Chapter 1 #2
The cowboy doesn’t let me go until the other truck has gone over the hill and disappeared, but then he immediately steps away, putting a much more appropriate distance between us.
All the possessive bravado melts away and he smiles gently, transforming his whole face from intimidating to…
well, devastating in a completely different way.
“Sorry about that,” he says. “I saw you standing there with him, and I couldn’t just keep driving by.”
“I—thank you.”
“Course.” He holds out a hand to shake mine. “Cash Rhodes.”
I glance down at his hand and then back up to his face.
I probably look like an idiot, standing there staring at him, but I’m not used to this.
To handsome Alphas introducing themselves with their movie star smiles.
I’m used to being invisible, to handling everything myself.
It’s been that way for months now, ever since I grabbed Cora and ran.
Cash’s intervention leaves me feeling grateful, but also wary. Because Alphas who help Omega strangers always want something in return.
Cash walks over to the hood of the car, fanning away some of the lingering steam with his hat. “Looks like you are actually in a spot here,” he says. “Overheated?”
“I think so. The engine was making some troubling sounds too, but I was just hoping we could make it to a rest stop or something before it gave up on me.”
He smiles again. “Ain’t that always the way. You’re not far from Silver Falls now,” he says. “And there’s a mechanic in town. Should be able to get you back on the road again.”
It’s a blessing and a curse. Who knows what a small town mechanic might charge for whatever’s wrong with Lettie.
As if he can sense my hesitation, Cash steps over to me again. “Silver Falls takes care of its own. And anyone who happens to come wandering through. I’m guessing it wasn’t your final stop.”
I shake my head. “No. Probably would have stopped for gas and snacks and that’s about it.”
“That’s usually how it goes. How much of your trip do you have left?”
“Not much,” I say, not giving him more than that. He doesn’t need to know the details.
He looks at me for a second, and I worry that he’s going to start pressing for more answers. But instead he just smiles crookedly. “Well, the way I see it, you have a couple of options. You want to hear them?”
“Uh, sure?”
He smiles again. “I can give you a lift into town, and we can get a tow for your car. The mechanic will see to it, and you’ll hopefully be on the road again in a few hours. A little behind, but…” Cash shrugs. “Not the end of the world.”
That’s easy for him to say. Something like this—an unexpected expense that I have no idea how to ballpark—could ruin everything I’ve been trying to do.
“What’s the second option?” I ask him, keeping my voice steady as I can. He doesn’t need to see how shaky this whole thing has made me.
“You can call for a tow and wait here on your own if that would make you more comfortable. Maybe you have one of those fancy roadside assistance things that can come help you out.”
Cash doesn’t say it like he knows I don’t, but I think we both know that isn’t really an option. Still, it’s… nice. For him to throw that out there. Proof that he would leave me alone if I wanted him to.
And if I didn’t have Cora, if she wasn’t depending on me to make sure she got food and a place to sleep tonight that’s better than the back seat of Lettie, I would have taken the second option in a heartbeat.
But having her makes things more complicated and more dangerous.
I take a breath and nod. “Okay. I guess… option one, then.”
Cash nods too, putting his hat back on and tipping it toward me. “Then let’s get you out of here.”
“Wait,” I tell him. I go to the back seat of the car and open it up, leaning in to make eye contact with Cora.
She doesn’t seem bothered by the delay, but she doesn’t seem bothered by much these days.
She barely reacts to things, and I know that’s because the pain she’s been through is worse than anything else going on right now.
“Hey, baby,” I say to her in a soft voice. “So we’re going to get out of here. A nice man has offered us a ride into town, okay? Is that okay?”
She stares back at me and then nods minutely, clutching her elephant closer.
“We’re just going to go into Silver Falls, and then we’ll figure out what’s wrong with Lettie and get ourselves back on the road.”
She nods again, and I smile and help her out of the car.
Cash is watching curiously, as her little feet in their little shoes hit the pavement, and Cora looks up at him and clings to my hand.
He glances at me, and if he’s surprised to see me with a kid, he doesn’t say anything about it. Instead he just turns on that bright smile again and crouches down to be closer to Cora’s eye level.
“Well, good afternoon, little miss,” he says, all cowboy charm. “I didn’t see you back there.”
