Page 132 of Knot Her Cowboys
The fire still glowed in the distance. We should get back to help, but I couldn’t make myself move.
“Are Buttons and Bluebell okay?” Riley asked, her voice watery.
“They’re both fine,” Dakota assured her. “We got them out safely and the staff are all trained on what to do during a fire.”
Levi tried to extract Riley from my arms, and it took every exhausted ounce of willpower not to bite him for it. He gave me a sympathetic look when I growled, murmuring softly about how we needed to get Riley somewhere safe.
Dakota got Cash and me to our feet. The adrenaline drained from my body like a kicked-over trough, leaving me unsteady and queasy. A headache burrowed into the base of my skull. Hadn’t I endured enough today? Now my body was trying to punish me for letting Darrell get his hands on Riley for even a second.
“Come on,” Dakota said softly. “We can’t sit here in the middle of the road. I’ll walk the horses back.”
“I’ll help,” I insisted. Ranger would follow me and it would be less hassle for Dakota. Cash got into the driver’s seat and Levi settled with Riley in his lap for the short drive back.
Once they were moving and Grizzy was cantering after them, I backtracked to the wreck, jumping into the ditch to see if the world was actually rid of this monster. Fucker hadn’t been wearing his seat belt and had gone straight through the windshield when he hit the ditch, the truck flipping on top of him. His glassy eyes stared back at me.
Thank god for that.
Riley was the last person he would ever hurt.
I loosened the rope around his throat and looped it to hang over my shoulder. Police would see the marks when they removed the body, but that wasn’t something I’d worry about right this moment. Plenty of more important things were on mymind besides whether or not I was going to prison for helping Darrell along to his demise.
Ranger fetched me and I held onto his mane to stay upright. Dakota walked at my side, my rope looped around Betsy Boo’s neck.
“I knew your instincts were incredible, but that was wild,” said Dakota.
“I’ve had to act fast a lot of times in my life.” I ran through what I remembered of the whole situation, my body shaking as I was forced for the umpteenth time to face what could’ve happened if I’d failed.
“You could’ve died,” Dakota pointed out.
I shuddered. “Better to risk death than to let Darrell have her. I lost her once and that’snevergoing to happen again.”
“That crash looked intense. Should we call an ambulance or is he dead?”
“He’s gone,” I replied, using Ranger to keep myself steady.
“I know it’s too early to process, but how are you feeling?”
“Good fucking riddance to Darrell. I hope everyone he hurt finds peace and that he rots in hell.”
Dakota nodded firmly. “The world won’t miss a man like that.”
The walk back didn’t do much to calm me down.
Our guests were gathered at the muster point along a flat turnout on the entrance road, a couple of our team members hemming them in and keeping them calm.
The horse barn was reduced to ash and framing by the time we arrived, but it looked like our team was winning the war. They had gone old-school, filling buckets from the horse troughs and passing them down the line to bolster what the hoses provided. One of the tractors towing a water tank rumbled past and was immediately put to use.
“We have good people,” said Dakota as he watched them work and we navigated the two horses back toward the main barn.
“We have fucking awesome people. We’re damn lucky they love this place like we do.”
We got the horses into their stalls and I promised Ranger I would come back for him soon. Dakota and I went back out to join the line, finding Riley, Cash, and Levi assisting with the fire suppression.
“You’re supposed to be inside,” I admonished Riley while moving straight to her and pulling her into my arms, desperate to remind myself she was safe.
“Please let me help. This is my home too, Cooper.”
Her home. I was so fucking relieved she saw it as that after everything.
