Chapter Forty
Cash
I wasn’t a praying man. Growing up, I had heard my dad do it enough to know it sometimes didn’t work. He would pray for rain and there would be a drought. He prayed for the crops to come in and they died out. He prayed for the price of feed to go down and they skyrocketed, emptying his pockets and leaving our bank account dry. But as I stepped outside of the hotel with Cat beside me, I prayed.
I just hoped this time God was listening.
He had when Adam told me Gavin, Brody, and Ryder were in town to rescue my sorry ass. He was when I found Cat before it was too late. I prayed He would hear me one more time and get us out of the hellhole that was Hilltop. We needed all the help we could get.
We headed down the alleyway behind the hotel at a quick pace. Shouts from the street made us move faster. It was déjà vu all over again except this time we had extra guns and help plus Keely wasn’t with us.
It was the first thing I had asked Gavin when I met up with him back in the town square.
“Where’s my sister?” I had bit out as he appeared beside me in the crowd.
He raised his gun and fired before answering, taking out a man that was charging toward us with his shotgun raised.
“She’s with Maddie. Don’t worry, she’s safe,” he had answered, swinging around as another man roared behind us.
That one I took care of myself. A right hook to the jaw.
Gavin had avoided my gaze and didn’t say more about Keely but I had questions. Lots of them. It wasn’t the time or place. I was fighting to stay alive and I realized quickly that Cat was missing. Ryder had lost her in the crowd. I went berserk, shouting and screaming her name. Throwing men out of my path and taking out a few with the knife Adam had tossed me. No one would stop me from finding her.
Shit. My hands trembled again, thinking of how close I had been to losing her. And when I found out Paul had her…fuck, I almost died right then.
I blocked the thought from my mind and the way she looked under him when I burst in, all pale and afraid. I focused on getting her out of town. That was all that mattered now.
I could see horses tied up ahead. We ran faster, gravel crunching under our boots. My ribs hurt like hell.
I could hear Cat breathing hard beside me, her cheeks flushed with the cold and exertion. Paul had banged her up pretty good. For that, I wanted to kill him all over again.
I grabbed her arm from under the blanket and pulled her along with me when she started to slow down. We shot past one building and was almost to the corner of another when men appeared behind us.
“Hey!” one of them yelled.
I dropped Cat’s hand and turned, firing off a shot. Ryder and Brody did the same. Guns blasted. Bullets sprayed. The sound was deafening, the smoke from the guns filling my lungs with an acidity sting.
The men ducked and returned fire. More showed up behind them.
“Run!” I shouted, pushing Cat to go.
Panic filled her eyes. She grabbed Tate’s hand and bolted forward. I followed right behind them, turning to get off a shot.
Ryder, Brody, and Adam sprinted down the alleyway and turned at the same time to open fire on the men. Gavin stopped up in the middle of the alley and started loading an arrow into his crossbow.
“Fuck the damn bow! Come on!” I yelled, passing him. Damn idiot was going to get himself shot.
He ignored me and settled the bow into his shoulder, taking his time. Sighting his target, he waited for the right moment. Bullets pinged around his feet. The men got closer. He pulled the trigger. An arrow went flying.
One of the men let out a sharp cry as the arrow embedded in his shoulder.
“Bullseye,” Gavin muttered, lowering his weapon. Turning, he smirked at me. “Do that with your damn knife.”
I rolled my eyes and took off running to catch up with Cat. She was a few feet in front of me, running in front of Adam, Tate right by her side. She had lost the blanket, back a few yards, but it would have to stay.
Adam was protecting her from the shots. I saw him grab her and yank her in front of him when she weaved to the right. I felt jealous but reminded myself that there was no need to worry about him taking my place. Only death would keep me from her.
He looked back at me and nodded when he saw I was catching up. Stopping, he took aim at the men to give me cover to get her out of there.
I caught up to Cat and grabbed her waist, pulling her to run in front of me. Her bare feet flew over the ground and her dress and dark hair flowed behind her. Looking back over her shoulder at me, fear made her green eyes go wide.
