Wrangler (26 page)

And I came up with only one thing.

Love her so much and with everything I have that by sheer will I can heal all the broken parts my family left behind.  Instead of thinking we were doomed because of the history between us, I think destiny brought us together so I could show her what it means to have someone love you so much they will stare down your demons for you.  Slay your dragons and protect you until you feel safe.

“I don’t think I can.”  She lifts her head, meets my eyes, and her chin quivers.  “It’s too much.  I’m not strong enough.”

“Well, I am. I’m strong enough for both of us.  You’re coming inside and I’m going to show you what you know deep down.  You are part of me.  Wrapped so tightly around me I can’t take a single breath without thinking about you.  There hasn’t been one single second since I laid my eyes on you that I didn’t know what I wanted.  I want it all, Rachel. I want to know everything that hurts you so I can stop it, I want what makes you smile so I can make sure you get more, I want you as my wife and I want you to carry our babies.  I want it all, so come inside.  We’ll get through this —whatever happens with us— we will deal with it and move forward.”

She remains silent and I can’t wait any longer.

My hand grips the door handle and jerks the key from the ignition.  I’m boots on the ground as I bolt to her door, opening it and grabbing her hand.

She starts to protest but I put my other hand to her mouth.

“Shhhh.  Come inside.  I promise you can say anything you ever want to say to me.  Nothing will be off limits, but right now, I’m not sure words are what we need.”

I guide her down out of the truck, my fingers entwining with hers. She parts her lips as my other hand drops away, her tongue darting out to wet them. The way they shine, I can’t help but lean over to taste her.

Heat immediately ignites in my core at the brush of our lips.  Every time I touch her it feels like the first time, and I wonder if that feeling will ever go away. 

The way I love her scares me but it won’t stop me.

But that’s not the only thing that scares me.

It’s the conversation I had with Roger.  Leander’s out.

God is testing me.  Testing us.  And I don’t know how to tell her.

But I’m going to have to deal with that another day, because right now it needs to be all about us.  I have things to say to her.

Things to do to her and I’m not going to let Leander in here tonight.

Tomorrow I’ll tell her.  I don’t see it making much of a difference. He’s a monster, and I’m sure he’s stupid enough to fill a tanker, but he’s not so stupid that he’d break the conditions of his parole. And one of those conditions is staying far away from her.

And even if it isn’t, I will make sure he does.

A thousand thoughts are screaming through my head as I lead her toward the door of the cabin.  The sliver of the moon is the only light besides a dim glow from the window of Enrique’s cabin.

Rachel looks back over her shoulder, the lights in the kitchen of the farm house burning bright in the dark.

“I’ll go tell her you’re okay.”  I know what she’s thinking and I don’t want Jessie worrying.  We stop in front of the cabin door and I press my hands to her warm cheeks. The salt from her tears has dried and I lean down to kiss it away, listening to the crickets and the rustle of the tree leaves above the cabin.  “I told you I have a surprise for you, so go on inside, I’ll be right back.” I set my lips on her forehead.

“Okay.”  The smallest hint of her dimple dots her right cheek and my heart beats triple time. 

My hand is on the doorknob, opening for her to step inside. 

I jump off the porch and hit the grass at a dead run toward the farm house.  I’m halfway across the field between the two houses when I hear it.

A scream of my name that drains the blood from my face.  The sound of fear in her voice rockets through me like a thousand fists hitting me at once.

I stop dead and I lose balance, forcing me onto my knees, one hand in the dirt as I struggle to turn back around.

“Rachel!” I scream as my feet dig for traction in the wet grass.

The door on the cabin is open and the sound of furniture crashing around and muffled screams has me ready to rend bone from flesh.

My muscles are on fire as my fingers turn to fists and my boots catch in the dirt and propel me forward. 

Each step feels like it takes an eternity, the sounds of struggle and Rachel’s cries hit me as I slam through the front door.

My eyes scan the small interior, but there’s nothing; the cabin is silent but the back door is open and that’s where I’m headed.

I leap, not touching the steps, landing on my feet I freeze in place, listening.

The clouds have thickened, covering the moon and leaving no stars. Out over the cornfield, off in the distance, lightning flashes bright and a moment later the rumble of thunder echoes over the farm.

“Rachel!”

I swivel my head, my eyes looking for any movement in the dark, my ears buzzing, aware of the forced silence surrounding me.

She’s here, and I know who’s with her.

“Leander.”  My voice turns to ice.  “Don’t do this.”

My body relaxes, my instincts heighten.  When you’re scared you’re not aware, and horses have taught me more than enough about how to listen, actually listen so that your awareness expands. So I draw in a steady full breath and blow it out as I count to ten.

Then I hear it.

A snap.  It’s almost unintelligible, but I catch it.

I know the sound of a stick breaking under a foot. Human sounds are distinct, unnatural. I let my hearing take over and I catch shuffling, muffled breathing. A wheezing exhale. It’s the sound of someone trying not to be heard.

I hone in and find the origin of the sound, behind me to my left, yet I step forward away from it.  Two steps, then I hear another shift, the crunch of leaves.

I remember the small pile of brush behind the cabin, just under the window of the tiny bathroom.  It’s ten feet behind me, a few strides but it may as well be a mile because if I can’t get there in one leap then I can’t get there fast enough.

Each beat of my heart thumps all the way into my bones.

If I knew he was unarmed, I’d take the chance, turn and throw myself in that direction.

But I don’t know.

A knife could be at her throat.

A gun at her temple.

Another rustle and I can’t wait.

“I know it’s you, Leander.  Just let her go, man.”  I turn and my eyes settle on the faint outline of two bodies pressed flat against the flaking paint at the back of the cabin.

“What are you doing here, little brother?” His voice is comical; this is fun for him.  “You taking care of my girl while I’m gone?  Maybe we’ll share.”

