by Snow, Nicole
Edison skirts around a couple more buildings, then his sluggish steps quicken as he makes a beeline for the old mechanic’s shop.
I jog to catch up and nudge him aside to get a hand on the doorknob of the side door.
He lets out a low nicker, his big dark eyes shimmering with something like fear. Or is it rage? Ready to charge in the same as me?
Looking him dead in the eye, I press a finger to my lips, telling him to be quiet.
I hope for once he’ll listen and understand me like he seems to get everybody else.
He tosses his head and takes a short sidestep, giving me room to enter the building. I hold my breath, opening the door and squinting into the darkness, forcing my eyes to adjust to the dimness inside.
There’s a faint glow of light on the other side of an old tanker truck, something like a lamp?
“Hurry it up! What’s taking so long?” A voice roars from the distance.
I’d recognize Avery Briar’s petulant shit-don’t-stink tone any day.
Bingo.
Slipping around the door, I jog on the tips of my toes to the truck, plastering myself against the front fender.
“We’re going with the original plan. A fire. I’ve got it set up, just need you to crawl up on this truck and drop it down in the tank.”
I kneel down, looking under the vehicle.
Three sets of legs, tied to chairs, and one set walking toward the front of the truck. Then I just see red, and I can barely contain myself.
“Adam!” Avery shouts. “Time to get your ass out here and help.”
I stand up slowly, faster when I hear her.
“Maybe he can’t find his way in the dark.”
Bella’s voice sends my heart racing. I’m grateful she’s alive, and now I have to keep it that way.
This place is a ticking fucking time bomb. The stench of old gas and crude oil is so thick, my eyes burn.
“Shut up, child. I don’t remember asking you.”
Avery’s response infuriates me. Blood boils in my veins, thick like magma, causing a steady rushing echo inside my head.
Avery’s response infuriates Edison, too, because he comes barreling in through the doorway.
“What the—” He’s reaching for his gun before he realizes what’s happening.
No!
I fly around the front of the truck, head down, and smash Avery square in the chest.
As he flies backward, into Edison, the horse turns and head butts Avery in the back, sending him back to me. It’s like this fucked up game of catch, only we’re playing with a devil who could shoot us any second.
There’s something in his hand, all right. A remote. Or a gun. I can’t tell.
I grab his arm and dig my thumb deep into his wrist, forcing the muscles in his fingers to let go.
His other hand swings around from his back. The faint rays of light coming in around the truck glisten on the gun barrel as he levels it at me.
Edison swings his head around, knocking into the back of Avery’s skull. He wavers.
I use the distraction to grab his other hand and wrench the gun away. I toss it aside and deliver two fast punches to his face.
His head wobbles, hanging forward. Perfect.
I grab him by the hair and yank his head back to plant another fist in his face, when someone grabs my arm.
“I’ll take it from here,” Wallace says. “You see to them.”
For a second, I don’t want to let go. I want to break every bone in his face, send him to prison as broken as the lives he shattered, shitting up Jupiter and hiding his son’s atrocities.
Then I hear Bella crying. Calling Edison’s name – and mine.
Fuck.
I let go of Avery and round the front of the truck with a couple quick steps. Edison beats me to her.
He’s got his big forehead pressing against Bella’s head.
“Drake, don’t forget the son!” Molly shouts. “Avery’s son is out there somewhere!”
“We took care of him,” I say, kneeling down in front of Bella.
I’ve fought far harder and longer, yet I’m shaking.
My mouth is dry as I ask, “You okay, darlin’?”
She nods, a relief filling her eyes as she knows this might finally be over. “I’ll live. Please, untie them first.”
“Who’s we?” Molly asks. “You and...Edison?”
“And the fine people of the Dallas Police Department,” Wallace says, stepping around the truck.
“Oh, thank God you’re here,” she says. “Arrest them. Take them away. They’re criminals!”
Wallace pulls out a knife, trying not to roll his eyes. “We know, ma’am.”
