by Naomi Niles
“Oh, it's fine, kid, it's fine. I didn't have nothin' to do anyway.”
“And Cassie really likes you, Andy. You're almost like a granddaddy to her.”
He chuckled. “I sometimes feel like that too. She's a wonderful child, kid. Reminds me so much a' your daddy. Just like you remind me so much a' your granddaddy.”
I clinked my beer bottle against his.
“Thanks, Andy. I know that's a real compliment, coming from you. And as for you, I'm happy to have someone like you as my second-in-command here. I wouldn't be able to take care a' this ranch without you, that's for sure.”
“Like I said to you before, kid, this place is part of me, and I guess I'm part of it now. I been here so long I'm like part a' the furniture.” We both chuckled. “So you gonna tell me 'bout all this crazy stuff that happened tonight?”
I sighed deeply and drank another big swig of beer. “Man, it was crazy. I started out at the show, as you know.”
“Mm-hmm, with Miss Shea. And how'd the surprise with James go?”
“Oh, that went off like firecrackers on the 4th of July! It was spectacular! Amazing man, just amazing.”
“Good. Is James gonna stop by the ranch here to say hi to us? It was his home for many years, once upon a time.”
“He told me he'll try squeeze in a visit, yeah.”
“So, where does the craziness come into the picture?” Andy asked.
I told him all about the situation at hospital, and how I'd driven Mackenzie there, and then how I'd had to go and get Tina from the biker bar, and how she'd been acting.
“Ah, that one, she's a real wildcat. Hot as blazes, but man, she's got a touch a' the crazy, that one. Good on you for resisting. Like I said, you remind me a' your granddaddy a lot, and he was a real Southern gentleman, he was. A ladies man for sure, but he treated them with respect, ya know? And he didn't mess none a' em around. And when he met your grandma, that was it. He never looked at another lady again, not ever. Only ever had eyes for her after that. You don't get many men like that nowadays. Not many at all. But despite some a' your recent indiscretions, like I said, you're reminding me more and more a' your granddaddy these days.”
“Thanks, Andy. I appreciate your honesty.”
“Just speakin' my mind, kid, just speakin' my mind.”
We sat and sipped on our beers in silence for a few minutes, just appreciating the peaceful chill of the quiet night.
“There wasn't no trouble here this evening, was there?” I asked after a while.
“Nope, none at all,” he replied. “The boys have been patrolling the ranch, keepin' up a visible presence. If anyone was thinkin' a tryin' anything like they did with Silver, they didn't dare try it tonight. And we're gonna be working in shifts through the night. We ain't givin' these bastards a chance to get in here and cause more chaos. As long as you don't mind two of the boys getting' up late tomorrow morning on account of them wanderin' around the ranch in the early hours a' the morning.”
“Of course not, Andy. They're going over and above the call a' duty, and I appreciate that. I hope you told 'em they're all getting bonuses at the end a' the month for all this help.”
“I done told 'em. And that's why they love ya. That's why they love this ranch.”
“They're good men, Andy. And you're the best of 'em.”
He just smiled and tipped his hat, and carried on sipping on his beer. We sat in silence like that for a long time, simply appreciating the quietness of the night.
The Next Day
I woke up bright and early, as I always did, rising with the sun. After making a mug of coffee, I headed upstairs to check on Cassie. She was sleeping peacefully and looked just like a lil' cherub in her bed. I smiled when I saw her and just stood in the doorway, sipping my coffee and feeling thankful that I had someone as beautiful, sweet, and innocent as her in my life.
I couldn't stay there forever, though, as much as I would have liked to, so I headed downstairs and out of the house, where I took a morning walk around my ranch. Every tree, every hill, every ditch, and the creek that wound its way around the edge of the property, they were all as familiar to me as friends I'd known since childhood. Yes, this land was in my blood all right.
I went out and spoke to some of the ranch hands who were returning from their patrols, and told them to sleep in as long as they wanted. They'd done a good night's work, and needed rest to recharge.