Cora just clings to me harder, leaning into my legs and putting more distance between the two of them.
But Cash doesn’t seem offended. He laughs softly, tipping his hat to Cora as well. “You know what, that’s fair. I’m a stranger. But hopefully a nice one who’s gonna help get you and your—” He glances up at me, like he wants me to fill in the blank.
“Aunt,” I say.
Cash nods. “I’m gonna help get you and your aunt back on the road.” He stands back up and starts walking to his truck. “Make sure you grab everything,” he says. “Not a lot of people come this way, but that means no one’s really looking when people do.”
I get his point, and I grab my purse and everything out of the car, making sure there’s nothing left behind anyone could snatch.
Then I take Cora’s hand, and we follow Cash to his truck.
He opens the back seat of the cab, and I lift Cora up into it, murmuring soothing things to her as I get her buckled in.
Cash waits off to the side, his eyes averted politely as he waits for me to get settled in the passenger seat. He closes the door with a snap and then comes around to get behind the wheel.
My heart is hammering away in my chest as he starts the truck up and pulls us back onto the road. “This your first time in these parts?” he asks, glancing over at me briefly.
I nod. “Yeah. I didn’t even know this town existed.”
He laughs at that. “Most people don’t. Unless you’re a local or you know a local, it’s just a blip on the map on your way to somewhere else. I’m sure you were heading somewhere more exciting.”
“Sounds like I’d have to be,” I say back, giving nothing away.
And he doesn’t push, thank fuck. He just taps his fingers on the steering wheel to the music playing lowly from his radio.
Every so often he glances in the rearview mirror, like he’s checking on Cora, and I don’t know how to feel about that.
“How you doing back there, little miss?” he asks.
Cora doesn’t respond. He keeps her eyes on the back of his seat, and it’s almost like she didn’t hear him.
“Fair enough,” he says, laughing a little.
We turn onto a road that’s more dirt and gravel than anything else, and I look around at the wide open pastures on either side of it. There’s fences separating it from the road, and green, green grass spreading out as far as I can see.
In the distance I can see animals, horses or cows, and as we crest a hill, there’s a little pocket of horses all together under a tree.
“Look at that,” he says, still talking to Cora. “Those are Mr. Compton’s horses. Do you like horses?”
Cora just holds on to the elephant, but she does turn her head a little to look. That’s—something.
Something in my chest aches at the sight of this powerful and handsome Alpha being tender with my mute niece, and I have to look out the window to get myself together.
Cora hasn’t spoken, not a single word, since the night I pulled her away from the hospital after her mother died.
She’s been silent, and I’ve finally learned to interpret her facial expressions and hand gestures to give her what she wants and needs, but seeing strangers try to connect with her always makes my chest tight.
What do they think when they see us together? It’s clear we’re not mother and daughter, and sometimes I wonder if they’re judging me for the fact that Cora is so quiet.
Cash doesn’t give any indication that he is, at least. He points out cows and a wide, rippling pond in the distance, chattering to Cora like he would anyone else.
His scent fills the cab of the truck the longer we’re in it, and it’s unignorable. Sweet apple, something warm and spicy like brandy, and the sweet, earthy smell of fresh hay. It’s fitting for who he seems to be, and I find myself breathing it in deeper, despite my better judgement.
Something about it calms me down, even as it sets me on edge.
Cash is attractive, I’ll give him that.
He’s the kind of ruggedly handsome that probably has Omegas lining up for a chance to be with him. He has that small town charm to go with it, easy with his smiles and his slow drawl accent.
But I’ve learned the hard way that attractive Alphas are usually the most dangerous ones. They’re used to getting what they want, used to not being told no.
A few minutes later, we pass a weather worn sign that welcomes us to Silver Falls in peeling letters. I sit up, looking around at this little town that has managed to produce someone like Cash.
It’s quaint. We rumble down the road, passing a general store and a gas station that seems like it might be attached.
There’s a feed store, with a cluster of men dressed like Cash in dark jeans and t-shirts standing outside.
Someone comes out and starts loading heavy bags of something into the open bed of a truck, and Cash lifts his hand to wave as we pass.
We drive through what looks like the town square, and there are people walking down the street, carrying shopping bags and chatting to each other. A big gazebo stands in the center of it all, clearly a meeting place of some kind.