17. Birdie
Birdie
My heart squished violently in my chest as my eyes popped open. I’d been hoping I’d wake up to a room filled with sunlight, but no. Instead the late night darkness made the walls feel like they were closing in.
My wrist and ankle throbbed in sync with my racing heartbeat, but that was my own stubborn fault.
I should have taken another dose of the pain killers.
Beau woke me up two times, I think, since I fell back to sleep in his arms, practically begging me to take them, but I didn’t like not being able to feel my body.
I wanted a little pain to help stay grounded.
Unfortunately, that was a fine line, and I’d swung too far over into the pain direction. I needed to take something.
Sitting up was more difficult than I anticipated, especially moving to get out of the bed without waking up Beau. A pang of guilt hit deep in my belly. Juniper should be home. But instead, she was spending the night with Jessie and Hawk, because Beau needed to take care of me.
I set my feet on the floor, trying not to howl at the acidic pain that shot through my ankle. My body clearly needed time.
Time to heal.
Time to process.
Time to forget.
My silent footfalls got me down the stairs and into the kitchen. I grabbed a glass from next to the sink, slightly limping towards the fridge to fill it with water.
Back at the sink, I lifted the glass to my mouth as I looked out into the vast black that surrounded the house.
The water from the springs here on the Silver Ridge Ranch was even more crisp since it had been refrigerated after being bottled at the well house.
There was nothing better in the world, though.
I know Beau didn’t believe in the lore, but I did.
There was something healing in the water.
A flash of movement outside the kitchen window pulled my attention away from my drink. I stilled, my eyes whipping back and forth across the glass panes to try and detect anything, but I didn’t see movement again.
What I did finally see, as my eyes adjusted to looking out into the night, had me jumping back, the glass in my hand slipping out of my grip and shattering into a thousand pieces on the floor.
Still, I didn’t stop. I slipped over the glass, trying to get my voice to work.
I wanted to scream, but nothing came out.
I tried. I tried when the eyes I saw staring through the window at me disappeared.
I tried when the door handle to the back porch jiggled, and the eyes appeared in the door. Nothing would come out.
Hands landed on my shoulders, and the edges of my vision started to blur. Breath rattled out of my chest, but I couldn’t pull any air in.
“Christ,” Beau growled as he scooped me up and walked to the sofa, where he deposited me. His hands were still on me, grounding me as I fought to catch my breath while he crouched down in front of me.
“What the hell happened?” he asked. “Are you okay?”
I shook my head. I wanted to say more. To explain what I’d just seen out the window. But a wave of nausea slammed into me, and the only thing I managed was to double over, my arms wrapped tight around my waist.
“Fuck, you’re bleeding,” he hissed as he lifted my feet up, placing them gently on the coffee table. “Give me one second.”
He stood, and suddenly the fear was back, racing through my body. I scrambled to hold onto his arm, shaking my head so hard it felt like I’d trigger a migraine.
“Birdie, what is going on?”
I pulled him back towards me, until he was close enough to the sofa that I could tug him down. The second the back of his legs touched the cushions, I was burying myself in his chest.
“Okay, okay. Just breathe. I’m so sorry I didn’t realize what this was. You’re safe. You’re safe, baby.”
“No,” I groaned.
“No?”
“He was here,” I whispered.
Beau’s body froze. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I should be telling him to breathe, but since I could barely manage my own lungs, I tucked my head into the crook of his neck and tried to find comfort in the last lingering tendrils of his body wash.
“Baby, I need you to take a deep breath, and then I need you to tell me what that means. You thought you saw him?”
I did exactly what he said. I took a deep breath, forcing myself to swallow and clear my throat before explaining.
“I saw eyes…looking into the kitchen from the window. But then…I…I dropped the glass and he was at the back door, trying to get in. Trying to get to me.”
His arms tightened around my shoulders, giving two quick squeezes before he released me.
“I need to go to the kitchen and grab the first aid kit. I promise, I won’t be more than ten seconds. But we need to get your foot cleaned up.”
I nodded, closing my eyes and letting my head fall against the back of the sofa, counting softly to myself.
…three, four, five…
There was a bang in the kitchen from the cupboard door closing, and I tried not to think about the fact that he hadn’t said anything about checking for the man outside.
…six, seven, eight…
Light filtered through my eyelids at the same time I felt the warmth of Beau’s hand on my ankle. He was back, and the tightness in my stomach eased.
