Page 26 of Tethered

She lets out a shaky breath, rubbing her hands on her legs. “I dropped him on the other side of the ranch. I was going to come see you then, but he made me wait. If I wasn’t there when he came back…Well, I waited. And when he came back, he was soaked and stunk of gasoline. He had a really smug smile, which made me want to throw up. He told me to drive him home, and I did, but I caught the smear of blood on the back of his hand.”

I reach up and touch my temple, remembering the bump I got there, along with the one on the back of my head where I got hit.

“I took him home, then told him I had to run errands, and came back. When I saw your face, I knew he did that. If I hadn’t driven him out here?—”

“He’d have taken the keys and driven himself. The only reason he had you bring him was so nobody recognized his truck.”

She sighs and nods, knowing I’m right. As the minutes slip by and a look of peace washes over her face, I relax.

She turns to look at me, her face calm, so her words surprise me. “He’ll come for me. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but he will come, Calliope. He’ll never let me be free. When he does get me, because nobody can live on guard forever—he’ll kill me.”

“Dawn—”

She reaches out and grabs my arm, her grip tight. “Do not let him get my daughter. Do whatever it takes, but promise me that you won’t let him take her.”

I swallow at the conviction in her voice, her utter certainty that she’ll die at his hands, and how she seems to have almost made peace with that now that her daughter is free.

“I’ll kill him before I let him lay a finger on her again,” I vow, and I mean it.

She nods, trusting me to keep my word.

“Besides, what are they going to do? Send you to jail for killing the man you already went to jail for killing?”

I jolt, my mouth dropping open. “You know?”

She smiles as she gazes over at Hannah, laughing as she ducks and weaves around Jemma—David’s other sister—who is trying to tag her.

“She has her father’s eyes. So do you.” She turns back to me. “Porter is your father, isn’t he? Who better to protect her than her big sister?”

I swallow the lump in my throat.

“I’m so sorry for what he did to you. I’m not sure I even understand how it was all possible, but I know it’s him.”

I blow out a shaky breath. “Yes.”

“That motherfucker.”

A startled laugh bursts out of me. “Couldn’t have put it better myself.”

“I don’t know how you do it. How do you live in the same town as him, knowing what he did to you? I’d want to kill him. I mean, I do for what he did to Hannah and me, but what he did to you was arguably worse, but…” Her voice drifts off at whatever expression she sees on my face. “Oh.”

I bite my lip, unable to look at her, worried about what I might give away, though I suspect it’s too late to worry about that.

“Do me a favor?”

I look at her and frown. “What’s that?”

“When the time comes, make it hurt.”

A grin spreads across my face before I can stop it. I don’t say anything, but I don’t need to. My apparent glee says it all.

Dinner is a loud, chaotic affair, with the girls keeping us all wildly entertained. It isn’t until there is an odd knocking inside my head that my mood plummets, because only one person could get onto the property without the house letting meknow. Pasting on a smile, I lean over and press my lips to Riggs’s ear. “Can you keep everyone occupied for a little while?”

“Sure. What’s going on?”

“Someone’s here. I won’t be long.”

He pulls away to look at me, and I know from his clenched jaw that he can read the tension in my face. “Let me come with you.”