CHAPTER 13
When I woke up, the house was empty, with no sign of Knox, and when I looked out the window, all I saw was Chase working outside the lonely bull’s pen, wrapping a long, thick rope around his arm.
He really isn’t going to let me do anything.
Once dressed in shorts and another airy shirt, my hat and boots, I head out to Chase.
“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” He flirts shamelessly.
“Where is he?” I return in greeting.
“Would it hurt for a good morning?” His dark red brows lift.
“Well, is it?” I retort, which only appears to confuse him.
“Is it what?”
“A good morning.” My head cocks to the side as I watch him. He’s young, probably around my age, built almost as big as Knox is, but where Knox is hardened, a man made from stone, this one appears softer.
“Well,” He stutters, “I guess.”
“If you guess, then it isn’t a good morning.”
He opens and closes his mouth a few times before a ruddy color overcomes his cheeks and he looks down to the scuffed and worn toes of his boots.
“Where is he?” I repeat my initial question.
“Fixing the fence on the east side of the property with Sal.” He answers, “Told me to tell you there’s nothing for you to do today.”
“I call bullshit,” I grind out, “The stables.”
“Already done.” He cringes.
“What about feeding? Grooming?”
But I just get a shrug from him. “Maybe you should rest up a little,” He suggests, “With that leg and those hands…”
“If I wanted your advice, I’d have asked for it.” I snap at him.
“You’re mean,” He pouts, offended.
“Don’t get anywhere in life by being nice, Chase,” I pinch the bridge of my nose, the sun beating down on my shoulders. A sweat has already broken out down my spine and the nape of my neck, dampening the hair I’ve braided and tied using some twine I found in the kitchen drawer.
“Served me just fine,” He shrugs.
A long, echoing bellow sounds from the paddock, the sound vibrating in my chest. It twists something in my gut, his loneliness given voice.
Leaving Chase to whatever the fuck he was doing before, I head toward the fence, leaning my arms on it to watch him. He looks longingly toward his herd, a group of around fifty grazing too far away from him to reach.
I’m not sure how long I stand there for, watching him lament but it’s long enough that my legs begin to ache from being stood still for too long so I start to climb the fence, not to enter the paddock, I’m not stupid after all, but I can sit.
I keep my teeth gritted to stop the whimper that wants to escape with the smarting in my body and once I’m sat, using my hands to keep my balance on either side of me, I release my breath, allowing the pain to work its way through me until it dulls to a bearable throb.
It isn’t the first time I’ve had my ass handed to me.
I’ve had broken ribs and fingers and arms, been nicked with a knife but never shot.
The sparring and fight training my dad forced on me after the attack in the dining room left me bruised and weak, but it gave me strength.
He always told me to hide my pain; pain is a vulnerability your enemies will use against you.
If he saw me whimper or cry, even flinch, he’d order me back on the mats to train some more.
My blood stained the floor, but eventually I stopped crying.
Hearing the creaking of the fence, the bull turns his attention to me, slowly spinning away from the herd to face me head on.
He’s way on the other side, far enough away that if he did decide to charge me, I could get off and back behind the fence if needed.
But he doesn’t, he just stands and stares right at me.
“Just joining you in your loneliness, buddy,” I mumble, more to myself than to anything else. He snorts as if he heard me.
We really don’t give animals enough credit when it comes to their intelligence.
A loud whistle cuts through the peace, and I lift my head to see Knox trotting through an empty field ahead of me, a kid, no older than eighteen, trailing behind on his own horse. I see him waving his hand, but I can’t figure out what he’s trying to say until I hear someone come up behind me.
I glance over my shoulder to see Chase reaching for me.
“Touch a single part of me, freckles, and I’ll break every bone in your hand,” I warn him.
He draws his hands into himself. “Boss wants you down.”
“Boss can fuck off.” I give him a saccharine smile.
“Elena!” Knox yells from the other side of the paddock. “Get the fuck off the fence!”
I keep my ass planted.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed!?” He bellows.
Ahead of me, the bull ambles forward, gaining distance. It’s a leisurely pace, his gait swinging side to side, the horns atop his head moving from left to right with every step.
“He won’t hurt me,” I shrug nonchalantly, like I have any fucking clue what I am talking about.
“Sweetness, I hate to break it to you, but that bull is meaner than you.” Chase rubs the back of his neck. “Come on down before he gets any closer.”
“Get the fuck away from that bull, Elena.” Knox rounds the corner closest to me.
“He’s lonely,” I argue.
“He’s not fucking lonely, he’s horny and angry.” Knox retorts, coming to a stop behind me on his painted mare.
