9. Lachlan
Lachlan
Igroaned as my ass hit the sofa. My nerves have been off the charts since I watched Lainey’s car drive away yesterday.
I was still riding the high of being able to tinker with her car.
Her AC was easy enough, and I was on cloud nine for a week.
But holding my tools again yesterday, seeing the relief in her eyes when she got in and drove off with no alarms on the dash, a part of me that I’d been locking away returned.
And I didn’t know what I’d been afraid of, because every terrible thought I’d had…
hadn’t happened. I still had the skills, and I had actually enjoyed working again.
I was itching like crazy to see Lainey’s car driving down my road. I’d sent a few messages checking in, but she didn’t reply yesterday, or today, so I figured I was being too much. Those bruises on her arm, though…
I’d check in with her again today. My stomach was about to growl from the thought of getting to have her macaroni and cheese tonight. I had no idea what she put in it to make it so damn creamy, but I had to pace myself every time she dropped a new tray off to me for the week.
As if summoned from my anxious thoughts, Lainey’s name flashed across my phone’s screen. Had something happened to the car on her delivery route? It was at least another few hours before she was normally here…
“You okay? Is something wrong with the car?” Jesus. I could hear the goddamn worry sitting thick in my voice.
You’re just friends. You just care about her like she’s your sister…And those fucking bruises on her arm haven’t left your goddamn mind because you just care a normal, appropriate amount.
“Hey. Yeah, um, of course I am. I just…I’m not going to be able to make deliveries today. Or… uh…probably for a while. I’m trying to find a replacement option for my clients, but it might take me a few days.”
It felt like my heart was going to pound right out of my chest. I could hear the way she was fighting back tears. She thought she was hiding it in the tightness of each word, but she wasn’t fooling me.
“Trouble. What’s wrong?”
She sniffed and cleared her throat. Alarm bells were ringing so goddamn loud in my head I thought I might black out. “Nothing. I promise. I-I’m okay. I just wanted to say thank you, for fixing all that stuff with my car. For how nice yesterday was. It’s just…I can’t anymore.”
My stomach ached. “Is it the baby?”
“No.”
“Are you sick?” The worst thought slammed into me. “Is it Greg? Did he hurt you?”
“I appreciate the concern. I just need…” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I’m sorry. I’ve got to go. I just didn’t want you to worry. Thank you for being my only friend. It’s been really nice these past few weeks. Bye, Lach.”
“Hey—” The dial tone signaling she’d already hung up rang painfully loud in my ear.
I just didn’t want you to worry.
Thank you for being my only friend.
My only friend.
My stomach ached worse than the time Beau had kneed me in the balls for asking Birdie to dance one night down at Davney’s a few years back.
Something was wrong. And my mind wandered to a dangerous place…
to a place where Greg had done something awful.
And Lainey was trying to stay safe. I stood up, grabbing my cane from the spot where it was resting against the coffee table, and marched towards the door.
I grabbed my wallet off the fireplace mantle, my feet slipping into my boots like it was the most natural motion in the world.
I wasn’t going to let this go. I couldn’t let her go. I had a feeling I was the only person she opened up to about things, and yet, I also knew there was probably a world of things she wasn’t telling me.
My keys came off the holder by the door like they were more than ready for me to use them again. Stepping out onto the porch, the summer heat slammed into me. Bad storms were coming, but I could have her back here on the ranch by the time they started. She’d be here. And she’d be safe.
Good.
I forced my legs to move. Forward. Across the wooden porch. Down the front steps. This was fine. This was important. I’d deal with the panic and the pressure building in my chest later. I could still breathe. That was all that mattered.
The truck was ahead, mocking me as I stomped towards it, my cane leaving ruts in the dirt with each step. I’d been here before, I tried to remind myself. I stood in the grass and worked on fixing Lainey’s car as best I could just yesterday.
The image of her sitting up on the porch, ripping snarky comments at me while I tried not to curse Greg eased the tension building in my muscles.
Fuck, my hands were shaking as I unlocked my truck door and slid into the driver’s seat.
It had been months since I’d been behind the wheel, but that didn’t matter now.
I flipped open my wallet and pulled out the business card she’d given me the first time she dropped off her meals.
I remembered seeing her address listed there as a place to pick up orders from.
I started the engine, slid the buckle over my body, and put the truck into reverse, tearing down my driveway and onto the old road that would lead me off the ranch before I could overthink what I was doing.
It took every bit of my strength to focus on the road in front of me.
I didn’t look at the ranch as it grew smaller and smaller in my rear view mirror.
I didn’t watch the fields full of wildflowers and tall grass slowly morph into streets filled with houses and cars and people walking down sidewalks.
And I certainly didn’t pay attention to the way my heartbeat was crashing loudly in my ears or the way my fingers were grasped so tightly around the steering wheel, that they’d turned white.
The minutes passed by so fucking slowly, until I finally turned onto her street. Her car was easy to spot, and thankfully there wasn’t a truck in the driveway. Still, I parked across the street and two houses down from hers.
By the time I made it up the sidewalk to her front door, I was ready to hunt down Greg and kill him for hurting her.
Bruises like she had didn’t just appear out of nowhere. His hand had been around her arm so tightly he’d broken blood vessels under her beautiful skin. My own hands curled into fists as I knocked on her front door.
“Hey, Trouble? You there?” I knocked again. Still no answer. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. The street was really quiet, most driveways empty. That tracked…it was the middle of the work day. But Lainey was here. So why wasn’t she answering the door?
Soft cries hit my ears, and my heart dropped as I walked around the back of the house. I found her. A full laundry pile resting on the picnic table, she was moving between the basket and taking clothes off the line.
