His Safe Keeping (The Safe Series) (18 page)

Chapter Thirty

Krista walked in the front door in search of Kade. They’d been out riding and he had tried to get her to try solo riding again, but she’d refused. She enjoyed riding while Kade held her to him too much, enough to never want to learn how to ride by herself. They didn’t ride far, or very long, because Kade wanted to check on ‘some shit.’ One of which was a small horse he had just gotten a few days before. The poor thing had been abused so badly she had scars over most of her body. Kade told her that Starlight was her name, but to Krista the name didn’t match the sadness and fear reflecting in her eyes. Kade spent some time with the horse, talking softly, and touching her lightly. She remembered him doing the same thing with her the night before, and she couldn’t help but fall just a little more in love with him. She wandered around the stables, stopping and petting each horse, when she ran into Lank who was doing something to one of the horses’ feet.

“Is she okay?” Krista asked. Lank looked up from what he was doing and stared at her in surprise.

“Dang, girlie, you walk so lightly, didn’t even hear you,” Lank said, shaking his head, and turned back to what he was doing. “Yeah, darlin,’ but it’s a ‘he,’ not a ‘she.’ She could hear the laughter in his voice. She bent down to look under the horse and then stood back up.

“Yep, he’s a boy,” she stated as she reached up and rubbed the horse’s neck. “Sorry about that, big man,” she said to the horse. She heard Lank bust out laughing, but didn’t know why. “What?”

“Sweet.” Was Lank’s response, then he questioned her. “Where’s Kade?” Krista turned and pointed in the direction which she came from.

“He’s with Starlight. I thought I would give them some time alone. That poor horse has had it bad enough. She didn’t need an audience witnessing her fears.” She explained to Lank and again heard him mumble under his breath.

“Sweet, darlin.’ All the horses like to be petted, but what they really love is those treats.” He nodded at what looked like big square buckets hanging on the wall. She walked over to them and saw it was four, each with different stuff, or different ‘treats’ in each one. She looked back at Lank.

“Does it matter which treat I give to which horse?” Krista wanted to know.

“Nope, although some have a favorite.” he told her, but he didn’t bother to tell her which treat was which horse’s favorite.

Well, okay then
, she thought. She got one of each treat and then went to the first horse’s stall. Looking around, she spotted a flat square, big—but not too big—piece of wood.

“Can I use this?” she asked Lank as she picked it up.

“Yeah,” he answered curiously. She smiled and turned back to the first horse.

“Now, I’m going to give you a choice,” she stated as she placed the treats on the board, each spaced far enough apart to leave enough room for choice. “You only take your favorite this time, so I’ll remember which one you like the best.” She looked up into the horse’s eyes. “Okay?” Then she lifted the board to the horse as she looked above the stall to read his name, and then called him by his name. “Samson.” She watched as the horse picked his favorite treat. “All righty, Samson.” She sat the board down, returned to the treat buckets and pulled out two of the treats that were his favorite, then went back and held out her hand with the treat for Samson. “This one is your favorite.” She gave him another rub. Then Krista picked up her board, replaced the treat Samson had eaten, and moved on to the next horse. She repeated the process with each horse, remembering the treat they liked the best, along with their name. She was about half way through the horses when she head Kade’s voice.

“Baby, what the hell are you doing?” Krista turned toward him with the board in her hand, holding it out like a waiter.

“I’m getting your horses to tell me what their favorite treat is.” She turned back to the next horse and continued with her process. She heard Lank discussing her with Kade, but wasn’t paying enough attention to really know what they were saying.

“Your girl, Kade, sweet as sugar, smart as a tack,” Lank stated, then added with a twinkle. “Easy on the eyes too.” She heard a low growl from Kade and Lank busted out laughing. A few seconds later, she felt Kade’s arms come around her and as her back was pulled against his front, he questioned her again.

“You ‘bout done, baby?” She turned her head to look up at him. He was smiling down at her.

“I’m only about half way, and I can’t stop. It wouldn’t be fair to the other horses I haven’t gotten to yet.” Hoping she didn’t have to leave quite yet.

“That’s fine, baby, take your time.” He kissed her forehead, gave her a little squeeze and then stepped back. She watched him head back toward Lank. Dang, she did like the sight of his backside. Shaking her head to let that train of thought go, she focused on the horses. She had only two horses to go, when she heard Kade say her name again and when she turned to look in the direction he called, she saw him standing in the open doorway with the sun shining around him, and she caught her breath. Just the sight of him standing there like that was breathtaking. “Baby, got to run up to the house for a few. You gonna be all right until I get back or you want to ride back with me now?” Kade asked her.

