Cowboy Edition EBook

by Maree, Kay

  “He is my adopted grandfather,” I wink.

  “Fair enough,” his features softening, cupping the side of my face, his thumb begins rubbing over my cheek.

  “I spoke with him yesterday, as far as I knew everything was good and he didn’t say anything about Patrick.”

  “Don’t worry Little Mare, we will get this sorted out. I’ll give my mate Jebson a call, he’s a constable in the Queensland police force and close friend of mine.”

  “Thank you,” I murmur.

  “You never have to thank me, Little Mare, we will get this sorted out,” that smooth whiskey whisper flows over me settling my nerves. Those soft lips hit the crown of my head as I snuggle into his hold and it’s then I realise I am shaking. Patrick looked like a mess I have never seen him so dishevelled before.

  Usually, his light brown hair is greased back, not a hair out of place, tailored pants with a nice button up on, but today he had stains smeared across his shirt and his pants were all wrinkled.

  “I don’t know what he wants from me,” I sniff.

  My eyes glazing over.

  “I have nothing left he can take from me, Nash. I just don’t understand it,” my fingers shake, tightening my hold against his hoodie I try to breathe. I thought I turned a page in my story this morning. But it looks like now I’m part of a horrible Chess match I never chose to play. Every move I make now may bring my new world crashing down around me.

  “He will have to go through me to get it,” Nash growls.

  “Nash, I don’t know what game he’s playing, but I don't want you to get hurt. Let's just call your friend and go from there,” I rush out.

  My heart gallops in my chest as I cup the side of his face, running my thumb over where his dimple is usually popping out.

  “You are mine Cora and no slick back city fuck is taking that from me,” he growls.

  His hold on me tightening.

  “I’m scared,” I whisper.

  “Of me?” His eyes search mine softening when he sees the worry on my face, his hand starts rubbing up and down my back.

  “Of course not.”

  “Then who?”

  “Him,” my voice is so soft I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t hear me.

  “What haven’t you told me?”

  When I don’t answer him straight away, he picks me up and cradles me in his arms.

  Marching back into the house, resting my head against his chest, his heart is pounding a mile a minute.

  “We ain’t leaving this house until you tell me everything and you feel safe again,” he gruffs out, slamming the door behind him with his booted foot.

  “I feel safe in your arms,” I whisper, feeling his lips on my forehead as we head upstairs.

  “I would never hurt you, Little Mare, I have waited so long for you I ain’t losing you now. You are the dream I never knew I wanted, so no fucker is gonna come here and take that away from me,” he says with conviction.

  Laying me down on the bed, pulling my boots off my feet one by one, I scrunch up my toes in the soft bedding.

  “Get comfy Beautiful I’m gonna go grab us some coffee then we are going to talk.”

  Nodding, I watch him leave, pulling the blankets over me as I snuggle into the pillows at my back, I take in the beautiful room.

  The huge wooden four-poster bed makes me feel cocooned, warm and most importantly safe. Everything is so modern and rustic, making the whole place cozy with the cream walls. My eyes draw out the french doors noticing it’s raining now the clear droplets shine from the small bit of sun peeking out between the clouds.

  As I watch the crystal water droplets slide down the glass doors, I let my mind ponder about everything that has happened and wonder how hell he found me.

  Some secrets are too dark to reveal; they have a chance of taking me back to a place I don’t want to go - is this gonna be one of them?

  She looks like an angel staring off out the glass doors, watching the rain come down and all I want to do is hold her and tell her everything is going to be okay.

  However, I need to know what else she is hiding so I can help her work through it.

  Then try to work out what the fuck that Prick is doing here or better yet how the hell he knew where she was.

  While I made coffee, I put a call through to one of my best friends Jebson the constable I told Cora about and he said he will swing past in an hour.

  Placing her cup down on her bedside table I walk around to my side of the bed kicking my boots off before sliding in next to her.

  Palming the cup in her little hands, a noticeable tremble races through them as she brings the rim to her mouth.

  "Thank you," she says, in a throaty whisper telling me she is holding back a sob.

  "We will work this out, Little Mare," I reach over rubbing my palm over her thigh as she sits cross-legged beside me.

  "I don't know how to word this," she blows out a breath across the top of the cup sending the hot steam floating towards me.

  "Nothing you say will change my opinion of you Cora."

  Her eyes finally veer towards me, her bottom lip quivering.

  "Patrick said that it was nothing I didn't deserve and that with the way I was brought up I should have seen it coming," her words are so soft my ears strain to hear her.

  "What did that prick think you deserved?" My gut twists knowing I'm not going to like what I am about to hear.

  Squeezing her thigh, hoping to encourage her to keep going.

  She takes another sip before palming the cup in both hands again, resting them in her lap, her eyes staring at the hot liquid as if the answers swim in the depths.

  "Not long after we got married, Patrick told me I should quit my job. That he could support me because no wife of his would work in a seedy bar," her eyes are flickering everywhere except at me as if she is lost in the memory.

  "You didn't say no to Patrick and that day I learned why, one fractured rib, numerous bruises later... Let's just say he got what he wanted," she shrugs.

