“Dakota’s a good mare. That Appaloosa Freckles spooks easy. Watch out for her.”
Derek was already carrying a saddle from the tack room. “You almost ready?”
I grinned back. “I never took you for a cowboy.”
“I’ve been around a few horses.”
Minutes later, we walked the tall, dark-brown mares out, and I was glad I’d worn jeans. Looked like we were fast-tracking this recovery operation.
“Cabin’s due west.” I threw my leg over Dakota’s back, and gave the reins a gentle flick. We’d be there in ten minutes at an easy gallop.
* * *
Stuart
Sitting out by the small campfire I’d built, I watched the sky gradually turn from blue to burning orange, pink and amber, stretching for miles away from me. It was beautiful, and it signaled the start of the worst. The days were hard, but the nights were unbearable.
I’d been here a week, and I couldn’t tell if anything had changed. Two years of escaping the pain and the nightmares had left me with an opium addiction the size of that big sky, but this was where I’d see if I could climb out of the shit hole I’d dug. It was the only place outside the desert I loved.
The fire popped, and I stared at the orange flames licking around the edges of the wood the way the first of the night’s tremors licked at the edges of my legs. They’d moved from my hands to my lower extremities, and I wanted to believe it meant they were on the way out. Next stop my feet, then gone. At the same time, I remembered reading about restless legs and withdrawals. I was most likely holding onto false hop
e.
I’d drunk the last of the whiskey. Tonight it would just be the campfire and me facing the monster. The stars, my horse Ranger, and getting through this night. I’d have been lying if I’d said I wasn’t nervous. Darkness growing, the sound of hoof beats was not what I expected to hear.
Looking up, I saw Cheyenne and Dakota headed across the flat landscape in my direction. I couldn’t make out who was riding them, but considering I was AWOL and my slip in Bayville, I was pretty sure I could guess. Damn females and their big mouths.
The horses slowed as they got closer. One dropped back, but the other kept coming. A few paces more, and I recognized Derek pulling up at the side of the cabin. He swung a leg off, dropped the reins, and walked straight to where I sat watching him. His pace was either determined or angry. Or both.
Once he’d reached the fire, he stood for a moment and simply looked at me. His brow clutched, and I could tell he was sizing up the situation, trying to decide where to begin. I didn’t feel like waiting.
“You’re a pretty good rider.” It was a less adversarial greeting than my first choice, the obvious, What the hell are you doing here?
“My mom thought it was a good skill for kids to learn.” He continued standing, watching me from the other side of the orange glow until finally, after a few long moments, he spoke again. “Are you sick?”
My eyes went to the fire, and I thought about his question. I was pretty sick, but not in the way he meant. “No.”
The flames danced hypnotically on the wood, but instead of soothing, they were the soundtrack of my wrecked nerves—crackling and spreading fever from the middle of my back across my shoulders, down and up my injured spine. I tried rubbing my face, but it only made the pain worse. I wanted to be alone.
“You should head on back to the ranch,” I said. “Cabin’s only got one bed.”
He didn’t move. “You planning to stay out here all night?”
“I don’t know.” Truth was, I didn’t know what to expect from this night. I’d considered taking Ranger and riding until we ran out of ground to cover, but my back wouldn’t tolerate riding that long. Dammit.
“We’ll just take it as it comes, then. Won’t be the first night we’ve had to share close quarters.”
I started to argue, but a cramp seized my insides. I tried to play it off, but it grew harder. I had to pull a knee up and brace myself until it passed. My eyes squinted shut, and I pressed my fingers against them holding on as hard as I could to avoid yelling. Fuck, if I was alone, I could yell as loud as I needed.
Hold on.
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