Dean
“I’ll be there in ten.” Owen can’t see me, but I nod when I hang up and look back once more at Hannah curled against her backseat.
The blanket moves slowly up and down for a few moments before I convince myself that she’ll be ok.
I close the door as softly as I can before turning towards the man on the ground.
The moment I got back to the arena parking lot, I damn near sprinted over to her trailer.
Her lights were off, but I pounded on her door for minutes anyway, calling out her name and endless apologies.
When it was obvious she wasn’t there, I pulled out my phone and out of habit clicked on her location.
What once felt like a way of keeping her safe felt more like an invasion of her privacy now.
I stood there like a fence post for what felt like hours debating my next move.
Letting out a string of curses, I flipped the phone over and tracked her little blue dot to the bar down the road.
I didn’t waste much time getting here and finding her on the dance floor with this asshole.
I watched them for a while. The smiles she gave him poured salt in my wounds, but I’ve never been one to tuck tail and run, so I made myself comfortable and watched them spin around the floor for a few songs.
It wasn’t until a song came on that had the floor coupling up that my hands clenched into fists at my side.
I watched in pure agony and rage as this man slid his hands all over my woman.
Deep down I knew she wouldn’t leave with him, no way could she not feel what was between us.
That was the only thought keeping me rooted to my spot instead of walking over and laying him on his ass.
It wasn’t until she stumbled off her stool that I knew something was wrong.
She hadn’t had one drink in the time I’d had my eyes on her.
Hannah also wasn’t new to late nights, that I knew first hand.
We’d spent countless nights over the past few months getting little sleep together, and she’d never acted as drained as she did tonight.
I kept my distance as I followed her and the two men outside.
My blood surged and my nails dug into my palms so hard I felt skin pop underneath them.
I waited until the moment he laid his hands on her, then I snapped.
Did I intend to kill the man? No, it wasn’t intentional.
Fucker lost his footing and landed wrong.
Call it what you may, but karma will always hunt you down.
The sound of tires skidding to a stop in front of Hannah's truck pulls me from my thoughts. The dead body at my feet coming back into focus. Owen slides out of his lifted truck just as I step around to meet him.
“I need your help.” I give him a stern look then step to the side, watching his eyes bulge when his gaze lands on the man lying dead behind me.
Brushing past me and kneeling down, he places two fingers against the man's neck. After a moment, he drops his head between his shoulders, then stands and pivots towards me. “Speak,” he demands, crossing his arms across his chest. Not knowing when someone will come our way, I give Owen the rundown on what happened tonight. He listens closely, cursing every now and then. He eyes me for a bit before they shift to the truck door I’ve been safeguarding.
“She in there now?” He motions to the cab when I finally take a breath.
My boots scuff over the rough ground before I lean my back against the tailgate, crossing my ankles over each other.
“Yeah,” I say on a sigh.
“She ok, do I need to check her out?” He takes a step forward but, I level him with a look that stops him short.
“Touch my woman and I’ll be burying two bodies on the ranch tonight,” I grit out between clenched teeth.
“Down boy,” he says with a devilish grin.
“I think they roofied her,” I mutter, running a hand down my face.
“Sounds like it,” Owen says, turning back around to eye the man laying in a pool of blood beneath us.
“You sure his friend isn’t gonna come out while we’re loading his dead friend in the back of my truck?
” I turn and look back at the door of the bar, then check my watch.
It’s been half an hour since I threw the first punch until this moment.
“He went inside with a group of girls. He’s probably waiting for this fucker to come back in.” I wish his friend would come outside, I have no problem taking the population down two numbers tonight.
“Ok, let’s get this asshole loaded in the bed.
” I watch a little awestruck as Owen quickly walks to his truck.
A moment later, he comes back with a tarp tucked under his arms. Tossing a pair of plastic gloves at me, he tugs his own pair over his hands with a snap of the material against his skin.
He looks at me with an asinine smile on his face.
