Chapter 22
Sometime in the early morning, I’m wide awake. Full of bliss while Sadie’s bare ass is pressed against me, and there’s no better feeling than being beside her. Than being the man who gets to wake up next to her.
I should’ve trusted her yesterday. Shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions, letting my hurt and fear almost ruin our relationship.
But as much as I overreacted, I’m happy she knows the truth.
It’s a relief I don’t have to hide the pain anymore.
That I can be open and honest about the past. It’s something I’ve never had before.
Openness and trust.
I brush the hair from her back, softly, slowly, so I don’t wake her. Memorizing her freckles and the feel of her soft skin under my lazy hands. The feel of her perfect curves… but the minute my eyes land on the scars on her upper back, my entire world goes black.
Are these… burn marks?
Between her shoulder blades are permanent scars from a cigarette burned into her skin. And not just a couple, but so many that I feel like I’m going to be sick.
My hands tremble when I think of the way she flinched when my hand grazed her back in the bathroom, the way she described being with someone for a long time. Going somewhere deep inside her mind on our first date. The way she questioned me when she caught me smoking.
But if I’d known someone fucking tortured her…
I slip on a pair of jeans, debating on grabbing my gun from the barn and hunting down the man who did this. I’m not a violent man by any means, but I would gladly burn off his balls and make him eat it.
“Hey, are you okay?” She wakes, rising from the bed with the sheets wrapped around her, watching me pace around the room. Her doe eyes meet mine, and I instinctively fall on my knees in front of her.
“What’s wrong?” she asks.
My rough hand finds hers, holding it firm. Reminding her how safe she is with me. “Sadie, you know I would never hurt you.”
“I know,” she smiles, looking at me like I’m crazy.
“You could stab me, and I still wouldn’t hit back.”
“But I would never—” Her eyes search mine, flickering with anxiety. “Why are you saying all of this? Why are your hands shaking?”
I swallow, and it feels like acid in my throat. “I need you to tell me the name of the man who did this to you.”
“What?” she gasps.
My finger brushes her chin. “Tell me who gave you those scars, Sadie.” A name so I could destroy him.
“What?” Her chest heaves. “No,” water fills her eyes. The warmth in her expression turns cold. My mouth opens, but she cuts me off. “No,” she says again, shoving me aside. Leaving the sheet behind her as she runs into the bathroom naked, slamming the door.
My body braces the door between us. “Sadie, please—”
“Just leave me alone, Kit!” she cries, saying inaudible words as she continues to sob. “I don’t want to talk about it. Ever. I can’t—” her words cut off with her sobs.
My heart feels like it’s being torn apart. Like someone is crushing it in the palm of their hands, while I listen to her jagged breaths and sobs through the door.
There is no world in which I could leave her alone.
“Please, Sadie, let me in.” My voice is soft, steady, even though my insides are roaring.
“I can’t talk—I can’t,” she says over and over again.
“Then we won’t talk. Please, Sadie. Open the door.”
“No,” she cries. “No, leave me alone!”
“I can’t just—” A breath of hot air escapes my mouth. “Look, just let me hold you, okay? I’ll say nothing. Please just—please let me do that.”
A few moments pass before she cracks open the door. Sitting on the cold floor, curled into a ball.
My arms wrap around her, lifting her off the tiles. I carry her to bed and pull the blankets around us, cradling her small body in my lap. Letting her cry until she’s ready to stop. Repeatedly whispering in her hair that she’s safe, that I’ll never let anyone hurt her again.
A promise I intend to keep for as long as I draw breath.
With the morning light drifting in, wrapping the room in soft light, I’m not sure how long has passed. My clock is behind me, and I don’t dare move a muscle. She needs to feel safe, and I’ll do that.
For however long it takes.
“You should get that,” she murmurs against my chest.
My phone has been buzzing nonstop for at least half an hour now. I’m guessing the ranch is wondering where I am.
“They probably need you,” she continues.
“I know where I’m needed.” And right now, this is where I need to be.
She reaches for my phone on the bedside table. “You have twenty-five missed calls.”
“The ranch is probably on fire.”
“What?” Fear shines in her puffy brown eyes.
“I’m kidding,” I smile, earning me a smile back, and it’s everything. The most beautiful sight.
“You should go, Kit. I’m—I’m fine now. I should probably get moving too.” She rises from the bed, throwing on jeans and a hoodie. Tossing her hair into a ponytail.
