by Natalie Dean
“Hey, I get the feeling that you’re pretty independent, but you’re also hurt. Maybe I can help you pack up your things and bring them down the stairs for… wherever it is you’re going to.”
“I…” She hesitated.
Bradley continued, trying to look as non-threatening as he could, “Look, there are a lot of people in there, so you’ll be safe. You can even stand in the middle of the lobby and yell up to me if you like. I just want to help.”
“But why?”
There was that question again. “Because it’s the right thing to do.”
“Nobody cares about what’s the right thing to do. People only care for what’s right for themselves.”
“Well, everyone’s always said I got my head put on different, so maybe I’m just not like that.”
Her stance seemed to only grow more firm. “Everyone is like that.”
Bradley was trying to be understanding, trying to be non-threatening, but he felt like they were going in circles. “Look, I just wanna help. Can I? Please?”
She chewed her lip, wincing when her teeth bit into one of the splits in the tender flesh, and she sighed. “I guess I ain’t got much of a choice. Yeah, let’s go clean up and pack. I am not looking forward to trying to get together all my stuff after he trashed it.”
Bradley nodded and followed her inside. The bar area was closed and roped off, but there was still a defined path upstairs to the rooms. He went at her pace, making sure not to reach out to steady her when he really, really, wanted to, and a few minutes later, they were at her door.
For a moment he wasn’t sure how they were going to get in, but then she fished a thin hotel key out from her cleavage. Bradley looked away quickly, trying to be respectful, but the image was burned into his mind.
He felt disrespectful and mentally ordered himself not to think about her chest. Another thing that was easier said than done. However, the image did manage to fly from his head when the door swung open and they were greeted by a completely clean and empty room.
“Oh no,” Sophia gasped.
He saw her melt in front of him. Suddenly the strong, prickly, five-and-a-half-foot tall woman was slumped against the door and shaking.
“It’s gone. All of it is gone. He must have come and taken all my stuff. He… he’s got everything.”
Bradley’s heart sunk right down out of his body and somewhere into the crust of the Earth. “No, I’m sure the hotel wouldn’t let him do that. Here, let me go to the front desk—”
“Excuse me?”
Both of them turned to see the same employee who had helped them before.
“Oh, sorry, ma’am. We decided to pick up the room. I hope the cops weren’t too much of an inconvenience for you.”
“No, not at all,” Sophia said.
The hotel employee spoke in a hushed tone, her eyes flicking to the various injuries that were all over Sophia’s face. “It was getting late, and we weren’t sure if you would be returning, or if someone would be collecting your things. Either way, we figured you wouldn’t want to return to things the way they were, so we cleaned everything up.”
“W-what about my things?”
After seeing how Sophia stubbornly dismissed police and refused help, it was particularly crushing to hear the warble in her voice.
“We had spare duffle bags and a couple of suitcases that have been left behind over the years, so we packed everything for you. Apologies if that was presumptuous, but our owner said, uh… that you might want to get out of here fast.”
Bradley didn’t think it was possible, but Sophia sagged even further with relief. He took a step forward to catch her, but she just propped herself against the wall.
“No, no apologies. Tell him thank you.”
“Her, actually. And she wants you to know that you’re welcome to stay here, that we’ve banned that man who came in, but understands that you probably won’t. She’s… she’s been through some stuff, back when she was younger.”
“Haven’t we all?” Sophia said dryly before nodding. “Thanks. I’ll take my things off your hands and clear out.”
“Follow me. We kept them behind the employee counter, believing that you might come looking for them.”
“I appreciate it.”
“Of course. I know things are often different in the big ol’ world out there, but here, we take care of our own.”
“I’m not one of your own though,” Sophia objected, slightly breathless as they trekked back down the stairs.
“If you’re staying here, then you are.”
They reached the counter, and the employee opened the side of it to reveal three bags and a single suitcase. So that was Sophia’s whole life? Everything she owned? The thought was mind-boggling to Bradley. He wasn’t exactly a materialistic person, and even he packed more when traveling for long periods.
“You’re not gonna try to carry this all, are you?” the hotel staff person asked.
“I’ve got it,” Bradley said.
Sophia startled as if she had forgotten that he was even there.
“That’s what I’m here for,” Bradley added.
“And all you’re here for,” Sophia said.
She was regarding him with that same uncertainty that made his chest hurt.
“Yup, that’s what I said.”
It was easy to load himself up, carrying the three small bags by their straps in one hand and the rolling suitcase’s handle in the other.
“Ready?” he asked, looking towards the door.
Sophia nodded and together they walked out into the night. Although it had been fairly early in the evening when Bradley had first tried to turn in, now it was outright late. He’d guess one or two am, but he hadn’t looked at his cellphone since this whole situation happened. Even in the hospital, he’d been too busy pacing, puzzling it out.
“So, you want to call a taxi? Or do you need a lift to the station?” he found himself asking once they were standing there awkwardly for a little too long.
