Abigail
I was used to hearing taunts and jeers. I was used to being teased. Hurt. I’d built up a wall around my heart to protect it from the cruelty to which I was accustomed. But I was surprised at how quickly Tucker and Gabe had torn that wall down, had made me think my scar meant nothing. Now, knowing how they truly felt about me hurt more than all the harsh words of the past. Combined. But I knew how to rebuild the walls. I had to do it to leave Bridgewater behind. I couldn’t survive with the pain in my heart, and I couldn’t get away without hiding my upset.
I needed a horse; I couldn’t walk to Butte. But I couldn’t get one from the stable. There was no way I was returning to where Gabe and Tucker were. I found Ann in the vegetable garden, pulling weeds. It was quite large, big enough to supply the ranch with food for the summer as well as enough to can for meals throughout the long winter. She smiled at me from beneath her straw hat.
“What’s the matter?” she asked, standing and coming my way.
I took a deep breath and pasted on a smile. Either she was very perceptive or I wasn’t as good at hiding my feelings as I used to be. Two days with Tucker and Gabe and I’d lost my touch. “I’m just tired. You can imagine, I’ve been well occupied.”
She grinned then and adjusted her hat. She hadn’t been in the kitchen with the others to hear that conversation. “Yes. I can imagine. They aren’t too hard on you, are they? I know Emma’s men are quite dominant and, while she finds pleasure under their stern commands, I doubt you do. Tucker and Gabe are being… gentle?”
I should have blushed, but I was too upset. “I won’t be sitting comfortably,” I admitted. It was a slight exaggeration but the truth nonetheless.
She didn’t think the answer was abnormal. Between hers and the others, I’d gotten the impression sitting comfortably was not something the ladies of Bridgewater often felt.
“I’m almost finished. Would you like to walk with me back to my house? We can chat there out of the sun.”
I shook my head. “No, thank you. I was… um, wondering. May I borrow your horse?” I pointed to the animal tethered in the shade of a large cottonwood tree. “I need to return to my brother’s to collect a few things.”
Her eyebrows went up beneath her hat. “Your men will let you go alone?”
I gave a little shrug. “They are occupied in the stable with a man who seems to want to buy a horse I will only be gone for the day. I am quite safe riding to my brother’s from here.”
“You just said you wouldn’t be sitting comfortably. Why would you wish to ride a horse?”
I wished she wasn’t so astute. I cocked my head. “What they’ve done so far was all in practice,” I admitted. “I’m sure you understand. I want to go while they are busy as they have… plans for me tonight.” I bit my lip. “I think tomorrow I will be even more indisposed.”
I could only imagine how my bottom would feel after Tucker and Gabe fucked it. Although my pussy hadn’t been sore losing my virginity, I was definitely tender. But, there, I would definitely be sore. It didn’t matter now. Neither would be fucking me… in any hole.
Ann looked away. “Yes, I understand.”
I was sure she did. If Tucker and Gabe wanted to claim my bottom, surely all of the other women had had the same done to them. It seemed taking their bride at the same time was the ultimate act of claiming for a Bridgewater man.
“Thank you,” I murmured, walking toward the horse. I felt poorly deceiving her, lying to her. It seemed I was getting quite skilled at it. Ann went back to her work in the garden as I collected the horse’s reins and mounted. After quick stop at the Landry house, I would be gone.
For good.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Tucker
“What the fuck do you mean you don’t know where she is?” James Carr shouted, almost knocking over a kitchen chair in his anger. He was much recovered from his cold, even after a day, and his fury was ruthless. And justified. He’d entrusted his sister to our care, and we’d lost her.
Gabe ran a hand over the back of his neck. “She left the ranch. Said she was coming here. To collect her things.”
“Well, she sure as fuck isn’t here. I thought you were going with her to Butte,” he countered.
“We took her to Bridgewater and married her,” I replied. For the one usually so riled, I was quite calm. At least on the outside. Within, I wasn’t angry, but afrai
d. It was like Clara disappearing all over again. Yet James wouldn’t take Abigail to an institution to hide her from the world—
Oh shit, in a way, he had. He’d sent her to school to hide her. Not because he was ashamed, but to keep her safe.
And, now, we’d lost her.
“If something happened to her on the way, we would have come upon her. She knows the route, and it isn’t overlong, so I doubt she became lost. There was no sign of her, so I have to think she didn’t intend to come this way.”
“You’ve married my sister, and now she’s run off? What the hell did you do to her?”