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Trace walked into the kitchen. “Lila’s still not home?” he asked with concern.
Gavin shook his head and grabbed up his phone. “I’m going to head out and look for her. She should have been home an hour ago.”
“Think she lost track of time?” Trace asked, following him out.
“I don’t know, but she’s not answering her phone.”
Gavin tried calling her again as he walked. He came to a stop as he heard a ring tone. Trace followed the sound over to a wooden post, picking up the silver phone that Gavin had bought her a few days. Two days and she’d already managed to misplace it.
“Goddammit, that girl is in trouble when I catch up with her,” he muttered.
“Gavin, Trace,” Ron called out in greeting.
“Hey, Ron, you haven’t seen Lila, have you?” Trace asked.
Ron frowned. “Not since I saddled Sunshine for her this morning. I thought she’d be back by now.”
“So did we,” Gavin said grimly. “Don’t know what direction she went in do you?” Looking for her was going to be like searching out a needle in a haystack.
“I can do you one better, I know where she went,” Ron said, surprising him. “She said she was headed for the lake, by that wreck of a shack.”
Her think
ing spot. They all knew about it and had always given her privacy when she went there.
“I’ll come with you,” Trace said quickly. “I’ll just run back and get some water.”
Worry churning in his gut, his instincts screaming at him to find her quick, Gavin saddled up his horse, while Ron did the same for Trace’s big beast.
*****
Lila rubbed her eyes tiredly, wondering why every bone in her body ached. When had her mattress grown so hard? Rolling over, she opened her eyes slightly. She must have forgotten to pull her drapes shut. Weird.
Forcing herself to fully wake up, she looked around, confused and a bit frightened.
“What the hell?” She must have fallen asleep outside. “Oh shit.” Frantically, she raised her wrist up to her still-blurry eyes, barely making out the hands on her watch face.
1:45pm. Oh, she was in so much trouble.
Hastily, she stood, her body swaying. Black circled her vision as her stomach protested the movement.
The world around her swirled sickeningly and suddenly the ground came up to meet her as she fainted dead away.
“Lila!” Trace yelled as he saw her stand then immediately drop to the ground. He forced his horse to go faster. Gavin did the same but his horse didn’t have the speed Trace’s did. Trace reached her first, jumping off his horse to run to where she lay so quiet and still.
“Oh God, honey, please be all right,” he begged as he frantically ran his hands over her, looking for injuries. They’d just gotten her back, she couldn’t leave them now. He only felt whole when Lila was around.
“What’s wrong with her?” Gavin barked as he came to his knees beside them, his hands joining Trace’s.
Trace felt his brother’s pain, knew he was just as terrified as Trace was. Gavin had led a hard life before Clay had brought him home. He’d been big for his age and older kids had constantly picked fights with him just to prove they could beat him.
So Gavin had grown up fighting. Where Trace and Colin had only experienced the one foster home, he’d been in and out of them since the age of eight when his father had been sent off to jail.
Gavin didn’t open up easily to people. But for some reason he’d taken two terrified younger boys under his wing. He’d protected them from the bullies who would have had a field day with two white, middle-class boys who were used to the loving protection of their parents.
And Trace, who’d done his best to look after his younger brother, had been forever grateful. He’d been just as scared as Colin, but tried to hold it together for his brother’s sake.
When Clay had come for them, Trace knew he couldn’t leave without Gavin. The smart-mouthed fifteen year old had put on a brave face, but Trace knew that Gavin cared about them. Even loved them in a gruff, teenage boy, way. And so Trace had marched up to Clay, who’d been loading their stuff into his huge-ass black track, and with his voice cracking, he’d told Clay that he wasn’t leaving unless Gavin came with them.
