cowboy

32

two months later

Lacey stood in the shower of her bathroom as hot water fell onto her body. The whole bathroom was steaming up but she didn't care, the warm water was making her stiff muscles relax.

"You're going to burn your skin off." Rip says as he rests his hands on her hips gently. Lacey nods her head leaning it back against the shoulder sighing. Rip kisses her bare shoulder before grabbing her body wash and gently washing her body. His fingers gently trace the scar from when her and Tate were tortured.

"My dads coming home today." Lacey whispers.

"I know, Beth was talking about it at breakfast." Rip says gently scrubbing her arm. Lacey turns around so her chest was against his and the water hit her back.

"He doesn't know does he?" Lacey asks. Rip sighs and shakes his head making Lacey rests her forehead against his shoulder. Rip hugs her kissing the side of her head, he knew this was hard for her, the past two months have been hard on everyone at the ranch.

"Beth is meeting your dad at the hospital, and then we all have to talk with him about what happened." Rip explains.

"Okay." Lacey whispers.

The two finished showering and then had gotten dressed for the day. Rip went off to tell everyone what to do while Lacey went down to the dining room to eat something.

Lacey sighed as she stared at the bagel in front of her. A door banging open made Lacey jump but she relaxed when Kayce walked in giving her an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry." Kayce says.

"It's fine. Im fine." Lacey says as she goes to grab peanut butter for her bagel. Lacey quickly spreads it on as tears well up in her eyes, Kayce watches sadly as his sister cries. She sets the knife down she shakes her head sobs now leaving her mouth. He runs over and holds her up as she starts to fall to the ground. Kayce sits on the kitchen floor hugging his sister from behind as she cries.

"I hate this, I'm not weak." Lacey cries to her brother. Kayce sighs and holds her tighter knowing she needs it. It was no secret that the last half a year Lacey has been put through the ringer, first being abducted with Tate, next her own home being invaded and burnt down.

"Want to hear a secret?" Kayce whispers to his sister and she nods her head as she wipes her tears.

"Apart of me wishes he died." Kayce admits, "apart of me wishes that he died so that we can sell the ranch and be free from it all." Kayce whispers.

"Me too." Lacey whispers sadly. Kayce sighs and rests his chin on the top of her head still hugging her. He was grateful for Lacey, she protected his son and his wife during the attack, she kept him sane and in line ninety percent of the time, she was the rock for this family, for his family.

*

Lacey stood outside on the porch watching as her dad got carried out on a stretcher, his eyes landed on Lacey and he could help but be relieved that she was alright. Lacey walks over and takes her fathers hand giving it a small squeeze.

"Welcome home daddy." Lacey whispers. The paramedics take her father inside to Jamie's old room, Beth following behind quickly. She could hear her fathers complaints from where she was and she shook her head sighing. Lacy walked around the porch to sit out in the back to breath.

Kayce was out there somewhere, looking around for anyone trying to hurt the ranch. Lacey felt like she was in prison, they always had a cop car or a livestock agent at the front of the gate, cops wandered around the land too, and the wranglers were all on high alert all day everyday.

Lacey and Rip talked about moving into the foreman's cabin, Kayce giving them the go ahead, but Lacey didn't feel safe moving out of the main lodge yet. It gave her peace knowing her family was under one roof, safe from whoever was out there trying to kill them.

"He's not going to stay in there." Beth says sitting in the chair beside Lacey. Lacey didn't acknowledge her sister, she was enjoying the little peace that she was given. Beth lit a cigarette taking a long hit from it before blowing the smoke away from Lacey.

"You tell him yet?" Lacey asks quietly.

"Which part?" Beth asks taking another hit from her cigarette.

"Any of it?" Lacey asks turning to look at Beth. Beth shakes her head and Lacey sighs pulling her knees up to her chest like she did when she was a child.

She could hear yelling from inside and when she heard a door slam shut she knew it was their father. John made his way around and sat down on the other side of Lacey letting out a sigh.

"I might need you living in the main lodge Lace, just for a while." John says and Lacey nods her head.

"Her and Rip been living here all summer daddy, their fixing up the foreman cabin." Beth says.

"Why?" John asks looking at his youngest confused.

"They burned it daddy." Lacey says sadly.

"What else did they burn?" John asks. Lacey turns to Beth frowning, she remembered seeing Beth in the hospital, covered in burns, her skin melted off. Lacey pushes the thought away not liking the memory.

"Everything." Beth states.

"What happened?" John asks.

"Not today daddy, I want to celebrate one victory before the defeats." Beth says and John looks at Lacey. It was like she was seeing a ghost, scared that it would pop out at any moment.

"Kayces back." Lacey whispers.

John turns to see Kayce walking up covered in fake grass disguise and he forced himself up groaning and makes his way out to Kayce.

"Rip should be back soon, you guys joining us for dinner?" Beth asks trying to distract her sister from her thoughts.

"Yeah, we'll join tonight." Lacey says giving her sister a thankful look.

*

Rip woke up and looked at the clock to see it was four thirty in the morning. He sighs and stretches looking to see Lacey sleeping with her back to him. Rip smiles softly at Lacey kissing her shoulder before getting out of bed to get ready for the day. As he put on his hat he noticed that Lacey was now awake watching him.

"Hi darlin." Rip says quietly since they were in the main house.

"Make him suffer." Lacey whispers before closing her eyes again. Rip nods his head and walks over kissing her forehead gently before leaving the room to go get the job done.