“You’re unhinged,” I whisper as I shove my fingers into the gloves.
“Brothers who murder together stay together,” he says with a shrug. “Hell of a bachelor party, Dean. I’m honored.” He slaps a hand against his chest, pretending to faint.
“Crazy fucker.” Groaning at the effort it takes to roll this guy into the tarp, I give Owen a wink.
I watch the tarped up man disappear with a sick satisfaction as Owen slams the tailgate closed, the trifold top covering the tightly wrapped body from view. I’m still watching when Owen’s phone rings. He tugs his gloves off, folding them into each other before pulling his phone to his ear.
“Hey, yeah. My brother got sloshed at Calico, can you and Paulie pick up his truck and take it up to the ranch?”
His eyes flash to mine before he replies, “Yep, that brother.” His eyebrows jump at me a few times and I flip him the bird before turning to face him, putting my back to the man in the tarp.
I watch my brother, tipping my head to the side while I study the way he carries himself as he tucks his phone away and takes a step in my direction.
The way he holds himself is filled with confidence and self-assurance.
Like nothing in the world could knock him over.
I envy him for that. He stops short when he catches me staring.
“Shit, do I have some blood on me somewhere?” he asks quietly, lifting his boots to inspect the bottom of each one by one.
Smiling, I reach out and grip his shoulder. “Nah. Just wondering why after all these years you’re still as ugly as the day I left ya.” His face falls flat and he gives a humorous laugh before shaking me off him.
“Leave your keys on your tire, some of the ranch hands will be here in ten.” Then he turns his back to me, calling over his shoulder.
“It’s been a while, follow me and I’ll take you home.
” Shaking my head, I jog over to my truck and place my keys on the top of my driver's side tire, then make my way quickly back to Hannah’s truck.
Before I slide into the driver's seat, I watch Owen finish pouring the last bit of liquid out of a jug over the blood I left behind. As he screws the cap back on he walks over to the dirt that lines the parking lot and with the side of his boot kicks a pile into the mixture. He spends a minute rubbing the asphalt with the toe of his dusty boots before returning to his truck. He tosses the empty jug back in his EMS bag reaching inside and coming back out with a couple water bottles. He holds them in his hands and empties the water over the patch. I watch as the puddle that was thick with blood moments ago runs off into the dirt, looking like someone couldn’t hold their piss any longer.
While Owen climbs in his truck I turn to check on Hannah.
Her face is pale, but her breathing is steady, lips slightly parting with each exhale.
I grip the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles pop.
What would have happened if I didn’t get here when I did?
Thoughts of her perfect body being used in such a horrifying way makes me want to track down his friend and put him in the same hole as the man no doubt rolling around in the bed of my brother's truck with every turn.
No matter how long I stayed away, I could make this drive in my sleep.
Everything looks just as it did when I drove in the opposite direction five years ago.
The impending doom I thought I’d feel crossing over the cattle guard that signals the entrance onto the ranch never comes.
I slow as we pass under the Green Haven Ranch sign secured to two large wooden posts on either side of the drive.
It’s been years since I’ve seen those words, but they have never felt more true than they do at this moment.
Haven. I hope that Hannah wakes up in the morning and we can work everything out.
I hope she loves this place as much as I do.
But more than anything, I hope she gives me a second chance.
A couple hours later, the sky starts to materialize into hues of purple and orange as the rising sun pokes up behind the mountains.
Owen and I toss the last shovel of dirt over the freshly filled hole and collapse onto our backs.
We discarded our shirts long ago, the night air doing nothing to cool the sweat pouring over our backs while we dug a hole a solid ten feet deep.
Owen wanted to stop at six, but this fucker deserved a deeper grave than that, so he watched on as I flung pile after pile of soft black dirt over the edge.
Even after the long night, Owen still found his humor by letting me sit in the dark hole for a solid minute while he smiled down at me, threatening to leave me unless I professed my undying love for him.
I drew the line at admitting to him that he was, in his words, the more handsome Wilder brother .