“It’s not scary!” I assure him, jogging to where the ball bounces across the paddock and give it a gentle kick, “See!”
“Elena!” Chase yells from behind the fence.
“It’s fine!” I call back, but Ralph doesn’t seem to like the ball.
I pick up the ball again and bounce it, tossing it toward him. It hits him in the shoulder, and he jumps back before he pauses, watching the giant purple ball bounce and for a few long seconds, my heart pounds as I look between Ralph and the fence. He’s a big sweetie,really, but hecansquash me in a second.
But then he lunges for it, sending it flying across the paddock and, like the giant field puppy he is, runs after it.
“See!” I laugh loudly, making my way back tothe fence so I can take a seat on the top.
“And if he didn’t like it?” Chase sighs, “What then?”
I shrug. “I’m alive in the momentkind of girl.”
“You don’t say. Consequences be damned.”
Clicking my fingers, I reply, “Exactly.”
But he clearly disapproves if the shake of his head is anything to go by.
Ralph continues to play with the ball, hitting it and then chasing it when it goes flying, and I can’t fucking wait to rub it in Knox’s face. Ralph is a big old baby and needs to be treated as such.
Chase chuckles at my side. “I can see why Knox is gone for you.”
I glance at him, “What?”
“Wild,” He says, “Free. You are everything he used to be.”
“What do you mean?” I press.
“Before the whole shitshow,” He says, “With Rossi and the business, Knox pushed every boundary. He rode the bulls, got in the pen. He played, and he worked, but he was happy, you know? Then Rossi took it all, and his daddy died, and he changed.”
“We all have to grow up,” I swallow.
Chase clearly doesn’t know exactlywhoI am and how much I had to do with this downfall. Imay not have pulled the trigger, but my family is the reason Rossi got so much power in the first place.
“It’s more than that,” Chase sighs, leaning his arms on the fence to watch Ralph, the two thousand plus pound bull, playing with the big purple yoga ball. “I don’t know. He needs some light, Elena. He sacrificed an awful lot for this ranch and the people here; he deserves something good. Maybe that’s you.”
“We’re just fucking,” I play it off, swallowing thickly.
He laughs, “Sure.”
“This place will be what it used to be,” I say to Chase, watching Ralph play with the ball. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“One day,” Chase nods, “I really fucking hope so, sweetness.”
I open my mouth to speak, but a growling starts up behind me, and a glance back shows Judge turning toward the drive, his hackles raised.
“What is it?” Chase asks, following Judge’s line of sight.
The dog stands, hackles up down the entire length of his spine, and begins to bark just as the front end of a blacked out SUV comes into view. It’s sleek and modern, the black paint gleaming in the mid-afternoon sun.
“Run,” I choke out, “Chase! Run!”
“What!?”
I hop the fence and start to run for the house.