“Are you okay?” My voice was barely above a whisper, but it still carried on the wind. She froze for a second before turning around to face me. Shit, her cheeks and nose were bright red. I wasn’t wrong—she had been crying. Maybe since before she even called me.
“What are you doing here?! You left…you left the ranch!”
I shrugged, ignoring the panic I felt in every cell of my body. My eyes worked over every inch of her. I couldn’t see any injuries, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t hurt. “You sounded upset when you called. I didn’t know…do you need help?”
“No! No. You can’t be here. He could come back.”
I wasn’t sure how I managed it, but in one single rise and fall of her chest, I closed the distance between us. “Do you need help? Do you need to get away from here? Can I help you get away from here? There’s no shame in needing help, and—”
“No!” she cried. “What I need is for you to go. Why did you have to come here?”
“Because I want you to know that you have someone who will help. Someone who maybe doesn’t carry any pressure of judgment…
” Like her sister. It hadn’t made sense to me why Birdie wouldn’t be here helping Lainey if she was in trouble.
Unless Lainey was worried about being judged for staying with Greg when Birdie had told her time and again to leave.
Her eyes bounced between mine, back and forth. For a moment, I thought she just might take my outstretched hand. But instead Lainey shook her head and turned back to her laundry.
“This is where I deserve to be, Lach. Go.”
I wasn’t through trying. Because I knew I needed to be louder than the voice in her head was, telling her she deserved whatever Greg had done. “If you can’t do it for yourself, think of the little invader.”
A single tear ran down her face. “Please. Just go back to the ranch.”
Fuck.
I’d been an idiot. An absolutely pathetic idiot. My stomach was in knots, my goddamn fingers cold and aching from gripping the steering wheel so tightly, and I couldn’t breathe past the tightness in my chest.
Despite what I kept trying to tell myself over and over again, it wasn’t getting better the closer I got to home.
Peace wasn’t washing over me as I thought about getting back onto the porch, walking through the door, and locking it behind me.
I…I wanted to lock out the world, but I’d only been thinking about Lainey being there with me this whole time.
I never thought she’d say no.
Never thought she wouldn’t want my help.
Why would she? Going from one broken man to trusting another to keep her safe? How was I supposed to do that with a mind that hated me and a leg that stopped me from being able to take care of the most basic things most days?
“Just what I need,” I mumbled to myself as I pulled my truck in to its designated spot on my driveway and parked. My entire family was standing on the porch, staring at me.
I opened the door, grabbed my cane, and set to getting back into my house. My hands were shaking the closer I got, but no one tried to speak to me. Sure, Colt’s eyes were wide and locked in on me, Beau was busy shaking his head back and forth, and Hayes…I stopped next to him.
“What the fuck are you smiling about?” I asked.
He didn’t flinch. “You left your house.”
“Yeah. I did. Now I’m going back inside.”
“Can we come in?” Ma whispered.
I nodded, the lump in my throat back as soon as I heard the tears in her voice.
“Why are you guys all here?”
“I came over to see if you wanted to hang this afternoon. Imagine my surprise when your truck wasn’t in the driveway and I couldn’t find you in the house,” Hayes answered, still smiling.
“So you just broke in? You could have called me.”
Beau rolled his eyes. “Check your phone, dip shit. We all called about a hundred goddamn times.”
“Sorry.” I sighed as I sat down on the sofa, my head dropping back as my eyes closed. “It must be on silent.”
“Is your leg bothering you? You could have called us if you needed to go to your doctor. Or urgent care?” Ma’s eyes filled with tears. “Are you in pain, honey?”
“No, Ma. It’s not my damn leg.”
“Then what? You’re miraculously healed from your agoraphobia and decided to just take a drive around town?” Beau asked.
“No. That’s not it. That’s not…” My eyes drifted to Birdie, my niece Juniper in her arms. Damn. She had no clue what was going on with Lainey. If she did, she’d have dragged Beau over there to fix the situation. Maybe Lainey wouldn’t be so goddamn stubborn if someone else tried to help her…
“Lach?” Birdie’s eyes were locked on mine. “Are you okay? Should we call Sloane?”
“I’m fine! I really am fine. I just needed to get out of here, and I did it. Will I do it again? Yeah, I hope so. But I’m also exhausted, and wasn’t really expecting the pressure of everyone being right here in my space when I came home. I need…”
“What?” Colt crossed his arms.
“Everyone can just go home and stop fussing over me. Isn’t there a bad storm coming through tonight? I’m sure there’s a ton of shit to get ready around the ranch before it hits.”
Dad nodded, his arm slapping Colt’s shoulder. “Lach’s right. He doesn’t need us all in his space. But if you ever feel like leaving your house again, you know, Ma and I wouldn’t mind a visit up at the main house.”
“Same for us,” Colt agreed as he pulled his wife Violet into his side.
“Well, I’d like some help out on the ranch. So yeah, if you ever need to get out of here again, you’re always welcome to ride out with me.” Beau smiled, his eyes still tight with worry.
Jesus. The hope in the rest of my family’s eyes was exactly why I didn’t tell anyone I was leaving. Sure, I’d rushed out of the house only thinking of Lainey…God, the fear rolling off of her when I walked around and found her in the garden…
“Lach?” Violet’s voice called me back into my living room. I smiled as my nephew, Connor, rested his head on her shoulder.
“Yeah. I think I’m gonna try to walk around the ranch more. I’ll come visit everyone. It’ll be good for my physical rehab.”
Ma’s hands clasped in front of her heart. “There’s no pressure, honey. You know we love you and are so proud of you, no matter what. But I’d really love to have all of my family around my dinner table again.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”