10. Nine #2
Linc didn't reach for his gun. "Because then John comes out and sees my body. You think he stays after that?"
The answer was no. I hated him for knowing it.
Linc stepped closer, putting himself within reach of the blade. "I'm not riding away and letting you make this worse."
"I don't need you to save me from myself."
"I'm not here to save you." His gaze shifted toward the cave. "I'm here for John."
I caught the front of his shirt and shoved him against the rock. The bay jerked backward, pulling the reins tight against the branch.
"Don't say his name."
Linc raised his voice. "Rafe found your sister."
I let go of Linc and turned.
John stood beneath the bones at the entrance with one hand braced against the rock. He had pulled his shirt around his shoulders without buttoning it, and the fabric hung open over his chest.
"My sister?" he asked.
Linc straightened his shirt. "Sarah Jameson. She filed a missing-person report on you. Winston contacted her this morning and asked her to come to his office. He hasn't told her you're here or where the ranch is. Just confirmed you're alive. She wants to see you."
John looked at me. I dropped the hand holding the knife to my side.
"How long have you known?" he asked.
"Since this morning."
John's eyes dropped to my pocket when the folded report shifted against my thigh. I pulled it out before he could ask and held it toward him.
He didn't take it.
"That's what I've been hearing every time you move," he said.
"Yes."
His gaze stayed on the paper. Sarah's name showed through one of the folds along with the top of John's photograph.
"Is she all right?"
"She's safe," Linc said. "Scared and angry, but safe."
John nodded once. He looked past us, down the trail, toward town. His fingers tightened on the rock.
I wanted to touch him. I wanted to put his hand on my neck where it belonged and promise I could make Sarah safe too, if that was what he needed from me.
Instead, I held out the report.
John finally took it. He opened the first fold and stared at the picture. They'd pulled it off his medical license. Sarah's sat beside it. She had John's eyes and the same line between her eyebrows.
His thumb moved over her face.
"She filed this eleven months ago?"
"Yeah," Linc said. "A few weeks after you left."
"I didn't tell her I was going anywhere." John looked down at the page again. "I didn't know I was going."
"I know," I said.
His head came up. "You know because I told you. After you already had this in your pocket."
My stomach twisted, but I didn't look away. "Yes."
John folded the report along the same lines I had, taking his time with every crease. His hands were steady. That was worse than if he'd torn it. "You brought me here because she was coming."
"You asked me to take you somewhere quiet."
John's eyes hardened. "Did you choose this cave because my sister was coming?"
"Yes."
Nobody spoke.
I could've told him about Zaroff and the tracker. Men might have been watching the road. Winston's office might not have been safe. All of that was true, and none of it was why I had kept my mouth shut.
"I thought if you saw her, you might remember you had somewhere else to go. I wanted another night before you had anybody to choose but me."
John pressed the folded report against his thigh. His face changed then, the anger giving way to something that made me wish he would hit me instead.
"Coyote… I had already chosen you."
The words hit hard enough that I closed my hand around the knife.
John looked at it. Then his gaze moved past me to the gelding's saddle under the overhang.
"You put that knife against the cinch earlier."
I said nothing.
"You told me you were checking the stitching."
"I lied."
"Were you going to cut it?"
"I thought about it."
Linc turned his head and swore.
John kept looking at me. "Why?"
"So you couldn't saddle him without me."
"You were going to strand me here?"
"I didn't do it."
His jaw tightened. "That isn't what I asked."
I shrugged. "I wanted to make sure you couldn't leave until I was ready to take you down."
John let out a long breath. "Jesus Christ."
"I would've taken care of you."
"You think that makes it better?"
"No." I stepped toward him. "But I would have."
His free hand came up between us. "Don't."
I stopped.
"Do not touch me right now, Coyote."
He looked at the space between us like he needed it to breathe.
Every part of me wanted to close it, but I stayed where I was.
John turned to Linc. "Take me to her."
Linc nodded and went for the horses.
John walked back into the cave. He moved carefully, one hand pressed to his ribs, and sat on the bedroll to pull on his boots. Reaching his feet folded him too tightly around the wound. He stopped halfway down and breathed through it.
I took one step. He looked at me, and I stopped.
John straightened and tried again. He managed the first boot, but Linc returned before he could reach for the second. Linc knelt, worked it over John's foot, and tied it for him.
John let him.
I turned to the fire and pulled the rabbit away before it burned.
There was no reason to bring it now, but I wrapped the meat anyway and packed it with the food.
I needed the work. I kicked dirt over the coals, sealed the tins, and rolled the blankets while Linc helped John button his shirt without twisting the dressing.
The report disappeared into John's pocket.
Linc carried the gelding's saddle out from under the overhang. I followed with the rest of the gear. Linc checked the cinch before tightening it.
I saddled my mare while Linc led the gelding beside a flat rock. John used it as a mounting block, getting his injured leg into the stirrup before he pulled himself up. Pain stopped him halfway. His arms shook and his face turned white.
I gripped the saddle horn hard enough to make the leather creak and bit the inside of my cheek to keep from going to help him.
Linc put a hand beneath John's boot and helped him the rest of the way. John settled over the gelding and leaned forward until he could breathe again. When he checked beneath his shirt, his fingers came away clean.
Good.
They started down the wash together. Linc kept his bay close to the gelding's injured side, watching John instead of the trail.
I waited until they reached the bottom before mounting my mare.
John never looked back. He knew I was behind him. He was going to know it the rest of his life.