Page 27 of Far From Sherwood Forest (Far From #3)

When loneliness starts creeping up on me, I recognize it. It’s familiar, its touch the only one I knew for a long time. Now that I’ve felt Robin’s touch, I hate this one even more than before.

Robin has been avoiding me for the last several weeks, which I don’t blame him for. If he wasn’t avoiding me, I’d probably be the one avoiding him . I had sex with him, knowing I could never give him more. The memory of his tear-filled eyes still haunts me.

He doesn’t know it, but I did him a favor.

And then there’s Ivy, who I haven’t seen or heard from since she vanished from my office.

I’ve tried to call and text her because she owes me fucking answers, but, of course, she’s become unreachable.

I wanted to hurt Robin because he left me to face this world alone, but now I know I have someone else to blame even more.

She knows the next time I see her, I won’t be kind.

I might not be as alone as I was back then, but I may as well be.

I see Brian and Laura around the park office, but they both stopped trying with me long before now.

Laura only ever speaks to me when forced, when she needs to pass along information or has to remind me to do my job that involves paperwork or emails.

Brian is still friendly, overly at times, but our interactions don’t last as long since he lets my moods roll off his back much more easily.

I’ve seen John around doing wildlife tours with Spencer, and I know it’s because Robin sent him in his place. John has no reason to talk to me, and I think Spencer is still upset over the time I arrested his tour guide partner.

The days are pretty much the same. Then I go home every evening to yet another empty cabin.

Maybe if I ever get my hands on Ivy, I should convince her to take me back to Sherwood Forest instead of killing her.

But, as unhappy and lost as I’ve felt lately…I don’t know if I’d want that even now.

When my phone chimes with a text from Robin, it’s pretty clear by the way my heart kind of skips in my chest that I’m not quite ready to leave for good.

He wants me to come out to the ranch but doesn’t say why.

I ask him how he got my number, and he tells me that he got it from Spencer who got it from Brian.

I make a mental note to have a conversation with my fellow ranger about that later.

When I ask Robin why I need to go out there, all he says is that it’s important.

Since I’m about to go on lunch, I figure it’s good timing at least. I’ve been trying to do better about not skipping as much work.

I just finished patrolling around the roads toward the back of the park, so when it hits noon, I head straight for the exit and get onto the country road that leads out to the ranch. Robin said it was important, and the first place my mind goes is to magic and the Spirit.

I swear, if Ivy has spoken to Robin and not me, I really am going to kill her.

Pulling into the drive for the ranch, I go through the open gate and head straight for the bunkhouse. As soon as I come to a stop, the front door opens, and Robin steps outside, most likely having heard me pull up.

Cutting the engine, I hop out of the cab. Robin is already walking my way, so I shut the door and lean against it with my arms crossed.

He stops in front of me and gives me a small, shaky smile. “Hey.”

“Why am I here?”

“Right to it then,” he mutters, his smile vanishing. “Look, the first thing you need to know is that…” He pauses and takes a deep breath. “I had no idea this was going to happen. This is the last thing I ever expected.”

My patience is extra thin today, and this is only making it worse.

“Out with it, Robin,” I snap.

“A few of the Merry Men showed up earlier today.”

Well. That was the last thing I expected too, and I’m entirely uncertain how to feel about it.

I drop my arms to my sides. “Here?”

Robin nods and peers over his shoulder at the bunkhouse. “They’re inside with John. He’s telling them that you’re here too, explaining to them that you’re not…you know. The Sheriff .”

“Why tell them at all? Why tell me?”

His brows knit like he’s confused by the question. “Because you’ve never kept me in the dark with things that have to do with this. You’ve kept me informed even though you didn’t have to.”

“And what exactly is this ? Why are they here?”

He stares at me for a few seconds, his frown deepening. “To take me back apparently.”

I still may not know exactly how I feel about all of this, but I think I’m starting to.

Robin’s leaving?

There’s been an ache in my chest for a long time, one that comes and goes, and right now, it’s burning more painfully than it has in years. As much as I want to trust Robin to douse the flames, to make it stop hurting, I can’t. I can’t trust anyone.

