by K. C. Crowne
“Stop it,” I shouted, holding my hands up. “Both of you, just stop yelling for a second. I meant it, we need to check on Silver and the foal. Sarah, are you okay with horses?”
Sarah shrugged. “I've been around them a few times as a kid.”
“Think you could help load them to the trailers? We need to get everyone out of here, quickly. We have no clue when the winds might change and bring the fire closer to us. For all we know, it's already on its way. It looks like it to me.”
Sarah sighed. “You're right. I'm sorry,” she said. “I just worry about you, Jacklyn, and Eric sets off so many red flags in my head, that I –”
“Let's get everyone out of here,” I said, cutting her off before she could get rolling again.
“I'm going to check on Silver,” Jacklyn muttered as she left the room.
We both heard the door slam as she went out the back.
“Owen, you're with me on this, right?” Sarah pleaded her case to me. “Something isn't right about him. I can't be the only one who sees that.”
I hated to feed into her paranoia, but yeah, she was right. There were some red flags that even I picked up on. The trouble was, I just couldn't put my finger on what it was. The smell on him was the most obvious though.
“We'll keep Jacklyn close by,” I said. “Keep an eye on her.”
Sarah headed toward the door, and I followed close behind her. We passed by large windows in the living room that overlooked the front yard. Eric was hooking up the trailers, and thankfully, Jacklyn was nowhere to be seen. Most likely she'd gone to do what she said she was going to do to, which was checking on the mare and her foal. The hair stood up on the back of my neck as I watched Eric working though.
I got a real bad feeling about the guy, but it was nothing I could point to specifically. All I knew was that I needed to keep a close eye on him.
* * *
“Silver and her baby are loaded and ready to go,” Sarah said as I closed up the trailer. “Think we can finally head out of here.”
The plan was that Jacklyn was going to drive the horse trailer to another property the Bucknell Brothers owned further North of the city, away from the fires and heading in the opposite direction. She'd never driven one of the trailers before, but she was going to give it a shot. Given the fires and all, there probably wouldn't be a lot of traffic on the roads, so as long as she took it easy, she'd be okay.
Eric was going God knew where – I assumed he'd be with Jacklyn – though, I hoped he'd stay far away from Sarah's sister. He had his own car there, but he hadn't exactly elaborated on his plans. He actually didn't say much of anything since he'd left us in the house to hook up the trailers. He also didn't do much to help us either, besides hooking up the trailer. His presence was just awkward. Tense. Which made it a big relief to finally be done with everything.
“Thanks, guys,” Jacklyn said, wrapping Sarah in her arms. “The horses mean the world to me, and this means so much to me – and I know Milo, and his brothers will be thankful for all your help too.”
“No problem,” Sarah said. “Just wanted to keep my baby sister safe.”
Jacklyn thanked me, minus the hug – she offered me a firm handshake instead.
“I don't know how you knew what to do, but thank you,” she said. “You saved Silver's life. And her baby's too, of course.”
“Happy to help,” I said, squeezing her hand.
Jacklyn looked back over at Sarah and said, “You really should date this one. He's a catch.”
I laughed and Sarah turned a bright shade of red, but neither one of us said a word. No reason to argue or make things any more awkward than they were in that moment already. I had feelings for Sarah, she didn't have any for me. Nothing we could do about that.
Jacklyn set off and Eric headed out too. Once they were gone, I hopped behind the wheel of my truck with Sarah in the passenger seat. She pulled out her phone and punched in a number, holding it to her ear. A moment later, she looked at the phone, and grimaced.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Can't get a call out,” she said. “I was trying to call Austin to let him know where we were, but it dropped. The smoke and crap in the air must be interfering with the signal.”
I kept quiet as she called a few more times but had no better luck. I was done talking about Austin. I knew that if he found out we'd left without his permission, we were going to be in some deep shit. Even with that hanging over my head, I still felt good after everything that had happened. I managed to help Sarah's sister, and I saved a foal's life. I'd call that a win, and not even Austin could bring me down. If he fired me for leaving the base camp, he'd have to admit Sarah fucked up and fire her too – and I knew that was never going to happen in a billion years.
Sarah put her phone away and flashed me a tight smile as we headed down the long road out of the ranch, that would eventually lead us to the main highway. Her gaze lingered on me for a long moment, but she remained silent.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing. I'm just impressed by you, Owen. Surprised as hell, but impressed,” she said. “I had no idea you were that good with animals.”
I shrugged. “Like I said earlier, there's a lot you don't know about me.”
“Apparently so,” she said. “Maybe I'd like to know more. Maybe I should have made more of an effort earlier.”
I glanced over at her, smiling at the way her blue-green eyes sparkled. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but strands fell free around her face. I knew she had to be tired, but she didn't look it. She looked beautiful, and I had to look away, forcing myself to focus on the road ahead of me instead.
“What would you like to know?” I asked.
“Well, for starters, where you learned to deliver a breech foal like that,” she laughed.
I chuckled, but all laughter and easy feelings came to an abrupt stop as we reached the end of the road. Jacklyn and Eric were stopped on the road ahead of us, and a pit opened up in my gut. I strained my neck to see – to make sure I was seeing things correctly. The smoke was heavier and thicker than before, and it only seemed to be getting worse. Ash and burning embers rained down from the sky above. The fires were getting closer, and they were heading right at us.
