Page 18 of Derecho

It felt like my heart was going to pound right out of my chest. I could hear the way she was fighting back tears. She thought she was hiding it in the tightness of each word, but she wasn’t fooling me.

“Trouble. What’s wrong?”

She sniffed and cleared her throat. Alarm bells were ringing so goddamn loud in my head I thought I might black out. “Nothing. I promise. I-I’m okay. I just wanted to say thank you, for fixing all that stuff with my car. For how nice yesterday was. It’s just…I can’t anymore.”

My stomach ached. “Is it the baby?”

“No.”

“Are you sick?” The worst thought slammed into me. “Is it Greg? Did he hurt you?”

“I appreciate the concern. I just need…” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I’m sorry. I’ve got to go. I just didn’t want you to worry. Thank you for being my only friend. It’s been really nice these past few weeks. Bye, Lach.”

“Hey—” The dial tone signaling she’d already hung up rang painfully loud in my ear.

I just didn’t want you to worry.

Thank you for being my only friend.

My only friend.

My stomach ached worse than the time Beau had kneed me in the balls for asking Birdie to dance one night down at Davney’s a few years back. Something was wrong. And my mind wandered to a dangerous place…to a place where Greg had done something awful. And Lainey was trying to stay safe. I stood up, grabbing my cane from the spot where it was resting against the coffee table, and marched towards the door. I grabbed my wallet off the fireplace mantle, my feet slipping into my boots like it was the most natural motion in the world.

I wasn’t going to let this go. I couldn’t let her go. I had a feeling I was the only person she opened up to about things, and yet, I also knew there was probably a world of things she wasn’t telling me.

My keys came off the holder by the door like they were more than ready for me to use them again. Stepping out onto the porch, the summer heat slammed into me. Bad storms were coming, but I could have her back here on the ranch by the time they started. She’d be here. And she’d be safe.

Good.

I forced my legs to move. Forward. Across the wooden porch. Down the front steps. This was fine. This was important. I’d deal with the panic and the pressure building in my chest later. I could still breathe. That was all that mattered.

The truck was ahead, mocking me as I stomped towards it, my cane leaving ruts in the dirt with each step. I’d been here before, I tried to remind myself. I stood in the grass and worked on fixing Lainey’s car as best I could just yesterday.

The image of her sitting up on the porch, ripping snarky comments at me while I tried not to curse Greg eased the tension building in my muscles.

Fuck, my hands were shaking as I unlocked my truck door and slid into the driver’s seat. It had been months since I’d been behind the wheel, but that didn’t matter now. I flipped open my wallet and pulled out the business card she’d given me the first time she dropped off her meals. I remembered seeing her address listed there as a place to pick up orders from.

I started the engine, slid the buckle over my body, and put the truck into reverse, tearing down my driveway and onto the old road that would lead me off the ranch before I could overthink what I was doing.

It took every bit of my strength to focus on the road in front of me. I didn’t look at the ranch as it grew smaller and smaller in my rear view mirror. I didn’t watch the fields full of wildflowers and tall grass slowly morph into streets filled with houses and cars and people walking down sidewalks.

And I certainly didn’t pay attention to the way my heartbeat was crashing loudly in my ears or the way my fingers were grasped so tightly around the steering wheel, that they’d turned white.

The minutes passed by so fucking slowly, until I finally turned onto her street. Her car was easy to spot, and thankfully there wasn’t a truck in the driveway. Still, I parked across the street and two houses down from hers.

By the time I made it up the sidewalk to her front door, I was ready to hunt down Greg and kill him for hurting her.

Bruises like she had didn’t just appear out of nowhere. His hand had been around her arm so tightly he’d broken blood vessels under her beautiful skin. My own hands curled into fists as I knocked on her front door.

“Hey, Trouble? You there?” I knocked again. Still no answer. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. The street was really quiet, most driveways empty. That tracked…it was the middle of the work day. But Lainey was here. So why wasn’t she answering the door?

Soft cries hit my ears, and my heart dropped as I walked around the back of the house. I found her. A full laundry pile resting on the picnic table, she was moving between the basket and taking clothes off the line.

“Are you okay?” My voice was barely above a whisper, but it still carried on the wind. She froze for a second before turning around to face me. Shit, her cheeks and nose were bright red. I wasn’t wrong—she had been crying. Maybe since before she even called me.

“What are you doing here?! You left…you left the ranch!”

I shrugged, ignoring the panic I felt in every cell of my body. My eyes worked over every inch of her. I couldn’t see any injuries, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t hurt. “You sounded upset when you called. I didn’t know…do you need help?”