Page 87 of Knot Her Cowboys
Riley nodded, still not relinquishing her grip on me.
With a gentle sigh I patted the back of her thighs in a silent request for her to at least hop into my arms so we could move. She hissed at the contact.
Cash dropped to his knees and winced. “You’ve got some good splinters there, honey bun.”
“I’ll deal with them,” I said after a beat. “Not the first time I’ve had to dig splinters out of her.”
Cash nodded decisively. “I’m going to get back on the phone with the crew so we can Darlene-proof this place, and I’ll also let Dakota and Levi know what went down. Neither of you bolt away into the night until I get back, all right?”
“Yeah, yeah.” I stared up at the sky, willing myself to be strong enough to spend time alone with Riley.
I awkwardly scooped her up, doing my best to avoid the splinters so I didn’t drive them deeper. Once we were in the big house, I set her on her feet and snatched a pillow off the couch, dropped it onto the dining room table, and then patted the wood for her to hop up. She looked so unsure as she draped herself face down across the table, pillow beneath her hips.
“Sorry in advance,” I said as I pulled one of our first aid kits out from under the sink. I used a damp cloth to wipe the worst of the dust away and then smeared antiseptic over the backs of her thighs.
Riley hissed, letting out a little whimper.
“Gonna hurt for a while,” I said softly, apologetically, as I flipped on the light overhead and pulled out one of the chairs to sit, a pair of tweezers in my hand.
“Do what you have to.”
She made tiny sounds of pain and protest as I diligently worked through one splinter at a time, ensuring I got every last bit out. It wasn’t the worst case she’d ever had, and not nearly as bad as the time she’d fallen into a patch of prickly pear when we’d been running around where we shouldn’t have.
“You want to tell me why Darlene was hollering about Darrell Decker? What did she mean that he’d still take you? When was heevergoing to take you?”
“Darlene tried to sell me to him to get back into the compound.”
I froze, hot fury sliding through my veins. “What? When the hell was this?”
“The summer I turned seventeen. Honestly, I’m surprised she waited that long. I was already getting a little old for his taste.”
“Christ.” I breathed out the word, nausea turning my gut. “He’d have beenthirtyat the time. Why didn’t you tell me? Did he hurt you? Because I’ll?—”
“That’sexactlywhy I didn’t tell you.” She sighed, white-knuckle gripping the edge of the table. “You’d have gotten yourself killed and I couldn’t live with that. But to answer your second question, no, he didn’t. Tried to, would have if his cardio wasn’t shit. Sometimes Darlene would invite him over without telling me and just leave me there with him. I knew the sound of her footsteps, though, and when it wasn’t them coming up the hallway I’d bolt out the window. He was never fast enough to catch me before he got winded.”
I picked through my memories of that year. “Were those the nights I found you sleeping in the barn come morning?”
She nodded, not offering up more than that.
“I figured Darlene had just gone overboard. I had no idea it was because she was arrangingthat. Fucking hell. Darlene and the Decker men are trash.”
“Wouldn’t touch any of them with a ten-foot pole,” she agreed. “Darlene didn’t give a fuck that the Decker boys were abusing their girlfriends, or that I already had someone I loved. She and I both knew my future if her shit plan succeeded, but my happiness and safety has always been an acceptable sacrifice for her.”
“I keep being surprised by how much more I can hate that woman,” I said after a moment, trying to process this additional layer of abuse Riley had endured.
I tried to focus back onto the task at hand while my brain turned over the new information. She didn’t need an infection from the splinters sitting too long, or me missing one, so even with my hands shaking with rage over Darlene, I diligently cared for the injuries in front of me.
“I know it doesn’t seem like I’m glad you’re back,” I said as I dug out a particularly deep splinter, “but I am.”
“Definitely doesn’t seem like it.” I heard the pout in her voice even though I didn’t look up from my work to see it.
“It almost killed me when you left, no matter how much I knew you needed to. Hell, if I didn’t need to be around for Morgan, I might’ve actually given up when you went no contact.” I sighed, moving around the table to get started on the other leg. “I know myself well enough now to understand what will happen if I let you in and you leave again. I also know that what happened today probably has you looking pretty seriously at running.”
Riley didn’t respond, simply tucking her face into the crook of her elbow, shoulders shaking.
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
“You’re not.” She lifted her tear-streaked cheeks. “I don’twantto go.”