After buttoning my flannel, I glance over at her. “Why don’t you come with me today?” I’m desperate to keep her in my line of sight. Who knows what’s waiting for me on the ranch, and I don’t want to spend the next eight hours or longer away from her.
“Come with you?”
I grab the ballcap she gave me, pulling it on my head. “Come with me, and I’ll wear this.”
She pauses, thinking for a moment, and then smiles.
Heavy snow falls from the grey sky as we ride side by side towards the main barn.
Hollers and whistles fill the air when we approach, signaling our arrival.
Lone Pine is on high alert, with guns slung around the shoulders of three men keeping their eyes on the horizon.
Two are taking up positions on the roof. Something terrible must’ve happened.
“Where the hell have you—oh,” Blake approaches me as my feet hit the ground, stopping his words when he notices Sadie. “Good morning, Sadie.”
“Good morning, B,” she murmurs back, giving him a small smile. As much as she can manage.
Blake nods to me, sighing deeply. “Around 300 head are missing.”
What? “How do 300 cows just go missing?”
Blake shrugs. “Must’ve happened late last night. When I got here this morning, the men were going off about it. I’ve sent teams out into the fields, searching for them.”
“Security picked up nothing?”
Blake solemnly shakes his head. “Nothing.”
There are hundreds of security cameras set up around Lone Pine. It’s hard to believe there’s no evidence of such a large number of cattle going missing… Who could’ve done this?
“Let’s do a perimeter check,” I say.
A horse galloping at speed towards us snaps my attention. “I’ll join,” Cole tips his hat. “We ride south.” He spares me a glance before he gallops away, taking the lead.
He really shouldn’t be out today, considering how cold it is, but he’s gone before I can question him.
“Nice hat,” Blake smiles, flicking it as he walks by.
“Thanks,” I smile back.
We ride out, galloping the fence line, looking for clues. Leaving fresh powder in our wake. Thick snow continues to fall, hiding any tracks that might’ve been left behind, because of course, the weather isn’t on our side. The storm overhead is low, covering the mountains in the distance.
Sadie stays close to my side. Caramel hair covered in snow-flakes as she keeps an eye on the horizon. “We’ll find them,” she assures me.
But four hours later, we’re no closer to finding them or anything that might lead to what happened. It’s like they’ve just disappeared.
We stop to gather our bearings when we run into Ryker and Hudson, galloping in from the West.
“Any luck?” I ask them.
“This snowstorm is making it ridiculous to see,” Ryker complains. “I can’t see shit.”
It’s the middle of the afternoon, but with the big winter storm rolling in, it’s getting darker and darker, looking more hopeless as time rolls on. Soon, this will be unsafe for everyone involved. “You two head back, have the security team set up a perimeter. We’ll keep looking.”
Ryker and Hudson tip their hats, taking off towards the ranch.
“Why don’t you and Blake head back, too?” I say to Cole.
“Kit!” Sadie calls out. “I found something.”
We all dismount, heading towards Sadie. She points to a fenceline that’s been cut. Almost hidden between the pines.
“Goddamnit,” I mutter, grabbing the high-tensile wire.
“And over there,” she points to a few fallen trees in the distance, making a clearing to the road. “They must’ve cut through that way.”
Straight into Aspen Hollow, where there would be at least five B-double trucks stocked full of cattle branded with our signature. There’s no way that someone didn’t notice them.
Whoever did this is a damn fool.
“Here,” Blake hands me a pair of pliers to fix the fenceline. My hands get to work, closing it off so nothing else gets through.
“Well, they knew what they were doing,” Cole mutters, getting down on his knees next to me in the snow.
“Except they weren’t very smart.” I connect another wire. “We should electrify this. Teach those bastards to try this again.” Electrify it and set up cameras. It would be some good entertainment in the Mess Hall.
Cole nods. “That’s a great idea.”
“I’m sorry, this is a goddamn nightmare.”
Cole chuckles, a raspy laugh. “You’re handling it well.” I huff a laugh, not believing him. “I would’ve lost my shit by now.”
My uncle is generally a steady man, but I do recall the few times I’ve seen him “lose his shit” in the past. However, the only arguments I’ve ever seen between Cole and Annie were about the ranch.
Because of how much it meant to him. “Well, why aren’t you now?
” Since my promotion, all that’s been happening is chaos.
He had every right to be losing his shit.
“Age is a funny thing. Things that would’ve set me off when I was younger no longer bother me. After fifty years of working on a ranch, you learn to just take the punches. Roll with it, as the young ones say.” He pauses. “And most importantly,” his eyes meet mine, “I trust you.”
A wall of warmth fills me.