Credence

by Penelope Douglas

  “Until the roads clear,” I grit out.

  As soon as they both have access to the women in town, I won’t be so needed.

  I slap his chest and push him away, stumbling back to my feet. I back away from him, swiping my textbook off the floor.

  Noah rises, advancing on me, and Kaleb stands, too.

  “You needed affection from him,” Noah says, referring to his father. “He abused his authority with you. With me, you can play. With me, you can call the shots.”

  I narrow my eyes on him, confused. Is that what he thinks is happening between his father and me? A little lost orphan who needs love?

  He really thinks Jake took advantage.

  “When I was sixteen, this nineteen-year-old guy took me home from a party and wanted to do the same things to me that your father does to me,” I say to Noah. “I didn’t let him, because I didn’t feel anything around him.”

  They both remain silent as I continue.

  “When Senator De Haven’s son cornered me at the Governor’s Ball with a couple of his frat buddies…” I go on, “promising to treat me right, I didn’t want that, either, and he got a bloody lip to show for it. When Terrance Holcomb walked into that lake with his beautiful body and just as many cocky words coming out of his mouth as you, I didn’t escape into him for a few moments of instant gratification.”

  I may have been a virgin when I came here, but I wasn’t stupid.

  “And when you all took me out for my birthday, and I was dancing, and some of the local guys were watching me, I couldn’t care less, because all I could care about was you and Jake and…” I throw a look at Kaleb, “and how you were watching me. Of how I didn’t want or need anything from anyone else, because I have everything I want in this house.”

  I’m not some twit who latches onto anyone who shows her attention or soaks up affection from anyone who comes along. Jake didn’t mark me. I chose.

  “I know how to stop things I don’t want,” I tell Noah. “I know how to say no.”

  “So?”

  “So, no,” I reply.

  I grab my book off the ground and brush past him, leaving the kitchen.

  Noah

  If she would just let me in…

  I know she wants me. I could see it on the couch that night on her birthday, and I saw it in the shop when we worked under the bike. I was right when I told her I’d make love to her. I wouldn’t run out of the room or die for it to be over. I’d love to make her feel good.

  I stare up at my ceiling, my arm tucked under my head as I chew the shit out of how this night went to hell. I fucked up. I got drunk and blew it.

  Kaleb is asleep, and Tiernan has been in bed for hours. I swallow the lump in my throat and close my eyes as my dick swells with heat. I reach down and grab it through my jeans, damn near groaning at the ache.

  She should be in here. Quietly and sweetly riding me, taking advantage of the fact that he’s not here tonight and Kaleb won’t give us away. I close my eyes, massaging it and feeling it harden by the second.

  Or I should be in there. Kissing her and stirring her body. Making it impossible to say no, because I’ll eat her so good, she’ll beg for me.

  And before she can think twice, I’ll be inside of her, keeping up with her like a young man can.

  I squeeze my dick, grunting at the need. Jesus. I need to go rub one out. I’m not going to get to sleep.

  Rising from the bed, I stand up and fasten my jeans, leaving my shirt on the floor as I head for the door.

  But as I do, I hear a muffled cry and stop, training my ears.

  What is that?

  A cry sounds out from Tiernan’s room, and I jerk my eyes to the wall between us, confused. My father’s not here. She’s not in there with him. Why…

  There’s another grunt followed by what sounds like a sob. What the hell?

  I open my door and look left toward her bedroom door, seeing it’s closed. I walk for it, but just then Kaleb comes pounding down the stairs from his room, also wearing dark jeans and no shirt. His eyes are half-closed, and his hair is mussed like he just woke up.

  He doesn’t stop or make eye contact with me, simply opens her door as if this is routine. He enters, and I follow, hearing Tiernan scream as he walks quietly around her bed. I wince, seeing her clench her T-shirt, her eyes closed and her face half-buried in her pillow as she cries out again. I stop breathing for a moment. She looks like she’s in pain. What—

  Her hair falls in her face, her skin damp with sweat, and her entire body is as tight as a rubber band.

  I stare at her, realization dawning.

  She’s not awake.