“I’m not finished quite yet so I’d like to stay?” She questioned as she watched him walking toward her.

“That’s fine baby. Stay as long as you like,” he told her, right before he leaned down and kissed her, and then he was gone. Krista finished up with the horses and since Kade hadn’t made it back to get her, she decided to walk back to the house. It was a good walk and when she arrived and entered through the door, she walked toward the kitchen, but didn’t see Kade, so she turned and made her way up the stairs. Krista followed down the hall toward the sound of his voice and then she heard him say her name, but she could tell he wasn’t talking to her. She didn’t know who he was talking to, as she walked to the door of his office and saw him sitting in his desk chair, turned so his back was to the door. He started speaking to whomever he was talking to. “Yeah, she’s doing okay right now, down at the stables with the horses.” There was a pause and she assumed he was listening to someone talk. She knew she shouldn’t eavesdrop, and started to turn away, when she heard him speak again. “All right.” Another pause. “Yeah.” And the pause was too short for her to interrupt without being rude. “I told you already that I know she’s been through a lot of shit. It’s fucked up, and I’m goin’ to see her through that shit first, try and fix what some asshole broke, and then I’ll send her on her way.” Krista was too shocked to move now and there was another pause and Kade continued speaking. “She’s a sweet filly, but she’s not a long term keeper, at least not for me.” There was another pause and that’s when Krista had heard enough. She unfroze from her shock and ran down the hall, down the steps, and back out the front door. Kade didn’t want her. He just wanted to ‘fix’ her and then ‘send her on her way.’

Could it be that that was all she was to him, something that needed fixing? She never asked him for anything, never asked him to fix her, and as far as she was concerned, her life was just fine before he came along and her life would be just fine with him not in it. “Yeah, just keep telling yourself that and maybe one day you’ll start to believe it,” she told herself. She’d run all the way back to the stables and when she rounded the corner, she saw Lank getting into a truck. He looked her way as soon as he saw her.

“Got to go into town, darlin’, and don’t think Kade would want you in the stables by yourself,” he told her, as she ran straight up to the passenger side of his truck.

“You’re going into town?” she asked Lank, but before he could answer, she’d jerked the door open and was climbing in. “Can you please give me a ride? I’m meeting some of my friends and Kade is tied up at the moment. Please, if it’s no trouble, because I really hate to keep them waiting.” She sounded like she was trying to catch her breath and she plastered on a fake smile and hoped he would buy it.

“Yeah, darlin.’ You let Kade know I’m giving you a lift,” he told her.

“I will.” She buckled her seatbelt, avoiding his eyes. They were going down a different road that didn’t lead back to the house. Lank noticed her looking at him somewhat suspiciously.

“It’s a shorter way to town.” He reassured her as he nodded out the windshield at the road ahead.

“That’s fine and thank you so much.” She pulled out her phone and texted Marissa, hoping she was still in town and could meet her. A few minutes later she heard her phone, looked down and saw it was a message from Marissa saying she and Lance were having lunch at the small diner in town, and they would be happy to give her a ride home. They’d been staying at Mrs. Worley’s house until she was released from the hospital. When Lank pulled into a parking space just a little ways down from the diner, she spoke to him. “Thank you again. My friends are waiting for me at the diner now, so I better hurry.” She opened her door and got out of the truck.

“No problem, darlin’, see ya later,” Lank said with a kind smile.

“Yep, see you later,” Krista answered automatically, but knowing there probably wouldn’t be a ‘later’ for her. Then she turned away and headed to the diner.

Chapter Thirty-One

Krista walked down the road from Mrs. Worley’s to her house as tears ran down her face, the tears she’d been holding back ever since she had heard Kade’s words. “She’s a sweet filly, but not a long term keeper.” She didn’t want anyone to know. She didn’t want to have to explain. Worse, she didn’t want to hear anyone ask her, what did she expect? A man like Kade wanting her, yeah, she was just fooling herself. Just like Dee had said when they were muddin’, why would Kade want her if he could have someone who looked like Dee? To fix, and that was the only reason he’d been with her in the first place. Just like that poor abused horse. Take them in broken, fix them, and then send them on their way. Well, she wasn’t a horse and she might have her share of problems, but she wasn’t broken. She’d been once! Krista admitted that. But, now, she was fixed and she had fixed herself and become stronger. She’d taken some self-defense classes. She’d taken other classes too! She’d even learned how to handle a gun, she could shoot pretty dang good. Krista did not need some man scooping her up and ‘fixing’ her. She’d been just fine all these years alone.