“I… I’m not sure. I need to look up tickets, but my cell phone’s busted.” She let out a growl of aggravation that quickly melted into a broken sob.
Bradley stood there, completely shocked as her demeanor crumbled with every hiccupping sound.
“I thought I had more time. I tried, I really tried. I really did.”
It was awful listening to her collapse in on herself, clutching her arms like she was afraid she would shatter into a thousand pieces. Slowly, carefully, Bradley set her things down and held his hands up.
“Hey… is there anything I can do to help?”
She looked to him with red-rimmed eyes, swollen lips pulled back from her teeth in a snarl. “I’m not helpless!”
“I know,” he answered quickly, softly. “I know. That’s not why I offered.”
“I… I don’t know where to go.”
More sobs. He itched more than anything to envelop her into a hug, to ward away all the bad. He wanted to protect her. But he couldn’t. He knew better than to touch her without permission considering what she was going through.
“I thought this town was small enough that he wouldn’t find me for a while. I just had a couple more commissions to do and then I was gonna move right along, try to get a few more steps ahead of him, you know?”
“Commissions?”
“Yeah…” She took a deep breath and wiped at her face almost angrily.
He wanted to catch her wrists and stop the harsh way she banished her tears, but he couldn’t. He could only stand there and watch. He never thought he would be so frustrated at having to use his words, yet there he was.
She continued talking, which he thought was a good sign.
“I’m a digital artist. I work for myself. That’s the only way I can make money and not have him follow me. But I have to use a lot of pseudonyms and different names, so I can’t really build an audience.”
Bradley stared. Sure, intellectually, he knew that there were vile men who stalked and
hurt those they were supposed to love, but he’d never really thought about it. How someone could completely ruin the life of another, from everything from having a place to live without fear, to having a job, to…well… everything. He’d never been in a situation where someone had such unlimited, merciless control over him, and he couldn’t really imagine it either. But staring at the woman in front of him, all golden skin and bruises that didn’t belong, he knew that it was wrong. More wrong than anything else he’d ever encountered.
And she had nowhere to go. No one to protect her. She was up against this massive monster of a situation that didn’t make sense at all, and she had to be so tired of running.
The words were tumbling and out of his mouth before he could even think about it. Heart thundering, he watched the woman’s eyes widen the moment he spoke.
“You could stay with me.”
4
Sophia
“What?”
Sophia had been through a lot, and she still had some painkillers pumping through her system, but she knew there was no way this stranger had just offered her to live with him.
Did he think she was stupid? She already had one man who had taken over her entire life; she wasn’t about to go running into the arms of some other one. She wasn’t desperate.
She wasn’t weak.
No matter what he said.
The man put his hands up. “Wait, not exactly with just me. I meant the ranch.”
She narrowed her gaze at him as much as she could, trying to read him again. While she had been so, so gullible when she was younger, years of being with him made her very good at reading people. She knew when to tell if he was just grumpy or if he was in a mood that would hurt her. It turned out that hypervigilance to emotion was extremely helpful in the real world.
This stranger’s hands were up, and his eyes were wide as if he was just as surprised by his utterance as she was. He had helped her an awful lot… maybe, just maybe, there was some strange reason he was doing everything, and he wasn’t expecting anything out of her.
Yeah, and maybe pigs would fly.
But still, it wouldn’t hurt to let him finish his explanation.
“A ranch?”
“Yeah, my parents own it. You’re not from around here, but it’s the Miller Ranch, kinda a local staple. You could stay in the main house with my folks if you want. Right now Missy is staying there too while Bart’s away for a, uh, commitment.”
“Missy?”
“My brother’s girlfriend. I got four of ’em, but only three of them are at the ranch. They all have their own cabins now, at the edge of the property. So it’s just Ma, Pa, Missy, Pandora and me in the main house. But I can go crash with one of my brothers, or even some of my cousins that work for us.”
That… that didn’t sound too terrible. “Who’s Pandora?”
“One of my younger cousins who’s taking a gap year and wanted to get away from the city for a bit. She’s from Cali.”
“And why would you do this for me?”
He scrunched his face and tilted his head. He’s cute when he’s trying to figure out what to say, Sophia thought, then chided herself for being distracted.
He stammered out some words, “I… I don’t know. I just… feel like this is the right thing to do. Ma helps people all the time, and she’d skin my hide if I let you go off into the night without a solid rest in a soft bed and a nice meal.”
Huh. A ranch. That sounded like something that was rural. Out of the way. “How far is it from here? What’s your land like?”
He seemed confused, but the expression quickly passed. “Uh, maybe a twenty, twenty-five-minute drive out of town. We’ve got a lot of acreage for our various projects. There’s the main house, which is pretty big, then the lunch cabin, then the workers’ cabins, then all my brothers’ houses. It’s a spread, that’s for sure.”
Sophia hated that she was considering it. But she was so tired, and the thought of a warm bed somewhere he had no idea about was awfully tempting. But she knew that taking help from anyone could backfire somehow later. They would either resent her freeloading or demand some sort of compensation. Traps were always laid with honey, right?