I had a word with Andy, too, and then headed back to the house where I was surprised to see a black Mercedes parked outside my house.
I walked up to the car and tapped on the tinted window, which I couldn't see through. I heard the quiet whir of an electric motor, and the window opened, and my eyes met the cold eyes of Peter Duvalle.
Instantly, anger and revulsion rippled through me.
“What do you want here, Duvalle?” I snapped. “How many times do I have to say 'no' before you scumbags understand me?”
“May I get out and talk to you, Mr. Lawson?” he asked.
“How about you just drive on outta here and don't come back. Ever.”
He chuckled dryly. “Where's this Southern hospitality' I hear so much about? I haven't even gotten out of my car yet and you're already kicking me out.”
“You and me don't got nothin' to say to each other. Nothin'.”
“Oh, I beg to differ, Mr. Lawson. You see, I do have an offer that I'm sure you'll be interested in.”
“Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, you viper, but I guarantee I won't be.” I responded.
“You haven't even heard what I have to say.”
“I don't need to,” I insisted.
“You keep the ranch.”
That took me by surprise. “Wait... what?”
“That's right, Mr. Lawson. You keep the ranch. You keep this house that your forefathers built. And we'll pay you the same generous sum we've been offering you.”
I stared at him with narrowed eyes.
“Then what's the catch? There's no way there ain't no catch.”
He chuckled.
“All right, there is a 'catch', if you want to call it that. While you keep the ranch and the house in your name, we have full use of the land. We demolish the barn and stables, cut the trees down, dam the creek, remove your cattle, and bring our own cattle here.”
“And my farmhands?”
“We have our own. Yours will have to... find alternative employment.”
“Nice try, Duvalle, but I'll tell you where you can shove this deal.”
“You'd be an utter idiot to refuse this.”
“Why? Are there gonna be any more 'accidents' on this ranch if I refuse?”
I saw his face tighten at this.
“I don't know what you're talking about,” he said with an evil sneer.
“Like hell you don't. Messing with my daughter's foal, poisoning my stallion. You think I don't know it's you Circle B bastards?”
“I'd like to see you try to prove that in a court of law. I'd love to, in fact. We have the best lawyers money can buy, Lawson. We'll bury you if you try. I promise you that. And then this land will be ours. And then, what would you leave behind for your precious daughter?”
That got my blood boiling. “You mention her again, you snake, and I'll—”
“Shoot you,” interrupted a familiar voice. I turned around and saw Andy standing behind me, pointing his revolver at Duvalle's face.
Duvalle stared at him and chuckled. “That would not be very wise, you ignorant redneck. I guarantee you, you'll spend the rest of your worthless life locked up.”
“It'd be worth it to rid the Earth of scum like you,” countered Andy. “Mr. Lawson here is a young man, and he's got his life ahead a' him, and it'd be a real shame if he got locked in the slammer. So he ain't gonna do nothin' like that. But me? I'm old. I've lived rough my whole life. Jail don't scare me. Hell, it'd be like a retirement village for me. You don't scare me. And all it'd take would be a lil' push for me to pull this trigger.
So get the hell outta here... now.”
“You'll regret this,” Duvalle snarled as he started the car's motor. “You'll both regret this, I promise you that.”
He took off, spinning his car's wheels in the dust, and we were glad to see him go. Andy only holstered his revolver after the black car had disappeared from sight.
“Thanks, Andy,” I said. “But I could've handled him on my own.”
“I know, kid. But I wanted to tell him that. I wanted to look the bastard in his eyes and tell him that.”
“Thank you.”
Before we could continue speaking, however, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I took it out and smiled when I saw that it was a message from Mackenzie.
My smile, however, became a frown when I read it:
“Hope you had a great time with the woman in the white cocktail dress, Chance. Do us both a favor and don't call me or message me again. Ever.”
