Page 56 of Belong With Me

Chapter Nineteen

Ryder

“Have you seen her?” I yelled at Colton as he continued to tighten the girth on the saddle he’d put onto the huge black horse.

“Seen who?” He checked the strap and then muttered something under his breath about stubborn horses before tightening it again.

“Sin.”

“Who’s Sin?”

Colton’s questions were starting to piss me off. Just who else could I possibly mean? Inhaling deeply to prevent myself from saying something I would end up regretting, I pushed the irrational feelings away. “Sienna, she’s missing.” My eyes darted around the space, scanning the barn for any trace of her.

He finally turned his head to look at me. “Yeah. She came in about an hour or two ago. She needed a horse to ride so I let her borrow Ducky.” He named the most placid of our work horses, also one of the stubbornest.

Even though she had ridden Ducky before, I had been with her. This time she was alone. Rational thinking once again threatened to flee as my emotions began to take hold. “You let her go off on her own?” I took off my hat and ran my free hand through my hair. Frustration was clearly evident in my voice as I continued. “This is not what she’s used to, Colton! She’s a show girl, not a stock girl! Her horses were built for prancing and fancy ass shit like dressage. She’s not ready to be trotting or galloping on a ranch the size of ours without someone with her!” My nerves rose ever higher, and I threw my hat somewhere into the stables. It disappeared behind the rack that held the variety of saddles. “Fuck me, man!”

“Ryder.” Colton’s voice was calm, and it caught my attention. Turning my head to face him again, I saw the expression he was wearing matched his tone. He really wasn’t worried at all. At least not that he was showing. “Chill out. She’s a big girl. She’s only been gone—” His eyes flicked to the wristwatch he was wearing. “—an hour and a half.”

His mood wasn’t rubbing off on me though, and the longer we stood there debating this, the more chance she would be injured when I found her. I was done waiting. “Give me your horse. Let me borrow Diablo, since you’re already saddling him up.” I gestured at the massive black stallion behind him.

“Not a chance.” The change in his tone was noticeable, that calm tone now gone and replaced by a cold, hard one. He held a hand out between us to stop me advancing toward him.

“What?” I fired back quickly. I couldn’t believe my brother was going to stand in my way right now. Could he not tell how urgent this was from my voice?

“Diablo is only just starting to properly respond to me. I don’t want you anywhere near him.” I was about to argue his point, but he continued before I got a chance. “Plus, I’m only doing this so I can go find her. She told me she was only going to be gone for half an hour, hour tops.”

Fine. If he was going, then so was I. “I’ll take Cisco then.” There was no way I was going to stay here while she was out there, possibly injured. I started to pace in place, watching Colton’s movements. I sure wasn’t going to let my brother be the one to find her. Not after what was developing between us.

He slipped a bridle over Diablo’s head. “That’s not happening.”

Like hell it wasn’t. “For heaven’s sake—”

“Just listen to me. If you head out on Cisco, as highly emotional as you are right now, you’re only going to make the horses, both of them, nervous. That’s nothing compared to how Ducky will react when you get there. That will only make things worse for her if something has happened.” I could concede he had a point. But I wasn’t going to admit that, not while I watched as he continued going about putting on the tack.

“I swear to God, if something has happened to her, I’m going to turn your balls into a fucking chew toy for my dogs.” My voice took on a growling quality towards the end of the threat I issued.

My emotions were really starting to get on top of me. Even my brother thought something might have happened to her. I thought of the last time we were together, when things between us were finally progressing. Here he was, calmly and slowly getting his horse ready. Didn’t he understand time was of the essence? I went to take a step toward him but he stopped me in place. Strangling him wasn’t going to be very helpful at this moment.

“Don’t take out your frustration on me. Your woman decided to go for a ride, and since I had no reason to stop her, I helped her. If you want to carry on like an idiot, then do it somewhere else.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

I watched as he double- and triple-checked Diablo’s gear, making sure everything was ready to go. Once he was sufficiently satisfied, he turned his attention to me again. “Listen. I need you to head to the house and grab me a radio. I just need to grab a few more things here and finish the last of his gear and I’ll meet you there in five. Get Savannah to stay at the house. You should take the truck and check the perimeter. Kenzie can get Oz and Milo and work around the immediate area of the house and outbuildings. See if they can pick up her scent. We keep in contact and radio in the moment we find her. You know the drill.”

I saw his logic, understanding his rapid-fire instructions. Right now, it was probably better he was the one making these decisions, since I was currently being ruled by my emotions. Whereas he was calm. I watched him, his movements remaining practiced and smooth. The sight of something familiar soothed me, but only just. Perhaps his lack of emotional baggage truly might be an advantage right now.

Knowing he was right, I quickly stalked to the saddle racks and fished my hat out before jogging back to the house to tell Kenzie and Van the plan. They both moved into action quickly, hearing the urgency in my voice and as Kenzie whistled for Milo and Oz, Van handed me a radio.

“She’ll be fine, Ry.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I know you’re scared for her. But it’s daylight, and if there’s one thing I’ve come to know about Sienna, it’s that she’s not stupid.” She headed to the door as the sound of a horse trotting closer on the gravel out front approached. “Here, you take this radio. I’ll get the other one to Colton.” I swiped my keys from the bowl atop the side table in the hallway and was out the door as Savannah’s voice reached me on the porch, reiterating what she had already told me. “Everything’s going to be okay.” I didn’t know if she was doing so for my sake, or for hers.

By the time I was in the truck and driving at what probably wasn’t considered a smart speed, my mind started to tick over. I concentrated on replaying moments spent with Sin while following along the fence line. A few moments later, I saw Colton galloping over the hills. I thanked everything that was holy it was still daylight; that should make the search easier.

I hit the main road at the ranch entrance, and having reached breakneck speed, the truck didn’t take it too well. It hit a loose spot, one that generally wouldn’t be a problem at the appropriate pace, and spun, the movement almost jerking the wheel from my hands. Slamming my foot down on the brake, the car stopped and the dust cloud from the incident began to clear. I closed my eyes and focused. Using my breathing to help clear my mind, I pushed all thoughts away for a minute and concentrated only on the air entering and exiting my lungs.

---