AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I never want to leave you.” She shook her head in denial of her own whispered words. “What a nice dream.”
* * * * *
The earthy scent of straw filled Piers’s head. But all he could smell was Sylvee’s sweet scent. The bodywash mingled with her personal fragrance had an even more profound effect on him than it did back in the old days.
He plucked some straw from the big bale in both gloved hands and scattered it in the horse stall. His muscles burned pleasantly in exertion that reminded him just how much he loved this part of working at The Boot Knockers Ranch.
Leaving this place would hurt. He helped to build it. The guys were his brothers. But watching Sylvee board that plane and fly away from him and Ash would gut him.
In the next stall, Ash let out a grunt. Piers poked his head over the top of the stall. “You good?”
“Just thinking too much.”
Damn, that hit home. After the night they shared—the dinner, the dancing and the bedroom—neither of them were the same.
“You’re probably thinking what I am.”
“Prob’ly.” Ash’s voice was pitched low. The scrape of his shovel on the floor of the stalls almost drowned it out.
“What are our options?”
Ash never got to answer the question because footsteps introduced someone’s arrival in the barn. Piers had been in here working plenty of times when a couple came in looking for a romp in the literal hay. But he only heard one set of feet on the barn floor.
He turned to stare down the center aisle toward the door. A female figure was silhouetted against the dim light streaming in from outside. He knew from one glance that it wasn’t Sylvee. They’d left her in bed, recuperating from all the orgasms they’d given her the night before.
“Piers? Are you in here?”
“Maggie. Back here.”
She stopped. “You’re wanted in the office.”
He turned his head to look at Ash, who stood at the door of the stall he was cleaning. Then he looked back at Maggie. “What for?”
“I’m only the messenger.”
“That means you know who’s asking for me.”
“Please don’t be difficult, Piers. I’ve had a really rough week. With Jackson gone, there’s an extra girl, and it’s been hell trying to bounce her between guys and keep everybody happy.”
“What did happen to Jackson?” Ash’s tone was still low and grated like ground glass.
“It’s not my story to tell.”
They were both silent, waiting expectantly for Maggie to spill it.
They waited all of two seconds longer than she usually made them.
“Okay, fine. I’m going to tell you two because you’re the veterans around here, not like Beatie or Hart. And you both care about what happens to Jackson.”
“So tell us what that is.” Piers held his breath. The guy was a loose wire some days when his drinking got out of hand. He was never violent, but he would go off alone and more than once had frightened them all until someone found him again, usually on the mountain, in some makeshift lean-to he’d built.
“Hugh and Riggs found him sleeping in an abandoned car.”
Piers fisted his hand and pressed it to his lips. “Jesus. He okay?”
“He was suffering from dehydration and hadn’t eaten in days. They got him to a hospital and they did a mental assessment. Jackson is having PTSD episodes from being in the military.”
“Fuck. Man, that’s rough.” Ash gave a slow shake of his head.
