Chapter 14
“You look awful,” Peter told me the next morning when I came tramping in the front door.
It was true. I’d caught sight of myself in the window’s reflection and even through the grime, I was able to see the dark circles under my eyes.
“Just didn’t sleep well,” I told him with a quick grin. “Someone here snores, so I went out to sleep in the hammock to try and cover the noise.”
Roderick let out his booming laugh. “The night is too quiet otherwise.”
Lochlan elbowed his way through the front door and put a couple bags of food on the table. “Who’s hungry?” he asked.
“I’m always hungry,” Peter informed him, coming over to help unpack. “I didn’t think the market opened so early in the morning.”
“It doesn’t. I’m just friends with a few farmers,” Lochlan said easily.
“But when the market does open today, Gil and I need to be there. Important purchases, you know?” He and Roderick exchanged smug smiles and I fought to feign indifference.
It might only be a few hours until I had enough information to plan to intercept the pixie blood.
“Ah yes,” Roderick said. “We can’t miss that drop. Now hurry up. Pan isn’t the only one who’s hungry. I could eat a horse.”
“Gil, come help me,” Lochlan said, waving me over while he unpacked the last few supplies. “Let’s get some water.” He picked up the bucket and turned expectantly at the door.
I followed, ignoring the persistent throbbing on my side.
The moment we were outside, Lochlan whispered, “How are you healing up?”
“Fine,” I said automatically.
“You weren’t in bed last night. I came back and you were gone.”
I shrugged, trying hard to ignore the fact that Lochlan must have been looking for me. He had noticed my absence. Had he been thinking about me? “I just needed some fresh air. I’m not built to be cooped up.”
“When did you get back? Peter said he saw you sleeping in his hammock outside this morning, but I checked last night and you weren’t there.”
“Like I said, I needed some fresh air. I got back late and didn’t want to wake anyone, so I slept in the hammock. Peter wasn’t using it.”
Lochlan hooked the bucket onto the end of the well’s rope and began lowering it down. “You really shouldn’t be pushing yourself. Your body needs more time to recover.” He shot me a look. “Recover in a bed for at least a few days, not in an old hammock covered in dirt and insects.”
“If I said I couldn’t do anything for a few days, how understanding would Roderick be?” I challenged. “I don’t imagine he’s the type to patiently wait while someone rests in bed.”
Lochlan’s mouth twitched. “No, he’s not that sort.”
“And if I say I’m ill and need to sleep all day and night, he’d kick me out.”
“He likely would.” Lochlan pulled on the rope to lift the bucket, now filled with water. “Do you have anywhere else to go? I don’t like the idea of a woman being vulner—”
I let out a choked gasp and flapped my hand at him to get him to keep his voice down. “Don’t shout about me being a you-know-what,” I ordered in a venomous hiss, jabbing him in the chest with my finger. “Just forget that I’m anything other than a young teenage boy.”
He gave me a baleful look. “I can’t do that.”
I skipped a breath. “You have to.”
“Maybe I don’t want to.” Lochlan leaned over to grab the bucket and rested it on the side of the well. There was a dark, intense look to his eyes that I didn’t know how to interpret. “So what should I call you? I’m guessing your name isn’t actually Gil.”
“Sure it is,” I told him.
Lochlan didn’t scoff, but he pulled an expression that clearly showed his disbelief. “Did you know that when people lie, their pupils dilate slightly? I can always tell.” He unhooked the bucket and rested it on the well wall. “Benefits of having medical training, you know.”
I reached for the bucket, but Lochlan pulled it away so quickly that some water slopped over the side. “I’m not going to force an injured wo—a young, injured boy to carry a bucket of water. It would be heavy for you.”
“I have a scratch; I’m not incapable. Why did you have me come with you if I’m not allowed to help?”
“So I could question you in private. I said I’d keep your secret and I will.” He gave me a crooked smile, and I couldn’t tell if it was meant to be comforting or something more akin to blackmail.
I was going to be torn apart inside because of how Lochlan was acting.
He’d left me at the hospital and didn’t seem concerned that Roderick might throw me out, but he was also keeping my secret and tended to me when I was hurt.
He was conniving and secretive, but also kind and protective.
Could I trust someone so duplicitous? I supposed if I was forced to trust one of the three men I was living with, I’d likely have Lochlan as my first choice.
If only being around him was easier. I constantly found myself fumbling for words and getting tongue-tied around him, and that never happened with anyone else.
Lochlan lifted the water bucket and carried it back to the cottage with me following alongside him.