“Oh my god. Oh my god. Cash!” she cried, afraid.
I grabbed her hand. “I’ve got you. Don’t stop.”
We ran as fast as we could, our hands clasped tightly together. Fifteen yards. Ten yards. We were almost there.
I could see the horses, dancing around nervously as gunfire boomed and shouts ripped through the air. Brody made it to them first.
“Here.” He handed me the reins of a big quarter horse. “We gotta ride double.”
I would have insisted on it even if it wasn’t necessary. I wrapped my hands around Cat’s waist and helped her up into the saddle.
“Hold on, Beauty Queen. We’re about to go on the ride of our lives.”
I held onto the saddle horn in front of her and swung up into the saddle, wincing when my bruised and broken ribs protested. Holding the reins in one hand, I wrapped my other arm around Cat’s waist and tugged her closer, fitting her against me. Her dress rose higher up her thighs. The horse danced under us, panicked and ready to run.
David heaved himself into the saddle of a big gray mare. He reached down for Tate’s outstretched hand and swung him up behind him. Gavin fired off another shot as Ryder mounted up. Brody handed off a horse to Adam then got on his own.
The men had thinned out. Only one or two remained. As Adam’s horse danced under him, he aimed and fired. As the last man dropped, Gavin mounted up. We took off at a gallop. All I could hear was my breathing and the beat of the horses’ hooves on pavement. I noticed a backpack was tied behind each saddle. Ours bounced on the horse’s rear flank, heavy with supplies.
The gate in the wall was up ahead. The same one that we had walked through, now we would ride out of for good. Someone had wired it back up. The metal was bent from David’s truck but it still served its purpose. To stop us from leaving.
Shouts came from the town square. I held onto Cat tightly and glanced over that direction as our horse ran at a flat run. Men were racing toward us, a few of them sighting us in their scopes.
“Shit.” I dug my heels into the horse’s side, urging him to go faster.
Cat held onto the saddle horn as we flew toward the gate.
A man was stationed there, looking scared to death but determined. He started to raise his gun but Brody slid his horse to a stop inches from the man and yanked his shotgun to his shoulder.
“I’ll be mighty appreciative if you open that gate,” Brody said, peering down the barrel at the man.
Our horses neighed and danced around, their eyes rolling around crazily as we waited. Cat stiffened in front of me. I pulled back on the reins, trying to control our horse and keep an eye on the men running toward us. My knuckles brushed her stomach. The thought of her being pregnant made me tense.
I raised my gun and pointed it at the man. “Open it up now.”
The stranger looked like he was about to piss his pants. He jumped and hurried to open the gate, getting tangled in his own feet. As soon as it was opened, we were through it, riding at a flat out gallop.
The land was rough and the terrain uneven. I held Cat tightly as we flew across the land. The wind was cold as it hit our faces. The sun was high in the sky, blinding us. Cat shivered against me and bundled closer. We were free.
And we were going home.
Chapter Forty–One
Cat
We rode for days. The militia tracked us for a w
hile but we lost them by the third day, covering our tracks, backtracking, and traveling up a stream to lose them. Adam led the way, an expert at moving without being seen or leaving a trail.
Our nights were spent on the ground, huddled together under saddle blankets and the meager belongings we carried. We ate homemade jerky that Ryder’s mother had made and shared three cans of baked beans between the eight of us.
The backpacks tied behind the saddles were ours. Mary had gathered them from the street the day I was shot. She had kept them safe, hoping she would see us again.
My bag was packed just as it had been the day I dropped it on the sidewalk. A change of clothes was inside and an extra pair of shoes I had found a few months ago. My prized toothbrush and toothpaste were also there along with my hairbrush, a ball cap, and my coveted, treasured box of tampons. It was all there, just as I had packed it.
The weather got worse as we rode and winter reared its ugly head. The sky turned a turbulent gray and gusts of bitter, cold wind whipped against us.
