Fractured Sky (Tattered & Torn #5)(40)

Onyx took another step.

I matched her, keeping my voice low. “I’ve got you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Closer.

I kept talking. It turned to nonsensical reassurances. Promises of safety. Sweet nothings—until we were face-to-face.

I slowly lifted my hand to that spot under her chin. “Hey, girl.”

She pressed her muzzle into my chest, searching for more.

I rubbed her cheek, her neck. I didn’t know how long we stayed like that with Onyx’s head resting on my shoulder as I stroked her.

“Nice and easy, now, back away,” Ramsey instructed. “Come get the feed bucket and give Onyx her dinner.”

I didn’t want to leave her, but I also knew she needed routine. Had to trust that I would come and go but always return. And that she would be safe through it all.

Carefully, I pulled back. I moved to Ramsey and took the bucket of grain. When I approached Onyx with it, a hint of wariness returned to her eyes, but she didn’t move. I set it at her feet.

As soon as I moved away, she sniffed at the bucket. Seconds later, she started eating.

Ramsey slid through the round pen’s rails, a little of his dark hair falling free of the knot it had been tied in as he moved. My fingers twitched at my side, wanting to know what those strands felt like. I shoved that feeling down, Ramsey’s words about not being built for relationships echoing in my head.

He grinned as he strode towards me. “Hell of an afternoon with our girl.”

I couldn’t help the answering smile from forming on my lips. “I’ve never felt anything like that. What she gave me…”

“Her trust,” he finished for me.

I nodded, swallowing hard. “It was the most beautiful gift I’ve ever been given.”

He moved in closer, the heat from his body seeping into mine. “It becomes an addiction, that feeling. Those gifts.”

I wanted to lean into him. To lose myself in his warmth and comfort. To know what it was like to disappear entirely into everything that was Ramsey. “I can see how.”

“That was amazing.” Aidan practically bounced as he walked up to us. “She totally let you in. I can’t believe she could still do that with you after everything she’s been through.”

“She’s showing us that it’s possible to heal from anything,” I said softly.

Something flashed in Aidan’s eyes, and he looked down at his watch. “Crap! I have to go. I’m late for chores at home.” He yelled for Elliott and started towards his beat-up truck.

“I’ve got leftovers for you,” I called.

“Thanks! I’ll get ‘em tomorrow.” He was already opening the back door for Elliott, who waved, grinning at us. Seconds later, he was behind the wheel and headed towards the gate.

I bit my bottom lip. “I’m worried about them.”

“You have a right to be.”

“Do you think there’s anything else we can do?”

“I’m not sure what that would be just now.”

I looked over at Ramsey and saw his gaze locked on where the truck had disappeared. “Maybe we should call Child Protective Services and tell them our concerns.”

A muscle in his jaw ticked. “We don’t have any proof. If we don’t know for sure they’d be removed from the home, we’d only be making things worse for them.”

I stared down the drive as Aidan’s truck disappeared. “Is their mom in the picture at all?”

Ramsey shook his head. “Aidan told me the other day that she passed away when Elliott was a baby.”

My stomach churned. “I hate this.”

Ramsey moved in closer, that heat seeping into me again.

“I know.”

Only two words, but with them, I knew I wasn’t in this worry alone. Our eyes locked and held.

A faint buzz sounded, and Ramsey jerked his gaze away from me, pulling his phone from his pocket. He swiped his thumb across the screen and tapped an icon. His jaw went hard as granite.

He tapped another button and held it to his ear. “Yeah.”

Ramsey listened and then glanced at me. “Your brother’s here. He wants to talk to you.”





18





SHILOH





Crap. Crap. Double crap.

“Which one?”

Like that made a difference. I had made Ramsey a promise that I wouldn’t bring other people onto his property. He seemed at ease with me, fairly relaxed with the boys, and Lor was no big deal. But I’d seen reticence or agitation flare when anyone else buzzed the gate.

“Hayes,” he bit out.

“I can go to the gate and talk to him—”

Ramsey cut me off with a shake of his head. “No. But if you don’t want to talk to him, I can send him away.”

That would only make things worse. I’d been ignoring Hayes’ calls and texts. It was likely why he’d shown up like this. I hadn’t wanted to be subjected to a lecture or his ignorant comments about Ramsey, but it was time to deal with him.

“I should talk to him.”

Ramsey put the phone to his ear. “Follow the road to the guest cabin.” He hung up without waiting for a response and then motioned me towards the house that we were both staying in.