Page 27

“Hey, girl. I know, I know. I haven’t had much time to see you. I’m so sorry. I promise I’ll make more time. That sound good?”
Running my hand over her face, she huffs in agreement.
“You having fun out here?” Amethyst does a little nod and leans her head towards mine. “Good. I’m glad.”
Sitting there, petting Amethyst, I hear a truck come up behind me. Ryker. Inwardly I smile, excited to see him.
Last night, I let myself feel what it was that I wanted. What I wanted was Ryker. When I’m around him, I get butterflies in my stomach. My heart beats faster, and his touch ignites me.
“Sweetheart.” Ryker comes up next to me and pulls my lips to his.
“Hi.” My cheeks feel hot, and I know I’m blushing.
“How’s your day? I see Amethyst is keeping you company.” He walks over and pets her. She huffs and snorts to show her excitement in seeing Ryker.
“It was all right. I helped your mom in the store today, so pretty uneventful. Had the rest of the day to myself, so just came out here to think.” I bite my lip, knowing he’s going to want to know what I’m thinking about.
“Do you want to talk about it?” He stops and turns to me. Ryker places his hands on my arms, rubbing them. The touch is making my skin burn with desire.
“Actually, I do. There’s probably some things I need to tell you. Things you may know half-truths about, but things I need to be honest with you about. It’s time.” The tightening in my chest starts as soon as I look up at him.
“Okay, how about we head to the lake? We can talk there. We won’t have to worry about people or horses bothering us.” He gives Amethyst a side eye, and she huffs. I laugh, watching her trot away.
Ryker takes my hand in his, and we walk to his truck. We drive in silence to the lake. We make our way along the worn path past Ryker’s house. I stare past the fields to take in the beautiful mountains in the distance. Wyoming is a beautiful state. The vegetation, the open sprawling land around us, it makes me feel so free. Once we get to the lake, Ryker lays a blanket down in the bed of the truck and we hop in, looking out at the landscape. It’s so peaceful, so open. I can hear the trees rustle from the wind as birds chirp in the distance.
The tightening is starting to squeeze on my heart again, and tears are building up in the corners of my eyes. My hand reaches up and rubs my heart.
Ryker turns me towards him. “Zo, whatever it is, you can tell me.”
“Just promise you won’t … Promise me that you’ll stay with me. That you won’t get mad or angry. You won’t leave. I don’t think I could handle that if I told you everything.” My bottom lip is trembling now. My hands tremble, and I try to hold them still.
“Look at me, darlin’. There’s nothing you could tell me that’ll make me leave your side. There’s nothing you could do that’ll make me walk away. I just found you, and I won’t let you go.” Ryker grabs both my hands, and his thumbs rub circles on the inside of my wrists. That small gesture calms me a bit.
“I probably should start with who I am.” I take a deep breath. I look out at the lake for a second and then turn to Ryker. “My name is Nicole Moore. I’m a twenty-seven-year-old former teacher. I was engaged to a man named Mitch Wakefield while living in New York.”
I pause momentarily, trying to gather the best way to tell Ryker what Mitch did to me. Ryker sits silently and waits for me to continue.
“I … I ran.” Tears start to spill over. “Mitch used to be a nice guy. But one day, it was like a light switch was flipped. He … He w-would hit me and beat me. Sometimes f-forcing himself s-sexually on me.”
Ryker doesn’t say anything, but his hands are vibrating with rage. I can see it in his eyes, feel it in his touch. He is doing all he can to control his emotions right now.
“I had to quit my job, my career because of him. He told me my place was in the home. I needed to play the nice housewife with him. Host the parties, hang with other the other wives of the men that ran his company.” I stop and sniffle. “I should probably tell you that Mitch took over his dad’s company and from that point on, everything was about keeping up appearances. He said he had an image to uphold that his father created. It was his legacy or something like that.” Wiping the tears away, I give a gentle shake of my head.
“What about your parents? Could you have told them? Gone to them for help?” Ryker asks, clenching his jaw.
“Remember I said my parents were evil people? I did go to them. I begged them to help me, and they even saw the bruises and cuts on my face and body. My mom told me that Mitch was ‘probably having a bad day’ and that I ‘need to learn how to make it better for him.’ Be a better woman to him. My father would hear nothing of it. He told me I was being selfish and that he couldn’t understand why a man of Mitch’s caliber was marrying someone like me. Though, the marriage was vitally important to him. His focus was to get his company and Mitch’s company merged. My dad stood to make a lot of money that way. Don’t ask me how or why; I was never privy to that information.”
Ryker huffs, and I can see his jaw tick. “Friends? Any friends you could have gone to?”
Shaking my head, I think back on all the people I used to call friends. “No, they all left me once I got locked up by Mitch. Of course, he told them they were worthless and that I couldn’t be seen with them. So, they didn’t stick around. The only person I had any communication with was a friend who helped me with the new identity thing. Aside from that, everyone else abandoned me. They were all afraid of Mitch, and I guess my friendship meant nothing to anyone. No one fought for me. I was all alone.”
Turning to him, my eyes try to convey to him that what I’m about to tell him is bad. I clasp my hand on top of his and squeeze.
“The day I left … I’d never seen such anger in his eyes. Some lady hit me from behind while I was out running errands, something I’ve done before. Sometimes I take the driver Mitch provides for me, sometimes I like to get out and drive myself. That day was a day I wanted to drive myself. So, when the lady hit me, I knew it was going to be bad. From the outside, it didn’t look like much damage was done from the accident, but the car was an expensive car. Like a quarter million expensive.”
“Fuck.” Ryker’s eyes go wide when I drop the price.
“He never asked me if I was okay. He never scooped me up and hugged me. I was insignificant. Mitch was more worried about the car and if the lady was going to try to sue us by making up a story. He couldn’t give two shits about whether I was okay.”