Stone Cold Cowboy(32)
Luna glanced over at her. “A real smile.”
Sadie chuckled. “He doesn’t talk much, but he’s got this sincere, softer side that surprises me.”
Luna turned and gaped at her. “You really like him.”
“He thinks I’m beautiful.” Shy about it, she couldn’t believe she told Luna that.
“Of course he does. You are.”
Sadie appreciated her friend’s kindness. “He stayed. It meant so much to me that he saved me, but it goes so much deeper that he stayed.”
Luna’s hand settled over hers. “I would have come sooner if I’d known what happened.”
“I know you would have. I’m glad you stopped by to check on me.”
“When I saw the way he looked at you, the way he refused to let go of your hand, I knew there was something there, but I didn’t know if you felt something for him. I left knowing he’d take care of you and get you home, but I thought maybe if you spent time with him you might like him. And you do, right?”
“I think I do. I mean, I only just met him, but there’s something about him that makes me look deeper to figure him out.”
“You’d have to look deep to get past his hard shell, that’s for sure.”
“That’s just it, that’s an illusion. I actually think he’s kind and warm.”
Luna squeezed her hand. “I’m happy for you.”
“Why? He saved me. I like him. But there’s nothing else going on.”
Luna pulled into the diner parking lot and slipped into an empty space. She opened her door, but turned back before getting out, with a bright smile on her face. “Maybe there’s nothing going on yet, but give it time. With you working there, right under his nose, something is bound to happen.”
Exactly what Sadie thought when she came up with the plan to work at the Kendrick ranch. She had to repay the debt somehow, but deep down she wanted to see Rory again. She couldn’t stop thinking about him. Was there something there? She wanted to find out.
CHAPTER 8
Sadie pulled up in front of her house and stared at the back end of her brother’s old pickup sticking out of the empty corral behind the barn. Empty thanks to her brother’s thieving. If he’d come home it meant he was in dire straits, probably trying to shake down their father for some quick cash.
She hopped out of the truck and headed inside. She’d meant to stop at home only long enough to check on her father, change out of her diner uniform into regular clothes, and head over to the Kendrick place to do her chores there, make them dinner and another of the breakfast casseroles they liked so much before she came home to try to sleep through her nightmares and do it all over again tomorrow. The weariness building inside her slowly chipped away at her resolve.
She stepped into the house, startling her brother. Connor picked up the gun sitting on the table at his arm and pointed it straight at her.
Pissed off and beyond reason, she shouted, “Go ahead.”
He set the gun down and shoveled in another bite of the beef stew she’d made for her father last night. His favorite, but in his weak state he’d barely finished half a bowl.
“That’s the first smart thing you’ve done in months.”
“Why are you pissed at me?” he asked, oblivious to anyone’s feelings.
The lack of empathy or regret set off an explosion of rage in her gut. “Are you seriously asking me that after what happened?”
“What? You look fine.”
After a week and a half, yeah, the bruises had faded, the cuts healed to red marks, but the nightmare hadn’t left her, or the sense of betrayal she felt from her brother.
She pulled up her Crystal Creek Diner T-shirt and showed him the scar on her ribs and the double lines of barbed wire cuts running across her middle.
Connor’s eyes went wide with shock. “Holy shit, Sadie.”
“This is only what you can see. These marks run across my back, arms, legs, everywhere.”
“I had no idea.” His head bent, and he couldn’t look her in the eye. The same gesture she’d seen when he was a boy and did something wrong.
“You left me with that guy. The one who likes to watch people bleed. The one who left me strung up in a tree bleeding and freezing to death while you stole the Kendricks’ cattle.”
His head snapped up and he tried to talk his way out of trouble. Just like when he was young. But this was a lot more serious than him smashing bottles against the side of the barn, or stealing an extra dessert late at night. “You got away. That was one hell of a walk back home though.”
“You aren’t listening, dumbshit. I didn’t get away. How could I when that asshole friend of yours strung me up with barbed wire?” She held up her hands to show him the scars and bruises still circling her wrists.