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Sunny’s eyes went big. Why would some preacher be looking for them?
“He and the people he brought with him were looking for the barn manager,” Ford said.
Ice snaked down his spine. They were looking for Laura? Why? He didn’t get the chance to ask that though because someone answered. Someone he hadn’t been expecting, though in hindsight he probably should have.
“I think it’s her stepfather,” Harper said, her voice barely above a whisper. Sunny didn’t miss Tech’s hand on her shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze. Or the tears that pooled in her eyes as she stiffened and then shifted away.
“Why would he be looking for her?” Sunny asked.
A sob choked her for a second and this time Tech wrapped his arm around her, and she leaned against him. “I don’t know. They’re not even supposed to acknowledge that we exist.”
Sunny lifted one eyebrow. The girl took a shuddering breath and leaned closer to Tech. Did she realize she was doing that?
“Has Laura told you anything about where we grew up?”
He shook his head.
“We both lived on the compound of the Church of Divine Light. It’s a reclusive and extremely conservative Christian church. Think women and children are seen and not heard. Women are never permitted to wear pants. They wear long skirts and sleeves all year round. We attended church twice a day and three times on Sunday.”
Sunny felt like someone had punched him in the gut. He hated the idea of strong, independent Laura being forced to make herself small for some man’s egotistical idea about God.
“How did you get away?” he asked, but he kept his voice gentle. This was obviously hard to talk about for her.
She took a huge, shuddering breath and continued. “The year you turn eighteen, you have to make a choice on New Year’s Eve,” she said and went on to explain the barbarous ritual and how she and Laura had survived for the last decade. Tears streamed down her face the entire time and Sunny didn’t know how to feel about the soft kiss Tech placed on her hair as she talked. Not that it was any of his business.
“So what’s the problem? If you guys don’t want to go back, we just tell them that.”
Harper shook her head. “You don’t understand. Once you leave, you’re dead to them. Our names would have been struck from the records like the Old Testament banishing. If they’re looking for us, something must have happened.”
“Did you tell Laura yet?” he asked.
Harper’s eyes went wide. “No, because I thought she was with you.”
Sunny heard the faint note of accusation in her voice, but he didn’t have time to worry about that right now. “She must have gone back to the lake cabin this morning. She wasn’t there when I woke up,” he said and was surprised to feel heat crawling up his neck. What the hell was he blushing for? They were both consenting adults. No need to be ashamed.
Then a thought struck him, and a completely different feeling overwhelmed him. Disgust. “Harper, I hate to ask this, but I really need to know. Did they… did they hurt you and Laura?”
He watched her freeze, and it felt like a lead weight dropped into his stomach. Fuck. She was used to pain because they had abused her. And he’d taken advantage of that last night.
Was he any better than the men looking for her then?
A high-pitched shriek that came from outside interrupted his thoughts. There was a half beat when nobody moved and then they were all on their feet, heading outside.
Sunny could only think of one thing. He wanted to make sure no one, including himself, ever hurt Laura again.
* * *
Laura lay curledin a ball on her side, trying to make her body as small as possible in the stall. The horse she’d been grooming was still losing its mind above her and her knee throbbed where he’d kicked her hard before she went down. She could hear the remaining horses protesting as well.
She hadn’t even looked up when the door opened until she’d heard an unfamiliar male voice. A quick glimpse of the dark hair and copper skin had told her he wasn’t someone who she’d met before. He’d met her eyes, cursed, and flung something down on the floor of the barn. There’d been a pop and then a plume of noxious smoke. After that, she wasn’t sure because trying to edge her way out of the stall hadn’t worked.
It probably took only a few minutes, but it felt like hours until she heard more voices in the barn.
“Fuck! A fire. Open the doors, quick!”
“Get the hose!”
“Laura!”