Even if it was between him and someone like Brent or Ambrose, I’d still likely choose Lochlan as the one to trust. I understood the other bounty hunters since they were so similar to me, which was why I knew I could never trust them.
It was ridiculous, really. I hadn’t known Lochlan long at all. Peter had told me that Lochlan had been working with Roderick for years. That was evidence enough to show that Lochlan wasn’t trustworthy. No one would’ve stayed in a crime ring for that long otherwise.
“Finally,” Roderick huffed when we came back inside. “Since when does it take two people to fetch a pail of water?”
“Since Gil overturned the last one,” Lochlan answered. “He spilled the one yesterday, so I made him prove that he can do it correctly. And now he owes me by slicing peaches for wasting my time. Get on it, boy.” He set the water down and shoved some peaches my way.
Peter and Roderick went back to talking, and Lochlan put a pot on the stove.
“So when are you going to tell me your real name and age?” Lochlan breathed when he crossed to get some oats.
I froze and cast a terrified look at the others, who seemed deep in conversation, once again poring over a map on the other side of the cottage. Peter was tracing a route along the parchment and Roderick was nodding.
“I’m not telling,” I whispered back. “And keep your mouth shut.”
“What are you two whispering about over there?” Roderick called from across the room.
I jumped slightly, but Lochlan looked up, his face a perfect mask of casual amusement. “Gil met a lady friend and needed advice,” he said with an easy smile. “Unless either of you want to give tips. Peter? Any advice on picking up women?”
“Nope. Chasing women isn’t worth my time,” Peter said, stretching and linking his fingers behind his head.
“You’re missing out,” Roderick said gruffly. “Women provided excellent entertainment in my younger days.”
“Can you even remember that far back?” Peter said with a wicked grin. “I thought you were too old to remember what it was like to entertain beautiful women.”
“That’s some smart talk from a boy who barely has his whiskers,” Roderick shot back. “And you know I was married. How do you think Lochlan got here?”
“Gross,” Lochlan said, then made a gagging noise. “Don’t remind me.”
I looked back and forth between Roderick and Lochlan, confused.
“I don’t think anyone told Gil,” Peter said with a laugh. “Roderick is Lochlan’s father. Didn’t you know?”
My mouth fell open. Roderick and Peter both laughed, and for a moment, I thought they’d said it as a joke, but then I saw Lochlan’s rigid jaw and the sudden, emotionless expression on his face. It was true.
How had I not known? No wonder Lochlan had stayed with Roderick for years on end.
I couldn’t think of anything else all throughout breakfast and packing up the cart with the booth’s supplies. Peter and Roderick had begun making lists of possible buyers, but I didn’t bother to snoop. It would look too suspicious, and all I needed was one look later on.
“I’ll do the dishes,” Peter offered. “I know you two will be late otherwise. Go on.” He made a little shooing motion toward us. “Go sell a bunch of alpaca wool.”
“Hopefully the right buyer is around,” Lochlan said, and guided me out the door.
At first I walked alongside the cart, but once we were out of sight, Lochlan came to a halt.
“Get in,” he told me, nodding at the cart.
I crossed my arms. “No.”
“Get in,” he repeated.
“I can walk. I’m fine,” I told him stoutly.
“And I can pull you. It’ll be quicker this way. I’m just saving us time. You’re walking slowly right now.”
“Then I’ll walk faster. I’m not a skein of yarn to be toted around.”
“Gil…I’ll force you into this cart if I have to. I’m not going to be the man who forces an injured woman to walk when I have the ability to help her.”
“Shoals, Lochlan. Stop calling me that. I told you to forget that about me.”
“What will happen if I don’t?”
Fear squeezed my chest tight. I didn’t know if he was acting that way out of some sense of chivalry or because he felt like a protective big brother or—my brain jammed—if he was interested in me as a woman.
If I discovered his reasoning, I didn’t know what I would do with the information, so I lowered my voice and I spoke in as menacing a tone as I could manage.
“Then I’ll make you regret remembering.”
Far from looking frightened, Lochlan chuckled.
“If you’re trying to intimidate me, you’ll have to work a lot harder than that.
I have Roderick for a father, remember? But if you get into the cart, I won’t mention that you’re a woman for the rest of the walk.
” Lochlan jiggled the cart’s handles so the frame rattled slightly. “Otherwise I’ll talk of nothing else.”
“Fine!” I carefully climbed into the cart. “But only so you stop talking about it.”
“Excellent,” he said. Once I was situated, we started off again.