I pull out my knife while Wallace cuts the zip ties off Molly. I get the rag tied around Gary’s mouth off and then move to the zip ties on his hands and legs.
“The guy in jail wasn’t his son. He was a decoy,” Gary says. “And Avery had him knocked off. That’s why he gagged me; he didn’t want me telling Molly about the tainted eye drops he gave the lawyer.”
“He didn’t want the oil company. He wanted the ranch all along!” Molly sputters. “For the oil under it, the minerals. He wanted to steal everything.”
They both go on like that, talking a mile a minute, while Rodney promises to get proper statements down at the station.
“Guess he didn’t know North Earhart owns all the mineral rights on the ranch,” I say, moving to Bella.
Tears spill down her cheeks, but damn if she’s ever looked more beautiful.
I cut her hands loose first, then move to her feet. Our eyes meet for the first time, and those waterworks go wild, turning hers into lush green rainforests.
Even though she’s stroking Edison, she’s looking at me.
I want to do a dozen things at once.
Grab her. Hold her. Hug her. Kiss her. Love her.
I do love her. Love her like crazy after all this.
Love her like I told myself I wouldn’t, with a fire and a fury and mad pounding need that’s downright dangerous. I just hope, after all the shit that’s gone down, she can find it in herself to love me.
“I’m sorry. So sorry,” she whispers. “Avery’s son killed your girlfriend.”
I shake my head. “I know, darlin’. And Winnie wasn’t my girlfriend, just a good woman I grew up with and loved like a sister. Think the only woman I’ve had all these years who really deserves that title is you.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispers again.
Smiling, I fold my blade and shove it in my pocket, then pull her off the chair, into my arms.
“Enough apologies, darlin’. It doesn’t matter anymore.” My eyes fucking burn, almost as hot as my lips when I kiss her forehead. “What matters most? What matters now? I’m looking at her. You, Bella, and nothing else. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me – a hundred gazillion times better than catching up with the Dragon.”
I take her hand, thankful she didn’t toss the ring away in her anger earlier. “And I’m telling you, darlin’, you’re the best and I aim to keep it that way. Right here, right now, mark my damn words.”
Her arms go around my neck and she lifts her face, melting into me. It’s the sweetest invitation I’ve ever seen in my life.
We spend the next minute with her mouth under mine, just kissing like the bitter end till my lungs scream for air.
And even when I’m fucking breathless, I kiss her some more.
“Hate to cut in, but my men need to secure the crime scene, and I need to ask Bella-Bell some questions.”
I shoot Wallace a glare.
He grins and slaps my shoulder. “Aw, c’mon. There’ll be time for that later, son. And I won’t hold it against you.”
I look up and wonder what happened. Molly and Gary, plus Edison, are gone.
Keeping an arm around Bella, I walk her around the truck and out the door.
As soon as we step outside, though, Wallace, Gary, and Molly start jabbering away at the sa
me time.
Wallace stops them with a wave of his hand.
“One at a time,” he says. “Gary, you go first. Start with this morning, at the hotel.”
Molly doesn’t seem to mind.
Neither does Bella as Edison nudges her shoulder. She smiles at me, then steps back and loops an arm around the horse’s neck.
He deserves her attention too. Her love. His eyes are huge and glassy and weirdly...satisfied?
I think I’ve made peace with this horse being the only thing male I’ll ever share her with.
Taking a step back so I can keep a hand on her back, we listen to Gary’s version of Avery and his son capturing them at gunpoint, tying their hands, and then stealing the rental car.
But Bella cuts in toward the end with a scream.
“Drake! Oh my God. Edison’s going down; he’s going down!”
19
Hold Your Horses (Bella)
My arms are shaking.
So are my legs, and, well, just about everything as I use all my strength to keep Edison’s head up.
I can’t let him go down. He’ll never get up again. I know it deep in my soul.
Drake barks orders for someone to get water, saying we have to get Edison cooled down.
