“Strong and fast like that painted stallion over on Harper’s ranch? I wanna ride ‘em, but Mama said he’ll buck me right off. Probably trample me, too.”
“Yeah…like that stallion over on Harper’s ranch,” his daddy said through a rumbly laugh. “Only you might wanna tame it a bit.” He winked.
And right then, Rhys felt just fine.
Fear sliding off.
His daddy’s expression changed again, and he touched the middle of Rhys’ chest, tapping there with his calloused fingers. “You take that with you your whole life. You stand up for people who need standin’ up for. And when you get a wife and kids? You remember you’re strong as a stallion, you protect ’em with all you’ve got, and you love ’em like a treasure. And you never, ever break them.”
Rhys sat up a little higher. “I will, Daddy. I promise. Now how am I gonna find me a wife?”
A laugh rumbled through the cab. “You’ll just know, son. When I met your mama? Everything else faded away and she became the most important thing in my life. One day, you’ll find yourself a girl like that.”
“She gonna be pretty?”
His daddy ruffled his fingers through his hair. “Oh, I’m sure she’ll be. I promise, though, no matter what she looks like, once you feel it right here…” He tapped his fingers over the beatin’ of Rhys’ heart again. “She’ll be the only thing you can see. Just like your mama always says…it’ll be love, love, love.”
Thirteen
Rhys
I shot upright in bed. Disoriented. Confused. Feelin’ like I was gonna come out of my skin.
Took only a second to realize my soul had been awakened by the panic I could feel emanating into my room.
It pulsed against the walls and crashed through the air.
Fear.
Dread.
A sickness that I felt like my own.
Tossing off the covers, I kicked my legs over the side of the bed and scrubbed a hand over my face like it could break up the disorder that ricocheted through my senses.
The girl.
The girl.
Could feel her physically callin’ to me. Like she was lost in the darkest ocean. Floundering in the waters. Desperate for anyone to find her.
A wise man would forget it. Ignore the call.
Refuse to get involved any farther because I could feel the destruction hovering all around.
None of those things mattered, though.
I felt her spirit like a hook in my heart.
My daddy’s voice still resonated in my ear.
A call I couldn’t do anything but heed.
Pushing to standing, I eased across my room, trying to keep my footsteps quiet as I edged up to the bathroom that attached our rooms.
The tide rolled in the distance, an echo that infiltrated the darkened, sleeping house.
I inclined my ear, listened to the silenced chaos that shouted in the night.
Darkness reverberated back.
Whipping shadows and haunting ghosts.
Could feel them crawling over my skin.
Confusion and fear.
A whimper filled my ears, and there was nothing I could do, no hesitation when I moved through the bathroom, tile cold on my bare feet, my flesh sticky and hot as I made it to her door.
It was open just a crack.
I peered in.
Darkness held fast.
The barest silhouettes and shadows defined the lines and angles of her room.
I didn’t need any light to illuminate the torment banging against the walls and bleeding from her spirit.
Maggie flailed and moaned.
Almost silently.
Like she had to keep it a secret.
Everything ached.
This girl.
This girl.
I couldn’t do anything but move the rest of the way into her room. I slipped to the edge of her bed where the girl toiled on the mattress.
Sheets twisted around her, and her body pooled in sweat.
Torment sliced me right in half.
The minimal light coming from the moon that poured in from the balcony doors cast that precious face in shadows.
Only tonight, it was pinched and pained.
Maybe I should have thought twice about it, but I didn’t.
I had zero fuckin’ hesitation as I was slipping my arms under her thrashin’ limbs and pulling her flush to my bare chest like I could bear every ounce of her pain.
I wanted to allow it to seep into me.
Wanted to hold it for her.
Heated flesh burned against mine.
“Mags,” I murmured. I tucked her close, pressed my lips to her temple as I whispered, “I’ve got you, Goddess Girl. I heard you…I heard you in my dreams.”
As if she could hear me, too, the tension drained from her body.
A rushing wave.
Relief.
Relief.
She looped those slender arms around my neck.
Comfort and peace wrapped us in a shroud of warmth.
In everything I would never have but felt desperate to give her.
Pressing her nose to my neck, Maggie inhaled, shivering as my name trembled from her tongue. “Rhys.”
“I know, Sweet Thing. I know. I’ve got you. You don’t have to be afraid. I’ve got you.”
She nodded in her sleep, burrowing farther into my hold, and I carried her back through the darkness and into my room.