“Doesn’t seem angry to me.” I turn back to the bull in question, swallowing thickly when I see he’s already halfway toward me.
“He took out two men and gouged another male bull just three days ago, you want to play with him?” Knox challenges.
“You gonna let me do something?” I reply.
“Elena,” He bites, “Get down.”
“Make me.”
When he does no such thing, I turn back to the animal only for thick arms to band around my middle and I’m yanked with such strength, it knocks all the air from my lungs and has my ribs flaring in response.
Knox plants me firmly in front of him on his horse, caging me with his arms. The saddle bites into my ass, his thick, denim-clad thighs tightening to keep me in place.
“Knox!” I huff through gritted teeth.
“Can’t be trusted, then I’ll fucking babysit you,” He says close to my ear, setting the horse in motion again. I hear Chase’s laughter as we walk down a dirt path around the side of the stables, away from the bull, who has gone back to making that sad, deep noise. I feel so sorry for him.
“That bull is sad,” I grumble, my legs over one of his thighs, my back pressed into his arm and chest.
“His name is Ralph, and he isn’t sad.”
“And how would you know?”
“I’ve been around cattle my whole life, darlin’. He ain’t sad. He can go back to the herd once I move the other bulls up to the pasture in the mountains.”
I cross my arms, trying to adjust so the pommel of the saddle stops biting into my ass cheek.
The heat of him wraps around me, and with it already being so fucking hot out, it makes me sweat even more. Knox removes one of his arms, reaching behind him for something, knowing I’m not about to jump off this moving horse. He passes it to me, the steel of the bottle pressing into my leg.
“Drink.” He orders.
I don’t reach for it.
“Drink the fucking water.”
I snatch it from him and unscrew the cap, bringing the rim to my lips. The water inside is still icy cold, and while I don’t give him the satisfaction of admitting I was dehydrated, inside I release a sigh and swallow down the water.
“Where are we going?” I ask as I hand him back the water.
“Checking the borders,” He grumbles, “Making sure we don’t have any breaks in the fence.”
“Are you even comfortable?” I press, knowing he can’t be when I’m right up against him and it’s hotter than Satan’s asshole out here.
“I’m fine,” He grunts.
I roll my eyes. “Whatever you say, cowboy.”
The horse beneath us never falters as she walks the edge of the property and Knox scans the fencing. I look with him since there’s nothing else to do and I spot an obvious downed fence over in the far corner, beyond that, a thick wood that lets no sunlight in.
“Over there,” I say to Knox, pointing it out for him.
He presses his heels into the side of the horse, spurring her on, and pulls her to a stop a few yards from the break.
He shifts behind me, hopping down from the horse before he reaches up for me.
I place my hands on his shoulders and allow him to set me down, his hands lingering for a moment at my waist, fingers flexing against me before he lets go and turns to inspect the damage.
I wander toward the trees, stepping over the downed boundary, and immediately the cool, almost moist air of the woods sends a chill over my skin.
“Elena, this side, please.” Knox doesn’t look up as he works to pull the fencing up off the hard ground.
Of course I don’t listen to him, enjoying the reprieve from the sunlight too much in this shade. Birds sing high in the canopies above, the sun unable to penetrate the thick foliage.
“What could have knocked it down?” I ask, leaning up against a tree.
“Anything,” Knox grunts as he lifts it and rests it on the other post, “I’ll fix it now.”
“Okay,” I start to slide down a tree to take a perch on the floor.
“Can you come–”
“No.” I cut him off.
He shakes his head as he heads back to the horse and starts pulling things from the saddlebag. Closing my eyes, I rest my head back right up until voices carry through the trees to my ears.
I turn my head, squinting into the shadows for a sign of them.
“Hey Knox?” I call to him.
“Yeah?”
“You got anyone out here?”
“No,” He replies, resuming his hammering against the post.
Maybe there’s a hiking trail that passes by here. I’m sure there're loads of them, but I keep watching the woods, looking for the owners of the voices.
They’re getting closer.
“We should have found a body by now,” One of them says, a man with a rasp to his voice. “We’ve been out here for days.”
“She couldn’t have survived,” Another replies.
“Anton won’t be satisfied until we find her.”
My stomach bottoms out as my heart begins to accelerate.
I scramble up from the ground, rushing toward Knox.
“They’re here,” I hiss at him, keeping my voice low so they don’t hear me.
“Who?” He pauses with his hammer, looking to where my chipped nails sink into his arm.
“My uncle’s men,” I swallow. “They’re looking for me.”