Chapter 30
Colt
“He did what?”
“Colt. Calm down.”
“Calm down? Cheyenne, he put his hands on you. This is done. He’s crossed a line he should’ve never crossed.”
Cheyenne pulled up into my driveway, got out of her car, and ran into my arms, and neither of us cared if Tif was watching. All I knew was that she was back on the property and that it meant she was staying, that she trusted everything I’d told her that night, and that I’d be able to take care of her this way.
But the moment she winced, I knew something was wrong.
“Listen to me, he wasn’t acting like himself,” she said. “He was really tired—sick-looking—but he was raving, accusing me of the same types of things that have been happening to us. Issues with his horses, sabotaging his barn.”
“He put his fucking hands on you, Cheyenne. Rules go out the window,” I said. I was absolutely infuriated. There were red crescents on her arms where his fingernails had dug in and a bruised imprint of a hand on her skin. I’d rip his fucking head off then feed him to the wolves. He should’ve known better than to put his grimy, disgusting hands on anyone, but he sure as hell wasn’t getting away with putting them on Cheyenne.
“If you want to handle this properly, then call the sheriff. But if you go after him, we don’t stand a chance of catching anyone tonight, Colt. If you get arrested for aggression and assault or shooting someone to death, it’s not gonna do anyone any good.”
“He hurt you!”
“And thanks to you, I was equipped to defend myself and run him off. He’ll get what’s coming to him. One problem at a time,” she said.
“This problem trumps my barn.”
“And that’s what makes you a good man, Colt. I’m fine. I swear. I’m actually feeling kind of empowered. Right now, we need to figure out if these cameras are gonna even work. So, you didn’t tell anyone you were having them installed?” she asked.
“No. Only the sheriff and Michael. No one else,” I said.
“Then let’s focus on that, and when we go to the sheriff with what we find, then we’ll show him my arm.”
I was shaking with anger, and every single time I looked at her arm, I got a new surge of fury and adrenaline. She’d talked me down, if only because she was now intent on using my cameras to figure out what was going on, but she wasn’t leaving my sight. Bill had crossed a line he was going to pay for, whether he was behind this barn shit or not, and I knew that with Cheyenne’s injury, along with what Michael had found out, he was sure to be convicted of something.
Cheyenne fell asleep fairly early, exhausted from the excitement of the day. After tending to the horses, she was ready to shower and sleep. I ran my fingers through her hair until her eyes were fluttering closed, then I pressed a kiss to her cheek.
“I’ll come crawl in with you after a little while,” I said into her ear. She nuzzled her cheek against my lips which brought a warmth to my heart I hadn’t felt in a while, and I was so glad she had decided to stay and decided to trust me when I told her I could protect her if she’d just give me the chance.
I was still on overdrive and had been so all day, not letting her out of my sight. I poured myself a mug of coffee and went to sit at my computer. I’d had really nice security cameras put in, complete with night vision access. Everything was crystal clear on my screen, and I knew the perpetrator didn’t stand a chance. If they were really after Cheyenne and her presence had made us targets, then they’d be back.
This time, I was waiting for them.
I sat back in my chair and kept my eyes glued to the screen. I had the cameras automatically toggle every fifteen seconds to a different camera on the property, which gave me enough time to analyze the screen before it hopped to another view. Slide after slide popped up with nothing happening except the cool fall wind rustling the leaves from the trees. There was a part of me that was ready to give up and go slide in next to Cheyenne. The softness of her warm skin was beckoning to my body, but my need to protect her was shouting over my incessant bodily desires.
This needed to be finished, if only for her sake.
With the conversation Cheyenne said she’d exchanged with Bill and the way he confronted her, even going so far as to barge into her home and put his hands on her, I knew he’d try something soon. Even though I was convinced the arson on my barn wasn’t him, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t come after her again.
And when he did, I’d be ready. I would put my hands on him just like he did Cheyenne, just to see how he liked it.
Two hours passed with absolutely no activity, and I had drained the coffee pot dry. My energy was fading, and the howling of the wind was lulling me to sleep, but then the camera angle flashed to the one just beside the barn. It overlooked my driveway and most of my front lawn, and when I saw the figure emerge from the side of the camera view, I stopped the toggling, zooming in.
There was a figure in a ski mask, and they were headed straight across my driveway to the barn that held Cheyenne’s horses.
“Cheyenne!” I called. I ran up the stairs and burst into her room, and she was already stirring from her sleep.
“Cheyenne. Call the police. Someone’s on the property.”
“What? Where are they?” she asked.
“I got it. Just call the police.”
I dashed into my room and grabbed my shotgun before I loaded my pockets down with rounds. I flew back downstairs and took another look at the cameras, and I saw the figure with the mask dash to the side of my barn.
This was it. This nightmare was about to be over, and if Cheyenne wasn’t calling the police, then I’d be dragging them out of my barn with bloodied legs they couldn’t walk on.
