Chapter 31 #2
“Stop calling me that,” she snarls.
Hugh purses his lips as if trying to hide a smile. He isn’t successful. “Dr. Kirk, I can put a man outside your house, but…we’re a small police force, and I can’t—”
“I’ll be fine alone, and I don’t trust your men,” she interjects. “I know how to use a gun. Ask Cade, he taught me.”
I remember that summer clear as yesterday—her braid swinging down her back, my .
22 in her hands, her shoulders stiff until I stepped behind her, nudged her elbow, and told her to breathe.
She hated the idea of shooting at first, but when the coyotes started coming for her dad’s calves, she didn’t flinch.
“She’s steadier than most men I’ve hunted with,” I tell Hugh and then give Sarah a pleading look. “Sarah, please, come live at Blue Rock.”
Her head snaps toward me. “I’m not staying at your house.”
The fire in her tone neither shocks nor surprises me. “Sarah—”
“No.” Her arms lock tighter around herself, shoulders rigid. “Not in that house. Not where—” She breaks off, shaking her head hard. “I can’t, Cade. Don’t ask me.”
I drop my gaze, feeling helpless, hands fisting at my sides. “Fuck, Dove, it’s not the same house.”
“I don’t care,” she breathes.
Hugh looks between us, face lined with thought. “Then we’ll figure out another way. But listen to me—you both need to stay sharp. Whoever’s behind this? They’re uppin’ the stakes.”
When his deputy arrives with a couple of men and a tow truck, we walk back out. Joy stays in her boutique once Sarah convinces her that she’s fine.
We watch as Wiley bags the dog. The sight of it in Sarah’s truck makes bile rise in my throat. I can’t even begin to imagine how she’s feeling.
After they load up her vehicle to the tow truck, Hugh gestures toward his SUV. “Dr. Kirk, I’d like to go back to Blue Rock. I want to walk that feed room again. Make sure we’re not missin’ somethin’. Will you help me?”
Sarah hesitates for a long moment, and then, with her chin high, she nods her agreement.
I’m in awe of her courage, more and more with every minute.
“You want to drive with me or Hugh?” I ask softly.
I touch her elbow lightly. She doesn’t pull away. “With you.”
And that small mercy, like all the others she’s granted me, hurts as much as it soothes me.
“I’ll follow you,” Hugh says.
The drive back to Blue Rock is quiet. Sarah sits stiff in the passenger seat of my truck; her hands clutched in her lap like she’s holding herself together.
When we pull into the yard, Dodge and a couple of hands are just coming out of the mess hall, beer mugs in hand. They watch us with wary eyes. They’ve heard by now. This is Wildflower Canyon. News travels fast here.
“Don’t let the gossip start runnin’ wild,” I instruct Dodge, who meets me as I get off my truck.
He nods, sharp and grim. “You got it, boss.” He pauses. “She okay?”
He likes Sarah. Cares for her. My woman engenders loyalty.
“No,” I admit. “But she’s gonna be. I’m goin’ to make sure of it.”
Hugh doesn’t waste time. He heads straight for the feed room, boots grinding over gravel, hand on the worn leather strap of his belt. “Dr. Kirk, can you come along with me?”
I glance at Sarah. She hasn’t moved. She’s still standing by my truck, shoulders stiff, staring at the ranch house like it’s a wolf crouched to bite.
“Dove,” I say gently.
She shakes herself from whatever nightmare she’s caught in. “Yes, I can come along with you.” I catch a tremor in her hands as she brushes past me, following Hugh toward the barns.
I go with them.
The feed room smells of dust and molasses—just the way it’s supposed to be. The bins stand lined up against the wall, galvanized steel dented from years of use. The floor’s a mix of spilled grain and dirt, swept but never clean.
Hugh runs a hand along one of the bins, then crouches to study the latch. “No signs of forced entry.” He straightens. “Who has a key?”
I tap my pocket. “Only Dodge, me, and Tillie have ‘em.”
“But?” Hugh urges.
“It ain’t a big secret that the keys hang in the kitchen, Hugh. Anyone can get them.” I feel sick when I say it. I should’ve been more careful, but I had no reason not to trust my men and my home.
Fuck! My home is vulnerable.
I need to get a security system. To protect Evie and, hopefully, Sarah when she moves in. I want her at home with me, where I can keep her safe.
Sarah hovers just inside the doorway, her braid brushing her shoulder, eyes scanning every shadow. I can tell she doesn’t want to be here, but she forces herself to stay. That tears me apart more than if she’d turned and walked away.
Hugh pulls a notebook from his pocket. “Walk me through again. You noticed the herd being off—listless, coats dull. Then Thunder’s symptoms. Sarah caught the early signs and confirmed them with the lab. You switched feed, and they improved.”
So, we walk him through it all over again. First, what happened with Thunder, and then Ranger.
Tillie serves us coffee on the porch, and that’s when Hugh declares, “Cade, here’s what I think. Sounds like they wanted to cripple Blue Rock at the knees.”
I lean against a post, fists shoved in my pockets.
He’s not wrong—somebody’s trying to cut us off at the roots. But the worst part is that I suspect my brother is behind it. I don’t want to believe it—but I also didn’t want to believe he raped Sarah, and that disbelief cost both of us. It destroyed her life and mine and many others.
I can’t change the past, but I can steer the present and alter the future.
It starts with helping Sarah to heal.