Page 6 of Striker

After changing into pajamas, I lay in bed thinking about what had happened today. I could hear Levi and my brothers laughing downstairs with my Mama. How did I not know what was going on around here? This old ranch used to be my life. It was my own fault for never coming home. I should have taken time off of work and made a trip down here. I even could have invited my family up to see me. We had only seen each other a few times when my Mama and Daddy came to visit me. I had thrown myself into work and pretended like my life here didn’t matter. Starting tomorrow I would get back to the life I knew on the ranch. Work hard before I needed to start my new job at the Medical Center in town. I was going to find my roots again.

The next morning I woke before the sun was up. It was a chilly start to the day so I threw on my jeans and found the wool socks Mama made me for Christmas last year and tugged them on. I dug through my suitcase for my light long sleeved shirt I normally wore under my scrubs. I made my way to the closet and found Daddy’s old flannel that Mama fitted for me. She had it waiting when I came home and I was eternally thankful to her for this gift. It still smelled like Daddy’s aftershave as I held it up to my nose. I brushed my hair and did a quick French braid to keep my hair out of my face. Grabbing my cowboy boots, cowboy hat and Carhartt vest, I headed downstairs for a quick breakfast and coffee.

I could hear hushed voices as I was coming down the stairs. Slowing down, I crept around the corner into the kitchen to find my brothers sitting at the big island. They both turned to me as they stuffed their mouths with Mama’s overnight French toast.

“Hey there, baby sis! Saved plenty of Mama's cookin' for you and even made extra coffee for you. We ain’t got that fancy shit like in the city, but there’s fresh milk in the fridge.” Sawyer pointed toward the fridge and Silas poured me a thermos of coffee.

“Still take my coffee black just like Daddy. Some things don’t change.” I sat down in the middle of brothers and dug in. It was a nice silence as we finished up our breakfast. We had always started our mornings like this with Daddy. I held a tear back as I took the last bite of the French toast. “You boys ready for today? Got a lot of work over in the pasture. Whole section of fence is down. The storm last night did some bad damage.” I looked at both my brothers trying to gauge their reactions to the news.

“Ready for anything, baby sis. We’re spending the whole day at the ranch today with you. Just like old times.” Sawyer grinned and put his arm around my shoulder.

“Unless there’s pressing club business, we’re here, baby sis.” Silas kissed me on the top of the head and grabbed the dirty dishes.

We headed toward the door when my cell phone rang. Both my brothers turned with their arms folded and stared me down. “Who’s callin’ you this early?” Silas asked. I looked down at the phone and rolled my eyes.

My ex, Danny, was calling me again. He called every hour since I left the city to come home. “It’s nobody important, Silas, don’t you worry.”

Sawyer grabbed the phone before I could even react. “I thought you broke up with that asshole, Lilah. Why the fuck is he still calling you?”

My cheeks were turning bright red. I didn’t want to talk about this and certainly didn’t want them to know the whole story. They would drive all the way to the city if they knew he had put his hands on me. “I don’t know, Sawyer. Just give me my phone back and let’s get movin'. We got work to do.” I grabbed my phone and put it inside my vest. I threw my boots on and headed toward the barn. I looked back and saw my brothers give each other one of their signature looks, both completely unimpressed with my answer. “Last person to the barn has to muck the stalls!” I yelled, knowing they wouldn’t ignore my challenge. Sawyer and Silas broke into big grins and started running toward me. It was just like old times and I couldn’t be happier.

It was noon by the time we were done with all the work on the ranch. Danny had called once every hour. He was annoyingly persistent and getting on my last nerve. I took a big gulp of water when he called again. Before I could shove my phone back in my pocket, Silas grabbed it from my hands.

“What the fuck is going on, Lilah! Don’t bullshit us. Tell us what the fuck this piece of shit is calling you for or I’ll answer the phone.”

Sawyer came stomping over when he heard Silas yelling. “Baby sis, you gotta tell us. If that fuckface is bothering you , just let us know.”

I couldn’t take it anymore. Between all the stress of Daddy dying, leaving my life behind in the city, all my feelings about Levi coming back up, and Danny becoming unhealthily possessive with me, I just couldn’t hold it in any longer. I broke down in tears and blurted out everything to my brothers. “He’s stalking me! I broke it off because he was stalking me while we were together. He became obsessed with my every move. He didn’t want me to come back home and threatened me. Pushed me, hit me. All because I wanted to come home. Then Daddy died and I felt so guilty. He found me crying in my office at the hospital and told me it was all my fault. Cornered me and tried to...tried to...” I didn’t even want to say it to my brothers. I had tried to push the memory away but it hadn’t worked.

“What the fuck, Lilah! You should have called me!” I turned at the new, yet familiar voice. It was Levi. Of course it was Levi. “Where is this fucker?”

Silas was rubbing my back while eyeing Sawyer and Levi. “I don’t know. Probably still in the city. You can’t do anything though. Please don’t. Just leave it. He calls from different phones. He has connections. Please guys, just let it be. I’m fine.” Levi’s eyes had turned dark. I knew he was gone. He was gone to that scary place he goes when he’s angry. “Levi. Listen to me. Please.”

He looked right at me before turning away. “Sorry, babe, no can do. Nobody fucking hurts you and gets away with it. Come on boys, we have work to do. The Prospects are on their way to help with the odd chores.”

They started to walk off when I grabbed Levi’s arm, “Can’t you just listen for once! Fuck Levi! I’m a big girl, I can handle this!”

He turned and looked at me with a cold look in his eyes. “Fuck no.” Two words. That’s all Levi said before he turned around and headed toward the house, leaving me standing by myself in the middle of the field crying.

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