But what was she going to do? Her head was beginning to spin, and the painkillers were wearing off. Her face hurt. Her ribs hurt. And she felt his shadow looming over her, choking her with the thickness of his presence.
“Is it safe?”
Understanding dawned on the man’s face and he nodded. “Ain’t nobody getting on our property or touching anyone without permission. We’re peaceful folk, but that doesn’t mean we’re pushovers.”
Sophia chewed at her lip again, momentarily forgetting about her split lip but then being sharply reminded.
“I… guess that I could do that. But just for tonight.”
“That’s all I ask. In the morning, you can use one of our computers to figure out your next move. I’m sure Ma will want to stuff you with a real breakfast too. She can be a little overboard about those things.”
Sophia tried to envision it. When she was younger, she had an aunt who was like that. She’d lived with them for a while and always made sure the table was overflowing and everyone ate their fill. For a moment, she allowed herself to wonder how the woman was doing, if she was well, before shoving those thoughts out of her head.
They would only bring her pain anyway.
“That sounds… nice.”
“I hope it is. Here, let me load your things into my truck. You just get in.”
It was one thing to take an offered ride from someone, it was another entirely to agree to get into his truck and let him take her out to some remote farmland. What if he was carting her off to kill her? Certainly, she’d seen enough horror movies about dangerous things happening in small towns.
But despite all the doubt—the voices whispering that she shouldn’t trust him, that he could be dangerous—she found herself having a feeling she could trust him. So she clambered into his oversized truck. At least the vehicle was shiny and expensive-looking. Serial killers didn’t drive fancy, extended cab pickups, did they?
Besides, it wasn’t like she had much of a choice. She couldn’t sleep out on the streets, not in her condition. She’d had to rely on that skill several times since she’d fled, and it always required the ability to jump up at the slightest sound of disturbance. Judging by the heavy medication drop-off she felt rolling towards her, once she let herself pass out, she was going to sleep hard.
So, she was stuck. Put into another situation she would rather not be in all because of him. Even chased off and tucked into the shadows, he was still controlling her life.
Was she ever going to get away?
She was just so tired.
Slumping against the window, she watched the road as the stranger got in and started to drive. Had he told her his name? She couldn’t remember. The night was starting to blend into that hazy sort of mush that happened after too much adrenaline and too little sleep. If only she’d finished those commission projects a couple of days ago, she would have been long gone.
Then again, ifs and buts were like butterflies. Pretty to think about but didn’t do much else for her. She would just have to settle in and keep on her guard.
Besides, it was only one night.
That’s what she told herself and continued to tell herself as they left the town further and further behind. The guy wasn’t kidding; he really did live out in the middle of nowhere, and her worry about riding to her death only grew with each passing minute.
But before she had the chance to open the door and roll out while she could, the stranger turned onto a narrower road and passed under a faintly lit sign. It was old fashioned, maybe even a bit kitschy, but it was clean and definitely didn’t look like it belonged on a horror set.
Miller Ranch.
Huh, so he’d been telling the truth about that. That boded well, at least.
They continued down the long drive until finally arriving at a larg
e parking area. Almost like a lot at a store, except it was just dirt. The stranger went along the edge of that, however, then around the massive house before pulling up to a huge garage.
“W-wait,” Sophia sputtered. “This is the main house?”
“Yeah. This garage used to be real crowded, but ever since all of my brothers built their own places, it’s pretty much just for the parents and me. Oh, and now for all the presents they hide from their girls.”
There was something strange about the way he said that. A bit baffled but tinged with bitterness. If Sophia had more energy, she might dedicate time to dissecting that, but she was so darned exhausted, the conversation would have to wait.
“Here, I’ll grab your bags and take you up to one of the guest rooms. We have to be quiet, though, because it is a bit late. Much later than I’m usually out.”
“One of the guest rooms?” Sophia repeated, sliding out of his truck.
The garage was twice as big as any apartment she had ever been in, complete with another massive truck, a golf cart, a riding lawn mower and an entire wall dedicated to storage tubs. Her mind tried to wrap around the fact that this was just the place for their vehicles, but it was sputtering out at the insanity of it all.
“Well, three of my brothers have all moved out, so Ma converted their rooms. Bart still has his addition to the house where he stays sometimes when Missy’s off doing stuff—he doesn’t do the greatest on his own—but it usually sits empty. So, Missy’s probably there, Pandora is in Ben’s old room, I’m sure, so that leaves two that should be open.”
Sophia shook her head, trying to envision the inside of the house from the quick glimpse she had of the outside. She knew there was a wrap-around porch in the front, and what looked like a large balcony area on the second floor, but still… there had to be at least eight rooms in the house minimum, and she’d never lived anywhere beyond a four bedroom.
“That’s… that’s just insane.”
“Is it?” Bradley asked genuinely, turning to give her a curious look before pressing a button to close the garage door and opening a wood door that she assumed lead into the house.