Dad shouts too, into his phone, and then there’s just this chaos, the sheriff and his deputies running every which way.
Mom stands on the other side of Edison’s head, touching him. I think it’s the first time I’ve seen her get her hands dirty. Ever.
“You simply can’t die now,” she whispers, her voice cracking a little. “You...you saved her, you magnificent beast. You saved us all. And so did your beastly friend. Oh, I’ve been so selfish. But if I could ask for just one more thing...stay with us Edison. I was just starting to like you!”
If I wasn’t so scared, even more afraid than when Avery and his creep-o son had me tied to a chair, I might have smiled at her comment.
Drake crouches under Edison, his back pressed against the horse’s belly, and I swear he’s the only thing strong enough to keep the horse upright.
A deputy puts a bucket of water under Edison’s nose, but he doesn’t try to drink.
His eyes are just empty, glassed over, and his head hangs heavier.
I get my shoulder under his chin, using one hand to cup water and rub it on his muzzle, on his lips, his teeth, trying to get some small bit of it into his mouth.
God.
He’s breathing way too fast. Way too fast.
Panting more like a dog than a horse.
Dad and a deputy keep dumping water over Edison, and per Drake’s instructions, scrape off the water, and then dump on some more.
I’m afraid it isn’t working.
He’s lethargic, weak, but more than that, I can see in his eyes that...that he’s finally giving up.
Oh, bud. Oh, no.
“Don’t do it,” I whisper. “Not yet. You still have to meet me at the barn.”
His ears twitch and his eyes shift slowly.
“You heard me. Meet me at the barn, Edison,” I tell him again, still scooping water into his mouth.
Snorting, he dips his nose into the water bucket and drinks a tiny amount.
Not enough, I know it’s not.
There are more people gathering now, workers from the oil company who heard all the commotion. It seems like everyone’s hauling buckets of water, pouring it over his back, scraping it off.
Others are just crouched down on the ground like Drake, who refuses to take a break for shifts, holding the horse up with all his might.
A pickup truck rolls up connected to a horse trailer. The vet, Mike Little.
In minutes, there’s a sling on Edison and a boom truck from the plant lifts him off the ground, into the horse trailer. I stay with him the entire time, talking to him, telling him to please, please meet me at the barn one more time.
So does Drake. He holds my hand so tight it almost hurts. But it’s the kind of pain I need, the kind that’s real, the kind that’s us.
And yes, I’ve decided there will be an us, whatever else happens today.
How could any other man ever appreciate this horse, this ranch, this family, this life more than him?
Whatever may come, heartbreak or happiness, I know I’ve gotten insanely lucky finding him.
I know I married the right man.
“Good job with the water,” Dr. Little says. “He’s cooled down some, but he’s severely dehydrated. I’ll take him to—”
“No.” I look at Drake. “We’re taking him home like we promised. To his barn.”
The vet just looks at me and blinks. “Um, Ms. Reed, that’s highly unorthodox.”
“You heard her. That’s where he belongs. Tell me what you want for overtime and a house call out here, and I’ll pay it out of my own pocket,” Drake growls. “Any price, Doc.”
He knows. He agrees with me. If Edison doesn’t make it, he’ll die at home with us and Gramps’ memory.
Not in some strange, clinical place.
“All right,” Dr. Little says. “You can ride with me, if you want.”
Drake and I stay inside the horse trailer. The sling is now connected to large pulleys in the top.
Edison’s eyes are clearer, but he’s still lethargic. Without the sling, he’d be lying on his side, already gone. I’m positive of that.
“I’m staying right here with Edison,” I say.
“And I’ll ride with her,” Drake says, brushing his hand down the small of my back. He turns to Sheriff Wallace. “You can question her later. Not now, Rodney. Not till we get this horse right again.”
“Sure, there’s plenty of time for that,” Wallace says. “I’ll get your truck and have somebody bring it back to the ranch.”
“We’ll drive his truck out there,” Dad says. “The BMW is evidence right now, anyway.”
