by Rhavensfyre
“Yes, now.” Victoria strode into Ransom’s room. “Look, I know you are mad at me…”
“Damn right,” Ransom’s growl, interrupted her abruptly.
“I know I should have followed your instructions…” Victoria tried again. She should have known better.
“Yes and do you know why? Those rules were put in place for your own safety. What you did was beyond reckless.” Ransom’s jaw clenched, the muscles working as furiously as her temper.
“That’s it, exactly.” Victoria stabbed her finger towards Ransom’s chest. “That’s what’s screwing us up right now and I don’t even think you see it.”
Ransom’s voice turned cold. “I told you before. You don’t get to analyze me.”
“Is that what you think I’m doing?” The haughty tone of Ransom’s response put Victoria’s back up in an instant. If she had been a cat, she would have hissed at the woman. As it was, she could barely contain her own fury at being dismissed so arbitrarily. Ransom was so caught up in her own concerns she was blind to the fact that someone else might actually worry about her. “You really don’t get it, do you? You are so angry at me right now for doing something that you wouldn’t think twice about doing yourself. Why?”
“Because you could have gotten hurt,” Ransom answered.
“And how do you think I would have felt if something had happened to you?” Victoria asked very softly.
Ransom stared straight ahead of her, her expression shedding all emotion until only a stiff mask remained. “It doesn’t matter. Your safety is more important.”
“That’s not true,” Victoria shouted. “It would have mattered to me. Do you even realize what it would have done to me if something happened to you today?”
“But you couldn’t help and you put yourself in danger by not listening to me. I accept the risk to myself but not to you.” Ransom’s response left no doubt that she had accepted her role as Victoria’s savior, with all the arrogance and self-sacrificing attitude it entailed, and that infuriated her to no end. This conversation was rapidly descending into an arguing match, with most of the yelling coming from Victoria’s corner. She needed to shock Ransom out of this ridiculous delusion that her life didn’t mean anything.
“Well, too bad, because I am not going to let you put yourself in danger while I just stand by and twiddle my thumbs. Especially not after the other night.”
“It’s what I do, Victoria. It’s why you’re here,” Ransom answered tiredly.
“I’m not sure I completely believe that anymore,” Victoria admitted. “Believe me, I am the last person you’d find spouting metaphysical nonsense about soulmates and destiny, but dammit, Ransom. The odds of us finding each other again? You know as well as I do that this should have never happened.”
Victoria very gently pressed her palm along Ransom’s cheek. “I know you’re hurting. Today was not as easy for you as you’d like me to believe, and you’re still very angry.”
Ransom made a soft sound in her throat, the first sign that Victoria was getting through to her since she started.
Victoria swallowed past the hard lump of fear threatening to stop her from saying what she needed to say. “I don’t know what else I can say, Ransom. I’m waiting for you to tell me I’m either crazy or a damn fool.”
“You’re not crazy.” Ransom thought about those idiot men who had come onto the property just to kill something rare and precious. They did it because they wanted to, not because they had to. They did it for the thrill and the sense of dominion over another being. Men killed other men for the same reason, even if they couched it in nicer terms. People died every day because someone wanted something you had, or simply because they had to have something to hate or demonize and you were the most convenient target. Deep down inside, all of those excuses were just that...excuses. They did it because they wanted to, because there was a thrill in it that got them off one way or another. This stalker was a good example of the worst type of human. He was enjoying toying with Victoria, and every time she thought about him a cold black anger rose up in Ransom’s heart…a very personal, icy anger that had nothing to do with her job.
A wry smile that barely touched her lips ghosted across her face. “It’s too late to go back, isn’t it? That’s what you’re telling me. For all my trying, I can’t keep running away from this.”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“I wasn’t lying, Victoria. If something happened to you, I’m not sure I could come back from that,” Ransom admitted, then growled at the ceiling. She pressed her palms against her temples and tried calm herself down. She wasn’t being fair to Victoria. “Look, about today…I’m not mad at you, okay?”
