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“Smart girl, I always knew I liked you, Kathryn. It’s a shame my son is too stupid to open his eyes.”
“Peter Williams!” Joyce called out. Laughing, I lifted my hand and pointed my finger at him.
“Behave.”
Giving me a sly smile, Peter said, “Always.”
Four days after I first pulled up for my mini Joyce and Peter vacation, I found myself lost on the ranch. Peter thought it would be fun for me to take the Jeep out and go for a drive.
Get some fresh country air, Kathryn. Cause the country air on the front porch wasn’t good enough he said. Even though I had my laptop all set up and I was comfy as hell. Oh no, I had to get my ass up and take a jaunt around the few thousand-acre ranch.
Stopping the Jeep, I looked around. “I’m so screwed right now.”
Opening the door, I got out and began looking around. For some reason, this area of the ranch looked familiar to me. Laughing, I dropped my head back. “Oh dear God, Ryn. It’s thousands of acres . . . how could this spot seem familiar?”
Turning to my right I saw a trail. Walking toward it, I pulled out my cell. Still no coverage. It was hit or miss if I had cell coverage here. I couldn’t wait for Lark and Dee to show up later this evening. I loved Joyce, but something was off with her, as if she was hiding something. She kept asking me if I wanted to go into town and get facials. I finally agreed to it yesterday, thinking maybe it was Joyce who needed time away from the ranch and Peter. Smiling, I had to admit it was fun. I would have loved to have had a mother like Joyce. She was funny, said what was on her mind, yet she had a way of being gentle with you, even when she was telling you that you were flat out wrong about something.
She never brought up Tristan. Not once. On my last trip here she mentioned him a number of times. The fact that she hadn’t brought him up caused me to think that maybe he had been dating someone. I asked Sierra and she said he wasn’t. They saw each other once a week and I was insanely jealous of their friendship. I had to stop myself more than once from telling Sierra I didn’t want her hanging out with Tristan. I knew it was selfish of me. I did however finally break down and ask her if she had maybe mentioned to Tristan I wasn’t seeing Dodge anymore. All she did was smile and say, “Oh, he already knew that.”
She never did elaborate on how Tristan knew this bit of information.
Making my way down the trail, I came across a hunter’s cabin that Peter used for the guys who paid to hunt on his ranch. It only took a split-second for me to realize this was the same cabin Tristan and I made love in. The same cabin where he told me he was falling in love with me.
Making my way to the door, I reached down to the doorknob. I knew it would be locked. Tristan had used a master key he carried on his key ring to open the door last year.
A rush of sadness swept over my body. It was almost a year to the date when we had been here together. Closing my eyes, I tried the handle. When it turned, I let out a gasp. Pushing the door open, I stood at the threshold. I was scared to death to step into the room. Knowing the moment I did, the memory would overtake me and push away any progress I had made this week in moving on and letting Tristan go. Up until now, the visit to the ranch had been therapeutic. It was a cleansing almost. I knew in my heart I would forever love Tristan.
Taking in a deep breath, I walked into the room. My eyes landed on the bed and the memory swept into my head.
Walking over to the bed, I stared down at it. Wrapping my arms around my body, I finally let go. I dropped to the floor and began crying.
“Why? Why did you have to tell me you were falling in love with me?”
I wasn’t sure how long I was on the floor. I just sat there, leaning against the bed where Tristan had changed my entire world. Dropping my head back, I realized it was late.
How long had I been in the cabin? What if I had to stay out here all night? I couldn’t stay here all night. Pulling out my phone, I still had no service. Panic began to set in. Jumping up, I quickly made my way to the door and pulled it open. I was beginning to have a panic attack, knowing I was lost and night was quickly coming. I ran smack into someone and I let out a scream. Okay, that’s not true. It wasn’t just a scream; it was a loud blood-curdling scream. Turning, I tried to run back into the cabin.
The person grabbed me around my waist and pulled me back to them. I began trying to hit them with my fists, but my back was pulled to them. I started trying to kick, but they lifted me off the ground.
“Let go of me! I swear to God I’ll kill you. Let me go!” I screamed.
“Ryn! Jesus Christ, stop fighting me!”
Oh dear God, they know my name. I started screaming out, “Help! Somebody help me!”
They started walking me toward the bed. No! Oh God no! Attempting to fight harder, it felt like my lungs were closing in on me. I was working hard at dragging in air.
