Page 29 of Knot Her Cowboys (Big Sky Omegas #2)

C ooper didn’t say a word until we were well out of eyesight of the ranch and perched on a vista beyond where we took the trail rides.

The fields were lit up like gold and emerald.

I loved it out here so much, adored the sweetness in the air from the meadow flowers and the evergreens in the heat.

These hills held history—my family’s, mine, my pack’s—and I felt the beautiful weight of that legacy every time I ventured into them.

“How long is this going to go on, Cooper?” I asked quietly.

He didn’t look at me, but his shoulders tensed. “How long is she staying?” He said it with a slight edge of humor in his tone, but the sheen of tears forming in his eyes betrayed him.

“Hopefully forever.”

“I can’t trust that’ll happen. I’ll never survive losing her if I let myself love her and she leaves again.”

“You love her anyway. It doesn’t have to be like this. You could have everything you’ve ever wanted.”

“Or she’ll run again, but this time she’ll take Cash with her, and I’ll lose both of them.” Cooper sighed, his grip tight on Ranger’s reins. “I know what she ran from, and I don’t blame her for that part. I just wish I could’ve run with her.”

I nudged my own horse—a beautiful paint mustang named Sky—closer so my leg tapped Cooper’s. “Give her a reason to stay.”

“I’ve never been enough for that.” Cooper swallowed hard.

“Riley told me a little bit about her situation growing up, so while I didn’t see it, I’m not totally ignorant. I also know why she stopped responding to everyone.”

“And why is that?”

“Her mom hijacked your email, and Cash’s. Sounds like she made a new one outright pretending to be Morgan. Riley didn’t feel safe responding to anyone.”

A muscle twitched in Cooper’s jaw. “Fucking Darlene. I understand why she might not have reached out that way, and why she wouldn’t have risked calling when I was still at the Harris ranch, but why not call Cash and say something?”

A valid question, and one I only sort of had an answer for. “She told me she tried to call Cash’s house but never got a reply from anyone. Maybe she assumed the same person who got access to the emails was able to clear voicemails.”

“What the fuck? Cash never told me she called.”

“Maybe he didn’t know?” I thought back through the timeline, what I knew of the three of them.

Something danced in the back of my memory, trying to get my attention, but it took me a few more moments of silence before I figured out what it was.

“Is the year that she left the same year Cash’s house burned down from those prairie fires? ”

“Yeah, why?”

“I didn’t ask about specific timing, but if she tried to call before everything was repaired, maybe it simply got lost? I have to imagine if he saw a New York number on the call display he’d have tried to do something about it.”

Cooper’s blue eyes were sharp and grief-stricken when he focused them on me. My heart squeezed over the pain he carried.

“You believe her?” Cooper asked.

“She has no reason to lie to me about it. She seemed genuine when she poured all of it out.”

His gaze dropped again. “If I give in and she leaves again, I’m warning you now I’m going to need someone to watch me. It’s not hyperbole to say I wouldn’t survive it.”

I nodded solemnly, laying my palm on his shoulder.

“I won’t tell you to do anything in particular, but we need to get to a point where you’re comfortable in your own home again.

If that involves Cash and Riley taking over one of the cabins so they’re not in your face, we’ll discuss that.

This place is yours as much as it is ours, and I would hate for your pain to steal all of it from you. ”

Without another word, Cooper turned Ranger back onto the trail and I followed quickly, keeping us side by side.

“I like her,” I told him. “Levi does too. Cooper, she’s our scent match and anyone with eyes or a nose can tell she still carries a torch for you.”

I’d only gotten snippets of things through Cash about what he felt from the bond with her, but it was painfully clear to me how much grief and guilt she harbored.

Whether or not I agreed with the choices she had made was irrelevant.

I understood the fear and awkwardness that built up when time had passed and the distance felt insurmountable no matter how much you wished it were different.

Days of silence had turned into weeks, into years, into more than a decade.

Riley had obviously tried to move on with her life, however unsuccessful she had been at it.

Cooper had never tried. He’d been keeping space for her all those years and it was getting pretty damn close to a time when Riley needed to see that.

“Cooper, you need to help her understand.”

His cheeks flushed pink. “She’s going to think it’s creepy.”

“Only if she doesn’t return your feelings, which I don’t think is the case. You have to show her. Riley needs to know she’s always belonged here.”

Not a single one of us had made a peep about the full extent of Cooper’s obsession.

That was something for him to share with Riley himself when he was ready; I just wasn’t confident he’d be ready in any sort of timely manner.

