Page 41 of Scapegoat

“We don’t give a fuck about the bunkhouse,” Xavier said, jogging after me. “We’re here for you.”

“Well, you better care.” I jerked open the door to the long building. There were several rooms set up in the same building, each one with its own external door. “The Hamiltons need shearers badly. You can shear, can’t you?”

“Yes, we can fucking shear…” Jayden stepped closer then, his eyes dancing. “And we’ll stay as long as you do… if that’s long enough to shear the whole flock?”

“No…” I said, glancing around me, at the farm, the flocks of sheep beyond in the paddocks. “You can’t put that on me.”

“People like us,” Jayden continued with a sly smile. “We’re fucking fast, strong. We can tear through a flock without even pinking one of their bloody sheep’s skin and keep the fleece intact. We’ll do that for the Hamiltons, if that’s what you want.”

“This is what you’re gonna go with?” I asked, my eyebrow jerking up. “This? ‘Stick around and let us get close to you again, Kai, otherwise we won’t shear a poor old couple’s sheep’?”

“Knew that wouldn’t work.” My attention shifted to Atlas and when he had it, he shook his head slowly, not breaking eye contact for a second. “Talk to us, Kai. Talk to me. Just for an hour or two. We’ll help these people out—”

“Fuck you, Atlas—” Jayden muttered.

“Please.”

Jayden was muttering something dark at his brother, so he didn’t see it. There was a reason why Atlas was the one I’d let claim me first, why it was his mark I wore on my neck and not the others’. He shut up, paid attention, listened the most out of the three of them and it was that same quiet energy that drew me in again, that had me stepping forward. It was like time had turned back: I wanted to get closer to them. None of the guys seemed to realise that the need I nursed inside me ached for them twenty-four-seven, that before they’d come back into my life, the pain had been bearable, but now it hurt so fucking exquisitely that my eyes ached.

“An hour,” I replied.

“Just an hour.” I could hear the hope in Atlas’ voice, buried under the deep growl. “We’ll shear those sheep so fucking well, the Hamiltons will make top dollar, promise.”

I had several hours before Jamie was to arrive and all my stuff was packed and ready. I nodded, then turned on my heel, showing them the bunk house.

“You lot get comfortable in here, move your shit in, get ready for a big day of work tomorrow,” I told Xavier and Jayden. “Because I’ll be gone by then. I’ve got a friend coming—”

“What kind of friend?” Jayden asked in a taut tone.

“A none-of-your-bloody-business friend.”

If there was ever a moment to make clear that time had passed, that things had changed, that I had changed, this was it. I stunned the three of them to silence. Kaia never used to talk to anyone like that. She wouldn’t have dared. But my mother wasn’t around to smack me around, keep me down, and so Kai came to the fore.

“Take it or leave it,” I said finally, staring them down.

“Get our shit and move it into the bunkhouse,” Atlas ordered the others before stepping closer to me. “Tell me where you want to go, Kai.” He held out a hand and Xavier threw him the car keys to their truck. “I’ll take you there.”

Chapter 24

Atlas

The keys felt like they burned against my palm as I followed Kai to her car. She didn’t want me driving her anywhere, she said.

She didn’t want me.

That burned rose stink, it was getting thicker by the minute and when she opened the passenger side door for me? It made it hard for me to take a full breath. But I didn’t care. When I sucked in a lungful of smoke from my cigarette, it felt like the same thing. Breathing in the thing that hurts you and I couldn’t stop myself from doing it.

“Thanks for this,” I told her and she paused for just a second. My eyes ate her up, taking in all the ways she looked the same and all the ways she looked different. Angry for one. Kai was never allowed to feel that emotion under her mother’s thumb, but she seemed to have found her rage now. Her eyes shone, molten silver and taking me in with a slight frown.

“It’s fine,” she said, biting off every word. “Good, even. We can have this out and move on. I won’t have to keep looking over my shoulder, worrying about when you’ll find me. And you…?” She shook her head slowly. “You can shear these sheep and then work out what the hell you want to do with your life, away from me.”

I watched her then, unable to keep the slight smile off my face. She was so fucking beautiful. I’d thought so when she was younger, just a skinny little kid, then ate my heart out watching her as she grew into a woman. But now? Fire burned in her eyes and she faced me down like a fucking equal, like she’d go toe to toe with me in any fight we might have. The thing was: she didn’t get it.

I was on her side. I always was, always would be, and nothing would stop that feeling inside me.

“If that’s what you want,” I replied, fighting to keep my tone mild.

“Get in,” she said, gesturing sharply at the car. “That’s what I want. To get this done.”

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