Page 41 of Ace of Spades (Hidden Creek Ranch #1)

HAILEY

My hair whips in the wind, the thick smoke coming from the bunkhouses bleeding into the night sky and smothering the stars. I race behind Weston, urging Casino forward as the sounds of hooves eating up the dirt rings in my ears.

Two trucks fly past us on the path, some of the ranch hands racing to the scene with the emergency water tanks.

The heat from the blaze hits me right in the face as we get close enough to the flames, the smoke burning my throat as I lift my shirt above my nose to keep from breathing in the fumes.

“Here,” Weston yells over the commotion, pulling Lark back to hand me his bandana, untying the one around his saddlehorn for himself as we pull them around our faces .

The horses startle beneath us as a portion of the building collapses, and my head whips to the side as I spot two figures emerging from the smoke, racing away from the flames.

“Weston!” I yell, catching his attention as I whip Casino around and race in their direction.

I get close enough to recognize Rafe and Debbie, the former helping her to the ground as she coughs violently, both of them covered in soot. I feel a pang of relief knowing that Debbie got out, but my thoughts immediately bring me back to the girl who could potentially still be inside.

“Where’s Dakota?” Weston demands, his black mare skidding to a halt beside me.

“Inside,” Debbie manages to tell us between coughs.

“I think she’s upstairs” Rafe pants. “Chance ran in to get her.”

Weston leaps from his horse, throwing me Lark’s reins before taking off in the direction of the burning bunkhouses.

“Stay there!” he yells back at me as I dismount, frantically looking around before spotting a nearby ranch truck. I manage to drag both horses behind me, haphazardly tying their reins to the grille guard before racing in the direction that Weston took off.

“Weston!” I scream as I watch him disappear into the burning building, lifting my arms to shield my face from the heat as the doorway that he entered through collapses in a flaming heap.

Panic fills my veins, my body threatening to shut down as I force myself to keep calm and think rationally.

“Over here!” I yell at the top of my lungs, waving down one of the trucks carrying a water tank to come help extinguish this section of the building. Approaching the pile of rubble, I attempt to move aside the beams blocking the doorway, wincing as the hot wood scorches my bare hands.

“Shit,” I breathe, dread coiling in my belly as fear threatens to take over. I needed to think, I needed to figure something out, and fast.

Untying the bandana from around my neck, I wrap it around my hand, running over to one of the first-floor windows and not wasting a single moment as I throw my entire weight into a punch that shatters the glass in one go.

Smoke blasts through the opening, the hot air barreling down my throat as I struggle to breathe. I use the bandana to clear the jagged bits of glass around the window frame before tying it back around my face, taking in a lungful of air before climbing through the opening.

“Weston!” I try to yell, the sound muffled by the roaring of the fire around me. My heart beats so fast that I think a heart attack might kill me if this fire doesn’t, but I force myself to push forward, rounding the bed and making it out into the hallway.

Looking both ways, I feel a tug in my gut to head toward the right, my feet taking off in that direction. I keep a steadying hand against the wall, my head already feeling heavy from the intake of smoke.

Rounding the corner, I spot Weston descending the stairs, his arms holding up a wheezing Dakota and an unconscious Chance.

“Weston!”

I race to him, taking the steps two at a time as his eyes find mine, widening in horror .

“I told you to stay put!” he yells. “Get out of here, it’s going to collapse!”

“Exactly, so let me help you!” I argue, slipping my arms around Dakota as I take over her weight, throwing her arm around my shoulders as I drag her down the stairs.

“This way,” I scream over the flames, my throat raw. “The door collapsed, I broke a window in one of the bedrooms!”

We make it down to the ground floor and back down the hallway that I came from, a shriek escaping my lips as the ceiling of one of the bedrooms collapses behind us.

I count each door we pass, my legs trembling beneath me as we finally reach the bedroom with the broken window, flames eating away at the curtains on either side.

“Hurry!” I yell, checking to make sure that Weston is still behind me as I continue to drag his sister along, the adrenaline in my veins the only thing keeping me standing.

I manage to get to the window first, practically shoving Dakota out before turning back to help Weston, wrapping Chance’s limp arm over my shoulders as we carry him between us.

“Here!” Rafe yells from the window, reaching inside to grab Chance from us as the three of us manage to drag him out the window.