Red-faced, fingers digging into her scalp almost violently, Ransom was all over the place. The sudden emotional shift was so unexpected; Victoria almost took a physical step backward. “What?”
“I’m not mad at you, I’m pissed at myself.” Ransom tossed her head, she couldn’t bear Victoria touching her right now.
“Ransom, you’re scaring me now.” Victoria didn’t back down, but she also didn’t make the mistake of telling her to calm down, either. “I don’t understand. Why are you pissed at yourself?”
“There were so many things that could have gone wrong up there, and there’s no one to blame but myself for them. You’re not a professional, Victoria. I gave you directions and just expected you to follow them, knowing that you would follow your heart first. I, on the other hand, let myself get so riled up about poachers that I was willing to run off and leave you behind. That was more than stupid. It was irresponsible.”
“Not irresponsible, Ransom. Human. Passionate, loving, caring…and yes, a little bit scary at times, actually, a whole lot scary at times.” Victoria ignored her pounding heart and slid her arms around Ransom’s neck, threading her fingers through the silky tresses to find the soft skin beneath. She needed to be bold now. Slow and careful would get her nowhere.
Ransom was wound as tight as a wire cord. Circling the hard muscles along her spine with her fingertips, she willed her to relax into her touch. “You have got to be the most complex, irritating, fascinating, and exciting woman I have ever met, and you should never apologize for being who you are. But, and I will only say this one time. I am not your damsel in distress, and you are not going to play the self-effacing hero. Your life is worth just as much as anyone else’s, including mine, and don’t you forget it.”
Head reeling, Ransom tried to find some excuse, some reason to stop what was happening. She couldn’t find anything other than a thin voice that warned her that this would end in pain and loneliness. She almost laughed at that. She was already in pain and suffering from loneliness. Buddy had scolded her that she wasn’t living, just existing, and he was right.
“Still, we need to set some ground rules,” Ransom said, stubborn to the end.
“I agree. If this is going to work, we need to make sure we work as a team. A team, Ransom. As in together.”
Ransom searched Victoria’s face, seeking something there, something that was important to her. “You’ll train with me then, including firearms training? No excuses?”
“Yes,” Victoria conceded. “Even though I have to admit that part of it frightens me a little bit.”
“Then we’re even,” Ransom whispered. Victoria scared the crap out of her because she reminded her how it felt to be alive, in all its terrifying, soul risking glory. I wonder if she realizes how much scarier that is than anything else I do?
“What?” Victoria’s question was lost, left incomplete and unanswered when Ransom followed up that enigmatic comment with a kiss. When those lips met hers, she could taste every held back fear, every unfed passion that Ransom had kept locked up tight inside her for far too long. She hungrily devoured those emotions with her own lips, taking what Ransom needed to lose, and sharing with her what she had been missing. She opened her mouth, deepening the kiss until she felt nothing but passion, desire and need flowing between them.
***
It’s funny, you know. I thought we had something at some point. The first time I saw Victoria, I was in awe of her. She was so pretty, and she smelled good, too. She always had a smile for me. She made me believe she cared about me.
That was a lie. It was all a lie. She didn’t care. It was all an act, and very soon, I’ll get my chance to prove it.
Chapter Twenty-Four
A cell phone was ringing somewhere. Its muted tone infiltrated Ransom’s dreams, a semi-somnolent reveille call echoing inside her skull and sending her into full alert mode. Her internal alarm clock had failed her. It was late, at least 7am, and she was still in bed. The bedsheets moved next to her, then moaned. And not alone.
“Phone, where’s the phone?” Ransom rolled out of bed, landing neatly on her feet and grabbed the first article of clothing she could find.
“I don’t hear it,” Victoria protested, crawling out of the covers a lot slower than Ransom had. She toed a pair of jeans from where she sat at the edge of the bed.
“I do, just start looking.” Kidnapped and gagged by denim or cotton, the damn thing had to be somewhere in the discarded pile of clothing strewn about the room.
