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“I get it. But overall they’re not violent. Just crazy.”
Her stomach rolled with nausea just thinking about it, so she pushed it all down.
“You’re right. Thanks.”
“No problem. Since you’re here, though, how about I ride over with you for lunch? The car is making a funny noise.”
Laura groaned. Sure, they were doing better, but if the car was making afunniernoise than normal, they were out of luck. It always made noises, so for Harper to comment on it, it must be bad.
“I heard the ranch has a mechanic sort of on retainer. Ask Sadie. Maybe they can have him look at it.”
“I can’t—”
“It doesn’t hurt to ask. These people are nice. I bet if they can help, they will.”
Harper’s voice was firm, and Laura swallowed hard. She didn’t want to be beholden to these people any more than she already was. She loved working here, but she knew from experience good situations could go bad in an instant. Plus, she was still keeping something from all of them. Laura looked up to find Harper studying her. Her stomach roiled. Even Harper, which was something she’d never done.
“This isn’t like before.”
“Get out of my head,” Laura said weakly.
“I’m not in your head. I get it, though. We’ve been doing it alone forever. I think these guys are different, though.”
She was right, of course. In her weeks here, no one had ever questioned her ability to do her job and not one of the men had been even a tiny bit disrespectful to her or Harper.
“So you don’t think Wendell is looking for me?”
“Even if he is, what can he do? It’s been ten years since we left. We’re adults, he has no hold over us.”
Except the ones in our head, went unsaid.
Laura felt her heart rate slow down and her breathing evened out. The fear was irrational. She’d fought hard to be independent, so they’d never have to go crawling back to the church. The idea that they might look for her or have something over her was suffocating. Harper was right, though.
“Let’s head over for lunch.”
* * *
Sunny stared after Laura.He wanted to go after her, but that seemed like too much. He was nothing to her. If he had been, she wouldn’t be running to Harper right now.
Not that he wanted to be. Their weekend together was messing with his head. It had never occurred to him that being the one to take someone's virginity would make him… feel things. It was a social construct, nothing more. If that was the case, though, he didn’t know why he wanted to comfort her.
When he turned back to Tori, she was giving him a knowing look. “You like her.”
“What? No.”
Tori rolled her eyes at him, and her resemblance to her brother was almost uncanny. They looked like a matching set of dolls with their blond hair and blue eyes. At first, it had made him hate Cash, but the longer they spent together, the more he realized what an outstanding soldier and friend he was. Tori was much the same, but she was mistaken now.
“You know, you could just ask her on a date.”
He snorted. “Uh, yeah, no. Even if I wanted to, which I don’t because it was a just a fling, she’s my boss now. It would just make things awkward when it ended.”
She lifted one eyebrow at him. “Already planning the demise of your relationship?”
“We’re not in a relationship.”
Tori let out a stage gasp. “Not in a relationship with your fiancée?”
Sunny chucked an empty water bottle at her head. “I don’t even remember saying that.”