“Fine,” I tell him, my voice stiff and unfeeling, shut off to any part of me that does feel. “Have a safe trip.”

I turn and open my door, but, of course, Robin stops me.

“That’s it? That’s all you have to fucking say?”

I’ve heard him when he’s angry. I’ve seen him hurt. However, I’m not prepared for the mix of it that’s wavering in his voice. I know that if I turn around, if I witness it with my own eyes, I may not be strong enough to stop it from breaking right past all of my defenses.

Not this time.

But I turn anyway.

His eyes are wet. His chin trembles. But his nostrils are flared, and his hands are balled into fists, like maybe he wants to punch me.

It all does exactly what I feared it would do. It makes me not want to leave. It makes me not want to let him leave.

“Robin—”

“It’s fine, Henry.” Now his voice sounds like mine did a moment ago. Heartbreakingly indifferent. “You’ve made it quite clear you don’t give a shit about me.”

When he’s the one who turns to leave this time, I grab onto his arm and force him to face me again. I stare into his eyes, my chest heaving from the exertion it takes fighting between the urge to run and the desire to tell Robin the truth. To give him everything.

“I do.”

The scowl falls from his face but not the hurt. The hurt deepens and grows, curling outward like ivy stretching toward my crumbling walls.

I open my mouth to say something else—what, I have no fucking clue—when the door to the bunkhouse opens. I release Robin and take a step back as four men pile out of the building, John leading them. It’s obvious by the clothes the other three are wearing that they’re the Merry Men Robin mentioned.

All of them are glaring hard in my direction as they head this way.

My gaze moves between them, none of them really familiar.

The times I ever got close to catching Robin Hood back in Sherwood Forest, it was either just him or him and John.

His men liked to scatter, making it that much more difficult for me and my officers.

So, while his entire band of men were fugitives, I never bothered to put names to the faces I rarely saw.

I was always too focused solely on Robin.

But as they approach closer…

I recognize one of them.

And my brain stalls.

Everything slows to a crawl. Time doesn’t stop, but it sure as hell staggers. I barely manage to fight against it, like walking underwater against a current, before I can finally bring myself to move.

Before they’re in earshot, I grab onto Robin’s arm again and pull him toward the back of my truck, making sure to lower my voice anyway.

“Who’s that one? The one with the longer brown hair?”

He peers over at the one I’m talking about and then back to me. “Will Scarlett? That’s my cousin.”

My jaw clenches. My eyes narrow. Now that they’re nearly to the front of my truck and I can see his face more clearly, I know exactly where I’ve seen him before.

My blood heats up rapidly, flames of fury dancing beneath my skin.

When I turn back to Robin, I realize my entire body is shaking with it.

“He got Marian killed.”

“What?” Robin yanks his arm out of my grasp and backs away. “That’s ridiculous.”

“What’s ridiculous?” John asks as they all come to a stop beside us.

I can’t wait for Robin to believe me. Rage similar to what I’ve felt toward him in the past and what I now feel toward Ivy is boiling up to the surface until heat is radiating out of my pores.

Moving forward, I barrel my way past John to get to Will. I fist the front of his dirty tunic with both hands and spin him around before shoving him until his back slams against the side of my truck. I tower over him as he stares up at me with wide eyes, dazed and afraid.

“You led Marian to her death,” I snarl, my nose an inch away from his.

“Henry!”

I’m vaguely aware of Robin grabbing my left arm, attempting to pry me off his cousin. However, between my anger and the adrenaline, he has no chance of moving me.

Instead of backing off, I let go of Will with one hand and retrieve my gun from the holster at my side. Placing the barrel beneath his chin, I tilt his head back so he’s forced to meet my gaze. There’s still fear in his eyes but not nearly as much as there should be.

“I know you don’t know what this is,” I tell him. “Think of it as a smaller bow with a more deadly arrow. All I have to do to shoot it is pull this trigger.”

My finger grazes it.

“Henry, please.”

Robin’s shaky, terrified voice almost gets me to release Will. Almost . But I won’t, not until Robin knows the truth.

“Admit it,” I demand Will, pressing the gun a little harder under his chin.

“Will, tell him he’s wrong,” Robin says.

