AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Please don’t tell anyone about this. I don’t want anyone knowing.” I worried my bottom lip between my teeth. I didn’t need everyone to know I let him abuse me and it took him cheating on me to leave.
“Abbey, I think it might be beneficial if you had a talk with Alex. Her ex-husband is a real piece of work, and she might be able to give you advice.” Jessie topped off our glasses. “I know you don’t want to tell anyone else, but there are other people on the ranch who can help you with this. And not just the girls.”
I tilted my head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“Besides Alex, you could talk to Duke. He’s a sheriff. He could probably help in some way, especially if you need to file a restraining order. We could see if the Kingstons can lend a hand. They don’t take things like this lightly, even if you aren’t an employee.” Jessie picked up a roll and waved it around as she talked.
“Don’t forget that this place has a lot of muscle. Each and every one of them are very protective of women.” The corner of Blake’s mouth tilted up. I knew this was weighing heavily on her. We grew up together. Without a doubt, she was blaming herself for all of this when she had nothing to do with it. She tried to warn me in high school about Jeff. It unfortunately took me a lot longer to see what they saw.
I reached for my gooey pastry and took a huge bite. “It was a blessing he did this. Honestly, I haven’t been happy for a long time.”
“At least you see that.” Grace took a bite of her own roll. “Now you can move on and find someone who is worthy of you.”
I huffed. That wasn’t going to be happening anytime soon. If I couldn’t make Jeff happy, who said I was going to be able to make someone else happy? Jeff made a lot of mistakes in our relationship, but in the beginning, it wasn’t all bad. Was it me or something I did to change how he treated me in our relationship? No matter how much I tried to say I was, I didn’t believe I was worthy of having a dream relationship like these women had.
* * *
After checkingout Grace and Blake’s places, we determined it would be best if I stayed in the women’s bunkhouse. I’d be uncomfortable sleeping on Blake’s couch, and Grace’s guest bedroom was right next to hers. I didn’t want to hear her and her men every night and needed to vacate Liam and Duke’s place and give them back their guest room.
I packed my bag with the few things I’d unloaded and went to thank my hosts.
“You’re leaving?” Liam looked at my bag. “Where are you planning on staying?”
“The Kingstons are letting me stay in the bunkhouse. We didn’t think it would be comfortable at either Blake or Grace’s place.” I set my bag down and joined Liam at the kitchen counter.
“You can stay here. We have the guest bedroom, and you’ve already stayed here two nights. Why change locations?” He set the cups he was drying down on the counter a little harder than necessary.
I flinched.Was he getting upset about this?
Duke smacked Liam on the arm. “She can go wherever she wants to.”
Liam gave me a sheepish look.
Jax came over and sniffed my bag. His doe eyes looked up at me, and my heart clenched. I didn’t want to leave the dog. I loved having him with me the past two nights.
And if I was being honest, I didn’t want to leave the guys either.
“I’m sorry, boy. I won’t be far though.” I scratched behind his ears. “Thank you for letting me stay, but I don’t want to overstay my welcome.” I caught Duke’s gaze. His jaw twitched, and I noticed his scruff had gotten darker. He must not shave when he is off from work. If it was even possible, he looked sexier.
“You aren’t overstaying. You’re leaving too early.” He looked directly into my eyes.
Unable to pull my gaze away, I sucked in a breath. Duke wanted me to stay?
“You say that now, but if I stay any longer, I’m going to end up claiming Jax.” I tried for a joke, but I wasn’t sure I had it in me. It had been another emotional day, and my humor meter was at an all-time low.
“Why don’t you stay another night at the very least? Tomorrow, we can get your car, and you can decide if you want to stay in the bunkhouse,” Duke offered.
It wasn’t a bad idea to stay another night. It would beat being alone. The girls mentioned I’d have lots of privacy since no one was currently using the women’s side, but when I thought about leaving Duke and Liam, my chest tightened. I’d grown comfortable in the last few days, and I didn’t want to leave it just yet.
“Okay. One more night.”
Later, I awoke to a noise I couldn’t place. Jax jumped from the bed and went to the door. “What is it, boy?” I asked. He looked at me and lay on the floor. A few moments later, the sound happened again. Extracting myself from the covers, I opened the bedroom door and listened.
The sound came again from down the hall. Tiptoeing, I followed Jax and made my way to where the boys’ rooms were. I stood quietly, waiting to hear which room it was coming from. When I heard the pained grunting and moaning, my chest started to ache with worry. Jax sat in front of Duke’s door and let out a soft whimper.
I rapped my knuckles lightly on the door. “Duke? Are you okay?”
Only a frantic moan answered.
