Grabbing my hat from the hook, I storm out behind the deputy, watching as he takes himself back to his cruiser and leaves, a cloud of dust pluming behind his tires. He’s a new face in the department. It had given me a false sense of hope to have fresh eyes on it, but Deputy Wright is just like the rest of them. This will never end. He’s going to keep getting away with this, and someone is going to get hurt.
It’s inevitable.
And I know exactly who it’s going to be caught in that crossfire.
Placing my hat on my head, I turn toward the stables, ignoring my workers who call out to me and find Pippin in her stall at the end. She shoves her pretty head over the door, dark eyes watching me advance. The moment I’m within reach, she’s leaning toward me, placing her forehead against mine and shoving the hat off my head. We’re both still healing from the accident, and while my ribs and the bruising have eased, her anxiety has not. I stroke a hand down the side of her face, letting her feel me for a moment before I unlock the door and gear her up for a ride.
She follows me out of the barn, and once we’re clear, I mount her, giving her the command to go. Niamh is still sleeping, and she’s safe here. I’ve given orders for a couple of workers to stay close to the house and to keep an eye out, and they all know to notify me or Silas if they see anything suspicious.
Hooves clip against the hard ground as I head toward the trees at the base of the mountains, letting Pippin take whatever route she chooses. I haven’t ridden much since I was thrown off, but I need it today. If I don’t, I fear I’ll end up across the road at that ranch whereheis. Nothing has happened since Niamh’s accident over a week ago, but that’s what he does. He hits and retreats, waits until you feel safe before striking again. It’s a mind game, but I can’t deny that it works. I am on edge and have been for what feels like my entire life.
Pippin makes a chuffing sound as she picks up on the tension in me, her head throwing back just a touch.
“I’m good,” I assure her with a pat to the side of her neck. She snorts in response but continues, heading the way we always go, remembering the path into the treeswhere we spend so much time. It’s the same trail that led me toher.
I should let her go.
Should and can, however, are two very different things. I physically cannot, she is air, a drug in my system I cannot go without. It’s so fucking selfish, but I can’t let go.
It’s an obsession with no cure.
For an hour, Pippin follows whatever trail she finds, veering off the usual path before coming back around, the woods around us quiet save for the birds in the canopy or the odd squirrel that scurries across the path ahead of us. Eventually though, Pippin takes us to our favorite spot, coming to a stop at the pool’s edge while the falls roar as they come over the rock face.
Climbing down from Pippin, I guide her to the water to get a drink and then secure her to a post, leaving her to graze as I walk along the pool’s edge, the water lapping at the gritty sand beneath my boots.
“You look tense, cowboy.” The words are shouted from above, and when I snap my head up, I find Niamh sitting on the rocks beside the falls, about 20 feet up and only in a bright pink bikini. My mouth damn near waters at the sight of her, the way her dark hair is braided and pulled over one shoulder. The stitches were removed from her head yesterday, and the wound itself is healing nicely, though there will be a small scar.
She kicks her legs where they dangle over the rocks, her pretty mouth pulled up into a smirk. “Get down from there, sweetheart.” I yell back.
“I will,” She tells me. “Will today be the day I get you to come for a swim with me?”
“Not on your life,” I chuckle. “Now come down.”
It’s not unsafe up there necessarily, but all it would take was a slight slip and she’d fall right off the edge. Seeing her injured once was enough to last me a lifetime.
“You sure you don’t want to come for a swim?” She pushes to her feet, standing entirely too close to the edge for my liking.
“Niamh,” I warn her, already moving around the pool, toward the incline to take me to where she is.
“You need to live a little, cowboy.”
“Do not —”
She jumps.
I watch as her body falls fast, hitting the water within a blink, and she goes under, disappearing from view. My breath catches in my throat as I wait for her to resurface, but several seconds pass and she doesn’t come back up, the water where she landed smoothing out.
“Niamh!” I yell, but I’m already shoving the boots from my feet before I jump in after her fully clothed. I slice through the water as quickly as I can possibly move until I reach the spot she went under. The water isn’t clear enough to see beneath, so I dive under, searching for that bright pink bikini, but I see nothing but the bottom of the pool.
No. No.
Returning to the surface for air, I take a deep breath and move to go back down but arms come around my shoulders, legs around my waist as Niamh attaches herself to the back of me, pushing us both under for a moment until I can get us steady enough to stay above water.
“Hey,” She breathes at my ear, “You came in after all.”
“You little brat.” I turn my head to look at her, my heart still pumping wildly with adrenaline.
“What?” She replies innocently. “You told me to get down.”