Can’t breathe . . .
They threw me onto the bed and I scrambled up it and turned around, still screaming the best I could since it felt like I was getting no air.
My eyes adjusted to the darkness of the cabin. The sun hadn’t gone down yet but it was beginning to get darker.
Oh. My. God.
Tristan was standing there, breathing heavy as he stared at me. “What in the fuck are you doing here?” he shouted.
I stopped screaming and looked around. Lark was standing behind Tristan. My chest was heaving up and down, not only from my attempt at trying to get away, but from the panic attack.
I couldn’t talk. Opening my mouth, I just dragged in more air.
Tristan grabbed his chin. “Motherfucker. You punched the shit out of my jaw.”
Oh. Yeah me! I hadn’t realized I had landed one. Serves his ass right.
Lark moved over to me. “Ryn, slow down your breathing.”
Trying to do just that, I looked at Tristan. Oh no. Tristan was here. Oh shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
Lark placed his hands on the sides of my face. “Ryn . . . look at me. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth.”
“What in the fuck are you doing out here? Are you trying to get lost, Ryn? Do you have any fucking idea how huge this ranch is?” Moving my eyes off of Lark, I looked at Tristan. He was furious. I knew it wasn’t from me getting lost. It was from me being here. Tears began to form in my eyes and I hated that I was appearing so weak in front of him.
Lark turned to Tristan. “Tristan, I don’t really think yelling at her right now is a good idea. Can’t you see she’s scared to death?”
Right at that moment, a damn tear rolled down my cheek. Tristan just stood there, staring at me. His eyes softened a bit, but he made no attempt to come to me. I prayed like hell he would. I wanted him to hold me in his arms, not Lark. Tristan didn’t move. His body was tense and his hands were balled up into fists.
I wanted to call out his name. Beg him to hold me. My heart was beating like crazy in my chest, and it wasn’t from me being afraid anymore. It was from the knowledge that Tristan clearly didn’t want me here.
Tristan turned and walked outside, closing the cabin door behind him. That’s when I lost all control and the tears fell freely. Lark pulled me into his arms and whispered against my hair, “Shh . . . it’s okay, Ryn. Please don’t cry. It’s all going to be okay now.”
It wasn’t going to be okay. Tristan didn’t love me. If he had, he would have never walked away from me. Again.
Grabbing a hold of Lark’s shirt, I cried like I had never cried before.
r /> I NEEDED AIR. PUSHING BOTH my hands through my hair, I tried to get my own damn breathing under control. When I had pulled up and Dad was getting into his truck, I asked him where he was going. That’s when Lark pulled up.
My father looked scared, and my father was never scared. Then he told Lark and me he had talked Ryn into taking a drive in the Jeep. At first, I was confused as hell as to why Ryn was at my family’s ranch, but when he said she had been gone for over five hours, I freaked out. Lark told my dad to go back into the house and we would look for Ryn.
Luckily, it had rained earlier and her tracks were easy to follow. When we pulled up to the trail to the cabin, I froze. There was no way in hell she would remember how to get here.
Why was she here? At the ranch? At the cabin? My head was spinning and I wasn’t sure if I should be feeling happy we found her or pissed that she was even here.
The cabin door opened and Ryn and Lark walked out. Ryn looked down at the ground and wouldn’t even look at me. “I’m gonna take her back in the Jeep, she’s really upset.”
I should be the one holding her, not my brother. When I walked up to her, she wouldn’t look at me. “I’ll take her back in my truck, you follow us in the Jeep.”
Snapping her head up, her eyes looked panicked. “No!” Shaking her head, she began freaking out again. “No, I just want Lark to take me back.”
My heart broke in two and for once in my life, I felt as if I was going to cry. “Ryn, I’m . . . I’m sorry I yelled like that. Let me take you back and . . .”
She began shaking her head as she whispered, “No. Please, I don’t want to go back with you.”
My knees felt like they were going to give out on me. My eyes burned with the threat of tears and my world felt destroyed. “Ryn . . .” I whispered as she looked into my eyes. I’d never seen her eyes look so sad and lost.
Lark cleared his throat. “Tristan, just let me take her back. We’ll meet you at the ranch house.”
Lark began walking Ryn over to the Jeep. Before she got into the Jeep, she looked over her shoulder at me. Not able to move, I watched as Lark turned the Jeep around and headed back to the house.