I explode forward like a stallion jumping a stream, but I fall short and land hard, crushing my arm beneath me. As I scramble in the dirt I see the glint of steel in the moonlight held to her throat.

My insides twist and I snarl in his direction. “I’ll kill you if you hurt her.”

“I don’t think so, Chandler.  I only want what’s mine. I got to her first, you just filled in.  You always got what you wanted, until now. You just had to have her because you know I wanted her, didn’t you?  So now you just stay there, Rachel and I have some catchin’ up to do.”  He takes a step toward the corner of the cabin, Rachel held against him, his hand over her mouth and knife under her jaw.

Even in the dim light I can see the terror in her eyes.

Hearing those words come from his mouth turns me cold.  There is a knife in my front pocket, but I don’t dare take the time to dig it out.  He’ll know what I’m doing. 

“I never got to finish what I started, did I, sweet girl?”  Leander’s voice and Rachel’s whimper release a rage in me I didn’t know existed. 

“I mean it, Leander, you hurt her, you’re dead.”  My voice shakes.  I’ve never wanted to destroy someone like I want to destroy him.  All the horror he put our family through comes back to me.

“Aw, baby brother.  You won’t kill me.  Anyway, I’m not going to hurt her.  I got to her first, didn’t she tell you?  I loved her first and she loved me.  Tell him, Rachel. Tell him the things you did for me.”

My stomach turns and I hold back the vomit that threatens to come up. The thought that he touched her is almost more than I can take.

But the other realization —that I’d asked her if anyone had touched her before, and she’d said no— snakes over my skin like poison. Why couldn’t she tell me?

Rachel’s voice cuts through the darkness.  “You don’t love me and I don’t love you.  You made me do those things.”

My hands are shaking, every second ticks inside me as I try to figure out how to get that knife away from her throat and trained on me instead.

“You’re not taking this from me, Chandler.  You always had to be the good son. The golden child.  Well, not this time.  Of all the women in the world, you had to try to take her while I was locked up?  Do you hate me so much that you’d do this just to take her from me?”  Leander shifts another foot to the left, the knife scraping up and down her throat.  “You could have anyone.  You’re not getting her.”

“I don’t hate you.”  It’s the truth, I feel nothing for him. Not a wisp of family loyalty, pity, hate or connection. 

Nothing.

My indifference is as solid as the cold lead I wish I could drive through his skull.

Five feet separates us.  I’m on all fours, and I dig the heel of my right boot into the dirt, the toe of my left taking the weight as I shift forward.  My fingers dig into the wet ground and every muscle fiber pulses with adrenaline.

I swear I smell her fear and there are ways I wish to hurt him that would make the devil proud.

I explode forward the moment I see their silhouettes shift another step toward the corner of the house.  Every inch of my height fills the space between us, and I catch a handful of Leander’s pant leg as Rachel stamps her boot down on his other foot.

He releases her with a grunt, but I’m on my belly, helpless as the first blunt explosion of pain hits me in the center of my back.

“Run!”  I scream.

“No!” Rachel’s horrified voice hits me at the same moment the second blow hits the center of my back.  I flip over just as Leander raises a knife for a third try, my eyes are unfocused and all I see is the moon on the silver blade as it comes down.

My hands find his wrist but it’s too late.  I slow down his momentum, but the knife hits me in the center of my chest.  He’s struggling to dig it in farther, but my hands strain at his wrist, the implement hitting solid bone as Leander’s lips twist along with the blade.

“You had everything, I had nothing. Why did you have to try to take her?”  Leander drops down on top of me, smashing a knee into my throat and I see stars.

“Run, Rachel,” I manage to croak out as the pain courses through my body.  I shift and reach up, digging into his arm, but I feel like I’m drowning with his weight on my throat.

He’s going to kill me but that thought is vague. All I care about is making sure that he dies with me and never touches her again.

“Don’t,” I whisper, looking up to see Leander’s dead eyes trained on me, my hands gripping his wrist as he lifts the knife over my chest pressing down as I’m pushing up. 

I’m flinging my body back and forth, but his knee is crushing my windpipe.  I’m big, but he’s bigger, near four hundred pounds centered on my throat.

My mind is spinning. Rachel comes up behind Leander, screaming and tearing at his hair. I don’t want her here, God please, I don’t want her to see this.

In the same moment, stomping footsteps come from my left.

“That knife moves another inch...” The barrel of a shotgun comes into view above me, pressing into Leander’s temple.  “...and I blow your brains out.” 

Enrique’s voice startles me as he pulls the barrel back a couple inches, then slams it forward into the side of Leander’s face, throwing him off balance for a split second.

I throw my legs in the air, get a better grip on his arm, then tighten my core, slamming my legs down into the dirt and tugging Leander with me.

He is enormous. Not strong or agile, but he has all his weight bearing down on me.

I have to twist, grabbing his arm and jerking it out of the socket with a pop. Rachel stumbles back into the grass.

In two seconds Leander’s on the ground, looking up at me and Enrique. He writhes, holding onto his arm, sucking air through his teeth and blasting me with obscenities.

Enrique presses the steel barrel into the meat of his cheek, but Leander isn’t showing any fight. In the end, he’s just a coward.

I glance at Enrique and he looks up at me with that broad smile like someone had just told him something hilarious.

“Go get your girl.”  He taps Leander on the top of his head with the metal barrel, making him yelp.  “I’ll keep this dog on a chain.”  He chuckles as I try to catch my breath. “You gonna need a Band-Aid or something, brah.  And now, we’re square.  You saved my life, I saved yours.”

CHAD

E
nrique slow clapped along with the rest of us as Sheriff Tucker pulled out of the farm driveway with Leander stuffed into the back of the patrol car.