4. Ricky

FOUR

Ricky

“You’re being hella stubborn, Ricky! At least hear her out!”

I stomp out of the house and straight back to my truck, jamming my Stetson back onto my head. “I don’t have anything to say to her. And if you keep pushing this, I’m not gonna have anything to say to you!”

She gasps and I stop at the door, holding it open, my head sinking into my chest.

I turn around. “I’m sorry, granny. I really am. I just don’t know what the hell she can say that’s gonna make a difference. I understand that she couldn’t get back in time to tell me before what happened. I get that. I don’t blame her for that. But she left me without a damn word. What am I supposed to do with that?”

“You let her explain. She says it was a huge problem with her sister. That she needed her. If your cousin called and said he needed something, what would you do? You’d be there for him right away! Family is a tough thing sometimes and it sounds like this girl has a few issues. Caro is probably the only person she has to rely on. Would you respect her if she stayed here and ignored the family member that needed help? Would that make you feel better? What if something happened to this girl? Do you think she’d ever be able to forgive herself if she didn’t go?”

My heart sinks when I listen to her lay it out like that. I can’t blame her for helping family. I’d do anything for mine. Even when they’re being annoying.

I sigh deeply and look up at her. My whole body feels heavy and my heart slows until I’m not even sure it’s beating. “Granny, what if she takes off again without telling me where she’s going? What if she leaves me for good and I never know what happened to her? I don’t want another woman who’s a runner. Vera was enough for any man to wonder if any woman is made to stay.”

“Look at your cousin. He’s blissfully happy with his wife and family. There are good women and I can’t help but think she is one. There’s something that’s got her in a tizzy and she doesn’t know what to do about it but whatever it is, she’s not allowed to talk about it for some reason. It could be to keep her sister’s secret. It could be legal. Depends on how much trouble this girl is in. But she’s stuck. She’s stuck between her heart and her head and someone else’s secrets. I think you have to give her the benefit of the doubt instead of painting her in Vera’s brush.”

“Easier said than done,” I mutter. I jammed my hat down so hard I’m probably lucky I’m not wearing it as a damn collar. “I’m not ready to talk to her.” I point a finger at her. “And don’t think that I don’t know that you’ve obviously been talking to her. Stay out of this!”

Then I stomp out the door and out to the barn. Sebastian is just on the way in on his horse. He pulls it to a stop and smirks at me. “Granny driving you nuts?”

I glare at him and throw my saddle across Buck. “She’s being particularly stubborn about this.”

He leans over the horn on his saddle, letting the reins dangle. “You ever stop to think that she might be right?”

“You too?” I huff and tighten the cinch on the saddle. “I don’t know why y’all think that Caro deserves a second chance. You sure never thought that about Vera.”

Sebastian growls. “We all saw what she did to you. She jerked you around all through high school. She fooled around on you and when she got a shot at what she thought was a better guy, she took off with him.” He grins. “It’s just her luck that he ended up being a cheating jackass. Who saw that coming?”

I lean into the saddle and glare. “I’m going out to check out the fence line on the western border. One of the neighbors said they saw a few escapees.”

He tips his hat to me. “Be careful. I saw a bear’s tracks out there. Not sure what he’s doing out this time of year but if he’s up, he’s probably hungry.”

I nod my head and throw a leg over the saddle. “I’ll keep my eyes open. See you in a few hours.”

I kick Buck in the side and he takes off with a swish of his midnight tail. The ride’s beautiful today. For this time of year, it’s freaking gorgeous. But I can see the steely gray at the top of the mountain and it looks like there’s some serious snow moving in soon. Within twenty-four hours probably.

It only takes me twenty minutes of hard riding to get to the western border and take a look at the fence line, looking around for stragglers.

I find a couple of loose heifers and groan. The fence is still upright but I can see that it’s been cut in one or two spots. Just enough to let the animals slip through.

Who the hell would want to let our herd loose? Ah well, it’s probably kids causing problems. Troublemakers!

