“Move, Leo.” Her voice was raspy and her words sounded broken. I jumped back as a metal ladder with narrow rungs came sailing down from her roost. The thing had barely clattered to the ground in front of my feet before I started to shimmy my way up to the top. Em disappeared from view again on a low groan, and my worry for her made my palms sweat and my knees weak. I had to take a couple deep breaths to get my adrenaline under control so that my quaking body didn’t slip off the rungs.
“I’m coming, Em. Just hold on a little bit longer.” There was no response and the dead silence made my hand slip. I had visions of falling backwards through the air and cracking my head open on the ground below, but even the gruesome image couldn’t halt my hurried progress to the edge of the platform that seemed even higher up in the air from this vantage point. I gulped . . . hard, and wiggled my way on my belly onto the flat surface where Em was lying face down and curled tightly into the fetal position. From this vantage point, I could barely make out the back of Ten’s blonde head as it bobbed and dipped deeper into the forest. Wyatt and his scary war paint and tactical gear was much harder to make out as he moved like a big shadow behind her. They hadn’t stopped or bothered to wait for me. Both moved with their mission in mind.
As delicately as I could, I pushed Emrys’s hair away from her face and sucked in a breath so hard it made my lungs hurt. She was bleeding everywhere, not just from the bandage that was hastily wrapped around the side of her face. Trickles of crimson were leaking out of each nostril and out of her ear. She had ugly, dark bruises all around the eye that was uncovered, and both her top and bottom lip were split open and slowly oozing blood.
“Oh, honey. What did they do to you?” I cradled her head in my lap and futilely tried to clean her face up with the bottom of my shirt.
I knew the guys running the camp were bad news, but looking at Em’s face and the way her body lay limp and lifeless across the platform, real terror for what they could and would do to Cy and the rest of the people riding to the rescue choked me up and held me in a stranglehold. It was hard to breathe and even harder to think straight, but I did my best to keep it all pulled together because Emrys needed me and I refused to falter.
Her swollen and distorted eye flicked open and her puffy, torn lips twitched. The tiny movements obviously hurt her a great deal because her entire body spasmed as she struggled to focus on my hovering face. Crystalline liquid started to drip from her lashes mixing with the dried blood on her cheek that I couldn’t wipe away.
“They hurt me, Leo, and they shot Sutton.” She started to shake uncontrollably and I freaked out thinking she was going into shock. She weakly pushed at my clutching hands because I was holding her tightly enough that it hurt her already damaged skin. She started to cry harder and I couldn’t stop my own tears from racing after hers. “The two guys who were supposed to be watching us . . .” she trailed off and started sobbing into my lap. “They . . . they held me down and did things to me.” My hands curled into fists against her arms and I shook just as violently as she did. “They were going to rape me, Leo. They had my clothes off and they had their hands all over me.” Her tragic face twisted into something even uglier and more damaged. “Sutton stopped them. He went nuts. His hands were tied together but he still stopped them.” She hiccupped softly and let her eye drift closed as she burrowed into me. “The guy in charge came in to see what the commotion was all about. He was pissed when he saw my face, and even more pissed when he saw that Sutton had hurt his men.” Em curled back into a ball and flinched away from me when I reached out to put a hand on her shoulder.
“He shot Sutton, Leo. Right in the chest. There was so much blood.” Her voice cracked and she made a noise that sounded like heartbreak. “He fell to the ground and wouldn’t open his eyes. He has a little girl, Leo.” She was shaking so hard I could hear her teeth hit each other. “They left him on the ground bleeding. I told Cy to take him first, but he didn’t listen.”
I shook my head and gently ran my hand over the top of her head. “Real cowboys save the girl first, Em. No way was Cy going to leave you there looking like this. He went back for his brother, didn’t he?”
She nodded jerkily. “He helped me wrap my face up.” She pointed a wobbly finger at the blood-soaked bandage. “One of the guys yelled at me that I wouldn’t think I was too good for him when he was done with me. I didn’t stop fighting him as he was trying to take my pants off. He cut my cheek open with a dirty pocket knife. It hurts and it won’t stop bleeding.”
I shuddered and pulled her closer to me even though she didn’t want to come. “Em, I’m so sorry, but I need you to stay strong and keep fighting. We’ll get you help, as soon as I figure out how to get both of us off this stand, without breaking our necks.” I didn’t have Cy’s brute strength to muscle her up and down that precarious, hanging ladder.
“There is no help for what has happened the last few days.” She sounded so dejected and defeated that it made my heart sink. She was ready to give up and I needed her to fight. “There is no making this better.”