“Alright, beautiful. This is going to sting, and I’m so fucking sorry it’s going to hurt you.”
Beau took tweezers out of the kit and brought them to the underside of my foot. I felt a small sting as he grabbed the first piece of glass. I tried to blink away the tears, but they just kept coming, blurring my vision until I couldn’t even make out Beau any more.
“Please don’t cry,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry it hurts.”
“I’m not crying about that. You don’t believe me,” I said, running my hand under my nose. “You don’t think he was there.”
“What? Yes, I—”
Bright lights flashed across the front of the house, a shadow running across them as footsteps pounded up the porch.
And then, a knock sounded at the door.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.” Beau winked at me as he set the tweezers down and marched to the door.
Hayes came barreling through, clearly sleep rumpled and just as confused as I was about what he was doing here.
“What’s the matter? Why the S.O.S?” Hayes’s eyes bounced between my face—grimacing as he looked at my neck—and Beau’s, before his eyes dropped to my feet. “Jesus, Birdie! You’re bleeding. What the fuck happened?”
Hayes marched over to me, picking up my foot to examine it.
“Quit touching my girl,” Beau grumbled. “I need your help.”
“Clearly. It’s a good thing I just redid my first-aid course.” Hayes winked. “Won’t be as pretty as one of your fancy doctor friends could do, but it’ll be better than Beau trying. He’s used to tough cattle. These are very delicate hooves.”
“Did you just call my feet hooves?” I smiled, ignoring the way his face fell at the hoarseness still so prominent in my voice.
“Not smooth? Damn, I’m trying to work on my flirting. Brothers are dropping like flies to the love voodoo, and no way in hell am I letting Lachlan—who does not leave his house—find love before me.”
“Oh, Romeo.” I laughed. “Maybe Vi could help you come up with some talking points? Her books always have the best banter.”
“Maybe.” His hand squeezed my calf. “You okay? I mean…after what happened—”
“Yeah. I’ll be fine.” I tried to clear my throat. “Thanks.”
“For fuck’s sake. I didn’t send you an S.O.S to rush over here and flirt with my girl. I’ll take care of her fucking feet, and I’ll be goddamn gentle about it.”
Hayes’s eyes sparkled at me as he stood back up. “Fine, fine. What do you need me for, then?”
“Birdie thinks she saw the guy who attacked her outside, looking in the kitchen window at her when she came down to get a drink. That’s how she ended up with broken glass in her foot. I’m not leaving her fucking side, so your ass needs to go look around.”
Hayes’s eyes softened as he looked at me. Great. Another Ford who didn’t believe me.
“I know what I saw. He was looking in at me. He tried to come through the kitchen door. The handle was rattling!”
Beau crouched down in front of me. “No one is saying—”
“I mean,” Hayes interrupted, “did you see his face? When he attacked you earlier?”
“No. He was wearing a mask.”
“And tonight?” I knew what Hayes was doing. He thought it was all in my head. And what I was about to tell him started to break through the confidence I had in my own experience.
“Another mask.”
He sighed. “Look, when you go through something traumatic—”
“No!” I jumped up from the sofa, hissing as my cut foot pressed against the floor.
Beau was standing up next to me before I could blink, and then I was being lifted, set back on the couch.
Only this time, Beau was under me as I sat on his lap.
He kept his arms wrapped around my hips and my shoulders, cradling me like he did Juniper.
“Don’t try that again, Chickadee. I haven’t finished cleaning your foot, and I’m not inclined to see you in more pain right now.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled, my head falling into my hands. “I know what I saw.”
“I don’t doubt that you saw it,” Hayes said as he rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “I’m just wondering if what you saw was physically here, or only in your mind.”
“He said that was just the beginning…” I whispered, turning to look at Beau.
The color drained out of his face as he cupped my cheek. The warmth from his touch seeped so deep, I felt the safety of the gesture down deep in my bones. “What?”
“Your truck pulled in the driveway, and he heard you coming. I…I closed my eyes, thinking maybe he’d finally leave me alone, but he leaned down and told me what he had done was just the beginning.
I…I thought maybe he meant he’d be back to my house for whatever he wanted to take?
But what if it wasn’t random? What if he’s targeting me? ”
“Fuck,” Hayes hissed, his fingers dropping back to the weapon on his belt.
“It’s okay,” Beau whispered as his arms tightened back around me. “It’s going to be okay. He won’t come near you again. I’ll fucking shoot anyone who tries, no questions asked.”
“Beau…”