  "He told me I needed to be pulled in line, taught a lesson that obviously didn't happen with being street trash."

  She hiccups.

  My fingers flex against her leg wanting to pull her into my lap, and just hold her but I know she needs space right now.

  "He told me the usual bullshit afterwards that he loved me and how sorry he was.

  He was so convincing I still can't believe how stupid I was to forgive him let alone stay with him. He was the first person besides John to love me and I started to believe all the crap that he kept telling me. Believing that what he did to me was what I deserved.”

  She shrugs.

  “I had a curfew, dinner had to be on the table for when he got home and the house had to be spotless. Through everything I allowed him to do to me we still had good memories as much as I hate to admit that but we did. Then when he wanted a baby I thought finally things were starting to look up, things were good for a while until they weren't."

  Tears are ghosting down her soft cheeks now.

  "After I caught him and Janice together, everything inside me broke. I was the shell of the person I am now. I hate myself every day for being so weak and falling for all his bullshit, but what’s worse is the fact I allowed it all to happen. That was the most horrifying thing in the world. Outside in front of the world, we had a happy marriage however it was all smoke and mirrors.

  In the shadows, it was like a recurring nightmare that played out over and over again.

  I believed since I had him I was getting what I always wanted, and it didn’t matter that I had to sacrifice my soul to get it.

  The thought of not having him in my life was torture, but then when I caught him and Janice together it was like my eyes were open for the first time in my life. I knew at that moment I deserved better, or at least deserved to find myself and learn to love me before I allowed someone else into my life again.

&nbs
p; The day I signed the divorce papers, I was surprised he allowed it to happen. He always told me that he owned me and no matter where I went, he would always find me. That and the fact besides John he was the only one that really knows the real woman deep inside and for as long as I live he will make sure I never forgot that and what I did.” She looks out the glass doors again, a weird look crossing her face, blowing out a rough breath.

  She keeps speaking before I get a chance to speak.

  “Nevertheless when I signed my name on those papers, it felt like the first time in years I was able to breathe again. I started speaking with a therapist and she helped me see that I was a victim but I just didn’t want to admit it before, I was scared to be just me.”

  “Shit, Beautiful. None of what happened is your fault you didn’t do anything to deserve that. It’s all on him. He took a vulnerable young woman and twisted you around his finger to make you dependable on him. A lesser man beats on a woman, especially a woman that you are supposed to love.” I rub my hand over her thigh.

  Her eyes snap to mine, a fierce look shining back at me.

  “Nash you don’t get it I thought it was my pennance, yes I was naive and stupid for living a lie the past couple of years but he beat me because--”

  “Why?” I gruff out when she stops short, diverting her eyes away from me again.

  Her shoulders begin to shake and it breaks my fucking heart.

  “I killed a man,” she blurts, her hand snaps up covering her mouth, eyes wide as if she can’t believe that it came out of her mouth.

  Now it’s my turn to suck in a breath, completely shocked that the kind-hearted small slip of a woman beside me could do that.

  “Explain,” I whisper knowing there would have to be a damn good reason for her to take somebody's life.

  “Cora, I’m not gonna sit here and pretend that didn’t just shock the shit out of me, but I know deep down there would have to be a good bloody reason for you to do that. The girl sitting beside me may have had a fucked up upbringing but she wouldn’t hurt a fly unless there was a reason to,” I say.

  Trying to ease the scared look flashing in her eyes, her small little body trembles beside me.

  “It was just before my eighteenth birthday. I was sleeping. I had gone to bed early because I wasn’t feeling well. My foster dad was drinking heavily like every night but this night he crawled into my bed and s-st-started to touch me,” shame coats her words as tears run unchecked down her face.

  “I fought against him, but it was no use. He was twice my size, his weight pinned me to the bed,” closing her eyes, her words soft, scared as if she is reliving it all over again.

  “Hey,” I wrap my arm around her shoulders pulling her into my side.

  Her cup was long since forgotten sitting on the bedside table.

  She doesn’t fight me, but she doesn’t melt into me like she usually does either.

  “Once he thought he had me where he wanted me, he pushed my knees apart with his legs. He said I was going to lay there and take it like the whore that I was and if I fought him, he wouldn’t hesitate to slit my throat. When his weight lifted off my hands, I was frozen. I didn’t know what to do but then he tore my panties off. Something inside me snapped, and I grabbed the closest thing next to me as I tried to kick him off me. I remember his weight slamming into me trying to hold me still, the scent of sweat and alcohol blanketed the room as I tried to suck in much-needed air after he winded me.” I feel her swallow against my chest, breathing me in at the same time.

  “I grabbed for the first thing my fingers could find and slammed it down so hard on his head, the crack of his skull echoed around me as warm blood sprayed across my face. It was like a horror flick and I was the crazed serial killer. I don’t remember much after that but according to the police reports, I hit him seven times. By the time the ambulance and police turned up, you couldn’t recognize his face.”

  “Babe, you were fighting for your life,” I say.

