“Do whatever you want,” she said, not even looking at me while she shoved her feet into her boots.
“Going somewhere?” I grabbed one of my boots, preparing to go with her.
“Out,” she said simply.
Seeing me shoving my feet into boots, she straightened up, looking me in the eyes. My breath caught. There was so much pain and sadness there.
“Please, don’t come with me,” she pleaded.
“Lina—”
“Please.” Herpleasebroke my heart. “Christian and Kale are meeting me. I’ll be fine. I won’t leave my drink unattended for one second. I promise.”
It was the most she’d said to me in several days. I didn’t want to dampen her spirit and tell her no. I wanted to give her everything she needed. And if she needed this right now to help her blow off some steam, I had to let her go … even if it killed me … even if it felt like every muscle was being torn from my body to let her go without me.
I gave her a nod. “Text me if you need me to come get you.”
She gave me a small, sad smile, and it was the biggest punch in the gut. “Thank you,” she said before leaving me behind in the trailer.
I tried not to worry,stretched out on the shitty kitchenette booth bed. I lay there, my hands behind my head, staring at the ceiling and listening to every sound around our camp. Every voice sounded familiar. Every crack of wood sounded like someone sneaking around in the dark. Every horse whinny sounded like an alarm that someone wasn’t where they were supposed to be. I had my bag right beside me, just in case I needed to retrieve my .38 if we had an unwanted guest.
My ears strained to hear Lina’s boots running up the stairs. She didn’t go anywhere slowly. She went mach speed, just like Mushu. I didn’t want to be the one who slowed her down. She was young and vivacious. Anyone who locked her down would be lucky, but it didn’t need to be now. It didn’t need to be me. Not unless she wanted it—trulywanted it. I wasn’t about to push her into anything she didn’t want to do. I would love her but leave her wild. She would always be my wild girl.
But goddammit, I was losing patience. My heart was bleeding in my chest, and I needed to stanch it. Otherwise, I was going to bleed out.
I needed her to put me out of my misery.
I was so on edge. Jude called me tonight after Lina left, telling me that they were going to go after some lost cattle and didn’t know how long they’d be gone. Marshall and Jace were moving the herd to rented pasture and would remain on watch duty. He assured me Penn was with Romy, but they were going to be the only ones on the ranch for a little bit. Hazel had turned herself over yesterday to serve her sentence, and now it was just Romy with two kids. I didn’t like the sound of that.
I needed to talk to Lina about leaving first thing in the morning.
Junior was up to something. I felt it.
Unable to lay there, I threw the blanket off, shoved my legs into pants, and shrugged on a shirt. I pulled on my boots and picked up my wallet, keys, and cell phone.
I checked my phone and sent Lina a text.
Me
Your time’s up, sweetheart.
I wanted to give her all the time in the world to process and make a decision about us, but time didn’t feel like it was on our side anymore. Not when I could feel something ominous was brewing, like a shift in the wind. I needed to find out Junior’s whereabouts, and unfortunately, there was only one person who could tell me.
Me
Did Junior ever show back up after I was there the other night? Is your friend OK?
Elise
Friend’s fine. You checking up on me now, husband?
Okay, bad idea to text her. She must be on one.
Me
Nevermind. Forget I asked.
Elise
