Page 143 of Burn the Wild

“Greedy, aren’t we?” She passes the calf the rest of the apple.

Awestruck, I stare at her. She’s a filthy mess, her boots muddy and her dress torn, but goddamn, she’s insanely beautiful.

“Get outta here, you little bastard.” I slap the calf’s rump, sending her out of the brush and onto the prairie to join her mother. I go to Reese, helping her stand. “You okay?”

She wobbles and flashes a smile so bright my heart skips. “Never better.” Gaze drifting, she scours the prairie. “Is this land yours?”

“It’s for sale,” I say, nodding at a crooked metal sign ten yards from us. “Thirty acres that back up to Runaway Ranch.”

Cattle mill around us. Thunder rumbles in the distance.

Reese closes her eyes, extends her arms and inhales. “It feels like a dream out here. Like the perfect country song.”

I stare at Reese. Her long strands of blonde hair dance in the wind. In this moment, it all seems so simple.

“What if I bought it?” I ask.

Her eyes flash open. “What?” she asks, and then she screams it to the sky. “What!”

“The land.” My heart hammers hard and heavy. Emotions well up inside of me. “I can see it. A baseball field. A Georgia mansion. Land like I always wanted.”

With Reese, I don’t want to avoid the world. She’s reintroducing it to me one day at a time. I feel like I can fucking do anything, be anything. I ache to pick up a baseball. To do something better with my life. And maybe this is it.

“Yes.” She grasps my hands and squeezes. “Yes, Ford.”

I pull her into my arms, laughing. “It’s a fucking dream.”

But saying it out loud doesn’t feel like it. Not anymore.

Reese’s grin falters. She’s stares at something over my shoulder.

I glance behind me, my eyes widening in panic.

“Fuck.” The storm cloud now has a tail. The sky is an ugly, almost evil, green color.

Reese’s hand flies to her mouth. “Is that bad?”

“Yeah, it’s real fuckin’ bad.”

She stares as if entranced. My stomach tightens as she takes a step toward the dark tail.

It scares me how fearless she is.

“Reese, baby, we gotta ride.” I snag her hand and run toward Eephus, moving faster than any pitch I could ever whip out.

The minute we remount, the sky unleashes. An unholy roar fills the air. A monster rising from the earth to devour us.

Reese screams.

“Hold on to me,” I order, whipping the reins.

She twists around so she’s facing me and burrows into my arms.

All I can do is ride like hell. We’re on the prairie. There’s no shelter and making it back to the ranch is impossible.

We have to outrun it.

We’re lost. We’re drenched. But we’re alive.

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