“Go!” Weston shouts, pushing me through next as I land on all fours, Rafe helping me to my feet before shoving me away from the burning building.

I’m panting desperately as I turn back around, my lungs begging for air as I watch Weston climb through the window, relief flooding through me at the sight of him making it out to safety .

“Chance!” a feminine voice screams, and I turn to find Dakota crawling on all fours to where the man in question lays, Rhonda dabbing at a bleeding wound at his temple.

Weston manages to make his way over, a slight limp in his step as his wild eyes assess me for injuries, his dark hair damp with sweat.

“Please,” Dakota sobs, crawling over Chance’s unconscious body as she weeps into his chest.

“What happened?” Rafe asks, getting to his knees beside Rhonda to examine the head wound.

“I was trapped in one of the upstairs bedrooms, he kicked down the door, but then a falling beam hit him in the head and he went down,” she cries. “Please, he has to be okay!”

“Don’t be crying over me, now, sunshine,” Chance groans, his eyes cracking into slits as he lets out a dry cough.

“Chance!” Dakota weeps, wrapping her arms around his neck as he fights to lift one of his, wrapping it around her middle as he pulls her into him, the two of them entwined as she smashes her lips to his.

I manage to choke out a laugh, turning to find Weston seething at my side.

“Hey,” I stop him, reaching out an arm to block his advance. “You can worry about killing him tomorrow. He did just save your sister’s life, after all.”

“ I saved her life,” he grinds out. “And I wouldn’t have saved his ass if I’d known he’d been messing around with my little sister.”

“Let’s just worry about getting him to the hospital right now, okay? You two can sort your shit out tomorrow,” Rhonda scolds, helping Chance sit up as the sounds of the water hoses begin to drown out the flames.

With the roaring fire having died down to a steady crackling, my ears clear out just enough to make out a faint noise. I turn towards the surrounding woods, the familiar sound catching my attention.

It couldn’t be…

I take off running, sprinting to the truck where I had tied the horses and yanking Casino’s reins loose, my mare’s hooves dancing beneath her as I shove my boot into the stirrup and swing my leg around.

I’m barely seated in the saddle as I kick her forward, my name ringing through the air as Weston calls for me, but I’m already racing off in the direction of the woods.

“Come on,” I urge Casino, hanging on in the saddle as we’re swallowed by the thicket. The branches claw at me like greedy fingers, tearing at my shirt and legs as my ears guide us toward the sound.

Her hooves beat steadily below me, the faint glow of headlights breaking through the trees.

It’s funny how to some people, all trucks can sound the same. When you’re raised around trucks your whole life, you learn to tell each of them apart—and the low grumble of the exhaust on my dad’s truck is no different.

I reach the source of the headlights, curving right to run alongside the dirt path, the rocks and potholes forcing the vehicle to drive slow enough for me to catch up in no time.

Passing the truck, I throw my reins towards the path, headlights flashing bright in my face as I pop out of the treeline right in front of my dad’s truck, Casino rearing on her hind legs as the vehicle comes to a sudden stop to keep from hitting us.

I lift my arm to shield my eyes from the bright light as I hear truck doors swing open, my heart racing in my chest as three figures step out, who I can only assume to be my dad, his business partner, and my ex-boyfriend.

“Hailey!” my dad’s voice booms. “What the fuck are you thinking!”

“You’re behind this?” I ask in bewilderment, my mind still refusing to catch up with the thought that he had done this. I knew that I shouldn’t be surprised, not when I was fully aware of the lengths he was willing to go to for his business, but he was still my dad.

“What is wrong with you! Do you realize that there were people in there!” I scream, my throat raw from all of the screaming I’d done tonight.

“Nobody was supposed to be in there, it was just meant to be a message,” he tells me, taking large strides towards me.

“Why?” I ask. “Why would you do this?”

“Because they took everything from me! You, and now your mom—”

“No, Dad!” I scream, my voice cracking. “ You did that. You chased us away!”

I don’t notice Scott walking up beside my horse before it’s too late, his rough hand wrapping around my arm as he yanks me off of Casino, the wind knocked out of my lungs as I hit the hard ground. I push myself up to my knees, looking up in time to see Casino startle and bolt for the trees .

“We can’t let her go now that she’s seen us,” Scott’s cold voice states, the click of a gun slicing through the air causing my blood to go cold.

“We’re not killing her,” my dad hisses.