“Got it!” Victoria crowed, holding the phone up in her hand like a trophy. Somehow it had gotten kicked under the bed.
“Toss it here.” Ransom held up her hand, neatly plucking the phone out of the air with a quick twist of her wrist that made Victoria feel like Quasimodo in comparison.
“I wish I could wake up like that,” Victoria said, overtly admiring Ransom’s ability to function.
“No, you don’t,” Ransom stated flatly. She had earned that “skill” out of necessity. Hypervigilance, they called it. Waking up at the slightest sound could be the difference between surviving the night or ending up in a black bag with nothing but your dog tags left to identify you—if you’re in a war-zone. Do that when you get back home and all you do is stay up all night, trying to burn off the adrenaline rush. Every sound crashes through your skull at a billion decibels because you’re straining to listen for anything that doesn’t belong.
“Dammit. I missed the call.” The phone flashed a second later. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
The Sheriff was calling back. Ransom muttered something unpleasant under her breath. It was just like him to do that, rather than leave a message. She had the option of ignoring a message, but she couldn’t risk ignoring a phone call.
Unfortunately for him, his phone call had nothing to do with Victoria’s case and everything to do with the two men sitting in a jail cell. She was only half listening to him because Victoria was doing her best to distract her. She could think of a dozen things she would rather be doing today than going into town, half of which wouldn’t even require leaving the house…or getting dressed. Her mind firmly in the gutter, Ransom snapped at Roy when he pressed her for an ETA. “Jesus, Roy. You have the worst fucking timing in the world, you know that?”
“You have something more important going on I don’t know about?” Roy asked.
“No, not really.” Ransom backtracked before he got curious and started asking questions. Roy didn’t need to know why she was being so testy. He just needed a good excuse for why she sounded so damn out of breath. “Just working on some broken fences I’ve been meaning to mend.”
“Uh, huh,” Roy drawled.
“Come on, Roy, just say your peace so I can finish what I was doing.”
Victoria had been gathering up the rest of their clothes when Ransom said that. She broke into a coughing fit. She couldn’t help herself. It was either that or start giggling like an idiot. Ransom frowned at her, drawing her eyebrows down in a stern expression meant to warn her, but all that did was make her laugh even more. Victoria tipped her head towards the bed, taking in the tangled sheets, the small pile of clothing she had just picked up from the floor. Their clothes. From last night.
Comprehension dawned in Ransom’s eyes, followed by a bright red glow that crept up Ransom’s neck and across her cheeks. Victoria grinned. That had been one hell of a Freudian slip. How could she resist?
“Are you blushing?” Victoria whispered. She didn’t think she’d ever seen the woman blush “You are blushing!” In her glee, she forgot that she was naked and far too close to the other woman to get away with teasing her. There were consequences.
Ransom pounced without warning, pulling her close and managing to hold on to her with just one arm. Errant fingertips slipped along the same path as that shiver, up and down…finding the base of her skull and tickling the sensitive skin just behind her ears.
“Tease.” The accusation floated out on the slightest exhalation, a ghost of a word uttered so quietly Victoria wasn’t even sure she had heard her right.
A mischievous glint sparked across Ransom’s eyes, eliminating any doubts she may have harbored. Her lips twitched, reforming into a devilish smirk that meant she was up to no good and was going to enjoy doing it. Victoria gasped. Ransom was going to kiss her…while she was still on the phone.
Would she risk that? Roy was a cop. Yeah, he was the Sheriff of a podunk little town in the middle of nowhere, but he wasn’t deaf or dumb.
It was Victoria’s turn to blush, but the flames licking across her cheeks had nothing to do with embarrassment. She wanted Ransom to kiss her. Her pulse raced, responding to the thrill of having an unsuspecting audience. Her lips parted, anticipating what Ransom’s heated gaze promised, only to be thwarted a moment later when Ransom cursed and spun away.
