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You’re not that man. You’re not the one. She needs a good guy, someone clean.
“Get some sleep,” I tell her.
THREE AND A HALF YEARS EARLIER
My finger is on the trigger as I approach the low crossing. We split up to look for Dolly. Her last location ping was near the grove of oak trees with the smaller tank where the cattle drink, but she wasn’t there.
Cash, Sterling, Duke, and I went in four different directions. The ATV I’m on makes it hard to hear anything, so I pull on the brakes and switch off the engine.
The quiet of the night envelops me. I wait for a few minutes, listening to the sounds of nature and breathing deeply. A breeze rustles through the trees as voices rise down near the river.
One of them is Dolly’s.
I throw my leg over the side of the ATV and continue on foot. My boots rustle in the overgrown grass. My spine tingles when I hear the male voice of Cain Dixon.
“The fact that you’re only eighteen is fucking wild. You look older.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot.” Her nervous chuckle floats on the wind. “I feel like I should get to Rosie now.”
“Ah, I thought you wanted some alone time with me.”
I grind my teeth, debating how much of a beating I’ll give him for this. I decide to wait in the bushes for a few seconds, seeing if he’ll be a gentleman and leave my sister alone.
“I do … I just thought we’d go on a real date or something.”
“You need a real man. You’ve probably never been touched by someone who knew what they were doing. I can show you things.”
I step closer, raising my weapon as Cain’s smirking face comes into view. It’s a full moon tonight, illuminating his expression of lust.
“I’m still a virgin, so, no, I haven’t. I’ve never met someone I was ready to?—”
He reaches for her then, hands gripping the front of her jeans. “You’ll like it. I’ll make you feel good.”
I lunge forward, pushing aside the tree branches and brush separating me from them. It all seems to happen in slow motion. My gun is heavy in my hand as I raise it to aim for his head. I only want to scare him, to get him off my sister before I beat his face in with my fists.
Cain is so caught up in his intent to steal her virtue that he doesn’t hear me coming. Dolly screams, which seems to only fuel his resolve. I’m fifty yards away. He jerks at the button of her jeans, ripping it off. He tears off the button-up shirt she has on, scattering the buttons around as it splits open.
“Get off me!” she screams, turning panicked eyes to me.
I get within ten yards of them before speaking, pistol raised and aimed right between his wide, excited eyes. “Get the fuck away from her if you want to live to see another day.”
31
ROSIE
PRESENT DAY
Rows of foundation in varying shades of creamy tan and pale white are lined up in front of me. I chew the corner of my bottom lip as I reach for one to test on my inner forearm. Holden is pacing at the end of the aisle, his flip phone pressed up against his ear. I can hear his deep baritone voice, but I can only make out his words when he’s facing me.
“She’s fine. She just needs some rest,” he says, inspecting me carefully before turning to pace in the other direction, tipping his cowboy hat at a passing older woman.
I look back at the tube of foundation in my hand, taking a small dab and tapping it on my skin over one of the bruises on my wrist. The marbled combination of green, yellow, and purple is impossible to disguise with one color. I finally make a selection and turn over to the rows of setting powder.
“Where did they search?” he says as he shifts closer to me, serving a hard stare to a passing middle-aged man who pauses a second too long with his eyes in my direction.
The man hurries past. I think he must be on the phone with Cash. Duke is waiting in the truck for us, but Holden won’t let me out of his sight. I can’t decide if it’s romantic or unhinged.
Who’s going to kidnap me in a whole other state? How would they find me here?