I bundled deeper under the blanket that Cash had thrown over me. My chin was frozen and I could no longer feel my fingers or toes. The horse walked at a rolling, relaxed gait, rocking me gently to drowsiness.
I leaned back against Cash’s warm body. His chest was hard against my back. His arm stayed rigid around me as he held the reins in front of my abdomen with one hand. His left hand rested on his muscular thigh, inches from my leg.
For the past day, he had seemed restless. Edgy. Quieter than usual. He didn’t say much to me. I shivered as his biceps brushed the outside of my arm.
“Cold?” his deep voice above my head.
I nodded, aware of every inch of him against me.
He reached under the blanket and wrapped his arm around my waist. I jumped, a kneejerk reaction to being touched. Since we left Hilltop, I recoiled when someone accidently brushed against me. I flinched when Adam reached out one time to grab a twig out of my hair. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t forget about Paul’s hands on me.
Cash stiffened and slid his arm from around me. “Sorry,” he whispered near my ear.
Tears clogged my throat. He hadn’t touched me since Hilltop except to help me on and off the horse. At night, he slept close but kept a few feet between us. During the day, I rode in front of him, his hard body behind me but his hands staying off me unless necessary.
We hadn’t discussed the wedding or what happened back at the courthouse. Since Cash hadn’t said anything or addressed it, I assumed the marriage was a hoax – for Frankie’s benefit only. For some reason it hurt, knowing it wasn’t real, but I needed to be realistic. Cash had wanted me to stop loving him. He had insisted on it, even telling me to be with Adam if he died. No, Cash wouldn’t want to be married to me. I was almost positive.
We also hadn’t talked about what would happen when we arrived home. I knew we were going to Ryder’s ranch first, where Cash had been staying.
After that I didn’t know what would happen. Would Cash take me home? In the courthouse basement, he confessed that he had planned to leave me. He said it was for the best. That night, he admitted there was no way he could walk away from me. He even called himself a fool. But what if he had changed his mind? What if he believed it was the best thing to do again? The threat of dying could make a person say things. Things that may not be true. Now that he knew he wasn’t going to die, the idea of staying with me might be daunting. Something he didn’t want to do.
My throat went thick. I stared ahead, not really seeing Ryder’s straight back or the faded ball cap he wore. I didn’t see my brother or the smile on Gavin’s face when he said we were getting closer to home. All I saw was my future looming ahead of me. A future that may not include Cash.
~~~~
The rest of the day was spent riding down empty roads overgrown with weeds. We were five days away from Hilltop and the men who wanted to see us dead.
The temperature dropped even more. My stomach rumbled nonstop. By midday I was so hungry, I dreamed of food when the gentle sway of the horse lulled me to sleep.
I wasn’t sure how long I slept. The next thing I knew, I was being jolted awake. We had stopped at an old farmhouse.
I lifted my head off Cash’s chest, embarrassed I had snuggled into his warmth as I slept. He controlled our horse with his thighs and one hand holding the reins in front of me. His other hand curved around my waist and kept me in the saddle.
I sat up straighter when I saw Gavin and Brody climb off their horses.
“What are they doing?” I asked Cash as I looked from the rundown house to them.
“We need food,” Cash answered. “They’re going to see if we can trade for some.”
Gavin and Brody approached the house with wariness. There were no signs of life except for some chickens pecking around the yard.
I held my breath, watching as they marched up the porch steps and knocked on the door. Cash let me go, moving his hand toward his gun.
Whoever lived here could open fire on us from one of the windows any second. We could be dead in minutes, lying on the ground. Since the EMP, people protected what was theirs at any cost. Most shot first and asked questions later.
We watched and waited, Ryder and Adam ready with their guns. A minute ticked by. Cash pulled his gun out of the holster.
The door creaked open slowly. A very pregnant woman appeared. She had a baby on her hip and a small child hid behind her skirt. I couldn’t hear what she said but she talked to Gavin and Brody a minute then disappeared back inside the house, shutting the door firmly.
