Chapter 40 | Caleb
Caleb
Back in the barn, we were feeding and brushing the horses when Rae’s phone rang.
She looked at the screen and then placed the phone on the hay bale next to her.
Her face did not show any fear or frustration, so I was not concerned.
We hadn’t heard from Ethan in several days, so I expected every call or text to be one from him at this point.
I watched her with Bandit. He trusted me enough to let me take care of him, but he trusted her like he had trusted my mom.
My mom and Bandit had been inseparable, even for the short time they were together after she brought him home.
Bandit’s personality came to life again with Rae here, and she let her guard down more when she was around him, too.
I was about to turn back and continue feeding the last of the other horses when I saw Rae step towards Bandit’s chest to brush him.
Bandit lowered his head towards Rae’s shoulder, wrapping his neck around her gently.
I heard a giggle spill out of Rae as she leaned into Bandit, wrapping her arms around him, before whispering something to him I couldn’t hear.
While watching her move around the barn, I couldn’t help but let my mind wander.
I had been trying to hold back everything I felt for her.
Every thought I had that would pull me in her direction, I tried to hold back because she needed time to heal, and I wanted to give her that time and space.
I tried. No matter what, no matter how many times I tried to tell myself to stop thinking about her like that, I couldn’t.
Having her back in town, within reach, changed everything.
I never felt bad about loving her. I had loved her since I met her.
What I felt guilty for was when my thoughts had drifted too far, imagining things I shouldn’t have.
They were thoughts that went beyond protecting her.
She had been through enough, and the last thing I had wanted was to make her feel like I was pushing too hard, or at all.
Now, as I watched her drift through the barn, a faint glow clinging to her skin, I saw something different in her. Everything changed tonight. She felt safe, at ease. For the first time, I let myself watch her and my mind wandered.
I watched as she moved to say goodnight to Bandit and lock up his stall.
Her curves were everything. Every part of her body that Ethan had made her hate, I found addicting.
I couldn’t get enough of her, not just every beautiful inch of her, but the way she was finally starting to see herself the way I always had.
I finished up what I was doing and moved towards her.
The sun had disappeared for the day and storm clouds were moving in, leaving the barn dimly lit by the moonlight and the lanterns we had near us.
Rae briefly turned towards me, smiling, and the happiness on her face made my knees weak.
I walked up next to her to put the brush I had been using in its place and wrapped my arms around her.
She leaned her head back onto my shoulder to look at me, and I kissed her cheek.
My arms were around her waist, and I gave her a small squeeze which caused her to giggle.
Gosh, that sound would be my undoing. I would do anything just to hear her laugh and see her smile.
Still wrapped in my arms, she turned enough to kiss me and lifted her hand to my face, her fingers tracing the line of my beard. With her arm raised, her shirt lifted a bit, and I ran the tips of my fingers along her skin. She didn’t pull away or even tug her shirt back down.
Gosh, I love her. The desire to tell her how I felt was strong, but would it be too soon? Would she think it was because of what we’d just done and nothing else?
“Rae, Sunshine, I want to tell...” I decided to take a chance and tell her how I felt. If she didn’t feel the same way yet, I would be okay with that, because my feelings had never changed. I tried, but her phone ringing again interrupted my words.
Rae glanced at the screen and looked confused. “My parents landline.” She showed me the screen and the look of confusion on her face echoed how I felt. They were not due home for another few weeks.
“Maybe they came home early since you're home?” I shrugged, hoping I could hide my nerves about her possibly leaving if her parents came home. I never wanted her to leave.
Her eyes widened and a look of excitement crossed her face at the thought of possibly seeing her parents. It had been a while since she’d seen them since Ethan had not let her visit. She put the phone on speakerphone so I could say hi with her.
“Mom? Dad?”
A voice that sent chills throughout my entire body echoed throughout the barn. “Wouldn't that be nice if it was them? Where are you, Rae? I miss you.”
I had only heard his voice once before but based on the fact that Rae's normally ivory skin was now ghostly, I knew who the voice belonged to.
I glanced down at my phone and saw no camera notifications from anywhere outside her parents' house. I tried switching to the live camera feed, but all I got in return was an error message. That bastard. I didn’t know how he managed to disconnect the cameras, but I had to get the cops en route.
Rae hadn’t moved yet, hadn’t said a word. The barn was eerily quiet. I had only removed one of my arms from her waist to grab my phone, and she was digging her fingers into my other arm. I could feel her body shaking. I had to take over and snap her out of this. I couldn’t let him get to her again.
“Hey, asshole, what are you wanting from her? She doesn't want to be with you anymore.”
I put her phone on mute and let go of her only so I could look at her eyes. She was so scared, and my heart broke for her. I touched her cheek gently so I could try and bring her back to me.