Drake reaches in his pocket and throws him the keys. They share a nod, this deep, deep respect in Dad’s eyes.
Despite all the worry, I smile. Maybe some of this nightmare wasn’t for nothing.
Maybe it was meant to be.
* * *
Within minutes, Drake and I are sitting on two metal boxes, stroking Edison’s nose as patrol cars give the trailer a lights-on escort, ensuring the ride will be as smooth as possible.
I just hope it’s not a funeral escort.
Drake wraps an arm around me. “I’m sorry about what you heard with Angie. I—”
“Nope. I thought we were done with apologies?” I look at him and smile. “Look, I’m the one who’s sorry. I was jealous. Mad that you had a girl you never told me about, and I had no right to be. I didn’t even know the details.” Pissed at my own behavior, I shake my head. “I figured that out even before I was zip-tied to a chair. I screwed up, Drake. Big time.” I look at Edison, at what my foolishness caused. Tears sting my eyes. “Lesson learned. I swear, I’ll never do this again.”
Drake cups my cheek, forces me to look at him.
“Stop. Wasn’t your fault darlin’. It was mine.”
I shake my head, shake it furiously, but his grip just gets tighter.
“Something was bound to happen, but I’d let my guard down. And I lied to you. I left Montana looking for Winnie’s killer, but the trail ran cold. Then a bad storm happened, I drove into it not thinking because I was done with life, and I met Jonah. Found out fast he hated Jupiter Oil as much as I did. He shared the intel he had, I shared mine, and we found out more together. When he took ill, he knew he’d never bring an end to Jupiter and Avery’s corruption. Not by ourselves. His time was up and I swore I’d see it through. I promised him I’d do right, protecting you.”
“By marrying me.”
He grins. “That was the only part that scared me.”
“Scared you?” I laugh, loving how he says it.
“Damn straight. Think sometimes I was already half in love with you before we even met. He had your pictures all over the house. Hands down the pretties
t woman I’d ever seen. Didn’t know what you were like, not till we met, but fuck...I knew you were someone I wanted to meet, and not just for Jonah’s sake.”
My heart does a somersault, even as I tell myself I’d misheard. “Come on. That’s like something that’d happen in a book. You didn’t even know me.”
“I didn’t, but I did, darlin’. Knew you through Jonah’s eyes. Then I met you, and got to know you through mine, and got scared all over again because from the minute you walked into the house, I wanted you bad.”
“You did, huh?”
He kisses my nose. “Already told you. Yeah, darlin’, yeah.”
This man. This crazy, gorgeous, too sweet storm of a man. If I let him go on, I’m afraid he’ll ruin me forever.
“Truth be told...maybe I started falling in love with you that first day, too,” I admit. “That’s why I was psycho jealous this morning.” My foolishness shrouds me again. “How did you find me, anyway?”
He shakes his head. “I didn’t. I was driving around town like a lunatic, no clue where you’d gone, till I spotted Edison walking across the highway. I followed him all the way to the storage yard.” He looks at Edison. “It was like he had a homing device on you.”
It isn’t fair. Hearts aren’t made to break this much in one freaking day, over and over, as the best and worst of everything I’ve ever lived and loved busts up and comes together again.
I look at Edison, tearing up all over again. “He might. He found me when I was little once, after I’d wandered off while Gramps was meeting with some people. From then on, whenever Gramps was busy, Edison became my backup babysitter. Gramps would put me on his back, and Edison would walk around and around the house.” My voice cracks.
Drake presses his forehead against mine, just holding me, holding me up as sure as that horse.
I lean against him as my throat swells. “He has to be okay.”
“Give it time, darlin’. That’s all we ever need.”
* * *
Later, at the ranch, Drake uses the bucket on the tractor to help get Edison out of the trailer and into the barn. The sling connects to the ceiling above the largest stall in the barn so the doctor and his assistant have ample room to insert an IV in Edison’s neck for electrolytes.
