Troubles | TROY OTTO |

Chapter Ten

She's seen him mad plenty of times.  Troy was prone to violent fits of physical retaliation:  pushes here,  punches there.  There had been countless victims of the outbursts.  She remembers a time when even Jake had met the furious fists of his younger brother despite being the one who doted on him most.  But Ella had never been on the receiving end of the monster anger made Troy become.  He did not have to harm her to make her soul restless,  quaking with desperation to turn the frown screwed on his lips into the sweet smile she knew him to direct toward her.  All it took for her to become uneasy was the frigidness that replaced the warm summer skies that looked to her.  The coldness of his gaze froze her blood and made her heart beg to be released from the clutches of aching frostbite. 

Ella could never fear Troy.  She didn't worry for her safety, though she knew others considered him dangerous.  He had never once touched her in any way other than gentle and she was not afraid he would ever start.  Even now as his jaw clenched and his fists bundled into it teeth that bit the center of his palms, she did not fear the volatile boy.  Her heart trembled in disappointment at herself for being so foolish and releasing the information that she did, but she was not scared.

Her hands drop slowly from his bicep, fingertips reluctant to break the contact between them.  Arms swinging to her sides, she takes in another breath and prepares to push the apology that dances on the tip of her tongue into the freezing atmosphere between them.

"I don't know why I did it," She quietly admits, but she knows she has an idea.  Nick had said Madison had a plan.  After the shaky grounds of introduction between the Ranchers and the wandering family, Ella had no choice but to worry for whatever plan she could have devised  -  especially when the blonde's distaste for the youngest Otto had been made painfully clear.  Despite her desire to trust the newcomers, the fact they were so hostile against the boy she loved didn't sit well with her in the slightest.  For her, Troy came above every single person at the Ranch.

Ella wanted to believe the Clarks would make their place at Brokejaw like she had, rooting for their efforts quietly.  Now she just wanted them to leave; to have the feigned peace of their home restored like before the family of three had gotten there.  She even wanted Nick to leave - the only one she could properly talk with.  He trusted her so readily and wholeheartedly for the care of Luciana, thanking her after the girl had been deemed on the path of recovery.  He reminded her of Troy in a way; partly unhinged, but with a misunderstood heart of gold.   He even had the same darkness pooling in his gaze when Troy had refused treatment for Luciana.

Nick and Troy were so similar, but so different all the same.  Where Troy slinked around with the aggression ready to spring at a moment's notice, Nick hunched  forward and readied for the long game.  He was patient in his retaliation, but Troy was set on doing it as fast as possible.  It made their interaction strange; a silent war between the monsters caged in their bones - one rabid and one an intelligent predator that could wait for the right moment. 

Nick didn't scare her either, but she felt the same disappointment when he had switched the open gaze into a suspicious squint after her confession.

Troy remained silent, his head storming with too many fleeting thoughts.  The Clarks were not his favorite people.  They stubbornly fought despite the Ranch being his home.  They wanted to get rid of him - and he knew they would play dirty to get the upper hand.  A phantom pain under his eye reminds him of just how far they'll go - and he was playing nice when it happened. 

Ella never did things without reason, so he knows she's withholding something, but he couldn't focus on that part of it.  His mind kept returning to the target she had painted on her own back.  He thought he could accept the newcomers over time - as long as he was able to wear down their hostility toward him, but now - more than ever - he had to get rid of them.  Just having them on the ranch put Ella in danger and he couldn't watch her every moment.  Hell, the following day, he would be on a mission with only Madison.  That left two threats remaining while he was gone.  The idea didn't sit well with him.

"You're mad."  She states with so much conviction it made his heart squeeze.  Without thought, his hand reaches for the closest one of hers, twisting their fingers together.  He was not angry at her, though she believed as much.  He was angry at the Clarks  -  for sticking that spoon beneath his eye, for hitching a ride back to the ranch where she was, for existing.  So he does his best to comfort her - lips pressed against her forehead after a quick exhale, pulling her to a protective embrace.

"I'm not mad at you," he responds in a whisper against her ear that racks her body with a shiver.  Her lips purse as she stares at his face.  She can see the darkness at the corners of the gentle love that looked back at her.  It makes her hesitate, tongue twisting as her heart spares one harsh thump against her ribs.

"What are you going to do?"

Like every other secret they shared, he quietly responded.

"I'll take care of it.  Trust me."

Despite the churning of her stomach and the heavy weight of regret on her shoulders, she did.  She always would.

Unedited.

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