“Dammit, Roy, I shouldn’t have to move on their schedule. This is bullshit.” Ransom rolled her neck and stared at the ceiling. Roy was not giving up. “Fine. We’ll be there.”
“What’s going on? Did they find the stalker?”
“No, I’m afraid not. We need to go in and give our statements this morning. Roy insists it has to be done now, before the jackasses’ lawyers show up.”
“And you’re upset, why?”
“Because I don’t want to go.” Ransom rubbed her eyes. It was too early in the morning to feel this tired. “Fuck. Sorry, Victoria. I know that sounded childish. It’s just…well, this is a small town. I know you don’t think much of it, and it seems like a nice, simple place to live compared to the city, but the politics here can be hell.”
Victoria sat down at the edge of the bed and nodded. “I think this is where I usually ask if you want to talk about it.”
Ransom snorted, then pulled Victoria back up into her arms and kissed her soundly. “You, my dear, are becoming very good at saying just the right thing. Not too bad for someone trained to listen to other people pour their hearts out.”
“Is that a compliment?” Victoria asked, breathless after Ransom’s impromptu kiss.
“Yes.” Ransom winked at her, then grabbed her jeans and headed for the bathroom. She walked backwards the last few steps, just so she could toss out one last parting shot. “Just don’t mistake the compliment for an open invitation. No one crawls inside my head, not even you.”
***
Ransom pulled up to the Sheriff’s station and parked next to the Sheriff’s SUV. Her movements precise and efficient, she jumped out and ran around to the passenger side and helped Victoria climb out.
“Don’t worry. This won’t take long. We’ll get this done and get you back up to the house.”
“You’re in an awful hurry. Are you trying to get rid of me already?” Victoria teased. She had noticed a sudden drop in temperature accompanying Ransom’s comment and she wanted to bring that lazy, sexy smile back to her face.
Ransom looked at her funny. What kind of question was that? “No, not at all. I just thought you’d want to get back to going through your files.”
Those files were the only good lead they had, a possible link between Victoria and her stalker she couldn’t ignore. She couldn’t help Victoria with her research because of confidentiality rules, and it chafed her ass that her hands were essentially tied while everyone else ran aro
und looking for this creep. Ransom felt like a glorified bodyguard with no idea of who the bad guy was or what he looked like. Everyone, and she did mean everyone, they passed by or drove past could be the stalker. She wouldn’t know unless he acted or said something to give himself away.
That meant maintaining a constant state of readiness that wore on her, mentally and physically. The only place she trusted was the farm. The house and the land around it was more than just a refuge, it was a buffer from the outside world.
“The files, yes. Of course,” Victoria stuttered over her answer. Ransom seemed so keen on helping her find this creep. That’s her job, remember? I can’t fault her for doing it, Victoria thought.
“Come on,” Ransom held out her hand. Victoria was acting very strange, but she wasn’t about to ask her why right now. Right now they needed to get this situation with the two poachers done and over with. Ransom frowned. Yet another unpleasantness to leave in the past. “Roy’s waiting for us inside.”
Victoria stared at Ransom’s hand, open and waiting for her to take it. A powerful surge of possessiveness welled up inside her, hot and hungry, surprising Victoria with its voracious need to let other people know they were together. Not just other people, she amended, townspeople who knew and had grown up with Ransom.
Ransom strode into the squat building and headed straight for Roy’s office, blowing past the stunned secretary who just sat there, mouth gaping open like a bloated fish. Victoria felt sorry for the woman. When Ransom wanted to, she could be quite impressive, carrying an air of unstoppable force that discouraged other people from stepping foolishly in front of her chosen path.
“Where is the paperwork I need to sign?” Ransom asked, unceremoniously bypassing any social graces in her irritation at having to be there in the first place. She had been avoiding the tedious task, hoping that he would eventually get the hint and just drive up to the farm. She wasn’t opposed to a quick visit by Roy, not if it would have saved her from a trip into town.