I pull out the extra wire and tools I need to do an emergency repair on the fence line. It only takes me about ten minutes to repair the gap.

Then I pull out my lasso and slap it on my chap-clad thigh, hollering and driving the escapees around to the gate where I can let them through. I drop down to open the gate and as soon as I do, Buck lifts his head, his dusty tan hide trembling. “What’s going on, buddy?” I hold my hand out and touch his side and he jumps, his hide twitching crazily. “Hey, what the hell…?”

I barely get the words out before a low rumble has my head whipping around. “Oh, fuck, “I whisper under my breath. Buck has danced out of my reach and I can’t get to the rifle scabbard on the back of my saddle.

The glaring beast in front of me snuffles and his head shakes back and forth, spittle coming from his lips as he keeps his eyes on me. He shuffles closer and closer and I back away, keeping my lasso in my hand. I have no idea what the fuck I’m going to do with a lasso instead of a rifle but right now it’s all I got.

The big brown bear shuffles closer and I can see his sharp teeth now. The stench of rotting flesh fouls the air and my stomach lurches as I stumble back. The bear limps, dragging his left hind leg behind him. It looks like another bear got him good and he’s mighty pissed about it. And hungry to boot.

Buck dances further away and I see the bear’s glaring eyes focus on him again. “Oh shit! Hold still, Buck. Don’t move,” I whisper.

But Buck is half out of his head and he rears up, tossing his ebony mane and tail wildly.

The bear lunches towards him and I groan, shaking out the loop of my lasso. I let it fly as the heifers and Buck leap around like they’re in some kind of weird ballet. The bear keeps snapping and I whirl the loop over my head, praying under my breath. The claws and teeth are getting fucking closer to Buck as the bear lunges closer, completely ignoring me.

I let the rope fly and it wraps around the injured back leg of the beast. As I pull it taut, he roars in pain and falls backwards. I race forwards and grab the rifle off the back of the saddle and lift it up. The bear’s pain-filled, angry gaze locks on mine and he swipes out a paw that tears into my shoulder and drops me to my knees.

“Shit, fuck!” I swear under my breath as I finally squeeze the trigger. The shot finally ends the beast’s pain and I fall back on my ass, carefully setting the rifle down and reaching a hand up to my shoulder.

I pull my hand away and glare at the blood on my glove. “Just what I don’t need.”

But I stumble to my feet, waves of pain washing over me. I grab the rifle and stow it back on Buck. He nuzzles into me and his ears perk up.

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the warning, dude. I got it. Just wish you hadn’t been so far away when he showed up.”

It wasn’t his fault. I should have known better than to move so far away from him. Especially when I knew there was an animal out here.

I should have taken better care of the animals I was watching over and that’s my fault, dammit.

I pull my tired ass up in the saddle and groan, reaching my hand up to touch my throbbing shoulder.

“Sebastian is gonna be an absolute ass about this,” I mutter under my breath.

I knock my heels into Buck’s side and then we gather up the loose heifers and drive them back to the closer pasture that they were supposed to be in.

Each step of my horse has pain ripping up my arm so bad that I’m gritting my teeth hard by the time I make it back to the ranch.

Sebastian swears when he sees me. He runs up and helps me down even though I’m pushing at him. “Dammit, I’m fine. Stop pulling at me.”

“You are not fine, buddy. I’m gonna call Doc Travers.” He helps me inside and I shrug out of his hold. “I don’t need a damn doctor. I just need to clean it out and it will all be fine.”

“Fuck no! I’m calling the damn doctor. And if you’ve got even a lick of sense, you’ll sit down there and let Misty get you something to drink.”

I lift a brow. “I hope you mean something with a little more strength to it than a glass of water.”

He grins at me. “How about a glass of whiskey?”

I lean back. “Sounds good to me.”

“Do not move. I’ll be right back with your drink. After I call for the doc.”

“Fine,” I huff. I lean back and close my eyes, waves of pain tugging and pulling at me like the tide coming in with the moon.

I should get up but fuck it. I’m too damn tired. I’ll get up in just a second. Or maybe a minute.