She blinked and somewhat focused on me. “Caleb...”
Ethan was talking in the background, saying something about this all being her fault, like he always did. I was listening as much as I could, but I had to get Rae to help.
“You think anyone is going to believe anything you say, bitch?” Rae flinched at Ethan’s words.
“I know, baby. Take my phone and go call 911. Tell them everything—and to rush to your parents' address.” She immediately came back to me, her gaze locked on mine. She took the phone and walked just outside the barn before dialing.
She was obviously shaken, but so strong. It made me love her even more.
“He doesn’t love you like I do, Rae. I mean, you’re not perfect. We can fix that if you come home.” Ethan continued spouting lies I was glad Rae couldn’t hear.
I waited to see that she was talking to a dispatcher before turning her phone off mute so I could resume talking to Ethan. “Why don't you leave her alone?”
“She's mine. Not yours. You stole her from me.”
Knowing I had to keep him talking, I switched to cop mode just as Rae walked back in with my phone.
I put a finger to my lips, a silent shush to let her know I had it under control.
She nodded and walked over to me. To my surprise, she wrapped her arms around me and buried her head in my chest. She clung to me like she was going to fall over if she let go.
I started recording the call with my phone. “Why do you think that I stole her from you?”
Not caring about listening to his answer, especially since I was recording the call, I muted the phone and turned to Rae.
“They said they are on the way. I told them to go in and get him when they got there.” Her voice was so strong despite how I knew she felt.
“...I was good to you, Rae. He may have stolen you from me, but you’ll always be mine.” I caught the tail end of what Ethan was saying, enough information that I could reply.
“No. You hurt her and she ran. Rae is her own person. She doesn't belong to anyone, so she's not something that can be stolen.”
He laughed an evil sounding laugh, and tears started to form in Rae’s eyes. I pulled her closer, even though our bodies were already as close as possible, and I kissed her temple.
“I'm going to find her just like I found her parents’ address, which was basically dropped in my lap.”
“How did you find it? Online? Those records are not always accurate.” I knew you could find out pretty much anything online nowadays, but I had hoped her parents’ last name being different than hers would have thrown him off.
“No. Even better. Her mom sent her a postcard, from their vacation, to our address. Probably didn't know the little bitch ran away. She put the return address on it—their address.”
Rae whimpered and started to pull away from me as tears fell fast. I tightened my grip around her only enough so she wouldn’t pull away. “I’ve got you,” I whispered in her ear.
“Listen, Ethan. You need to stop while you're ahead. You think she’s yours, but she’s not.
You’ve assaulted and abused her, and now stalked her.
Those things, separately, are not things you can come back from.
If you think I would let you anywhere near her, even after doing just one of those things, think again. ”
His voice turned calm. A little too calm. “I gotta go before your buddies come inside, Deputy Walker.”
The line didn't go dead. We heard the clatter of the phone being dropped and within the next minute, my squad announced themselves as they rushed into the house. They called out as they cleared the rooms. Ethan had vanished.
My Sergeant called me, and I answered after the first ring. “Let me guess, he got away.”
My Sergeant spoke to me, stating facts about how they think he got inside the house and that Ethan damaged the cameras somehow.
I saw the fear in Rae’s eyes and turned the phone off speaker so only I could hear it.
She buried her head in my chest more, and I wished I could take away all the pain she must be feeling right now.
My Sergeant told me that they were calling the crime scene unit out to take photos, try and pull prints, and take anything into evidence if they found anything else.
Before we hung up, I made sure to thank him for allowing me to take the time off, especially without any warning time.
He reminded me of something he’d told anyone who had requested time off for family matters, and that was that if you cannot take care of yourself and your family, you can’t be fully present to take care of the community we serve.
I thanked him once again, and we ended the call.
Rae pushed hard to get out of my arms, and even though I didn’t want to, I let her go. If she needed a bit of breathing room, I would give it to her.
I set down the phone and held out my hand to her. “Come here, honey.”
She shook her head, looking at the ground, her arms wrapped around her waist. I walked over to her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She was shaking violently, and she felt cold.
“Hey, you're safe. I'm going to call your parents and let them know not to come home right away if they don't have to. I'll let them know you're safe and what's going on.”
“I don't want them to know about—”
Rolling thunder sounded, low and angry.
“Don't worry, if you want to tell them, you can. I'm only telling them what's necessary. But let's get inside the house first before the rain starts.”
She nodded, and I went to lock up the last of the horse stalls before ushering her out of the barn. The thunder cracked again and lightning lit up the sky.
I locked up the barn, only letting go of Rae for as long as I had to, and then we quickly ran towards the house as the moon disappeared behind the clouds. The lightning streaked across the sky again, seeming angrier, as if the weather knew of the shift in our moods.