My heart stopped as the flames flashed above the tree line on the other side of the highway up ahead. As we sat there, looking at the nightmare in front of us, we heard a thunderous cracking noise. A moment later, a massive telephone pole came crashing down into the middle of the highway, flames crawling up onto it, like hungry animals devouring a carcass. Live wires hissed and popped, as they wiggled around in the middle of the road like live snakes.
Things had officially just gotten very, very bad.
“Holy shit,” Sarah said, leaning forward. “Think we can make it through there?”
“I don't know,” I muttered to myself. “But, if I had to guess, I'd say not. Not with the fire so close, and those live wires flopping around like that.”
We sat there for a few more minutes, trying to decide what to do, as the smoke grew even heavier, making it harder to see, and even harder to breathe.
“We need to turn back,” I said.
“No, we can't,” Sarah said. “Just keep going.”
I shook my head. If we went out on that road, we were going to be trapped. I pushed onward. The smoke became thicker, and Sarah started coughing. I watched as the flames seemed to be growing even closer than ever. A solid wall of fire that would consume us in a heartbeat if we let ourselves get trapped in it. Up ahead, I could see a line of fire blocking off the road.
Coughing and spitting, Eric came running back to our truck. His face was darkened, covered in soot, and his eyes were wide. He looked to be on the verge of a panic attack.
“We gotta go back,” he said. “Find another way out of here.”
“That's what I was thinking,” I said. “We might not make it on that road. Okay, we turn back and haul ass back to the ranch. Tell Jacklyn,
then get back in the truck and get back.”
Sarah was already on her phone. “Dammit. Straight to voicemail again. I can't get through to Austin. We should just keep going, Owen.”
“We can't,” I said. “It's too dangerous.”
“We can't go back there,” Sarah said. “We'll be trapped if we go back to the ranch.”
“We're already trapped,” I said. “We may be able to find a fire road or something we can get through.”
“We can't go back!” Sarah shouted.
“We can't go forward either! Jesus, Sarah. What the hell do you want me to do?” I shouted back. “At least if we get back to the ranch, we'll buy a little time. We can call for help. We can't get through the fire alone, and I guarantee you if we hit the highway, we're going to be surrounded by that fire in no time flat.”
“We can, and we will,” Sarah said. “Just keep driving.”
“No,” I said. “I'm going back.”
“Listen to me, Owen –”
“We both know I'm terrible at taking orders,” I said.
I watched both Eric and Jacklyn turning their trucks around. I hoped the horses were going to make it through this ordeal okay, and that we hadn't signed our own death warrants by trying to save them. It was cumbersome and awkward, but I saw both trucks fall into place behind me, so I hit the gas and headed back toward the ranch, with Sarah arguing with me the entire way.
“Keep trying to get through to Austin,” I told her. “Tell him what's going on and where we are.”
Sarah tried calling several more times, but didn't get through, punching the dashboard with each call that didn't get picked up. I was too focused on watching the road, trying to get back to the ranch. If they could find some service roads or something, Austin and the others could get here quickly, and if they did, we were going to be fine. Maybe. There were no guarantees, but one thing I knew, driving into the middle of a fire was not the right thing to do. It would be suicide.
I understood she was worried about her sister and keeping her safe. But driving her out into the middle of that shitstorm wasn't going to get it done. More than likely, it would have gotten us all killed if we'd tried to drive through it. There was no way I was driving directly into that fire. Not alone, with just Sarah and no equipment. I may have been new on the job, but I wasn't an idiot.
The minute I parked the truck, Sarah was out and coming around to the driver's side. I was climbing out when she got to me, a look of absolute fury in her eyes. Eric and Jacklyn pulled the trucks into the barn, trying to keep the horses out of the smoke as best they could.
“Give me the keys,” she said.
“What?”
“You heard me,” she snapped. “Give me the keys. I'm getting my sister out of here. If you want to come along, great. But I'm not going to sit here and let that fire catch up to us.”
“It's going to catch up to you a lot faster on that fucking highway, Sarah,” I said. “I'm not giving you the keys. You're going to calm the fuck down, and we're going to think this through. Act like a fucking firefighter.”
“We don't have time,” she said. “That fire is coming.”
“Yeah, it is,” I said. “Which makes it all the more important we use our fucking heads if we're going to get out of this. We need maps or something – something that will show us where the fire roads out of this place are.”
“I would rather take my chances on the road, Owen,” she said. “I know we can make it through.”
“You may be sure, but I'm not,” I said. “And I can't let anything happen to you.”
“Stop trying to be a hero, Owen,” she said.
“It's not about being a hero, Sarah,” I said. “Then what is it about?” she shouted back.
“You're one of the few people in that house who hasn't treated me like shit,” I said, a smile pulling at my lips. “Most of the time, at least. I don’t want to see you get hurt. I can’t.”
Her face softened somewhat, and there was that beautiful woman that I'd lusted after for months. She stared at me, her lips parted, her eyes wide. I resisted the urge to kiss her, I knew there was too much going on.
