Page 29 of Breaking Him

This was good news, the best; he wanted our horses, but I was struggling to find any excitement with Eli still not looking at me.

We walked Mr. Lawrence to his truck. Eli stood close, towering over me. I could feel the heat of his skin radiating from him. I wanted to lean into him desperately, but with the sharp line of his spine, the stiff way he held his shoulders, I knew he was still angry.

I waved to Mr. Lawrence as his truck headed out.

Nerves kicked up in my belly as I dropped my hand and turned to Elijah, but he was already walking away. The nerves turned to nausea. Was he going to take off on his horse again? Did he need another night away from me? God, that stung…so damn much.

Had I ruined everything?

I’d hurt him, and I had no idea how to fix it.

I forced myself to go inside, not sure what else to do, what I could say to him to make this better. If he’d even be willing to listen to me if I tried.

The phone in the kitchen was ringing when I walked in, but it stopped before I reached it. Crap.

Grabbing a glass, I filled it with water and downed the entire thing. My mouth was dry, like I’d been talking nonstop for the last hour, and more than likely I had. But the new buyer liked our horses, and the money we’d make would allow us to keep the ranch afloat. I stared out the window, watching the dry grass sway with the breeze. Eli’s reaction to my defending him was eating at me, mainly because there was some truth to what he said. Not the part about him being a lesser man, and I’d never doubted his intelligence. But the part about Kyle not being worth it? He was right. I’d tried to justify our relationship to that creep. Denying Eli’s past, when I’d never cared if it was true or not, trying to convince Kyle, someone who meant nothing to me, that what we were doing wasn’t wrong? It was as good as admitting to Eli that I felt the opposite.

Shit.

I rubbed my aching eyes and paced the kitchen. I’d let the gossips and busybodies get to me. I hadn’t even realized I’d bought into their crap until those words had tumbled out of my mouth. Not everyone in Deep River was like that. But it was the people with nothing better to do than pass judgment and look down on others who tended to have the loudest voices.

The phone rang again, and I snatched it up. Cassie’s shrill voice blasted my ear. I had no idea what she was saying, but I knew exactly why she was calling. Kyle hadn’t wasted any time. It’d only been a few hours.

“…what do you think you’re doing with that man?” she finished.

I was already angry over what Kyle said, over my own reaction to his words—that I’d managed to hurt Eli. I didn’t need this. Definitely not right then. “I love you, you know I do, Cass. But how is it any of your damn business?”

That shut her up, but only for a few seconds. “We love you, too. We’ve known you since you were a little girl. That’s how it’s our business.”

I shoved my fingers in my hair, pushing it away from my face. “Then you know I’m not stupid or reckless. You’re making assumptions, about me and about Elijah…and you know what, I don’t need to explain my actions to you or any damn person in this town. He’s a good man, he makes me feel special…that’s all you should be worried about. I’m happy, Cassie. That should be enough for you.”

She sighed. “If that’s true, honey, then why did you keep this a secret from me?”

I had my reasons, reasons I believed were good ones. Now, though, they didn’t seem good. They seemed like I was ashamed of Eli, of what we were doing, and that wasn’t how I felt. God, I’d messed this whole thing up completely. “That was a mistake,” I said quietly. “Our relationship is not a secret, it’s just new. I just…”

Eli walked in then. He didn’t stand there and wait. He walked right up to me, crowding me, surrounding me with his scent, his warmth. Cassie had started on her rant again, and I didn’t hear a word; all I could focus on was the man in front of me, the determined expression on his face.

“Say good-bye,” he said quietly.

“Cassie? I have to go.”

“We’re not done talking about this.”

“I am. I’ll call you in a couple days.”

“Abi…”

“Good-bye.” I ended the call and looked up at him, desperate to touch him but not sure if he wanted me to. An ache began in the center of my chest. “Are you still mad?” I whispered.

He shook his head, took my hand, and led me outside. He carried on across the dry, scorched earth that was my yard and toward the barn. Our horses were saddled and standing out front. We stopped beside them, and I stroked Bess, saying hello to my horse, then looked at Eli and waited for him to tell me what was going on. He didn’t say a damn thing. Instead, he wrapped his fingers around my waist and plonked me in my saddle, passed me my hat, then climbed onto Gus and headed out.

Elijah was a man of few words; I knew this, and I was getting used to our conversations. When he spoke it was because whatever he wanted to say was important to him, so I listened. But his silences could be equally telling. Right now, I didn’t think he knew what to say, how to express the way he was feeling. He was going to show me. He was also asking me to trust him.

And I did. Every part of me trusted every part of him.

So I followed. I didn’t need to know where we were going. Elijah would take care of me, protect me, make sure I had everything I needed. I realized in that moment that I’d follow him anywhere. That thought should have freaked me out. It didn’t.

We rode for a long time, maybe a couple of hours, and we were nearly to our destination when I realized where he was taking me. The old trapper’s hut came into view a few minutes later. It had been here since before my grandfather owned this ranch. I used to come here with my dad sometimes when I was a kid. He and the ranch hands would use the place to sleep or cook when they were working on this side of the property. The ranch was big and not all of it could be used for grazing. Some of it was wild and untamed. The hut was in our farthest field, where the pasture ended and nature took over.