Will doesn’t take his eyes off me, his chin trembling now, his chest heaving. His eyes are red and glassy, and I can see the moment he breaks.

“I can’t, Robin.”

That’s it. That’s all I needed. Just a confession.

Except I’m still fucking pissed off.

Letting go of Will, I return my gun to its holster, then ball my hand into a fist. Will doesn’t see it coming until it’s flying toward his face. I punch him straight in the nose, and the back of his head bounces off my truck. Blood immediately pours over his lips and down his chin.

“Henry!”

I round on Robin, glaring, ready to maybe punch him too for scolding me. “Really? You think he didn’t deserve that? He fucking betrayed you, Robin!”

So, apparently, I’m more angry about that than the fact he’s the reason Marian is dead.

How fucked is that?

How fucked does that make me ?

Clearly, pretty damn fucked over Robin Hood. Who’s obviously in a state of shock considering he’s gone quiet.

“I saw him that day from one of the tower windows,” I tell him since Will is currently incapable of speaking, his hands cupping his nose, blood seeping through his fingers and dripping to the ground.

At least the other men aren’t attempting to comfort him.

“He was leading Marian around one of the buildings. He checked around the corner, and he saw the guards and the archers there. That’s why he motioned for her to go ahead of him. The fucking coward!”

“I’m s-sorry,” Will sobs, voice muffled by his hands.

“Fuck you!” I snap back.

Robin ignores his cousin and asks me, “Why haven’t you said anything? Why didn’t you tell me what you saw?”

“Are you fucking kidding me?! I’m the one on trial here?”

He sighs and shakes his head. The frown on his face is so deep, and I can tell he has no idea what to think or how to feel right now.

“Of course not. I just…I’m sorry. I don’t understand any of this.”

I take pity on him when I notice he hasn’t looked at or spoken to Will since the truth came out. Robin can often be a bleeding fucking heart, and I imagine his is currently breaking after finding out his own cousin betrayed him.

“By the time I got down there, he was gone,” I say.

“When I saw Marian… dead …nothing else mattered, I guess. I never figured out who it was, so it didn’t seem important.

Now, of course, it does.” Turning to Will, I scowl, my jaw clenching until the pressure turns painful.

“How could you do that to your own fucking kin?”

Will finally drops his hands, revealing the bottom half of his face completely painted red. His nose is crooked, most likely broken.

“It was a mistake,” he slurs, his voice nasal and wet from the blood probably dripping down the back of his throat. “I didn’t know they were going to kill her. I was told they were only going to arrest her.”

Now Robin moves, reacting how he should’ve reacted before—though, I can’t blame him for needing a minute to process. He fists the front of Will’s tunic like I had done and gets in his face. When he speaks, his voice is deeper and his tone angrier than I think I’ve ever heard it.

“Told by who?”

Will swallows. “The prince.”

“What the fuck, Will?!” Robin shouts as he shoves him back.

“I’m so sorry, Robin.” He sniffs as tears start to fall. “It was the worst mistake of my life.”

“No fucking shit.” Robin’s breaths come quick and heavy as he turns to look at the others. “Did any of you know about this?”

John and the other two shake their heads but say nothing.

“Please,” Will begs. “Let me explain. I—”

Robin shoots his hand up in the air, silencing him. “I can’t fucking hear it right now.” He takes one last look at Will, shakes his head with rage and disappointment and heartache, and turns away to head toward the bunkhouse. “Everybody leave me the fuck alone.”

I move forward, about to barge my way past his Merry Men to get to him. “Robin—”

He stops and glares at me over his shoulder, halting me in my tracks. “I said everybody.”

I think that’s the first time Robin has actually refused to speak to me, the first time he’s sent me away instead of trying to get me to stay. The one time I think I would stay. I try to keep the hurt off my face, but I’m not sure how successful I am as I watch him walk away.

When the silence between those of us he left behind becomes too much, I turn to look at John. I’m not sure why, but he seems to know.

“I’ll take care of him.”

Am I that obvious?

Not sure what else I can say, I give him a nod and open the door to my truck. When I start the engine, the three strangers to this world all jump at the roar that follows.

As I drive away from the ranch, I’ve never hated leaving Robin as much as I do right now.