Page 2 of When We Burn

“You stupid little fuckingbitch!” I’m gasping, struggling to pull in enough air because I know I’m about to go back into that water.

But suddenly, I hear the horse, and then Holden has punched Dad, knocking him on his butt, and I’m being gently urged away from the water as Holden punches Dad again.

“No!” I scream, reaching for my brother. “He’ll kill you!”

Oh, God, what have I done? Dad will kill my brother.We can’t lose him.We’d never survive.

I hear the crunch of bones, and my heart drops in terror.

“You fucking rat?—”

Whack!

“You’ll never lay another fucking hand on them, you hear me?” Holden yells.

And then there’s a terrifying thump, and I’m too scared to look. But Dad’s knocked out, and then Holden’s in front of me, holding my face in his hands. “Are you okay, baby?”

I nod, and then I wrap myself around my brother. Oh, God, what if he killed Dad? What would we do if Holden went to jail? As much as I hate him,please don’t let him be dead.

My sisters are with us now, all crying. Darby’s the oldest, and she’s trying to comfort us. I feel horrible because I’m so wet, and I don’t want them to get wet, too. But no one seems to care about that.

Clinging to each other, Holden herds us to the truck, grabs a towel out of the back seat, and wraps me in it, before getting us settled. There aren’t enough seats for all of us to have belts, and we have to sit on laps, but he’s driving away from our ranch and over to the Blackwells’.

We always go to the Blackwells’ ranch when we need to escape.

I don’t know why, but Dad never follows us here. It’s the place that we feel the safest.

Someone must have called ahead because Brooks,Beckett, and Bridger are there to greet us. I wonder when Holden told them we were coming. I’m both mortified and relieved, though, and so thankful that we’re here. We’re led inside, and it’s then that I lose the fragile hold on my strength.

The tears start.

My father tried to kill me.

And then as I replay the last twenty minutes, they won’t stop, and it only makes it harder for me to breathe.

“You should take her up to the shower,” Brooks says to Darby, who’s holding my hand. “Get her cleaned up. You don’t want to get sick from that pond water, Dani.”

“I don’t want a shower,” I say, instinctively pulling away from Darby, but then Bridger’s there, and he takes my hand.

“It’s okay, kitten,” he says, and my heart pounds as I look up at him. He’s smiling, but his eyes look hard, like he might be mad. I don’t think he’s mad at me, though. “Just a shower, not a bath.”

“That’s right,” Darby says as she leads me upstairs and into a bathroom. “I promise, you’re safe in this water, Dani. I promise.”

I take a deep breath and look back at Bridger. He’s three years older than me, and he’s always been my friend.

He nods and steps back. “I’ll wait right out here. It’s okay.”

I sigh, and then Darby murmurs something to him and closes the door.

“Come on, baby girl. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

The shower wasn’t so bad, even though we had to wash my hair and my face, and now I’m sitting out on the porch with all of the siblings. Not just mine, but Bridger’s, too. There are ten of us kids, so it’s a good thing the porch is big.

Their mom came home—not surprised to see us all there—and gave us ice cream. Vanilla fudge ripple.

It’s my favorite.

“How are you doing?” Bridger’s sitting on one side of me, and his sister, Billie, is on the other. My twin sister, Alex, is sitting on the floor between my knees, and I’m running my fingers through her hair, soothing us both. It’s what Mama used to do when we’d sit at her feet.

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