14. Sadie
SADIE
For the first time all morning...
The ranch was quiet.
Mostly.
One of the boys had accidentally backed the feed trailer into a fence.
Again.
But compared to earlier?
That barely qualified as a disaster.
I sat on the porch steps with a glass of sweet tea.
Watching Beast.
He stood near the corral with the ranch hands.
Arms crossed.
Black T-shirt stretched across shoulders that looked capable of carrying the entire ranch if necessary.
The boys were listening.
Actually listening.
A miracle.
I wasn't sure how he'd done it.
But somehow Beast had managed to get three teenage boys working without starting a riot.
The youngest pointed toward a tractor.
Beast said something.
The kid's face immediately fell.
I smiled.
Manure duty.
Again.
Justice was alive and well.
A few minutes later Beast walked toward the porch.
A bottle of water in one hand.
Dust on his boots.
Sunlight across his face.
And for one ridiculous second...
I forgot how to breathe.
Which was embarrassing.
Considering I was a grown woman.
"Everything under control?" I asked.
"No."
I laughed.
"Good answer."
He sat beside me.
Close enough for my shoulder to brush his.
Neither of us moved away.
The silence felt easy.
Comfortable.
Dangerous.
Because I was starting to like it.
Way too much.
Then Beast spoke.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
I already knew what he meant.
"About Gerald?"
He nodded.
I stared across the pasture.
"He wasn't always like that."
The words came quietly.
"He started small."
Beast didn't interrupt.
Just listened.
"The comments."
I swallowed.
"The jealousy."
Another pause.
"Then the anger."
The memory left a bad taste in my mouth.
"He never liked hearing the word no."
Beside me, Beast went very still.
The dangerous kind of still.
The Ranger kind.
The kind that usually came before violence.
"Did he ever hit you?"
The question hung between us.
I hesitated.
Too long.
Beast's jaw tightened.
And that was answer enough.
The silence afterward felt heavier than the summer heat.
Finally, he spoke.
Softly.
"He's not coming near you again."
Something in my chest squeezed.
Because I believed him.
Completely.
And that scared me almost as much as Gerald did.
Then one of the boys came running from the barn.
Fast.
Too fast.
"Sadie!"
I stood immediately.
The kid looked pale.
Out of breath.
"What happened?"
He held up something in his hands.
A photograph.
My stomach dropped.
Because I recognized it instantly.
It was an old picture.
One Gerald had taken years ago.
Back when we were together.
Across the front someone had written three words in black marker.
YOU BELONG TO ME
The ranch suddenly felt a whole lot less safe.