Lonely Secrets: Yellowstone Ranch Series

19

I felt my body hit the ground. My head throbbing. I felt someone grab my arm. But that was it. My eyes closed and I thought I fell asleep.

I couldn't tell you when I woke up. Maybe an hour later, maybe minutes. My eyes burned and my head pounded. I was in a truck. And I couldn't move my arms, they were handcuffed together in front of me. I blinked a lot, trying to fix my blurry vision. I looked to my left to see Jake driving. I wasn't surprised. It was bound to happened eventually.

I sighed. "What do you want?" I asked, unamused, holding my forehead and with my handcuffed wrists.

"Don't take it personal." He lit a cigarette. "Want one?" He offered the pack to me.

"I don't smoke. It gives you cancer." I rolled my eyes at him.

He chuckled a throaty chuckle,"Yeah, something's gonna kill me before cancer."

"Probably Kayce at this rate." I mumbled, staring out the window, trying to figure out where we were but it was dark and everything looked the same.

"Probably so." He inhaled his cigarette and blew the smoke back out the window. "But at least I'll get my revenge first."

Revenge. I wanted to roll my eyes. How cliche. I would've laughed at him but I knew I was the subject of the revenge and didn't want to make our current standings any worse.

He drove a long way. And the further he drove the more nervous I got. There was no way they would find me soon. Shortly after my thoughts, he pulled up to a ranch I didn't recognize. He shut off the head lights and crept halfway done the driveway.

"This is where your lover hung James." Jake cleared his throat.

My heart started to race. There was house a far ways down the drive way and I wondered if I could make there.

"So what now, you're gonna hang me here to?" I asked, trying to sound as calm as possible while plotting my plan.

"Eventually." He sighed. Chills ran down my spine. "But I gotta wait for the boys to bring John and Kayce first." I swallowed hard and my stomach flipped. I was not letting Kayce and John watch me hang. I had to get out of here. "That house has a family with three little kids. And I'll kill every single one of them if you try to run." Jake started to toss another cigarette out the window. I wanted to think Jake wasn't capable and didn't have the balls to do it, but I wasn't testing it.

"You're gonna catch a forest on fire from that one day." I mumbled.

"You're right." He sat up with a evil grin on his face. He took the cigarette and pressed it to my arm. I wanted to scream. But I didn't want to give him that pleasure. I bit down on my tongue. I tasted metal. Blood. He chuckled,"You think you're tough, huh?" I didn't say anything. I was afraid if I opened my mouth I would burst into tears and I didn't want him to see me that way. "We'll see how tough you are." He then tossed the cigarette that burned my flesh out of the truck window.

It felt like hours passed by and Jake was getting antsy. He tried calling different people but was getting no answers.

Then a car pulled up behind us slowly.

"About fucking time." He grumbled while getting out of the truck. This was it. I tried hard to put a plan together in my head. There was no running for it. There was nowhere to even run. I couldn't fight him. I was handcuffed and much smaller than him. I couldn't even out smart him. He only wanted one thing. To cause pain to Kayce.

Jake jerked open my door and pulled me out. I didn't have much balance and stumbled to the ground. He jerked me up and shoved a gun to my back. It hurt up against my skin and I couldn't even imagine the pain if he fired it.

The headlights shut off and the driver side door open. A man stepped out, casually.

"It's a trap, Jake!" He yelled.

The man's body was knocked to the ground and Jake's grip tightened on me. The gun pressed harder against my spine.

I watched as John Dutton stepped out of the passenger seat and Rip stood up where the man's body went down. Where's Kayce? What happened to Kayce?

"Let her go, Jake." Rip hissed, holding a pistol up behind the car door.

"I'll kill her. I plan to. Whether I get to hang her like he hung my brother or not. She's dead!" Jake yelled. He sounded hysterical, he was losing it.

"Take me instead." John threw his gun far away from him. "You don't just hurt Kayce. You'll hurt my entire ranch. The whole state of Montana if you kill me." He held his hands up in the air.

"John. No." Tears bawled up in my eyes. It was all getting to be too much.

Jake shook me. "No, this is the plan!" He yelled again.

I heard rustling behind us. But I didn't dare say anything.

"Plans change, Jake." John started walking to us. "You kill me, and everyone will pay attention to you. You'll be the man that killed John Dutton. And they'll want to talk to you." He walked closer but slowly.

"Stop!" Jake yelled. I struggled to breath. I could die at any moment if this man unhinged.

"You can tell everyone about your brother and what Kayce did to him." John was feet from us now. "Just let Ada go." John reached out to me.

"Then they'll arrest him. And we'll get justice." Jake started to rambled and I felt the gun leave my back.

John grabbed me from Jake and a gun fired.

I screamed as John took me to the ground, shielding me from whatever was happening. I waited to feel pain somewhere. Or to become sleepy or dizzy. But I wasn't shot and I wasn't dying.

"Ada."

I rustled around and looked behind us. Jake laid slumped on the ground, bleeding down his neck. And Kayce was securing his gun behind his back, running to me.

"Kayce!" I cried out, trying to stand but didn't have much balance still because of the hand cuffs.

"You're okay, baby. It's okay. Let's get these off you." He held me face tightly. I knew my tears were streaming over his hands, they kept pouring. I had so many emotions. Scared but relieved Kayce was okay or at least alive.

"Here's the keys." Rip shoved them to Kayce.

Kayce grabbed the keys and with shaking hands unlocked them. I slung his arms around his neck and buried my face to his chest.

"It's over. It's over. I'm sorry." He held my body tightly to him.