handguns and four rifles. What are they doing about the sheriff?”
I reach for my cowboy hat before remembering that I set it down outside of the cabin before kicking down the door. I rub the back of my neck.
“Warner is handling it. We’ll call them tomorrow, check in on things.”
The shower starts running inside the bathroom. I grab the purple bag Dolly packed and knock on the door.
“We got you some clothes.”
“It’s open,” she says.
I twist the knob, opening the door just enough to push the bag inside for her. I catch a glance of her bare back in the mirror, seeing that she has a green-and-yellow bruise on her side with a red gash right below it. Pain shoots through my chest, and I ache, seeing her this way. I need to hit someone, but he’s already dead.
But whoever was truly behind it is still at large.
“I’m right out here if you need me.” I close the door, turning back around as my chest constricts and my fists clench.
Duke is sitting on the bed, flipping through the channels on the TV. “I know it’s not the time, but I just gotta say that this is fucking weird with you and her. I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t wanna know when it happened and get into another fistfight when we’re running from the law and she’s already beat up, but, fuck, Holden …”
He shakes his head, eyebrows pinched together as he stabs the buttons on the remote.
“Then, let’s not talk about it. Let me see the keys. I’m gonna go get us some real food.”
He jumps up off the bed. “I got it. I’m getting beer too.”
“Find me a cowboy hat, would you?”
“I’ll think about it,” he grumbles.