Page 4 of Simply Yours

“What about your brother?”

“He’ll be fine.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because if he wasn’t, he would have shot the bobcat…”

“But he…he can’t.She’s a momma.” My voice cracked, my breath hitching. The weight of everything—the fear, the adrenaline, the sheer insanity of the moment—threatened to crush me.

Matthew let out an exasperated sigh as we finally slowed, his eyes hard when he turned to me. “Look. You’re on the farm. Animals live. Animals die. We raise them, we eat them, and if we have to shoot them, it’s in the most humane way possible.”

“But… but…” My words tangled over themselves as I looked back desperately.

And then I saw him.

Jason crested the hill, his expression taut with fury, his chest rising and falling in heavy, controlled breaths. Angry red gashes marred his arms and shoulders, blood staining his shirt, but he didn’t falter. He didn’t even look at his wounds. His dark eyes locked onto Matthew, his jaw set like iron.

“You’re bleeding,” I hissed, rushing toward him and reaching for his arm.

“And you’re not,” he snapped, jerking away from my touch. Before I could protest, his hand shot out, grabbing Matthew by the collar, his blood smearing onto his brother’s shirt.

“What’s wrong with you?” Jason’s voice was a low growl, raw with rage. “Are you cracked in the head? You don’t ever put a woman in danger, you moron. You’re supposed to protect them and provide—don’t you listen to Dad? What do you think he’s gonna say when he realizes you could have gotten Caitlin Barnes killed today? That wildcat was as big as she is!”

Matthew had the audacity to shrug. “It’d be like chewing beef jerky.”

Jason lost it.

“Quit being stupid or selfish for once in your life!” Jason roared angrily and then turned to me. “Caitlin, get on your bike and go home.”

“But you’re hurt…”

“And you’re not – and that’s all that matters right now! Now - get!”

And I melted.

It mattered to Jason that I wasn’t hurt? He’d tackled that cat to keep me from getting injured? I looked at him, that black hair and those flashing eyes, seeing the man he was growing into, the man he would be, and fell… hard. The sunlight was practically highlighting his hair like some dark halo as I gazed at him longingly and swallowed.

Is this what a crush felt like?

“Go…” he repeated bluntly. “This is our land, our problem, and I’m gonna handle my brother. You need to get off my property.”

“It ain’t yours… it’s Dad’s farm.”

“You need to hush – get out of here Caitlin. You don’t need to be hanging out on the farm if there’s a wildcat nearby. Go home.”

And as I moved to pick up my bike that I’d tossed down in the dirt, I heard his voice again. Those words I would never forget as long as I lived. They sliced right through me, leaving a scar no one else would know.

“Jeez, Matthew – why do you hang out with that flat-chested tomboy anyhow?”

Yup. I fell in love with Jason Baird for rescuing me… and died a little in my soul hearing how he saw me.

Two

JASON

A few years later…

Nobody should ever have to bury a parent—much less both of them within seven years.

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