  “What’s wrong with her?” I ask, hanging back by the door.

  But Kaleb just waves a hand, shooing me away as he lies down next to her and pulls her into his body. I watch as she immediately falls in, burying her head in his neck as the cries subside and her breathing starts to calm. He yawns, pulling her sheet and blanket up over them like this is normal.

  “Does she do this a lot?”

  Nightmares aren’t supposed to sound like that, are they? As Kaleb settles in, though, she falls completely quiet, nestling into him as her slumber continues, peaceful and quiet.

  Kaleb lies on his side, holding her and fitting her head under his chin as both of them go back to sleep.

  I stand there, watching them. Does she know she screams like that at night?

  Does she know he comes in? I’ve never heard her do that.

  Of course, she’s not always sleeping alone. Maybe Kaleb only has to come in when she does.

  He used to have nightmares when we were little, but he’d wake up.

  A smell hits my nose, and I blink, hearing the dogs barking as I inhale. I turn my head toward the hallway, scrunching up my face, the strong scent almost making my eyes water.

  I whisper to Kaleb. “Do you smell that?”

  It smells like a fire, but we didn’t leave anything burning. Walking out of the room, I head downstairs and glance at the fireplace, making sure it’s out, before heading for the front door. But as I walk, I spot a glow coming through the kitchen window. I narrow my eyes, stopping in my tracks. What the…?

  Running through the kitchen, I nearly trip over the dogs rushing at me before I lean over the sink and peer out the window. My stomach rolls.

  “Oh, fuck,” I gasp.

  “Kaleb!” I shout, whipping around and running for the front door. “Fire in the barn!”

  The animals. The barn is right next to the stable. Shit!

  I pull on the sweatshirt hanging on the back of the closet and slip into my boots, grabbing my gloves out of my coat pocket.

  “Kaleb!” I yell again. “Hurry!”

  His footfalls hit heavy from above, and I hear him charge down the stairs, but I don’t wait. Whipping open the front door, I race outside, almost slipping on my ass as I grab the railing and rush down the steps of the deck. The snow crunches under my boots, some falling inside, because we got another six inches today, and I didn’t have a chance to fasten them.

  But I don’t care. I stop and look up at the barn, barely able to move for a moment. What the hell? Flames engulf the ridge of the roof, and it’ll be a miracle if the hose isn’t frozen, otherwise we lose everything. How the hell did this start?

  Kaleb grabs my collar, and I suck in a breath, meeting his eyes. He scowls and jerks his chin toward the barn, snapping me out of it. I nod.

  He runs for the shop, opening the bay doors, and I race for the barn. I run inside, the smoke thick and stifling as I try to catch a breath. Covering my nose and mouth with my arm, I yank out Tiernan’s tires, the chickens inside squawking and flapping their wings. Coughing, I dive back inside and grab a rope, slipping a loop around the cow’s fucking head and dragging her out. I try to get air, but I can’t stop coughing. Everything stings and burns as I struggle to find my way out through the smoke.

  A whine echoes from above, and I look up just in time to see a piece of the loft
floor break away, dangle, and fall. I run, the board hitting the animal as I pull her out into the cold night air.

  Kaleb pulls the fire hose out of the shop, and I work to move everything as far away from the barn as possible.

  “What happened?” Tiernan cries.

  I look up, seeing her standing in the snow in her boots but nothing covering her T-shirt and sleep shorts.

  I turn to Kaleb, watching him fuck around with the lever, but nothing’s coming out. No water.

  “Fuck!” I growl, fisting my hair.

  “Go check if it’s frozen!” Tiernan shouts.

  I look over to see she’s yelling at Kaleb and pointing to the water tower.

  I shake my head. We had a warm day yesterday. It might not be frozen, but there’s no way that’ll help. What are we going to do? Fill buckets and launch them at the flames from down here?

  Kaleb goes anyway, dropping the hose, and I’m about to follow, but Tiernan rushes past me, and my heart lodges in my damn throat.

  “The horses!” she yells.

  Debris from the loft falls into the barn, and with all the wood and hay, it’s only a matter of time before it reaches the stable. She leaps inside, disappearing.