Chapter Thirteen
Mackenzie
I came to in a cold sweat, feeling like I was still stuck in the dream that had awakened me – well, more of a nightmare, to be honest. The events of the previous night had thrown me for a loop and sent me into a spiral of dark memories and pain. With my dad in hospital, hooked up to all sorts of machines and tubes, and then the sickening feeling I'd experienced when I'd seen Chance with that girl in the white dress, I hadn't been able to stop my mind from going back to that dark place, back to the lowest point of my life.
I started to lift my head up from the pillow, but then dropped it back again and just lay there, feeling too weak to get up. I'd spent most of the night tossing and turning and waking up again and again. I glanced across at my clock and saw that it was only five thirty in the morning, still a little too early to get up. I didn't really want to go back to sleep. The last thing I wanted was to land right back in the middle of yet another nightmare, but soon enough my, eyelids were feeling heavier and heavier, and I drifted quickly into sleep.
The next thing I knew, I was back in that car five years ago. His car. Everything felt so real, so intense. Brad was at the wheel, laughing and joking. I was gripping the sides of the seat, my heart hammering, my hands clammy and cold.
“Slow down, Brad, please... please just slow down,” I was saying to him.
“Just relax! Jeez, you're always so damn uptight.”
“We're doing over a hundred miles an hour, Brad! Of course I’m uptight. It's dangerous! I'm scared!”
“Look, this is a BMW with some of the best safety features money can buy, Mack. Besides, I can handle this. What do you think I am, some stupid punk kid? Shit, you do remember that I was a NASCAR driver once, don't you?”
“And that's why you've got two titanium rods in your left leg! You crashed and almost killed yourself!” I reminded him.
Brad shook his head and sneered. “Whatever. Every professional driver crashes once in a while; it don't mean nothing.”
I stared at the headlight beams as they raced over the winding surface of the single lane mountain road as we barreled along it at breakneck speed.
“Brad, come on, please, please just take it down to sixty, or eighty, even. You’re scaring the hell out of me, I'm—”
I almost screamed as he threw the car into a tight corner, spinning the wheels and smoking the tires.
“See!” he exclaimed, his eyes bright in the dim interior of the car, “I still got it! I still got—”
The next thing I knew, we were airborne. Brad had lost control of the car, and it had launched off the side of the road. It couldn't have been for more than a second or two, but I felt like an eternity. And then, with a sickening crunch and a jolting impact, we hit the ground. And then all I remember was a blur of earth and sky, earth and sky, spinning again and again as we tumbled and rolled.
Then there was darkness.
I don't know how long we were there, passed out, but when I woke up, I was upside down and still strapped in the passenger seat. A slow hissing sound permeated from somewhere, and the inside of the car was full of smoke. My lower abdomen felt like it was on fire, but because I was hanging upside down, I couldn't look to see what was causing it.
“Brad...” I croaked. “Brad, are you okay? Speak to me, Brad, speak to me...”
In a split second, his silence was replaced with screams. “Help!” he yelped from next to me. “Somebody help me!”
A flashlight beam cut through the smoke, and a gruff voice spoke to me from the other side of my door. “Hang in there, young lady. We'll get you out.”
“Get me out! Get me out!” Brad screamed when he heard the voice.
“We are going to get to you, sir,” replied the voice. “But you don’t appear to be injured, and she does. We're helping her out first.”
“No! Get me out! Help! Help!” he repeated as he thrashed about, trying to break free of his seatbelt.
A big, bearded biker covered in tattoos and leather crouched in through the broken passenger window next to me.
“What’s your name?” he asked me.
“Umm...Mackenzie,” I managed to say.
A second pair of motorcycle boots appeared next to him. He introduced himself as Cal in a calm voice and tried to assure me everything was going to be okay. By the way he was trying to remain so collected, I wasn’t so sure it would be. He stood back up to talk to the man with him.
“Johnny, I’ll hold her tight while you unbuckle her seatbelt,” Cal said. “Then we'll pull her out real careful like.”
“Sure thing, Cal,” replied the biker outside, Johnny.