I decided not to call out to them. I knew they were there and that they weren’t carrying a gun big enough to scare me, and that was enough. I kept the floodlights off and ran towards the stables, just as the horses began to kick up. I saw the shadow of the intruder edging around the barn, so I darted off to the opposite side and decided I’d cut him off from the back entrance. He obviously learned from his last attempt to stay away from the front door, but I knew exactly where this fucker was, and he wasn’t getting away this time.
I found him around the back of the barn trying to jimmy the door open, and I held the gun up to his back.
“I’ve got a gun,” I said. I watched the man put his hands in the air, and immediately knew once again I wasn’t looking at Bill Coates. This man was too tall and slender to be that asshole, but I didn’t care. I was ready for this nightmare to be over so Cheyenne could feel safe in this town again.
So we all could feel safe again.
“Who the hell are you?” I asked. I cocked my shotgun, and the man simply stood still, but I saw his shoulders rise with a deep breath. I knew exactly what was about to happen, but what I didn’t predict was how fast he would take off.
Before I knew it, he had bolted around the barn and was out of my sight again.
“Shit,” I said. I ripped the barn door open and ran right through the stables, and when I opened the latch, throwing the front double doors open, I heard and felt the impact of something solid crash into them.
“There you are,” I said, growling. I dropped my gun and stepped around the doors, and that’s when the floodlights at my house turned on and illuminated the entire driveway. I watched the man in the ski mask get up, and before he could go anywhere, I threw a nasty right hook into his jaw and knocked him solidly to the ground.
“Colt?” Cheyenne called from the porch. “Colt? Are you alright?”
I grabbed the back of the man’s black jacket and pulled him into my driveway, and he kicked and scraped his hands along the ground, trying to get away.
“You think you can terrorize people in this town and get away with it?” I asked.
He stumbled to his feet and tried to get away, but I put my knee into his stomach, and he doubled over, trying to catch his breath.
“You think you can come onto my property and terrorize my animals?”
“Colt!” Cheyenne shrieked.
I could hear sirens in the distance, and I knew this debacle was finally over. I felt pride surging through my veins as my vision began to tunnel, and the only thing I had left to do was rip this asshat’s ski mask off and reveal to the world who it was. Cheyenne was running towards me and Tif had hobbled out onto the porch, coming to see what all the commotion was.
Then I felt Cheyenne grab onto my arm, begging for my attention.
“Take a breath, Colt,” she said. “We’ve got him.”
I pulled the man up to his feet by the collar of his jacket before I grabbed the back of his ski mask. Police cruisers were charging up with an ambulance in tow, and I felt a rush of relief when I heard them pulling up into my driveway.
When I ripped the mask off the man I held in my grasp, I was stunned.
“Rick?” Cheyenne asked.
“Rick?”
His eyes were wide with terror, and I heard the doors of the police cruisers opening. His mouth stayed screwed shut while tears brewed behind his eyes, and I was stunned silent while the sheriff walked up beside me.
“Before you say anything,” Cheyenne said, “we’ve got it all on camera.”
“When did you get cameras installed?” Rick asked.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked.
I couldn’t believe that we had missed it. All the signs were there, but I was so focused on placing the blame on Bill that I had completely missed even thinking of Rick as a suspect. He was never around when things were going down, and he had no idea I had cameras installed. When I thought about it, I didn’t remember seeing him around the day we had cameras installed. I cursed myself for missing such huge signs.
“Who is it?” Tiffany called from the porch.
“Rick!” Cheyenne shouted out.
“What?”
“Why, Rick?” I asked. “What in the world were you thinking?”
“I’m so sorry,” he said as he panned his gaze to Cheyenne. “I never meant for any of your horses to die.”
“You only meant to burn down my barn?” she asked.
“So, this is our guy, huh?” one of the deputies asked.
“Yep,” I said. I tossed him into the hands of the man who was handcuffing him, and I heard his rights being read to him as I turned my back. I’d trusted Rick for years at this place, and to think he could turn his back on everything and hurt us the way he did was throwing me for a loop. I felt Cheyenne thread her arm around me before she tossed my arm over her shoulders, and the two of us started for Tiffany who was standing on the porch with tears in her eyes.
“It’s Rick?” she asked softly.
“Come on, you guys. It’s over,” Cheyenne said. “Let’s get some coffee, or maybe a glass of wine to help us settle down.”
“It’s over,” I said.
“Yes. It’s finally over.”
I looked down at Cheyenne while Tiffany hobbled inside, and the sparkle in her eyes slowly brought me back to why I’d done this in the first place. A glass of wine didn’t sound half bad after what we had just experienced, and while the three of us were shocked, betrayed, and hurt, we were also relieved it was finally over.
“Does this mean you’ll stay?” I asked. “Now that your barn is no longer under siege?”
“I suppose I could stay a little while longer,” she said cheekily.
“White or red?” Tiffany called out.
“Whatever is stronger!” Cheyenne yelled.
“That’s my girl,” I said.
“I’m hardly your girl,” she said with a smirk.
“Oh, really? So exactly what are you, then?” I asked.
“I’m the brain to your brawn.”
“Did you just call me dumb?” I asked.
“Oh no, Colt. I would never do that,” she said.
“You’ll pay for that, you know,” I said with a grin.
“I’m counting on it,” she said.