Chapter 11 Zach #2
Matt rubbed a hand over the short scruff of his jaw. “I’m not worried about Gage. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, but I expect peace here.”
Zach pressed his lips together, but he managed a nod. Peace was imaginary. It was a trick of the mind that simple people allowed to take over until the next time reality hit them between the eyes.
Matt jerked his head toward the stables. “Let’s meet the crew.”
The “crew” turned out to be horses. Zach got the rundown on three massive beasts. Apparently, these animals were trained to herd cattle.
Travis walked up as the staff meeting came to a close. Sweat was already beading on his forehead, and a few twigs of hay stuck to the front of his flannel shirt. “We need to finish the fence on the south pasture today.”
Matt snapped his fingers. “I forgot all about that. You two get started. I’ll meet you after lunch. The vet is on her way to look at Darcy.”
Travis stalked toward the truck. Without much choice, Zach followed.
They stopped at a weathered barn, and Travis hooked a trailer stacked with railroad crossties to the truck while Zach loaded an auger in the bed.
A few minutes later, they were parked by the edge of a clearing near a line of fence posts sticking out of the ground.
“Have you ever used one of these?” Travis said, hefting the auger.
Zach took it from him and inspected the controls. “It looks self-explanatory.”
“Eight feet apart,” Travis said as he pulled something out of the back seat that had a handle on one end of a stick and a small wheel at the other. “Use this to measure the distance.”
Searing irritation fueled Zach through the first few hours, but all of the flames settled after lunch. Well, if you could call a pack of peanut butter crackers and beef jerky lunch. It didn’t do much to help the gnawing in his stomach.
The sun settled behind billowing clouds in the afternoon, and the monotony of managing the auger had the last bit of Zach’s energy seeping out with the sweat dripping down his back.
Even pushing railroad ties into holes alongside Travis lost its edge, eventually.
At least the guy had stopped lecturing. If Zach heard the word, “No” followed by another restriction, he might walk back to Blackwater.
When the sun went down, Travis tossed the tools into the bed of the truck. “Let’s go.”
They were the first words Zach had heard in hours, and he had no complaints. His shoulders and back would be sore tomorrow, but he hadn’t wanted to strangle Travis since lunch.
The low croon of the radio filled the cab as soon as Travis started the truck, and it was the only sound the entire drive back to Blackwater.
The grind and click of shifting gears jerked Zach out of a shallow slumber. A sharp, cold spot radiated on his temple where he’d fallen asleep against the window.
“I just want to say one more thing,” Travis said.
“There’s more?” Zach asked, straightening and stretching his back. “Can’t we resume class tomorrow?”
“You sound like a child,” Travis snapped. “All you do is complain.”
“All you do is lecture. I haven’t done anything yet.”
Travis scoffed. “Yet. That’s the problem. If you hurt Lauren, I’ll hurt you.”
Zach gripped the door handle with the force of a vise. “Why is everyone worried about Lauren?”
It was a stupid question. Zach knew exactly why he was on everyone’s radar where Lauren was concerned. He didn’t care what people thought. Lauren knew he wouldn’t hurt her, and that was all that mattered.
“Because everybody loves her. She didn’t deserve what happened to her, and she doesn’t deserve to get walked all over.”
Of course everybody loved her. Zach knew she was different the moment he saw her face in the light of day. He’d filled her life with terror, and she looked at him like he was a sad puppy.
But he wasn’t a puppy. He was a monster, and she was just too stupid to realize it.
“I apologized, but that’s between me and Lauren.”
“That’s not all I’m talking about. She’s had it rough since the day she was born.”
“She can join the club! Lots of people have tough lives!” Zach shouted.
The little hints Lauren had given him about her life were like breadcrumbs—enough to entice hunger, but not enough to satisfy.
He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t interested.
He’d always assumed her childhood was the stuff of fairytales, and something inside him rolled at the realization that she’d once been a scared and defenseless kid.
Travis’s words were slow, and each word packed a punch. “But she didn’t turn out like you, did she? She’s been subjected to pain like you wouldn’t know, but she still thinks everyone deserves a chance. Even you.”
The last shred of energy in Zach’s body seeped out. He didn’t have the will to argue. They were just talking in circles. Zach didn’t understand Lauren, and Travis still didn’t understand Zach. It would be the same tomorrow and the next day too.
“I won’t hurt her.” There. The words would have to do because it was the only thing Zach had. No evidence. No oath. No written contract. Travis would have to take it or leave it.
Travis’s jaw shifted in the shadows as he processed Zach’s words. “One bruise, and I’m coming after you.”
“Well, if there’s a bruise on her, I’ll be joining in the search because it won’t be from me.”
With that, Zach shoved the door open. He was two seconds away from rearranging Travis’s face, and he wasn’t in the mood to explain the assault to his parole officer.
Lauren was the only one who was safe from him. He might not lay a hand on her, but he’d be bailing this Brady Bunch perfect life she was forcing him into as soon as he saw a way out.
The flimsy door rattled on its hinges as he jerked the front door closed behind him. He opened and slammed half the cupboards shut before he realized he was searching for the bottle of whiskey he didn’t have.
The only thing he knew how to do was destroy, and he didn’t want to be around Lauren when he did it again.