Cal moved around and climbed into the car through the hole where the windshield had once been. I felt a pair of big, strong hands cradle around me to stabilize me as Johnny crouched down next to me from the door and unbuckled me from the seatbelt. Then, supporting me carefully, Cal and Johnny slowly and cautiously pulled me out of the wreckage and laid me gently down on the grass.
“Just hang in there, Mackenzie,” Cal said. “We've called 911; they're sending an ambulance.”
“Thank you,” I managed to whisper.
The grass beneath me was cold and sent a shiver through me. Lying there under the stars would have been beautiful, except for the smoking wreckage of the car next to me. Inside, Brad was still shrieking for help.
“We're coming. Calm down!” Johnny snapped. “What an ass,” he whispered as he squatted down next to me and took my hand in his big, tattooed paw and squeezed it gently.
“Just hang in there, Miss. We're gonna get your friend out of the car now. You stay as still as you can. The ambulance is on its way.”
As the two bikers made their way to the other side of the car to get Brad out, I lifted my head just enough to look down at my body and see what was causing me such intense pain in my lower abdomen. I almost threw up when I saw it – a big, twisted, jagged piece of plastic from the dashboard stabbing deep into my flesh. The lower half of my white dress was red and wet with blood. I started to whimper, panic rising in me. The air grew thick and heavy. I couldn't breathe, and a light grew brighter and brighter in my eyes, burning out everything...
And then I woke up with a start, sitting bolt upright in my bed.
I ripped the covers off my body, expecting to see the sheets stained with blood – but all I saw were two legs and my bare abdomen. No blood.
The long, jagged scar across my lower belly nearly glowed in the moonlight shining through my window, a permanent reminder of that awful night, a souvenir of a nightmare that I would carry with me for the rest of my days.
Five years had done little to tamp down the memory of both the accident and what had happened after, which had been just as bad only in a different way. I'd managed to move on for the most part. And while I’d struggled to forget about it, I’d at least been able to accept what had happened and get on with my life.
But after seeing Brad recently – with his new family – and especially after having witnessed Chance with the bimbo in the white dress, all of the bad memories had come floo
ding back with a vengeance.
This was a disaster. This was everything I didn't need my life to be. Everything I needed so desperately to forget.
I got my phone out, and I was full of sadness and anger as I typed. My message to Chance was blunt and simple. I hit send, and then put my phone on silent. If he replied or tried to call, I didn't want to hear it and wasn't about it take it.
I checked the clock again, and saw that now, after waking up from the most recent nightmare, that it was half-past six in the morning. I stretched and got out of bed – still feeling awful – and walked through to the kitchen. I felt a little better here, in my parents' house, the house where I'd grown up and had had so many great memories with my wonderful family, but with my dad being in the hospital with his scare the previous night, it wasn't possible to feel great about things.
My mom was up, sipping on a mug of coffee. I walked over to her and gave her a long, tight hug.
“Morning, dear,” she said with a warm smile.
“Morning, Mom,” I said. “How's dad doing?”
“He's fast asleep. He looks pale and weak, but that's to be expected.”
She looked pale herself, but I knew that that was from worry and lack of sleep.
“Did you get any sleep?” I asked her.
“Not enough,” she sighed. “You?”
I shook my head.
“Bad dreams. Lots of 'em.”
She sighed and hugged me again.
“It's a tough time we're going through, Mackenzie. A real tough time. Listen, though, I didn't get the chance to properly thank you, or Lilly or Jason, for finding Will last night. I'm really grateful that you guys were able to do that.”
“Luckily, it wasn't too difficult. I just wish he'd be more responsible.”
“I know. That boy is twenty-five, but still acting like an eighteen-year-old. I don't know what we're going to do with him.”
“He has grown up a little, though,” I replied. It was true – he wasn't always irresponsible. Only when he drank.
“I know, I know. And you know I love him dearly. He is my son, after all. I just wish that he could change a little.”
