CHAPTER 24
Shep
I walked Mills to his truck, feeling genuinely sorry for the man after the brutal reality check he’d just gotten from Maxie. I knew he wasn’t a bad guy, just an oblivious one. Even when he pissed me off, I still knew he was a good man deep down and I hated the haunted look on his face as he relived his life with the new angle that his mother was a monster. There was nothing I could do for Maxie right then. I’d seen the mask settle over her face. I figured if I couldn’t do anything for her, I’d try to help Mills as much as I could.
His face still hadn’t gotten its color back, despite the sun beating down on us. He stopped next to his truck door and stared out at nothing, his eyes blank.
“Did you know?”
I sighed. “No. I mean, I had an idea of something but nothing like all that.”
“How? How did I not know? How did I not see her?” He turned around and slammed his fist into the side of the truck. “What the fuck is wrong with me?”
I gave him his privacy and kept my eyes towards the pasture where I could just barely see my family. I didn’t answer him. I couldn’t beat him while he was already so low but inside, I was furious at him. I wanted to demand to know what the fuck was wrong with him, too.
“Y’all planning on keeping her?” He finally turned to face me.
“And if we are?”
He shook his head.
“Who the fuck am I to judge? You’re doing a better job than me at taking care of her. Maybe it’s best if she stays far away from that ranch and the poison she suffered there.”
I didn’t know what else to say, I was so shocked by his willingness to accept our intentions towards Maxie. I watched him get in his truck and drive away without another word. My chest ached for him, no matter how angry I was. I couldn’t imagine the shit going through his brain. I was struggling enough as it was and Maxie hadn’t just eviscerated me like she had him.
I took my time walking back to where she was, confused about how to help the woman I truly believed belonged with us. I wanted to make it better for her but I didn’t know where to start, especially when it only took one look at her face to know she’d retreated somewhere deep, deep inside herself.
I couldn’t think of another time in my life when I’d felt more out of control. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like just sitting back and watching Maxie suffer. That wasn’t acceptable.
Bob hovered behind his human constantly, keeping his big body between Maxie and the rest of the world. He leaned down and nibbled at her every so often, reminding her that he was there. Not even Bob was able to pull her out of herself, though. I had the sinking feeling that if Bob couldn’t get to her, the rest of us didn’t have a chance in hell. Lucky for Maxie, though, I was a stubborn sonofabitch and I wasn’t going to give up on her.
We worked in silence while I thought about what to do. Eventually I gave up trying to come up with the perfect plan and just decided to go with what felt natural to me—being an idiot. Arlo looked at me as I approached Maxie and shook his head but it was too late. I was determined to get through to her.
Bob huffed at me when I got close but I just patted his side and stretched out of his way when he got bitey. I was just about to throw Maxie over my shoulder when a shout grabbed all of our attention.
Mills was back, his voice panicked as he shouted at us.
“Vera went into labor! She’s at the clinic!”
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Maxie after she’d announced she wanted nothing to do with her family for a while but I should’ve known she was too good and kind to not show up for her sister. Instead of letting us help her, though, of course she proved just how little she depended on anyone by grabbing Bob’s mane and jumping up on his back. With a subtle click of her tongue she set Bob off at a breakneck pace and I nearly shit myself when she leaned into his giant body and held on while he jumped the fence and kept going, faster than I would’ve been comfortable with, even if she wasn’t riding bareback.
“Jesus. Let’s go.” Rhett threw his tools down and took off towards the trucks. “She’s going to give me gray hair before I’m ready for it.”
Mills was already speeding away when we got to the driveway. Arlo jumped behind the wheel and we sped toward the clinic, chasing Mills and Maxie.
“Either of you have any ideas about what to do about Maxie?” Arlo slowed down to go through town and swore when a fucking cow crossed the street in front of us with a kid chasing it. “What the fuck?”
I leaned forward. “I don’t have a clue. About the cow or Maxie. I didn’t expect it to be so fucked up.”
When the cow and the kid finally got out of the way Arlo drove the rest of the way to the clinic in silence. We were all lost in the details of what Jenny Hellstone had done to her sweet, kind daughter. He parked next to all the other vehicles that I was betting belonged to the rest of the Hellstones and their partners, and we all froze as we watched the door to the clinic fly open. Maxie was a blur as she left the clinic and effortlessly climbed back on Bob. They were off again before any of us could react but we’d all seen the devastation on her face.
“What do we do?” I rubbed my chest as pain radiated through my body for Maxie.
“If she needs space, we give her space.” Rhett didn’t sound like he liked the plan anymore than I did. “It doesn’t feel fair to push her right now when she’s just bared her wounds in front of us. I’m going to run in and check on Vera and then we go home.”
Arlo slowly nodded his head. “We’ll be there for her, no matter what. Maybe in a few days she’ll be ready to lean on us a little more.”