“Yeah, Kade! I am fine!” She spoke loudly and out loud, just as she reached her door. At first she didn’t notice, had forgotten Kade made sure she’d locked her door when they left. So, when she just pushed her door open, it didn’t hit her at first, until she stepped into her living room…or what used to be her living room! Every piece of furniture was broken, ripped, turned over, and just… destroyed! She stood frozen for a minute, just looking at the destruction in front of her, turned back to the door, and that was when she saw the door was busted and the lock was broken. Someone had broken into her house! She took another step back as she pulled her phone out of her pocket, managed to hit the few buttons she needed to hit, put the phone to her ear and finally, after an eternity, she heard the voice on the other end of the line.

“911 what is your emergency?” the operator said.

* * *

Kade walked down to the stables. Krista should’ve had plenty of time with each of his horses. He smiled at the thought of her with those horses, the way she’d figured out each one’s favorite treat by offering them all to each horse. He had no doubt that she’d remember every single one of the horses’ names and the treat they chose.
She fits in here
, he thought. She seemed happy here, whether they were riding the 4-wheeler, muddin’, or riding the horses. Although she didn’t seem too happy on the horse by herself, but up on the horse with him, she was. Krista was happy, and unless she had her past slapped in her face, she seemed like a truly happy person. He was going to talk to her, try to get her to stay with him longer. Hell, maybe he could convince her to just move in. He stopped at that thought, took a minute for himself to think it through, and then knew he wanted her here permanently. He didn’t want to think about his house or his bed with her not in it. He’d walked all the way around the stables, in his own head, before he realized that Krista was nowhere to be seen. He ran back out of the stables, looking everywhere for her. He saw Lank pulling up on the other side of the stables, so he ran in that direction. By the time he reached the truck, Lank was getting out.

“Where’s Krista?” His voice boomed at Lank, because his nerves were finally kicking in and he was the only one to take it out on. Lank just stared at him for a second.

“Reckon’ she’s still in town,” Lank answered, beginning to look concerned.

“What the hell is she doing in town? How the hell did she get to town?” Kade knew he was shouting, but couldn’t seem to stop.

“She asked me to give her a ride. Said you were tied up. Said she didn’t want to be late meeting her friends. She said you knew,” Lank told him, and then asked his own question, warily. “Now, what’s going on?”

Kade didn’t know what was going on. Who did she meet in town? And why didn’t she tell him? He was not tied up and hell, even if he was, he would’ve gotten untied pretty damn quick for Krista. His mind was spinning with questions he had no fuckin’ answers to. Then his cell phone rang and pulling it out of his pocket, without even pausing to check the ID of the caller, he put it to his ear.

“Krista?” he barked into the phone.

“No man, it’s Velgada. Krista’s not with you? There was a 911, her place, and I’m on the way there now.”

Krista sat on her steps only half listening to the 911 operator. She was told to stay out of the house and to stay on the line until the police showed up. She heard cars coming down her driveway…fast, and then she saw the lights and thank goodness they didn’t have their sirens going, she thought irrationally. “They’re here now,” she told the operator. “Thank you.” She half-heartedly added as she hung up the phone and stood up. She’d dropped down on her porch at some point, so she stepped down when the police started getting out of their cars. Wait. Two cars? She noticed one was county and the other was state and before she could wonder why there were two, she saw Lee walking toward her.

“Kris, honey, are you okay? Are you hurt? Do I need to call for rescue?” he asked as he ran his hands up and down her arms, searching for injuries.

“No, I’m not hurt or anything, but…but…someone broke into my house…and…and…destroyed it.” She stammered out as new tears began to fall down her face. He pulled her into him and hugged her, but then she heard him call to someone.

“Draco,” Lee Velgada called to his new partner. Turning, Krista saw a man standing in front of them dressed like Kade had been the very first time she’d seen him. Just that memory alone brought more tears. “Honey…” She heard Lee as he softly called to her to get her attention. “This is my new partner, Draco. He’s going to go into your house and check everything out. Is that okay with you?” It was sweet of him to ask her like that when she knew they had to go in regardless of what she said. So, since it seemed to be required of her, she lifted her head.