  “Tiernan, no!” I shout.

  I run after her, but before I can get inside, she’s pulling Rebel out, struggling to get him to move as her hair flies in her face and the wind whips against us.

  Dumb fuckin’ horses. They can be so smart, but they’ll damn well sit there while the building falls down around them.

  I help her, both of us yanking the harness and then…I hear a slap, and the horse bolts out of the stable and into the night.

  An engine fires up, and I look around the corner, seeing Kaleb sitting in the digger and trying to move through the snow, toward the water tower.

  I freeze. He’s going to…

  Oh, shit.

  “Kaleb!” I yell, but then I fall silent, knowing he’s right. It’s the only way. We have to get the horses out of here, though.

  Tiernan dives back inside, and I follow her, going for Ruffian as she hurries for Shawnee. Heat engulfs us as the crackles of the fire surround us, and I hear a moan in the barn as the rafters probably start to give way. Jesus.

  “Tiernan, go!” I bellow. “Get out of here!”

  I slap Ruffian, sending him running out the door, but a loud scream pierces the air, and I whip around, seeing Tiernan pinned in the stall doorway as Shawnee squeezes past her. Smoke billows as blood trickles down the wood, and she cries out, slapping the horse again. Shawnee goes running, and I leap out of his way as he races past me and then scurry over to Tiernan. Blood pours down her left arm, and I grab her, wrapping my arm around her.

  We cough, spilling out of the stable, and Tiernan falls to the ground as something creaks and tips behind me. I spin around just in time to see Kaleb slam the digger into the wooden water tower, giving it more and more power until the tank tips over and water sloshes, and then it spills, cascading over the barn and stable and dousing the flames.

  My shoulders fall, the wind nipping at my lips and ears as I watch the glow die, the smoke pour into the air, and the fire slowly extinguish.

  Exhaling, I turn and drop to my knees.

  Tiernan.

  Taking her arm in one hand and her face in the other, I tip her chin up. “Look at me,” I tell her.

  She blinks her eyes open, flurries kicking up from all the ruckus and flitting across her eyelashes. Her blood drips over my fingers, and I slowly turn her arm, seeing the slice in the skin on her upper arm.

  Blood spills from the wound, and I squeeze her arm, trying to stop the flow, but she hisses, her eyes watering.

  “How’d you know to slap the horses?” I ask, trying to take her mind off the pain.

  “I didn’t,” she chokes out. “It’s just what they do in the movies.”

  I laugh to myself.

  She’s shivering. We need to get her inside.

  “How’d the fire start?” she asks, looking over my shoulder.

  I shake my head. “Could’ve been electrical. Could’ve been the furnace. Who knows?”

  “He’ll blame us.”

  “He’ll definitely blame us,” I grumble, putting her good arm around my neck and lifting her to her feet again.

  “You did good, though.”

  I look in her eyes. No hesitation. She went straight for the horses.

  Scaring the shit out of me, yes, but she was brave.

  “Just don’t do that again, okay?” I ask her.

  I start to help her toward the house, but Kaleb suddenly appears, sweeps her into his arms and away from me, jerking his chin from me to the barn.

  I don’t have time to argue before he turns and carries her back to the house, her pained eyes locked only on him as they go.

  I clench my jaw, watching them disappear into the house.

  And then I turn around to clean up the fucking mess in the barn like I’m told.

  Tiernan

  I suck in air between my teeth. The gash is too deep.

  Letting out a sob, I turn my face away from the blood as Kaleb inspects my arm.

  What do I do? We’re miles over snow and dangerous roads from any hospital, and it hurts. What if it gets infected?

  My knees shake. I want Jake here.

  After Kaleb brought me inside, he sat me down on the kitchen table, wrapped up my arm, and started a fire before running back outside to help Noah. The fire looked all but extinguished, but they had to get the animals back inside shelter, and since the shop was the only thing still fully intact and not drenched in smoke, I watched through the kitchen window as they loaded hay into the garage and brought in the animals. They left the bay door cracked for fresh air, but that wouldn’t stop the noxious mess Jake was going to come home to in a couple days.

