Chapter 11
Chapter eleven
Daylight
Cheyenne
Itiptoed down the hall and into the living room.
Charlie and Ryder sat on the couch, their voices little more than hushed whispers as they talked back and forth.
She held a mug of something hot in her hands, her legs tucked up under her.
Ryder held her in the crook of his arm. Despite the worried looks on their faces, they could pass for appearing alright. But Cash…
Cash was a mess.
He paced the living room, his boots damn near burning a path into the hardwood. He’d taken off his hat and kept scrubbing his hands up and down his shadow beard and back through his hair. Completely opposite of the confident, cool-hand-Luke I’d come to know him as.
“How is he?” Even his voice held a desperate note to it I’d never heard before.
“He’s okay. He’s sleepin’,” I said, coming to stand in the center of the room. Sitting felt too casual, but I wasn’t so amped up that I needed to pace like Cash did. I settled on trailing my left hand up and down my right arm, though.
Cash blew out a breath and nodded, but it was Charlie who spoke. “Here, come sit. Tell us what happened. Are you okay?”
I waved her off on the offer, though I did take a few steps her way. “I’m fine…” I said with a shrug, my voice sounding foreign and weak.
And then I told them. About the sirens. The flames. How the firefighters couldn’t find Brandy. My pulse quickened as each memory filled my mind. “…I freaked out when they said she wasn’t in there. That’s when Maverick ran in.”
Cash huffed a cold laugh, a ghost of a sad smile tugging on his lips. “Figures. He’s like a goddamn fairytale princess when it comes to rescuing animals. He never can just leave ‘em alone.”
As horrible as I felt that I was part of the reason for Maverick’s silence, I would be forever grateful that he’d been so brave and valiant, and charged in and saved her.
“Do they know how the fire started?” Ryder asked, his voice calm, though his black gaze swirled with concern.
“No. The Sheriffs are gonna try to get camera footage from the trailer park, but they said it’d take a couple days probably.”
“Well, you gotta place to stay here while you get everything sorted out,” he replied.
I exhaled slowly, offering what I hoped but doubted was a grateful smile. Cash began pacing again.
“Those burns on his arms… This happened before—or something like it, didn’t it?” I asked.
Cash’s forlorn gaze said it all. He nodded at me. “Twenty years ago to the day.”
My heart squeezed, wrenching all the air from my lungs. “What?” I don’t even know if the word came out, I couldn’t breathe.
“He was just a kid. His dad was drivin’ ‘em all to a jackpot ropin’…
drunk. He went head on with a semi. His parents died on impact.
His uh…” Cash shook his head and ran his tongue over his teeth.
“His sister burned alive. State Troopers pulled him out of the truck while he was tryin’ to get her out. They couldn’t save her.”
A pathetic sound clawed its way up my throat as I cupped a hand over my mouth. Holy shit. He’d gone through that as a kid. And then, twenty years later to the fucking day this happened?
Tears streamed down my cheeks, blurring my vision as I struggled to control my breathing. I hadn’t even realized I was crying until then.
This was all my fault.
I needed air…or to get out of here. Just something. The phantom taste of smoke slithered its way down my throat, choking me. A wave of nausea hit me like a ton of bricks, and I took deep breaths through my nose. Please don’t throw up.
Brandy’s whine pulled me from whatever the hell episode I’d lost myself in. I took off for Maverick’s room, wondering what state I’d find him in. Cash was hot on my heels, Ryder and Charlie close behind.