Chapter 17
CHAPTER 17
KAREN
I woke up feeling completely disoriented, my head spinning as I opened my eyes. The first thing I registered was the smell. My nose crinkled up at the dusty hay, and something else hit me. Something distinctly animal. I sat up, my body sore from the makeshift bed of hay beneath me and the brutal day of hard labor yesterday.
I looked around and found myself face to face with a giant horse, blinking down at me.
Rouge . Right. The events of last night slowly pieced themselves back together. Cassidy, Rouge. Oh shit. I’d fallen asleep in the barn. I remembered Cassidy had been beside me telling me about a time Rouge killed a snake and saved his life.
But he wasn’t there now. “Ass.”
He must have woken up and gone to his bed in the bunkhouse. I was a little surprised he left me in the barn. That didn’t seem very chivalrous. Just when I was warming up to him, he reminded me why I kept people at arm’s length.
I rolled out of the hay and brushed it off my pajamas and coat, feeling like I’d been run over by a tractor. My hair was probably a disaster, and I could only imagine how ridiculous I looked. Not exactly the image of grace and composure.
At least the horses wouldn’t care how I looked.
I plucked a piece of hay from my hair and tossed it on the pile. That was when I spotted Cassidy coming around the corner with a bucket of water in hand, whistling to himself like sleeping in a barn was the most normal thing in the world. He didn’t even seem fazed. Meanwhile, I felt like a wild animal had crawled into my body overnight.
“Mornin’,” Cassidy said with a smile that was far too perky.
Rouge eagerly leaned her head over the stall door to get herself a cold drink. He put the bucket down, the muscles in his arms flexing with the motion. The black henley he wore hugged his torso. I noticed he often wore form-fitting shirts. Was it on purpose? There was something almost too easy about the way he moved, too natural, like he was completely in his element out here, which he was.
I ran my hands through my tangled hair, feeling the knots and trying not to care too much. “Morning,” I mumbled, still groggy and not exactly prepared for the start of the day. “I hope you’ve got a bucket of coffee for me.”
Cassidy raised an eyebrow, amusement dancing in his eyes. “No, but how about we head up to the lodge? There’s coffee there and Bodie’s probably got those fluffy waffles ready by now. Or you can eat a filling yummy bowl of yogurt.”
At the mention of food, my stomach growled loudly, betraying me. I didn’t miss his sarcasm about my yogurt. I didn’t care. I supposed my food preferences were a little silly. After yesterday, I understood why they ate the way they did. They burned three times the amount of calories I did on an average day. They could eat like that and still look like they could appear on a calendar.
“Actually, waffles sound amazing right now. But first the coffee. Lots of coffee.”
He chuckled. “Come on, let’s get you caffeinated,” he said, nodding toward the door.
We stepped outside into the cold morning air. I was hit with a blast of cold that shook the last remnants of sleep from me. The sky was heavy with the promise of snow, thick gray clouds hanging low, but nothing was falling just yet. Everything felt frozen in place, from the barn to the leafless trees. Yesterday, it had been so clear and pretty. I thought spring was around the corner. Today said otherwise.
I glanced around, taking in the stillness of the morning. Something felt oddly peaceful about the moment, like the world was holding its breath, waiting for the snow to start dumping. But then I spotted something in the distance—something small and dark in the road. I squinted my eyes and tried to make out what it was. I only noticed it because the dark blob was a sharp contrast to all the gray.
“What’s that?” I asked, pointing toward the dark object down the driveway.
Cassidy followed my gaze, his brow furrowing as he tried to make it out. He took a step forward, squinting. “Not sure,” he said slowly, his tone shifting. “Could be a blown tire or something.”
But even as he said it, I could tell something was wrong. The object wasn’t moving, wasn’t anything I could easily identify, and there was something about it that made my skin crawl.
“Why would there be a blown tire in the middle of the driveway?” I asked the obvious question.
I looked around at the trucks parked in the gravel parking area. They all looked to have all their tires. “Wouldn’t someone pick it up?”
Cassidy wasn’t listening. He was walking toward the blob with long strides. I had to speedwalk to keep up with him.
“Shit,” Cassidy said.
His expression shifted from confusion to alarm in the span of a second. He snapped into action, racing toward the blob. “Karen, get Don! Get the truck down here now!”
The urgency in his voice sent a jolt of adrenaline through me. “What’s going on?” I asked, but he was already sprinting down the drive, heading straight for the dark mass in the road.
I started to follow him.
“Go get help, Karen! Now!” Cassidy shouted again.
I stopped chasing him and paused before turning on my heel and racing toward the lodge. I threw open the door and saw my uncle in front of the fireplace.
