Page 81 of Nuclear Option (Owens Protective Services)

He stuck his foot in the stirrup and swung up and over the horse, seating himself like he’d done it a million times before. Then he patted the horse with a grin. “Come on up, darlin’.”

I huffed and climbed onto Fox’s back, reaching out for Cash’s outstretched hand. “Don’t call me darlin’. It’s not cute.”

I was hoisted up into the saddle, straddling the horse as I pressed against Cash’s back. I clung tightly to him, closing my eyes as I breathed through the fact that I was about to take off on a horse with one arm not working.

“I’ve got you,” he murmured, turning slightly to face me. “Hold on. We’re going to ride hard.”

“Somehow, I always pictured that phrase being said to me as I was in bed,” I screeched out the last word as he spurred the horse forward and we took off at a sprint. I squeezed my eyes shut as the wind whipped through my hair. I’d never been on a horse and found it hard to stay on as I was bounced around, feeling like I was going to slide off one side or another.

I looked to the side where Fox and Rae both rode as if they’d done this all their lives. I looked the other way to find Jones also riding smoothly across the open valley. I pressed my face into Cash’s back and pretended we were anywhere other than here. Luckily, there were no gunshots anywhere near us, and I didn’t see any cars racing down the road trying to catch us. Then again, I didn’t see any roads in sight. I had no clue where we were going, but Jones and Cash seemed to know the way.

We rode for what felt like hours, and maybe it was. When we finally came to a stop and I looked up, we were outside an old cabin. Cash easily dismounted, wincing as he stretched out his legs. He held out his arms to me as I leaned over and fell into him. My legs felt like they were permanently bowed out. I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it anywhere after this, so I was hoping this was our stop for the night and they wouldn’t tell me we had to leave.

“I’ll take first watch,” Fox said, pulling out his gun.

“I’ll tie up the horses,” Rae said, taking the reins of her horse and Fox’s.

“What do I do?” I asked, unsure of what to do from here.

“You wait with Jones while I check out the cabin. Here.” He handed me the reins to the horse, like I could actually stop the beast from running away from me.

“Um…don’t you think you should take the horse and I should check out the house?” I said quickly.

He turned back to me, his lips twitching humorously. “You want to clear the house?”

“I…” I glanced at the house and then back at the horse. The house seemed like the lesser of two evils at the moment. “I could do it.”

“Sure,” he stalked forward, pulling out his gun. He handed it over, the weight of it heavy in my hands. I held it like it was a bomb, my eyes wide as I stared down at it. Sure, I’d held a gun when I was with Fox, but we all knew how that turned out.

“Um…”

He turned me around and pointed to a tree that wasn’t more than twenty yards away. “Just hit that tree.”

“The…Sorry, what?”

“You shoot the tree and you can clear the house.”

I ignored the laughing way he looked at me. Obviously, I was not prepared for a task like this, and he knew it. But holding a horse where I could be trampled? There was no way I could control him with one working arm. So, I fumbled the gun in my hands and lifted it, but the weight of it was too much for me. Not to mention, I wasn’t really sure what I was doing. Fox had walked me through this the last time.

Lowering the gun, I turned to him in a huff. “Can’t you just give me a knife or something?”

The chuckle that escaped his lips left tiny pinpricks of delight over my arms. “Or…you could stay here with Jones while I clear the house. I promise he won’t let the horse trample you.”

He took the reins from me and handed them over to Jones, something passing between them that I couldn’t decipher. Then he was gone, stalking toward the house. I noticed Jones’s eyes weren’t on the houses, but scanning the landscape around us. I started following his gaze, wondering what he thought he would see. The land stretched for miles, every bit of the scenery blending in with its surroundings.

“What exactly are you looking for?” I asked curiously.

“Anything that looks out of place. Sudden movements that could give away someone approaching.”

“What if it’s an animal?”

“They’re more aware of us,” he muttered. “Their senses alert them when danger is near.”

“Then how do they get shot so often?”

“How do humans get shot?” he retorted. “Everyone, every creature lets down their guard at some point.”

I supposed he had a point. I stood out there with him, watching our surroundings, mimicking his stance as I tried to see what he was seeing. Sighing, I felt like a massive failure at this. Sure, in public I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end when someone was watching. But out here? I was lost. This definitely wasn’t my domain.

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