Page 404 of Steamy Ever After

The scar tissue is tough, rubbery compared to the skin of his face, and heartbreaking. I break off the kiss and we do nothing other than simply stare at each other for several long moments.

Then, he suddenly shifts gears.

“There’s supposed to be a meteor shower tonight. What do you think about looking for shooting stars?” He climbs back into the truck, smoothing out the blankets and punching the pillows.

I join him, scooting beside him, then lie down. His fingers curl with mine as we watch the heavens and try to forget the past.

He shared what must’ve been the worst moment of his life while I still hold onto a secret of my own. It was hard enough to open up to my uncle about the abuse, and I’m not happy with why I felt comfortable telling him. A part of me knows he won’t be around long. My secret will die with him.

I’m ashamed of that part of my past. Wracked with guilt that I, a smart woman, fell victim to abuse. I never understood why women stayed with their abusers, and it took me far too long to realize I became one of them.

But there’s fear, and then there’s fear.

No one can understand the terror I lived with day in and day out.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know, there’s a snort and a huff right by my ear. It smells like half-digested grass.

Pungent comes to mind.

My lids open and it takes a second before I focus. The hot breath of a cow chewing its cud brings a toe-curling scream to my lips. Its placid gaze takes me in as it flaps its ears, making the tag in its ear flutter.

Then I realize the truck is surrounded by cows. Dozens and dozens of heifers surround Drake’s truck.

“What the fuck?” Drake wakes beside me and stares at the herd in confusion. “How the hell did they get here?”

“Are you asking me?” I point to my chest as Drake jumps out of the back of the truck. He lands right between two of the heifers and places his hands on his hips. “Need a hand down?”

I look at him as if he’s a crazy man.

“There’s no way in hell I’m getting out of this truck.”

“They’re not going to hurt you.”

“I’m perfectly fine where I am.”

I don’t care what Drake says. There’s no way I’m jumping down into a herd of cattle. I don’t care that he says that they won’t hurt me. My brain is screaming that they’ll trample me.

Drake scratches his head and pushes cows out of the way as he stomps to the fence. I stand in the back of the truck peering over the cows as he picks up what looks like an end of a piece of barbed wire. He glances at the ground, moving between the posts.

“What is it?” I strain to see what he’s doing.

“Someone cut the fence.” He turns back to the cows. “That’s how they got out.”

Drake marches back to the truck. He pushes a cow away from the passenger door and leans inside, where he grabs his cellphone.

I stay in the back of the truck as Drake makes several calls. He finally shoves the phone into his back pocket and looks around.

“What do we do now?” This is so far outside my wheelhouse, I feel completely useless.

“We round up the cows, get them back on the other side of the fence and wait for help.”

“Help?”

“Yeah, we’ve got to mend that fence.”

“How did it break? Did the cows do that?”

He looks at me like I’m an idiot. “Cows stay well away from barbed wire. They didn’t do this. Someone else did.”

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