We stood there awkwardly staring at each other for a moment, as gusts of hot wind blew ash and debris by us. The air between us was thick with tension but lacked the anger that had marked it before. A loud gust pelted us with grit and ash, reminding me of the situation at hand. The conversation would have to wait for a little bit. If we survived the night, I planned on making a point to revisit it.
“Call Austin again,” I said. “Keep trying until you get through.”
She tried another half a dozen times before her face lit up. “Austin, it's Sarah,” she yelled into the phone.
Her face grew pinched and she seemed to be concentrating – as if she couldn't hear him. Jacklyn and Eric made their way over to me, each of them with rags over their noses. I grabbed a couple of t-shirts out of the back of my truck and followed suit.
They both looked at me with wide eyes, and I just shrugged. I knew about as much as they did about what Sarah and Austin were talking about at that point.
“You two should probably go into the house and get out of this shit,” I said. “You don't want to be breathing it in for too long.”
They exchanged a look, and then nodded to me. The pair rushed across the yard and disappeared into the house, shutting the door behind them. Holding the shirt over my nose and mouth, I looked at the orangish-red glow in the sky. It was growing brighter, meaning the flames were coming closer. The gust of wind that blew by me roared like a beast, carrying with it the scent of the blaze – and the scent of our death if we didn't find a way out of there.
Sarah hung up the phone and looked to me. I handed her the t-shirt, and she put it over her nose and mouth. Together, we walked back toward the barn and slipped inside, wanting to be out of the shit out there. With the air a little better inside the barn, we were able to take the shirts off our faces and communicate a little easier.
“They're on their way,” she said.
The relief that rolled through me was strong. “I knew they would be.”
She bit her lip and looked upset. “Austin was pissed.”
I shrugged. “I imagine he was,” I said. “But we knew that was a risk coming out here.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I know,” she replied. “I just feel bad that I dragged you into this mess.”
“I dragged myself into it,” I said. “And, I'll deal with whatever fallout comes. I wasn't just going to sit on my hands when your sister needed help.”
“I appreciate everything you've done, Owen,” she said softly. “I just hate that this could cost you your job.”
I shrugged again. “If it does, it does,” I said. “At least I know I did what I did for the right reasons.”
“Don't worry,” she said. “I'm going to take up this fight if it comes to that. You did nothing wrong. You were only trying to help.”
A rueful chuckle escaped me. “Doesn't much seem to matter to Austin.”
Her smile was as wry as mine. “I'll make it matter. Don't worry about a thing.”
“We'll see,” I said.
We stood in silence for several long moments, our gazes locked. It felt like something passed between us, some form of unspoken communication, though I had no idea what was being said on her end. The air between us was thick with awkwardness, and an air of expectation. Expectation of what, I didn't know.
But then she looked away, and the moment passed. When she returned her gaze to mine, she gave me a small smile.
“Since we have time, can you finally answer my question?” she asked.
“Which question was that?” I asked.
“The question about how you knew how to birth that foal,” she said, her smile returning.
Color was also coming back to her cheeks and she seemed to be more relaxed. I hadn't seen her relax in my presence for a long time, and the change from her usual tension and hostility was a nice change of pace.
“I told you –”
“Yeah, there's a lot I don't know about you, I get it,” she said. “But I want to know, Owen. So tell me, please?”
No one had ever given a damn about me before. No one. That wasn't being overly dramatic, or self-pitying, it was just stating a fact. My parents had only cared about one thing – money and their damn legacy. Everyone I worked with thought I was the rich kid who'd had it easy growing up. Life on easy street, right?
No one even bothered to ask me about my reasons for bucking the tradition of my family and following a different career path than the one they'd wanted to hand to me. No one cared about my lonely childhood. All they saw was a rich kid. That's all anybody ever saw, and when I allowed myself to grow close to somebody, I always had to wonder, if it was me they were interested in, or my money.
Sarah was different, though. She actually seemed to care about me as a person. My heart swelled as I looked at her, and before I realized what was happening, I'd closed the distance between us and she was in my arms. I don't know who kissed who first, but her lips were soft and sweet against mine and her mouth parted for me, inviting my tongue in to taste her.
She wrapped herself around me, and we ended up pressed against one of the horse trailers. Our kissing grew in passion and intensity quickly, and we both fumbled at each other's clothes. As if driven by some hunger or primal need, we went straight for what mattered. My pants were soon around my ankles, and hers were down around her knees, and my erection pressed between those firm thighs as she breathed heavily against me.
I stared deep into her eyes as I thrust myself into her. She cried out, her nails digging into my back as I buried my cock deep inside of her. She was wet already, and it made slipping into her easy. I reveled the feeling of her being so wet for me. Knowing that she wanted me as much as I'd wanted her only fed my primal urge to fuck her hard, to take her. To make her mine.
“Yes, Owen, yes,” Sarah moaned.
Her pussy tightened around my prick, her entire body shuddered against me. Each and every thrust of my cock went deeper and deeper, her pussy clenching my dick hard, as I brought her ever so closer to orgasm. God, all I wanted was to make her come, to make her feel as good as she made me feel.