Page 30 of The Prey (The Hillers of Barratt County #6)

Gia stayed right where she was, pressed against his naked chest. She was shivering—so was he. It wasn’t that cold—adrenaline. That was what it was.

Cars and trucks were coming from everywhere. Volunteer, she thought. There was a Barratt County Fire department, but it operated out of the much more populated Barrattville. Value’s was volunteer. Including…she usually had at least two brothers on the volunteer department.

People she knew were going to be there, to put out the fire. Hudson’s arm hooked behind her waist as more vehicles and the large water truck from the W-Deane Ranch pulled in next. The W-Deane Ranch was closest—big enough to have a water truck.

The water truck from her own ranch was pulling down Hudson’s drive now, the distinctive Hiller brand visible even in the middle of the night.

Not every ranch had a water truck, but they did.

They used it to fill troughs that were too far away.

Ian, the ranch foreman—he would be driving that truck now.

He loved it, took care of it—he wouldn’t even let Grady or Gene or Gunn drive it now. Ian would be coming.

Her brothers would be coming.

They were going to be okay.

Fire. Why did fires make people so cold ?

She sat against Hudson’s chest, blanket clutched tight around her shoulders. It was Ryan’s blanket, from the truck, she thought. Her legs ached. The cuts on her feet throbbed. She just clung to him. He was clinging just as hard.

Until someone ran up to them. Someone she recognized. “Gia, are you hurt? What in the hell are you doing here?”

Grady. Her big brother was right there, looking strong and sure, with the lights of the firetrucks behind him. It was seeing him that made her want to let go and cry. Her brother was there.

It barely registered.

“I need to get her to the hospital,” Hudson said in that tone she knew meant he was holding on to emotions, trying to sound like he was in charge.

That was Hudson—always in charge. Now, she wondered, was that just a front for him, too?

Her arms tightened on him. “Addy’s cleared us to leave, but I’m blocked in. ”

“My truck is over there. I’m going to tell Gunn what’s going on. He’ll have to catch a ride with Travis Deane or something. Gunn’s just helping coordinate now.”

Gia looked. That was Grady’s twin right there, helping. Even with his arm in a sling from being shot.

Shot. In Value. And now…this was arson. There was no denying that. Why was this kind of evil happening in Value ? Why was it circled around her family so closely?

Gia just didn’t understand this at all.

Grady reached for her. She didn’t let Hudson go. She just…couldn’t right now. Someone had set his house on fire. That was deliberate. And it was a threat.

A threat against Hudson.

Someone had wanted to hurt him enough to do this. To hurt him, and anyone else in that house. It could have been Ryan in there. Or Hala. They could have been victims. The thought that they could be hurt—it terrified her. Shot straight through her. Made her cling to him even more.

“We didn’t know she was over here with you. How badly is my sister hurt?” Grady tried to get her away from Hudson again. Gia tightened her hold—she just didn’t want to let Hudson go.

Hudson’s arms tightened in return.

“A few burns probably,” she said. “I have glass in my feet. My legs. I was closest to the window when it broke. Whatever that was splashed on me.”

Hudson pulled her up, off her feet. His arms felt so strong, but…there was blood on both of them. “Let’s get her to the truck.”

“Hudson, your feet are hurt, too. Put me down.” She did not need him acting all hero, with him hurt, too.

“I’m good. Feet as tough as old leather.”

“I can take her, man. She is my sister, after all.”

“I’ve got her. Just…let’s get to the hospital and then you can take her home. I need to talk to Addy soon.” Hudson was still using that same I am in charge tone. That tone used to anger her faster than any other—but now, now she understood.

“Clay can meet us at the hospital.” She wasn’t about to let him do this alone.

She pressed closer to Hudson. If that man thought they were going to go through life with him just being in charge and protecting her from all the bad in their world, that wasn’t going to happen.

Gia knew that was exactly what he was trying to do; she had grown up with five overprotective male creatures, after all.

No. She was going to be standing right next to him.

He’d just have to get used to that. “We’ll both talk to him, Hudson.

You aren’t just tucking me away somewhere while you deal with the dark. ”

That had to be clear. Equal partners. Period.

