Page 34 of Beat of Love
“Rafferty,” she called out, keeping her distance. She wanted to shake him awake but knew better.
He cried out again, and she walked closer.
“Rafferty!” She nudged his foot with hers. “Wake up.”
His body jerked. And he surged to his feet.
With a freaking weapon in his hand.
Brandy staggered back in fright, dropped the flashlight, and shoved her arms in the air. “Don’t shoot.”
“Brandy-Lyn?” Rafferty barked, shoving the gun in the waistband of his pants. “What the fuck, woman?”
She clutched her hands to her chest, keeping her poor beleaguered heart from escaping. “Dammit, Rafferty Lawson. What’s with the weapon? You scared the crap outta me,” she accused.
“I could’ve shot you, Brandy,” he suddenly yelled, running fingers through his hair, looking everywhere but at her.
“How was I supposed to know you decided to sleep in a paddock with a gun in your hand?” she yelled back.
He scooped up the flashlight, keeping the beam pointing down. “It’s the fucking middle of the fucking night.” His eyes darted about. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
She wasn’t the only one breathing hard.
“You were dreaming.”
He narrowed his gaze to mere slits. “And how the fuck do you know that?”
“Something woke me up. I checked the security feeds and noticed Elsa walking the fence line pawing the ground, so I came out to see what was upsetting her, and then … I … I heard you … cry … out.”
Even the dark couldn’t hide the color leaching from his face. She reached out, touched his arm. “Raff? Are you—”
He gasped and wrenched his arm away. “Don’t touch me.”
She held her hands up. “Sorry.”
“What did you hear?”
“N-nothing.” She took another step back, not liking the hostility in his tone. “You were incoherent.”
“You don’t come out here in the middle of the damn night with nothing but a flashlight,” he snapped, voice low and harsh. “You call security. You send someone else. And you most certainly don’t walk up to someone like me — half-asleep, and not in his right mind.”
She blinked, caught off guard by the fury behind his words. “I wasn’t thinking about security, Rafferty. I was thinking about an upset horse. And then … you.”
“Well, you should’ve thought harder,” he said bitterly. “What if I’d pulled the trigger? What then? I don’t need the death of another woman on my conscience.”
She glanced around at the open paddock, then back at him. “Why areyouout here?”
He gave her a look — flat, tired, and hollowed out by something she couldn’t see. “Better than captivity,” he muttered.
She didn’t know what to say to that.
He aimed the flashlight along the fence, the beam unsteady. “You should’ve left me alone to my nightmares.”
She looked at his hand gripping the aluminum casing. It was shaking slightly. “You were hurting, sugar. I had to wake you,” she said softly.
His stare focused back on her, his exhale ragged. “You best stay away from me, Brandy-Lyn. And never, ever approach me while I’m sleeping. I’m damaged goods, darlin’, not fit to be around you.”
The anger was gone, replaced with resignation.
