Lonely Secrets: Yellowstone Ranch Series

16

"You might as well go back and get some rest."

I heard Johns voice. I jumped awake. He was staring down at me in the waiting room.

"I'm okay. I'll stay-" I rubbed my hands nervously on my knees.

"No. You're not okay." John cleared his throat and sat next to me. "I've been where you're at. A lot." He nodded and looked at me beneath the brim of his hat. He took it off slowly.

I stared at him, confused.

"My wife." He nodded still. "And Lee, Kayce's brother. And a lot of other people." He let out a small huff. John was letting down a wall that I had barely even seen from Kayce. The more I talked to John the more I realized much how Kayce favored him. In the way they spoke and occasionally how they looked. "If there's anything useful I've learned it's two things. When someone offers for you to sleep, do it." He sighed.

"And the other?" I glanced down the hall at Rip walking towards us.

"The worst place to find out bad news is a hospital." He swallowed hard and stood back up. "Go back to the ranch, Ada."

My heart tightened and raced. I bit my tongue.

Rip shook Johns hand. They stopped to speak. And Rip dropped his head. Then John patted his back.

"You ready?" Rip asked me as he approached my shell. I looked up at him with watery eyes. He pursed his lips. "C'mon, kid." He cleared his throat.

I stood up with weak knees.

Hannah and Ryan followed us.

Everything I walked by was a blur. The hallways, the lobby, the elevator. The parking lot and even getting in the truck I felt like I was floating. Like it wasn't me and I was watching myself from somewhere else. Everything went numb. I tried talking myself into a positive outcome on the drive back but it wasn't helping.

Rips phone rang.

"Yeah?" I subconsciously heard him. "Slow the fuck down, Lloyd. What's going on?" I snapped out of my somber state and looked at Rip. Then back at Ryan. Ryan's eyes were wide and staring at Rip, too. "Goddammit. We'll be there soon. Call the sheriff." Rip hung up the phone. "Jakes at the ranch. His whole gang."

My heart pounded. "What for?" Hannah asked before I could.

"I don't fucking know." Rip mumbled as I felt the truck accelerate and push forward suddenly.

"I'll call the sheriffs office." Ryan pulled out his phone. I couldn't take my eyes off Rip.

He glanced at me and then back to the road. And to me again.

"Hasn't he taken enough?" I gritted through my teeth as Ryan was on the phone.

"Kayce's gonna be okay." Rip reached across and squeezed my shoulder. I couldn't speak. I was shaking again. "You're worrying me."

"You should be worried for Jake if he's there when we get there." I shook my head, all my sadness draining from me. Anger settling in now.

Rip leaned forward, opening the glovebox. It dropped open and he pulled out a black pistol. He sat it on the center console, staring at me.

I nodded, then stared out the window.

The truck raced down the black highway. It was so dark I didn't even realize the vehicle on the side of the road. I only noticed it when the headlights flipped on and pulled in behind us.

I leaned forward, looking hard into the mirror.

"Rip-" Ryan said.

"I see it." He mumbled.

I looked at Rip. His knuckles whitened around the steering wheel as he drove faster. He adjusted the rear view.

The vehicle caught up with us quickly.

"What do you have in here?" Ryan asked, unbuckling his seat belt.

I couldn't see Hannah's face but I knew it must've been shocked. It probably looked the same as mine.

"Rifle underneath you. There's a revolver in the pocket behind this seat and I've got a pistol on me."

My hands felt shaky. Something was gonna happen. I didn't know what. But something.

We drove a little further and it made think we were being paranoid. But as soon as the thought crossed my mind, it left. Rip looked into the mirror again, watching the vehicle.

I did the same. When I looked forward again, another vehicle was in front of us, a small car, stopped still. "Rip!" I yelled, grabbed the door for support.

There was no one in the car.

He slammed on the brakes and jerked the wheel right.

I heard Hannah holler from the back seat and Ryan shuffling around. I snatched the pistol off the console.

The truck bounced off the road and into the dirt shoulder. The front end of the truck caught a barb wire fence but Rip pushed through. He tried cutting back onto the road but the first vehicle caught up with us.

"Goddammit." He muttered again, looking a little panicked.

The vehicle, which I now saw was a white truck, turned sharply towards us, bumping the bed of our truck.

It slung the truck around in the dirt.

Hannah screamed.

I could hear Rip turning the wheel one way then back the other.

My head smacked the window. I winced.

Then I heard a loud crash. And I was raising off my seat. My world spinning around me.