Gunn reached them just as Hudson lifted her into Grady’s truck. She tucked her feet up off the floor. It was a ranch truck—and it reflected it. She did not want her bleeding feet on the dirty floorboards of her brother’s truck.

“My feet are going to bleed all over the interior,” she said.

“There are paper towels behind the seat,” Grady said. “We can wrap them up for the time being.”

Her feet were starting to sting. Badly. “I think there are still glass shards in there.”

Her voice stayed calm. She just…was not going to panic. She was stronger than that. And if she panicked—Grady would probably freak out a little. He could be sensitive and anxious—especially when Gia or her sisters were hurt. Big softie.

Hudson’s arms were tight around her. She just pressed closer.

“We’re ten minutes from the hospital, kid. I’ll get you there.” Of course Grady would. When everything about the world was broken and didn’t make sense—she had her brothers and sisters. Her parents. Her friends.

And she had…the man next to her. She strongly suspected Hudson wasn’t ever going anywhere. She braced herself as he lifted her feet into his lap. He started wrapping them in the thick paper towels that Grady had had tucked so neatly in the net behind his seat.

“Hudson, your feet?” He’d walked over broken glass barefooted. Carrying her away from the fire.

“A few slices, but not many. A couple of burns that sting. That’s all.” He pulled her as close to him as the seatbelt would allow. Gia just pressed her face to his bare chest.

“You’ll need to call Hala. So she doesn’t hear about the fire and freak out,” she said. “Where is she tonight?”

Hala had texted Gia earlier, telling her they needed to talk, that she was a woman on a mission and needed serious help strategizing, when Gia was free. But…Gia had been a woman on a mission of her own. They’d made plans to meet the next day instead.

Gia hadn’t told her she was on her way to Hala’s brother’s house with the intent to seduce him, though. Well, word was going to get out after this. The entire town, maybe even the entire county, would know she had been in Hudson’s bed when someone had set it on fire.

No escaping that now.

Not that she would want to. She wasn’t ashamed of being with this man. And she never would be.

“She’s at the house. She stayed with Greer again, after you left. I can run back home after you are inside the hospital. Tell her myself you are both okay,” Grady was saying quietly. “Make sure she’s good.”

“I’d appreciate it. She tends to freak if anything happens to me and Ryan.” Hudson was just holding her close. His arms, so strong. Like he could hold back the world and all its evil. Protecting her.

Like he did Hala. Because he cared.

She leaned back. Her side burned. Her legs felt numb. She felt numb. It had to have something to do with a case—that was the only thing that really made sense. Someone had wanted to hurt him because of their job.

She had always understood that that possibility existed. Someone had nearly killed her and George ten years ago because George had stumbled into a crime ring.

“For what it’s worth, it didn’t look like the house will have permanent damage. But what in the hell happened?” Grady asked.

“I’m not entirely sure. Someone threw something through the window,” she said.

Gia was still trying to put the sequence of events into an order that explained exactly what had happened.

It was most likely someone Hudson had prosecuted, who wanted revenge.

Since it was his house that had been targeted.

Unless someone had followed her, but that seemed a little less likely to her.

They would have had to be out at the ranch watching to see if she left, in the first place.

Which…highly unlikely, even though she had been targeted two or three times before.

She’d had someone mail her a dead robin once. To the office.

Hudson had been beyond furious that day and had gone after the man responsible himself.

He’d charged him with threats and intimidation, cruelty to non-livestock animals and retaliation.

The guy had pled down to two years. She had never forgotten how angry Hudson had been when he had seen that dead bird that day.

“Molotov cocktail from what I could see, Grady. Broke the window and landed on the law books we had on the bed in front of your sister.”

“Law books on the damned bed? Why?”

“That’s where I was sitting, Grady. That’s where I was sitting.”

She pressed her head to Hudson’s chest, feeling his heart beating beneath her cheek. His arms tightened again. They were as close as they could get, around the seatbelt separating them now.

Gia…never wanted to let him go.

She stayed right there, where she was, as why sank in so fast her head spun.

She never wanted to let him go.