  God, he’s going to be pissed. Half his barn is now useless, and the shop will smell like horseshit soon.

  But hey, at least the animals will enjoy a temperature-controlled environment for a while.

  The poor dogs pace around the kitchen table, looking at me with worry.

  Kaleb squeezes my arm, and an ache courses deep as it stings. “Kaleb…” I beg.

  I don’t know if it really hurts that much, or if I’m just scared. I can’t get to a doctor if I need one.

  Turning, I meet his eyes, his brow etched as he grabs a clean towel and presses my hand to it for pressure as he goes to the cabinets above the fridge.

  “Jesus fucking Christ,” I hear Noah growl and the front door slam shut. “We’ve never had a fire up here. Not once!” He throws open the cabinet next to the sink and pulls out the bottle of Cuervo they keep there.

  “Except that time I shot a flaming arrow into the gasoline jug when I was twelve, but I kind of knew that was going to happen,” he mumbles. “The only thing that got damaged then was my hide.”

  I want to laugh, but I don’t have the energy. My hand wets with the blood soaking through the towel as my legs dangle over the edge of the table. I hear the tequila slosh behind me as Noah downs a couple swallows, and I look over, seeing Kaleb throw a red tin box on the table.

  My pulse kicks up a notch.

  But instead of coming back to the table, he walks behind me, and I hear the sink turn on. I look over my shoulder, seeing him wash his hands.

  My stomach churns and knots, and I bite my lip.

  “Here.” Noah nudges me, the cool glass bottle hitting my shoulder. “Drink this.”

  I shake my head. I can’t stomach anything right now.

  Kaleb comes over and opens the box, pulling out various tools.

  “Were you guys awake?” I ask, looking between them. “I mean, thank God you caught the fire in time.”

  Noah’s gaze flashes to Kaleb, but neither of them answers. Kaleb takes my arm, gently pulling off the sticky towel, and I groan, a tear spilling over.

  Changing my mind, I grab the bottle out of Noah’s hand and throw it back, gulping down two hug
e swallows.

  The burn scorches my throat, and I cough, someone taking the bottle out of my hand again, and I dry heave, ready to fucking throw up. That’s nasty.

  But I grab the bottle again and force down another shot.

  Kaleb leans over the box, pulling out a needle and thread, and I watch, the tequila blazing a path to my stomach as he uses some sort of clamp to thread the needle and then flick a lighter under it, sanitizing it.

  What the fuck?

  And then it hits me.

  Oh, no.

  I shake my head. “Kaleb, no.”

  He shoots his eyes up to me, his dark green gaze unflinching.

  But his stomach—the top half of his body bare, because he never got completely dressed when he ran outside—tightens with his heavy breaths. Almost like he’s…nervous.

  He takes my arm, clenching his jaw, and presses his fingers into my arm, pinching the torn skin back together.

  I cry out. “No, Kaleb, stop.”

  I can’t do this. I turn my face away, sucking in breaths.

  “You have to do it,” Noah says, handing me the bottle again. “If you don’t, you might get an infection, and then you’ll wish you were dead.”

  I down another swallow of the tequila.

  Kaleb’s eyes meet mine once more, and then his fingers—red and stained with my blood—pinch the skin closed again as he sticks the needle through.

  My stomach churns, and I shake, a cold sweat hitting me as he pulls the thread through. I bite my bottom lip until I taste blood. “Noah,” I sob.

  It fucking hurts. I want Jake. They don’t know what they’re doing. Isn’t there a super glue thing now? You know, where you glue your skin together?

  Kaleb pulls the thread tight, a searing snake bite hitting my arm, and I clench my teeth, tears hanging and threatening to fall.

  Fuck.

  Noah hands me the bottle again, but I push it away. My stomach is warm, and I feel the lightness in my head, but I’m about to fucking throw up.

  I take deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling and trying to calm my damn stomach, but Kaleb sticks the needle through my flesh again, and I can feel the blood spilling down my arm as white hot pain shoots off through my body.