A few minutes later she returned and handed a bundle to Gavin. Brody gave her a cloth-wrapped package.
She shut the door firmly and Gavin and Brody headed back to us.
It seemed we were going to eat again. My stomach would be happy.
~~~~
After eating stale bread and handmade cheese, we rode in silence again. Cash’s body kept me warm but he kept his hands off me. Pain wrapped around my heart and squeezed.
He demanded that I be with Adam if he died.
He said that he planned to leave me.
I shut my eyes tight and breathed. Tate would say it was one big cluster fuck. I didn’t know what to do. But I had another problem. One that had been nudging at the back of my mind for days but I had tried to ignore. When I saw that pregnant woman, it hit me.
I had skipped my period.
I first realized it when I saw the tampons in my backpack. I couldn’t remember the last time I used them. I tried counting the days in my head, thinking I was wrong. The time I was unconscious from the bullet wound was fuzzy but Cash had told me I had been out for a week. That meant… I counted back. No. It couldn’t be.
The blood drained from my face. I counted again, trying to visualize a calendar and the days on it. Oh god. I most definitely was late.
Cash’s knuckles brushed my abdomen as the horse stepped in a shallow hole. I jumped and almost fell out of the saddle.
His hand snapped and grabbed me around the waist. “You okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah.” But I wasn’t. Not if what I thought were true.
I eased away from Cash’s arm. He let me go, his body going rigid.
I told him at one time that I didn’t want to tie someone down with a baby. And I wouldn’t. I refused to.
I stared at the empty, dirt road in front of us, looking for anything familiar. Something to take my mind off a baby. I looked for a house. A sign. Anything to tell me that we were close to home.
Gavin said we were almost there. My heart hammered, thinking of walking into the town that hated me. I hadn’t been there in three years. Would they still look at me with scorn, the girl who caused her boyfriend to die in a car crash? The woman who had partied and been with men to forget?
We turned a bend in the road and the horse’s ears perked up. Its gait increased, no longer tired. I grabbed hold of the saddle horn as the horse trotted at a canter. Cash kept his hands off me but I
felt the muscles in his legs, keeping me in the seat.
Brody and Ryder sat up straighter. Gavin turned at the waist and grinned at me.
I squashed the hope that we were close. My grandmother used to call me cynical. I guess she was right. I would believe we were home when I saw it. Until then it was only a hope and a dream.
We turned down a narrow path that once was a road. Two tire tracks were visible in the tall weeds and grass. Farmland stretched out on either side of us as far as the eye could see. A small herd of cows grazed in the distance. It looked peaceful, something I didn’t trust.
Cash kept the horse at a trot when it wanted to gallop. But Gavin, Brody, and Ryder took off, their horses kicking up grass and dirt.
I glanced over at Adam riding beside us. His face was covered with a thick beard and his hair was sticking up all over. He had been quiet the last couple of days. Something was on his mind.
David was doing better on the trip than I thought he would, considering he had arthritis and was older than any of us. He was jolly at night and excited to share stories of his youth during the day. He rode like he was an extension of the horse, holding the reins loosely in his big, gnarly hands.
For me, each plod of the horses’ hooves brought me closer to facing the truth. Cash and I might be over. This might be the end of us.
I looked over at my little brother, riding behind David. He was so antsy to get home, he didn’t sleep much at night. Since we left Hilltop, he hung on every word Ryder said and watched him with fascination. Ryder kept his distance and didn’t seem to notice. He wasn’t what I would call very approachable.
The five of us rode in silence. Gavin, Brody, and Ryder were now out of sight. The wind picked up and a big crow coasted above us, riding the gust and cawing out at us as if we were trespassing on its land.
When an old farmhouse came into view, I stared at it. “Maddie’s old home.” Cash said before I could ask.
A twinge of jealousy uncoiled in me. Cash was close to her – Maddie – and now we were here. At her home.
I stared at the house until it disappeared from sight. The overgrown road grew narrower, the weeds and grass thicker. Within minutes, another farmhouse appeared, this one bigger.