Page 35 of Tethered

I look over at him, surprised that he’s surprised. I thought he knew what I was capable of. Though I admit, the trees surprised me, too.

“So it’s my fault?”

“No. It was mine. I pushed myself too hard.”

“Yeah, because I fucking terrified you.”

“Maybe. But I won’t lie and say I don’t feel safer because of it. I mean, the place is like a fucking fortress now. No more having to deal with gasoline-soaked fields.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Yeah, let’s just say someone wasn’t happy I have the ranch back.”

“Porter?”

“Porter,” I agree.

“What the fuck is his problem anyway? He knows the ranch belongs to you. Legally, he has no claim to the land.”

“And yet it hasn’t stopped him from having me served. Unlucky for him, he was too late to stop me from selling off a large portion of cattle. And well, Jen took care of the rest.”

“He’s unfucking believable. Where the hell did your father find him?”

My lip twitches as I turn to look out the window. “Oh, you know, he just went out and found a guy exactly like him.”

“So Dicks R Us? I’ve only met the guy once, but he seems like a fucking tool.”

“He was here when I arrived. Had to get the sheriff to remove him. It was oddly satisfying.”

“What’s your deal with him anyway?”

“No deal. He wants the ranch and probably to make my life miserable, especially now that he knows I have his wife and kid living with me.”

His head whips around. “I was talking about the sheriff, but now I need to know the rest.”

I sigh. “He hits her—Dawn, that is. I’d seen her in town and gave her some cream for her bruises. She turned up at my place not long ago, beaten black and blue, only this time he had hit Hannah too.” I don’t mention the rape. That’s Dawn’s business.

“That motherfucker. Tell me you didn’t take them in because you feel guilty. That ranch is yours, and I don’t give a fuck if that left him without a job. He’s known for years it was coming.”

“He was probably hoping I’d die in prison. It’s not like there hadn’t been a few attempts.” At the time, I assumed they were random, but now I’m not sure. I was lucky I had made friends inthere because, powers or not, it’s impossible to watch your back twenty-four-seven.

He squeezes the steering wheel but says nothing.

“And I don’t feel guilty, not about taking back my ranch. Yes, that might have set him off. But guys like that are so volatile that if it hadn’t been that, it would have just been something else.”

Like Jen getting his case thrown out of court.

“True. How are they doing?”

“Dawn’s healing. Hannah is having a blast. I think it’s the first time she’s been able just to be herself and not have to walk on eggshells to appease her father. I’m sure it was easier when he was at the ranch from sunup to sundown, but with him home all the time, things were bound to come to a head. As much as I fucking hate him for putting his hands on Hannah, I think it was the push Dawn needed to leave him.”

“She should have left him before it went that far,” he grunts. I want to snap at him that he has no idea what he’s talking about, but he does because his mom was a victim of domestic violence too.

“Everyone thinks leaving is easy. If it were, nobody would ever stay. When she arrived at the home of a virtual stranger, might I add, she had nothing but the clothes on her back, and those were torn and bloody. If I weren’t there, who would have taken her in? Who would have helped keep Porter away from her and Hannah? Go ahead and name me five people. I’ll wait.”

But he can’t, because he knows what people in this fucking town are like. And part of me wonders if the toxicity is what helped poison the place.

“I would have.”