“That’s not true and you know it. You never let me give in and wallow, even when that’s what I was convinced I wanted. I’m not going to let you surrender either.” I leaned over the ledge of the hunting stand and balked at how far away the ground seemed to be. I needed a brilliant idea, and I needed it yesterday.
“I’m coming, Em. Just hold on a little bit longer.” There was no response and the dead silence made my hand slip. I had visions of falling backwards through the air and cracking my head open on the ground below, but even the gruesome image couldn’t halt my hurried progress to the edge of the platform that seemed even higher up in the air from this vantage point. I gulped . . . hard, and wiggled my way on my belly onto the flat surface where Em was lying face down and curled tightly into the fetal position. From this vantage point, I could barely make out the back of Ten’s blonde head as it bobbed and dipped deeper into the forest. Wyatt and his scary war paint and tactical gear was much harder to make out as he moved like a big shadow behind her. They hadn’t stopped or bothered to wait for me. Both moved with their mission in mind.
As delicately as I could, I pushed Emrys’s hair away from her face and sucked in a breath so hard it made my lungs hurt. She was bleeding everywhere, not just from the bandage that was hastily wrapped around the side of her face. Trickles of crimson were leaking out of each nostril and out of her ear. She had ugly, dark bruises all around the eye that was uncovered, and both her top and bottom lip were split open and slowly oozing blood.
“Oh, honey. What did they do to you?” I cradled her head in my lap and futilely tried to clean her face up with the bottom of my shirt.
I knew the guys running the camp were bad news, but looking at Em’s face and the way her body lay limp and lifeless across the platform, real terror for what they could and would do to Cy and the rest of the people riding to the rescue choked me up and held me in a stranglehold. It was hard to breathe and even harder to think straight, but I did my best to keep it all pulled together because Emrys needed me and I refused to falter.
Her swollen and distorted eye flicked open and her puffy, torn lips twitched. The tiny movements obviously hurt her a great deal because her entire body spasmed as she struggled to focus on my hovering face. Crystalline liquid started to drip from her lashes mixing with the dried blood on her cheek that I couldn’t wipe away.
“They hurt me, Leo, and they shot Sutton.” She started to shake uncontrollably and I freaked out thinking she was going into shock. She weakly pushed at my clutching hands because I was holding her tightly enough that it hurt her already damaged skin. She started to cry harder and I couldn’t stop my own tears from racing after hers. “The two guys who were supposed to be watching us . . .” she trailed off and started sobbing into my lap. “They . . . they held me down and did things to me.” My hands curled into fists against her arms and I shook just as violently as she did. “They were going to rape me, Leo. They had my clothes off and they had their hands all over me.” Her tragic face twisted into something even uglier and more damaged. “Sutton stopped them. He went nuts. His hands were tied together but he still stopped them.” She hiccupped softly and let her eye drift closed as she burrowed into me. “The guy in charge came in to see what the commotion was all about. He was pissed when he saw my face, and even more pissed when he saw that Sutton had hurt his men.” Em curled back into a ball and flinched away from me when I reached out to put a hand on her shoulder.
“He shot Sutton, Leo. Right in the chest. There was so much blood.” Her voice cracked and she made a noise that sounded like heartbreak. “He fell to the ground and wouldn’t open his eyes. He has a little girl, Leo.” She was shaking so hard I could hear her teeth hit each other. “They left him on the ground bleeding. I told Cy to take him first, but he didn’t listen.”
I shook my head and gently ran my hand over the top of her head. “Real cowboys save the girl first, Em. No way was Cy going to leave you there looking like this. He went back for his brother, didn’t he?”
She nodded jerkily. “He helped me wrap my face up.” She pointed a wobbly finger at the blood-soaked bandage. “One of the guys yelled at me that I wouldn’t think I was too good for him when he was done with me. I didn’t stop fighting him as he was trying to take my pants off. He cut my cheek open with a dirty pocket knife. It hurts and it won’t stop bleeding.”
I shuddered and pulled her closer to me even though she didn’t want to come. “Em, I’m so sorry, but I need you to stay strong and keep fighting. We’ll get you help, as soon as I figure out how to get both of us off this stand, without breaking our necks.” I didn’t have Cy’s brute strength to muscle her up and down that precarious, hanging ladder.
“There is no help for what has happened the last few days.” She sounded so dejected and defeated that it made my heart sink. She was ready to give up and I needed her to fight. “There is no making this better.”
“That’s not true and you know it. You never let me give in and wallow, even when that’s what I was convinced I wanted. I’m not going to let you surrender either.” I leaned over the ledge of the hunting stand and balked at how far away the ground seemed to be. I needed a brilliant idea, and I needed it yesterday.
