Page 12 of Reins

“I do. She’s fine as fuck.” Eli steps next to me to refill his thermos, using all but a swallow’s worth of coffee.

Asshole.

“Why now?” I scowl at him as I rinse my soapy hands and start brewing a fresh pot. I swear most days I feel like they keep me here just to be their maid.

Eli glances at John, but neither of them say anything.

Fuck them and their secrets. They’re always locking me out of the office to discuss ‘business’, yet things around here rarely change.

“How about, when I head past Campton to pick up your new horse, I swing by and say ‘hi’?” Eli grins, straddling one of the chairs and tipping back his hat.

A knot settles in my stomach, tightening almost to the point I get a wave of nausea. “Wait, I thought I was going to?”

“We think it’d be best if you stayed close to home for a while.” John doesn’t look at me as he raises his own coffee to his lips.

“Why? What the hell did I do?” Frustration begins to spill over as tears that I can barely blink away. “I never leave as it is, and now you’re taking this away too?”

John’s brows drop when he finally turns to me. “You have no idea what’s going on, and I’m not going to explain it. Let’s just say that someone very dangerous has been found, and it isn’t safe.”

“Who? Like, an ax murderer? Seriously?” My hands fly over my head.

Fuck this. I need to go for a walk before I scream.

“It’s for your own good!” Eli yells as I stomp down the hall.

Grabbing my coat, I sling it over my shoulders after hitting the chill of outside. My breath billows around my face with every pant as I struggle to get a hold of my emotions.

I hate them both so much.

But I’m stuck. I don’t have enough money to leave, and where would I even go? I don’t have any friends except a few acquaintances I’ve met at horse events.

None of them would exactly welcome me to sleep on their couch, especially when the only grievance I have is that my brothers want to keep an eye on me.

Why does this feel so much like a prison?

My boots kick at the clumps of ice on the way to the barn.

Who would be so scary that it has them wanting me to stay close?

I have no clue. In a strange way, it’s exciting. A threat is something different. It’s better than just the existence I seem to be living now.

Petunia looks up with a mouth full of hay, then drops her head back into the feeder as I walk by. She’s almost completely healed, but lost a large range of motion on that leg. The vet told Eli it could take months to regain the full use, if ever.

Maybe I can turn her into a trail horse? I’ve been too worried about an injury to take her out on the range too much.

A little bite of freedom within the invisible walls of our property.

Huh. I’d sell them any stake I have in it if I could just get enough money to escape.

Moving through the barn, I head towards the rocky outcrop on the knoll overlooking the valley.

It’s my favorite spot on the entire ranch, where I can see the ridges running out on either side, with the foothills of the Bitterroots in the distance.

I can get a tiny sliver of peace nestled into the hollow near the top of the boulder. No one can see me from the house, and the stupid wifi on my smart watch doesn’t work here either.

So my brothers can’t track me.

But after a little while, my ass starts getting cold against the granite. Next time I’ll bring a blanket or something.