{Chapter 25}
Erik looked around for any sign of tracks anywhere near the herd, their watering hole, or the ranch. None came in sight. That idea was a little suspicious. The herd had been unguarded for days, and the rustlers had passed up that chance? Something didn’t screw on straight about that. The lonely wind blew around him and rustled the grass beneath Copper’s hooves. He looked around for a sign of… well, anything. One little piece of evidence to go on. He couldn’t go back to Toni and tell her there were not tracks to follow. He couldn’t make her day go worse.
He rode on for a while, thinking hard on what he needed to happen in his life. He needed to find rustler tracks, he needed to find peace about Toni, he needed to find some way to lead her to the Lord, and he needed his life fixed.
“Lord, it’s like I’m hangin’ on to a knot at the end of my rope. I can’t go anywhere, I can’t see anything, I just need your help,” he prayed aloud.
He sighed and urged his horse into a canter he rode on for quite some time, over rise after rise until he came upon an old line shack. He had seen a few line shacks sprinkled here and there on Toni’s property, but not like this one. This one was occupied. He pushed Cooper into a gallop and rode up in front of the line shack. He dismounted and reached inside his shirt for a knife. Quietly approaching the door of the line shack, he hid the knife behind his thigh and knocked.
No answer.
He knocked again.
The door opened and he stood in front of a tall man wearing black pants, a red brocade vest, and a white shirt. He had a handlebar mustache and a long, pointed nose.
“Can I help you?” He asked in a faint English accent.
Suddenly, he heard a crack and the world went black.
**********
Toni pounded the cross back into the dirt, ever resounding blow causing a fresh wave of tears to flow down her cheeks. With one last pound, she threw the big rack aside and collapsed onto the ground next to the cross.
“I’m so sorry, Libby” She wailed into the thin air. “I wish things could have been different.”
She cried her eyes out for everything. For the anger she felt, for the hatred toward her uncle, for the young life buried beneath worthlessly beneath the dirt.
She cried for her life.
Every day was worthless in living. Her days had no reason or purpose. She just… was. She had all of these regrets piled up and she was just adding more to the pot. She had to do something. She had to find some sort of lifeline.
And quickly. Before she imploded.
**********
“Who are you?” Erik ignored the throbbing in his head and tried to focus on the man pacing in front of him.
“I-I’m Erik” Erik shook his head to try to dislodge the fuzziness in it.
“Why are you here?” The man asked.
Erik looked down at the rope binding him to the old chair under him. “Because you knocked me out and tied me to a chair?”
“Stupid gringos” A little Mexican man shook his head as she straddled a chair beside the tall Englishman.
“Do you work for the Broken F?” The latter asked.
“Yeah, why?” It suddenly occurred to Erik that he was more than likely facing the rustlers that had been terrorizing Toni for the past few months.
YOU ARE READING
The Boss Lady's Man
Romance"Look, Toni. Not everyone who comes into your life is there just to use you. Some people are there because they really do care about you" Erik's calmed voice only made her anger worse. "Why do you not trust anyone?" Toni lost it. She was tired of ho...