  Knowing the prick deserved to die.

  “Anyway, since I was still underage, it was classed as self-defence. Supposedly I wasn’t the first girl he had done that to so I wasn’t convicted, but deep down that is a mark on my soul that will never be erased.”

  Finally, she sags into me, breathing heavily as if she just ran a marathon.

  “I met Patrick not long after that he was so nice to me and seemed to accept me for all my wrongs. However, I was wrong. He was just another person who I let control me and throw my past back in my face.”

  After a few moments, silence settles around the room.

  I try to absorb everything she just confessed.

  “Again you prove to me how fucking brave you are, Little Mare. You are so fucking strong I’m envious of how you can still stare at a sunset and smile. I have never met anyone like you before and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you,” I breathe out.

  Kissing the crown of her head, letting the scent of wildflowers settle through me.

  “What?” she gasps, pulling out of my arms.

  “You are a survivor and I couldn’t imagine going through what you have and still be standing. Fuck, babe, you are an inspiration. You blow my mind,” I husk out.

  “I’m not that naive girl anymore, Nash.”

  “I know,” I wink.

  “You have fought me every step of the way and I don’t want you to ever stop. I don’t want to control you. Yes, I’m fucked up over you. Jealous of every man in town that gets to look at you. But fuck, I could never hurt you.” I run a rough hand through my hair. “I would give away everything I have just to be able to take away all the shit you have been put through. I just want you right here in my arms smiling because I have said or did something to make you feel that way.”

  “I have never met anyone like you before, Nash. You are possessive, but not to the point where you take anything away from me. Your touch is gentle, your words soothing, and I don’t know what I ever did to deserve it. All the crap I have been through and if I had to do it all over again to be exactly where I am right now. Then sign me up because finally, I feel like the girl I was always supposed to be right here in your arms. I know this is fast. It’s been three days but in just three little days you have helped give me back me,” she chokes out.

  I can’t resist anymore pulling her into my lap and wrapping her in my arms, her face nestles against my shoulder, her warm breath ghosts down my neck.

  My cock pulses, but I ignore it, knowing now isn’t the time for that.

  “I think I’m falling for you, Nash Steel, and I don’t want to stop,” she whispers.

  My body tightens around hers, never wanting to let her go.

  “I have already fallen,” I murmur back, closing my eyes.

  I will always be there to catch her when she falls -

  emotionally, physically, mentally I will always be there to catch her...

  It’s been 2 days since Patrick blew into town rocking my world to its core.

  It had me reflecting on my life choices once again and I wasn’t lying when I told Nash if I had to go through it all again to be where I am today then I would.

  Purging all the darkness that still lingered inside me out in the open helped in a weird sort of way. I was feeling wary about how Nash would look at me afterwards, but it was refreshing to know it was all out in the open and I had nothing else hidden away.

  Spending the rest of that day wrapped in Nash’s protective arms was pure heaven. We had no place to be and nothing pulling us apart. His parents stopped by to check on us after Nash called them to let them know about Patrick turning up.

  Not even five minutes later Constable Jebson Stone turned up to ask me questions and with Nash’s warm hand in mine, I relayed what he needed to know.

  However, since he hadn’t physically hurt me, he couldn’t arrest him, but he promised to speak with him and also reassured me that he would keep an eye on him.

 
; But the big question still remains left unanswered: How the hell did he find me?

  Snatching my phone up off the bedside table, I make my way downstairs.

  So I was wrong about not having any service for my phone, which Sophie gave me shit about when I called her last night to see if she had spoken to Patrick.

  Which she hadn’t.

  Then we spent the rest of the conversation talking about what I have been up to.

  She laughed and swooned in all the right places.

  I don’t know what would have happened to me if I didn’t have her as a friend.

  I haven’t been able to reach John yet, and it worries me.

  It’s not like him to miss a call and not call me back.

  “Still can’t reach him?” Nash asks when I sit down at the breakfast bench.

  “Not yet,” I mumble.

  My mind completely fixed on the man now walking around shirtless in the kitchen, muscles flexing, his tight jeans sitting low on his waist showing off his sexy back dimples.

  My mouth begins to water when he turns around and his tanned six-pack greets me.

  A rough touch to my chin brings me out of my lust-filled haze.

  “Keep looking at me like that Little Mare and I will spread you over this bench and eat you for breakfast,” he smirks.

  “Promises, promises,” I tease, heat spreading through my cheeks making him chuckle.

  “Nope, I have a surprise for you today, and you ain’t gonna distract me this time,” he quirks a dark sexy brow, silently daring me to keep pushing.

  “Fine,” I sigh dramatically, making him laugh.

  Taking a bite of the toast he just plated up in front of me, my eyes lock with his as my tongue swipes across the corner of my lip catching a drop of melted butter before it drips down my chin. I take another bite, hiding a giggle when a low growl rumbles in his chest, his nose flares.

  “Little Mare,” he groans in that whiskey shot voice that’s become my new craving, running a rough hand through his dark messed up hair.

  I try to fight off the effect it always has on me, but it’s no use.