Riley was under the impression Cooper didn’t want her around, and that was less incentive for her to stay.

Maybe it was selfish of me to push him. I respected the hell out of Cooper and everything he had gone through, but it didn’t seem fair to risk a relationship with Riley for Levi and me.

No matter how much I wanted to know Riley and continue pursuing my connection with her, things had to be made right with her and Cooper first. We couldn’t build anything on shaky ground.

If we wanted a future together, the foundation had to be repaired.

“I’m scared,” Cooper said quietly, his voice catching.

“I know. I promise, she is too. She’s terrified that you hate her.”

“I don’t think I’m capable of hating her.”

“She needs to know that. We all want a chance of being a pack. I’m well aware that everything she ran from is still in Montana, and maybe it’s hubris to think we can protect her from it, but I’d like to try. Pack should be there for one another.”

Cooper nodded stiffly.

“We’re here for you too. You know we love you.

This isn’t a case of it being you or Riley.

We want both of you to be safe and happy, and that can’t happen without some serious communication.

Both of you have your fair share of demons, but you always fought them together. That doesn’t have to stop now.”

“I’ll talk to her,” he said with another sigh. “Can’t guarantee I’ll be reasonable or rational when I do, but it’ll happen.”

He gave Ranger free rein, letting the horse surge ahead on the trail at a brisk canter. I followed along on Sky. The summer air rushed past, the trees blurring as I surrendered myself to the powerful movements of my horse. They could navigate these trails with their eyes closed.

Beneath the sun and the sky we raced over the terrain, letting the horses choose their own path. They still went in the general direction of home, knowing they would get treats as soon as we arrived.

Cooper was stubborn as a fucking mule, but he loved deeply.

I had every hope that would win out in the end.

I loved easier, and no less deeply. I was already attached to Riley, and seeing her interact with Cash was cute as hell.

It seemed like they had picked up as if she hadn’t been gone a single day, but his personality had a lot to do with that.

Once Cash loved you, that was it. You were in it for life.

The same went for if he decided you were shit.

Honestly, his ability to read people was a little terrifying sometimes.

I wanted the ease of my home back, for Cooper to be comfortable, and for Riley to be ours.

Fate had already decided she was, and I wasn’t about to argue with that.

She was sweet and beautiful with an incredible work ethic and a core of steel.

Too often people let their pain get the better of them and deliberately inflicted it on others to feel like they were regaining some sense of power.

Riley and Cooper were alike in that they had never given in to that.

Granted, I didn’t know all of the details of Riley’s time away, but I knew her now.

The responses she gave to things didn’t have me leaning toward her inflicting any deliberate harm.

I caught up to Cooper at the river crossing. “Are you going to stay out a while longer?”

“A bit,” he replied. “I promise I won’t stay all night to avoid her. I just need a little longer to process.”

“I understand. I’m going to take Sky for some treats and have a much-needed shower.”

We parted ways, Cooper back to the fields, and me over the river toward the big house. I peeked in at Riley in the kitchen, waving to her through one of the windows. She set aside what she was doing and hung her apron up before bolting outside to see me.

“How did it go?” she asked as I slid off Sky.

“Decent, I think.”

She lifted her face, letting me kiss her sweet mouth. “He didn’t come back with you, though?”

“He’ll be back soon,” I promised. “Do you need help with dinner prep?”

“I’ve got it. The skies are clear so we’re going to do a weenie roast. I’m just working on the sides.”

“All right. Where’s Cash?”

“Babysitting reception. Whoever was on it got a migraine, so they’re lying down.”

I nodded. “I’ll go shower and then relieve him so he can come over here with you.”

“You’re an angel. I’m getting all squirmy with him being far away.”

I kissed her again, savoring the warmth of her lips and the gentle way her hands moved to cup my cheeks. “I’ll skip the shower then and send him right over.”

“You don’t have t?—”

“I want to. Pack takes care of one another.”

Her smile just for me almost knocked me onto my ass with how radiant it was. “I really feel like I need to write Cash and Cooper some thank-you cards for having such great taste in packmates. It’s kind of ridiculous.”

I laughed, reluctantly taking my leave of her to drop Sky off at the stables, where one of the hands would take care of her.

Cash perked up the moment he saw me. “Any luck?”

“Some.”

“I’ll take it.” Cash laughed.

“Go on and see your bondmate. I’ll take over here.”

“You’re a damn godsend. I was starting to lose it.”

I tilted my head toward the door and he raced right past me, sprinting toward the kitchen. I laughed as I took my place behind the reception desk.

We were all fucking goners.