28
M iddle of July and half of Runaway Ranch is taking a day trip down to the river to float the rapids. Everyone but me. I’ve got plans with Reese. She just doesn’t know it yet.
Reese tried to kill herself.
It’s the phrase running through my head ever since I left her sleeping this morning. Just the reminder has white-hot rage sweeping my skin. Amping my pulse.
I grip the wrench in my hand and take my fury out on the Chevy’s carburetor, twisting the screws so tight I strip them.
She was a fucking kid. Her monster of a manager, someone who was supposed to protect her, strapped her to that fucking horse. Stole her innocence. Pushed her to that dark place and then took advantage of her in her most fragile state.
I want to fucking throttle every person that taught her she doesn’t deserve to be anyone’s first choice, that she doesn’t deserve to have freedom. Protection. Love.
It was abuse plain and simple.
Every molecule in my body aches to gut the bastard.
Now that I know her entire story, her past, her pain, there’s no chance in hell I’m letting that asshole get close to her again.
I’ll keep her safe, if it’s the last thing I fucking do.
My only consolation is that she’s almost out of her contract.
And then what? And then she’s gone?
It’s how it has to be.
Shaking the thought from my head, I blow out a breath. Toss the wrench in the toolbox.
An image of Reese’s distraught face, begging, asking, Am I broken, Ford? Am I a wreck? shreds my heart.
Absolutely the fuck not. Reese is strong.
Never broken.
She’s lived her entire life at eighty-five miles per hour. I want to show her that she can slow down. That she can put herself first. That she deserves love and peace and protection. Ever since she got here, that girl has been a scream in progress. I blame myself for taking this long to hear her.
She warned me about her past. Her dark hole. Last night, I saw fear in her face. She thought I’d leave once I saw every side of her, including the dark, but she doesn’t know that she’s my light.
I said she was mine. And I meant it. It wasn’t a slip of the tongue because of what she’s been through or a way to make her feel better. It’s the cold hard truth.
I don’t know what it means for us.
All I know is I’m fucking prepared to bulldoze every single wall she’s put up.
“You look like shit,” comes Wyatt’s amused voice.
I glance up, forcing my brain away from obsessing about Reese.
“Yeah, well, you ever have to track down a runaway country singer in the woods at midnight?”
Wyatt runs a hand down his scruffy jaw. “Heard about the dustup with you and Charlie.”
I slam the hood on the Chevy. “Me and Charlie will work it out.”
Wyatt grins. “Fists out in the cornfield?”
“Fuckin’ right.” Though I’m pissed at my brother, he’s the least of my worries. I clean my hands with a rag. “Let me ask you something. Fallon ever talk to you about what happened with Aiden King?”
“No.” His gaze shifts, past me to the ranch. “She can barely look at me.”
“She ever see a therapist or…”
“Like a shrink?” He makes a face. We’re cowboys. The only ones we tell our feelings to are the cows.
I hit him with the rag. “Yeah, like a shrink, asshole.”
“No, she’s too busy trying to kill herself on a bull these days.”
My mind returns to Fallon’s drunken outburst the other day. “She’s drinking too much. Acting up.”
He swallows. “I know,” he finally says.
“Might be a good idea,” I hedge. “I know it was for me.”
He shoots me a look infused with curiosity. “You saw someone?”
“Hell, yeah. Do you think I’m just naturally sane?”
He laughs. I settle onto a stool.
“After Savannah…” Wyatt’s face grows serious. “I didn’t come to the ranch to help Charlie, man.” I run a hand through my hair and squeeze the back of my neck. “I came to help myself. And I think that’s what Reese is trying to do.”
“Well, good luck wrangling Fallon.” Wyatt shrugs, but his eyes are worried. “She ain’t into all that mushy shit. She thinks if she sticks it out, she can get through anything.”
Dangerous thinking. For anyone.
A shuffling sound has both of us looking over.
Reese stands in the doorway of the garage with Mouse in her arms. The sight of her has warmth spreading across my chest.
“Hi,” she says, scanning us. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”
I slap Wyatt on the shoulder. “Get the fuck outta here.”
“See ya.” Wyatt flips me a wave and flashes Reese a smile as he strides past her for the double doors.
Reese stands there, seeming uncertain. Shy.
Not wanting her to feel awkward, I toss her a lazy grin and say, “Hey, Birdie Girl.”
She grins back and comes to me, releasing Mouse into my arms. Mouse butts her head against my chin. Her purr is like the low vibration of a jet engine.
I rough her fur. “What’s up, you little fur missile?”
“You know, a big strong cowboy with his very small affectionate cat is one of my favorite combos,” Reese says.
I laugh and kiss her, then kiss Mouse before letting her roam.
I slide off the stool, tugging Reese’s fingers from her side to hold on to them. Small, soft, and warm.
Her pretty face is bare of makeup, and wild waves of blonde hair hang down to her tiny waist. The bangles are back. She looks ethereal and fragile. So goddamn beautiful.
“Sleep okay?”
She nods. “About last night…” She worries her lip between her teeth, then says, “I don’t want anyone to know.”
“They won’t,” I promise her. It’s her story to tell when she’s ready.
Threading my fingers through hers, I bring her closer. “Listen,” I say thickly. “There’s one thing you have to do for me after last night—if you need to go to the water, you tell me.”
Every time she slipped out of my bed, she went to the lake. A midnight trek across the ranch that, even now, stops my heart.
Her gaze focuses on a spot over my shoulder. She hates the idea. Well, tough shit. She can run to that water all she wants, but not without me.
“I mean it, Reese.” I grip her chin and force her to look at me. “I wake and you’re gone—I will lose my mind. Don’t do that to me.”
“You can’t worry about me, Ford.” She scans my face, gives her head a slight shake. “I told you about my past, but you can’t use it against me.”
“I will never use it against you.” I drop a kiss to her lips. “I’ll take your worst day and give you my best. But I will always worry about you.”
As long as she’s in my life, I’ll worry about her.
A soft sheen fills her green eyes. She blinks quickly, then says, “We should get to work.”
I tuck a lock of golden hair behind her ear. “Nope. Not today.”
“What are we doing?”
“I’ll tell you on the way.”
I’m terrified she’ll hate the idea, but I have to try. She needs help. It’s not enough to talk to me, or be on the ranch.
“You know, I had a black hole, too.”
With a surprised expression, she says, “You did?”
My chin dips. “I did.”
Her inquisitive gaze scans mine. “Will you tell me why?”
“I will.” I hold her beautiful face in my hands. Peer into those grass-green eyes and wonder how I got so damn lucky. “Right now, though, we’re gonna make that head of yours a nice place to be, okay?”