Page 86 of Knot Her Cowboys
I winced as Darlene shoved my head away and I bolted to my feet. My chest burned from panic and all the dust I’d inhaled in the struggle.
“Riley, come on over behind me,” Cooper ordered.
I darted toward him, tucking myself out of sight at his back.
“You all right?”
“Nothing I won’t heal from by morning.” My scalp ached, and so did my bones. I’d have some bruises, but Darlene hadn’t donetoomuch damage before Cooper showed up.
He nodded. “Darlene, get the fuck off our property.”
“You can’t tell me what to do. If Riley’s here, I get to be too.”
“You know that’s not how it works. Either you leave on your own, you leave with a police escort, or no one ever finds out you were here. Can’t imagine many people will care if you go missing.”
Darlene growled. “You can’t keep me from my own damn daughter.”
“Actually, I can. She doesn’t want to see you. Respect that, or you’ll learn what kind of man you’re provoking.”
I risked a glance around Cooper to see Darlene getting to her feet with a nasty sneer on her face. “Useless fucking whelp. You’re no better than the rest of your trash family.”
The barrel of Cooper’s shotgun followed Darlene as she inched away, keeping her face to us as she backed toward the path that would take her to the driveway. When she finally drove out of sight in her beat-up truck, the adrenaline flooded out of my body, leaving me shaking.
Cooper set the shotgun down and dragged me into his arms, holding me tightly and cupping my head. The moment I was wrapped in his embrace, my tears snuck up on me until I was ugly sobbing against his chest.
“I’ve got you.” Cooper swallowed hard. “You scared the absolute shit out of me.” His voice was rough with emotion, his hands shaking almost as badly as my body where they held me.
“I’m sorry,” I wailed against him. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.Pleasedon’t run away again. I never wanted to go.”
“Riley, I?—”
I braced for his rejection, knew it was coming…and I deserved it.
Cash practically tripped over himself sprinting toward us, skidding to a stop with his hand on his chest. “Thank fucking god. What the hell happened?”
Riley clung to me like I was a lifeline, fingers locked in my shirt, her tears soaking into the fabric.
“Darlene” was all I said.
“Motherfucker. One fence isn’t enough for that monster of a woman.” He sandwiched Riley between us, hand softly cupping her hair. We locked eyes, all of his emotions on display in his gaze: fear, regret, a fuckload of love for the woman in our arms. “Construction crew will be here in two hours to put in gates that need a fob or code to get through. New guests will have to talk to reception through the code box to be let in.”
I nodded stiffly. Extra security wasn’t ideal, but I wasn’t going to let a repeat of what just happened occur. I’d always known Darlene could be vicious, but typically I’d been faced with the aftermath. It was rare to actually witness her brutality since she tended to keep that behind closed doors. Or at least she had. It seemed all bets were off now that Riley was back and nothing was off the table when it came to keeping her daughter from slipping through her fingers again.
“I’ll put in a rush order for some motion-activated cameras we can put around the perimeter near any roads. Thoughts on some electric fencing?”
“Blackberries, too. If a shock doesn’t stop Darlene, maybe some old-fashioned thorns will do the job.”
Riley gave a sound that was part sob, part laugh. “Nothing much stops her, but I like the mental image.”
I fought with dueling compulsions: leave her with Cash so I could go back to guarding my heart, or steal her away and dote on her the way I wanted to, the way I had always done when Darlene fucked her up in the past.
As if she could sense I might bolt, she held on tighter.
“Cooper.” Her voice cracked. “Please don’t leave me. I know—I know it’s a shit thing to ask after what I did, but I’m asking anyway.”
“He won’t leave,” Cash said firmly, holding me hostage with his eyes. “It’s more than time you two talked, and now is as good as any.”
He wasn’t wrong, but I bristled anyway. “Let’s get you inside, at least. You could probably use some water and a shower after rolling around on the ground.”