“What is it, Karen?” He took a few steps toward me.
“Something’s wrong,” I gasped, trying to keep my voice steady. “Cassidy says we need the truck up at the road, now! He didn’t explain, but something’s not right!”
Uncle Don didn’t waste time asking questions. “I’ll be there in two minutes.”
I rushed right back out the door and ran toward Cassidy. My breath came in short bursts. The cold air burned my lungs as I tried to catch up to him. When I reached him, Cassidy was crouched in the middle of the road, his body blocking my view of whatever it was he’d found. I assumed it was a wounded animal. Maybe a cow or horse had gotten out and froze.
And then I saw it.
A person.
My knees nearly gave out as the realization hit me. The dark shape in the road wasn’t a tire or a garbage bag. It was a boy—a young boy, no older than fourteen, curled up on the frozen ground. His clothes were thin, his lips blue, and his skin looked impossibly pale. My throat tightened as I dropped to my knees beside Cassidy.
Cassidy was leaning over the boy, talking to him as he ran his hands over the boy’s arms and chest. I watched as Cassidy shrugged off his jacket and threw it over the kid, trying to warm him up. His actions were calm, but his face told a different story.
He was scared.
I shed my own coat, forgetting all about the fact I was wearing thin pajamas. I covered the boy’s frail body. “Who is he?” I whispered, my voice trembling. “What happened? Why is he here?”
Cassidy shook his head, his jaw clenched tight. He tucked my coat around the boy. “I don’t know. He’s not one of ours.”
I swallowed hard and ran my hand over the boy’s head. His lips were a faint, unnatural shade of blue, his chest barely rising and falling with shallow breaths. How long had he been out here? My mind raced with questions, but there wasn’t time to ask them.
“What if it was him I heard last night?” My question was barely a whisper.
“No. Don’t take this on. You couldn’t have known. I sure as hell didn’t see him.”
Cassidy got to his feet and then bent down to lift the boy. He cradled him against his chest as if he weighed nothing. The boy’s head lolled to the side, his eyes half-closed. I didn’t think he was completely unconscious but he was certainly not able to walk or talk. My stomach twisted with fear. I scanned the driveway, praying to see Don’s truck. A second later, he was barreling down the frozen road like a bat out of hell.
Uncle Don pulled to a stop next to us. He threw open the door. “Get him in!” he barked, his voice rough with urgency.
Cassidy climbed into the backseat, the boy still in his arms. I scrambled into the front seat. As soon as the door slammed shut, my uncle gunned it, the tires slipping briefly on the ice before catching traction. The truck roared forward, heading back up to the lodge.
I watched Cassidy work. He pulled a blanket from behind the backseat and covered the boy. My uncle cranked up the heat as high as it would go.
“What the hell happened?” Uncle Don asked.
“He’s ice cold.” Cassidy muttered, more to himself than either of us. His hands rubbed the boy’s hands, trying to coax some warmth back into him.
I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. My mind was racing, flooded with every worst-case scenario imaginable. Was he going to make it? How long had he been out there? Why was he alone?
The truck sped through the gates of the lodge. Uncle Don slammed on the brakes, bringing us to a jarring stop. Then he hopped out and opened the back door. Cassidy ran inside still holding the boy close.
Bodie was at the coffee station when the three of us burst into the room. “What happened?”
“No time,” Cassidy snapped, moving past him and heading straight for the fireplace.
He sat down at the hearth, twisting his body to put the boy directly in front of the fire. “Get some hot water, Bodie, and some towels. Now.”
Bodie nodded and took off. A couple of guests were seated on the couch. They quickly got up to give us some space. I knelt beside Cassidy. My hands trembled as I touched the child’s cold skin. “He’s so young,” I whispered.
I didn’t know what to do. I felt useless. Cassidy was holding the boy. I didn’t know if he realized he was rocking him.
“Cassidy, you think he’ll be alright?” My voice was barely a whisper, the words caught in my throat.
“I don’t know.”
Suddenly, Bodie returned with the hot water and towels. He looked flustered, bewildered by the situation. I got it. I was just as confused.
Without missing a beat, Cassidy took the towels from Bodie and dipped one in the hot water, wringing it out before pressing it against the boy’s hands. We all watched as Cassidy worked to restore warmth to the boy’s frigid skin.
“Should we take him to the hospital?” I asked.
“He doesn’t have time for a cold truck to heat up,” Cassidy answered. “We can get him warmed up at the lodge. Then we can figure out the rest of it.”
“I’ll get some cocoa going,” Bodie said. “We’ll need to thaw him from the inside out.”
“Good idea,” Cassidy said.