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Wade crouches in front of me and grips my arm, making me jump outta my trance.
‘It’s time to go be with her. We’ll clean this up,” he assures me, sliding my knife from the side of the dead guy’s head and wiping it on his jeans before he hands it back to me.
“I can’t, Wade.” I shake my head and stand up.
“Cole. You need to shower and get to the hospital.” My brother looks worried as I back away from him.
“Cole.” He comes at me and slams me up against the door of my truck. “I won’t let you do this to her. You need to get over yourself real fuckin’ quick and go be there for her. She wants you. She needs you and it’s time to face up to that.” He drags me to the side and opens my door. “It’s time to go do the right thing.” He forces me inside.
Iwake up with a start after Joel’s face comes out of the dark and I quickly breathe a sigh of relief when I see Cole sitting in the chair beside me. He’s staring at me through narrow eyes that look as though he hasn’t slept, and his hands and clothes are covered in blood. Still, I manage a smile for him because having him here makes me feel safe again.
I saw the way he looked when he left here last night. After Maisie brought me up to speed as to why I was taken, I know that he would only be resting here beside me if Mason and the man who he hired to hurt me were dead.
“Hey.” I hold on to my side as I sit up, and when he reaches over and takes my hand in his I’m not convinced by the smile he gives me back.
“Doc says you can go home, there's just some paperwork you gotta fill out,” he rasps.
“Did you…”
“All of ‘em.” He nods his head and looks a little haunted, and I can’t help wondering what he must have put them through.
“Thank you.” I hope the smile I give him puts him at ease and lets him know that I’m grateful. I don’t care how bad it is that I’m happy they're dead.
“Just take me home, Cole.” I pull back the covers and get out of bed much easier than I expected to.
“I’ll go speak to that nurse and get you discharged.”
He heads out the door and leaves me to change into the fresh clothes that are folded on the bottom of my bed, and when he returns a few minutes later with the nurse, she takes me through the paperwork and gives me the all clear to leave.
I hold on to his hand tightly as we walk out of the hospital, where he tosses my bag into the back of his truck and opens the door for me. I’m still a little sore from the cut on my side as I get inside, but it’s nothing compared to what it could have been.
Cole’s quiet on the drive back to the ranch, but that’s to be expected. I know he’ll be blaming himself for what happened, and I wish there was a way I could get through to him that it’s not his fault. All this is on me, Joel said he’d been watching me for some time and I gave him the perfect opportunity to take me when I lied to everyone about where I was going yesterday.
I notice that Cole’s driving in a different direction to what I was expecting and wonder if he’s not ready to go back to the ranch yet. Whatever happened last night, his brothers would have been involved in too. Garrett brought me and Maisie some food from the Diner late last night and he was acting pretty cagey. When I was pretending to sleep, I heard him say something to Maisie about showing his face in town to give himself an alibi and I never got the chance to ask her about that. Whatever happened that involved them, Cole will be feeling guilty for it too. He never gives himself a break.
“Where we going?” I ask when we pass the turning for Fork River.
“I’m taking ya home.” He keeps his focus on the road and his face serious.
“Babe, you missed the turning.” I giggle nervously when I start to suspect something isn’t right.
“I know, we’re heading for the airport.” He speaks so quietly I barely hear him, and when I realize what he just said my body goes numb.
“Cole. What are you doin’?”
“I know you're gonna be mad at me, and hate that I gave you more false hope. But I’m doing what’s right,” is the answer he gives and it instantly makes me panic.
“No. NO! How can this be right?” I touch my hand to my head and start to shake. Cole ignores me, gripping the wheel in his hand and keeping that determined look on his face.
“Cole, stop the truck,” I demand, and he shakes his head at me like he’s in some kind of trance.
“Cole, pull over now or I swear I will open this door and leap out myself.” He reaches forward to press the lock button for the doors but I force his hand away and quickly turn to open my door.
“Are you fuckin’ crazy?” He reaches to grab me and slams on the brakes, stopping in the middle of the road. Slowly, he releases me and sits back in his seat, catching his breath and staring out the windshield looking broken.
“The only crazy person here is you,” I answer his question. “You don’t get to do this, Cole, you don’t get to make these decisions for me. I know what happened freaked you out. It freaked me out too, but…”
“It happened because of me. Mason wanted to hurt you because of me.” He spits the words through his teeth and bashes the wheel with the palm of his hand.
