Double the Trouble (Texas Trouble 3) (27 page)

"Nope...I quit, just like you did...time to put my boots under the same bed every night."

She snorted
.
"Instead of under a different cowgirl's bed every night?"

"That's not me anymore, darlin'...I'm staying in
Bowie
.  Luke Matthews hired me as his ranch manager today."

Disbelief and dread coursed through
Karlie
, and she
vaulted out of her chair
, and said angrily,
  "I guess that means I'll be turning in my notice, then
,
" then turned on her heel to go find Luke.  She could put up with a lot of things, and a lot of people, but seeing Wade Roberts on a daily basis wasn't one of them.

"Karlie, wait a minute
...w
e can work this out..." he said and grabbed her arm.  "I promise I won't give you grief.  I need this job, and this new start...
just like you did.
"

Gabe walked up right then, and grabbed Wade's wrist and held it until he released Karlie's arm.  "Keep your hands off of my girlfriend, asshole."

Wade
pushed him and said, "
K
eep your fucking hands off of
me
,
Gabe
.
  T
hat's the last time I'm gonna take it.
..I don't care if you were my brother's best friend
.  Take
a chill,
Karlie and I were just having a conversation.
"

Karlie put her hand on Gabe's arm and nodded, "It's okay Gabe, we were just talking.  Did you know Luke hired Wade to be the new manager of the Double B?"

Gabe sucked in a breath and spat,
"No fucking way...he mentioned it at lunch the other day, but I didn't believe he'd do it. Cole wasn't happy."

"Cole needs to get over it, because it did happen, and I start on Monday...and you do too," Wade told Gabe matter-of-factly.

Karlie didn't like the smug tone he'd taken with Gabe and said,
"Well I don't need to be getting over it, because I'm going to find Luke and tell him to find another trainer."

Wade ran a hand over his square jaw then pleaded, "Karlie, you're the best trainer they'll find, and you can help with the cattle too.
They need you to stay.
..I need you to stay.
 
Cassie
needs help until
the baby
comes
...and Luke is already overloaded
."  Wade put his hand on her shoulder and said earnestly, "
We're adults here and what happened was a long time ago...
I already apologized to your sister, and now I'm telling you...I'm sorry for what I did back then.  It won't happen again.
"

Indecision warred inside of her and she gnawed her lip, then looked up at Gabe, and asked, "What do you think?"

"I think as long as he keeps his hands to his fucking self, and doesn't give you a hard time, it's a good job and you love it, you should stay.  He's right, they do need you there."

Wade forced out the breath he'd evidently been holding, and slapped Gabe on the shoulder, "Thanks, man," then he looked at Karlie, "Does that mean you'll stay?"

She nodded then stuck her hand out to him, "Welcome to the Double B."

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Leaving the counselor's office with Karlie,
Gabe a little groggy and disoriented, because he'd let the man hypnotize him
.  The counselor had told him
it was a therapy that had helped some guys coming back from
Iraq
and
Afghanistan
deal with post-traumatic stress disorder
, which is what he thought Gabe's problem was, but from the incident with Kenny instead of war.
 

G
abe sure
hoped it helped, because, since he'd started coming here, it seemed the dreams had gotten even worse
, not better
.  Now
,
fear for Karlie was weaving itself into the dreams, and the screams he heard
now,
while he was running were feminine and sounded a lot like hers.
  Every time it happened, he woke up in a cold sweat calling her name.
  But she wasn't there
with him
, she was at the Double B with Cassie and Luke
.

Gabe
need
ed
to change
that really soon,
he wanted to
convince her to move in with him.  It had been a
lmost a
month, since his run in with Jake Johnson at that park, and the longer they went without a peep out of him, the more edgy Gabe got, his gut telling him that it was just the calm before the storm.
  He knew that feeling from being in the military and then a cop.  When his gut talked, Gabe listened.

"Give me the keys, sugar.  The doc said I should drive us home," Karlie told him and held out her hand.
 

He felt fine to drive, but dug in his pocket and put the keys in her palm anyway.  It would give him time to think, and talk to Karlie, while she drove.
  They'd driven Freddie anyway, instead of his Camaro, because she had the motor in pieces and parts, rehabbing the carburetor.
 
Gabe
thought it was funny as shit that his girlfriend was working on his car, because she thought the engine didn't sound quite right, but Karlie was funny...and smart, and sassy, and he loved
every
quirky thing
about
her.
 

He opened the driver's door for her, then went around and got into the passenger side, as she fired up the mean sounding engine.  The more the rode in her hot rod
Lincoln
, the more he loved it too.  It was one fine piece of machinery, and she kept it in tip top shape.
  "Freddie's sounding frisky today," he told her with a grin.

"He's always frisky," she said then put the car in drive.  "That's why you and I even met...he was sewing some oats that day, and Sarge and I were along for the ride."

"That was more than oats he was sewing that day, I thought you were going to peel the
blacktop
off the road," Gabe told her with a laugh.  "It was the best day of my life though, honey...you can hog-tie me anytime."

Her face drooped and she told him, "I'm sorry about that, Gabe...I know you caught hell about it.  Are they still ragging on you?"

"Not so much anymore, but I don't care...I got the girl," he said and swallowed
, thinking that wasn't quite right...h
e
almost
had her.  He still hadn't brought up his mother with the counselor, but he would soon. 

Gabe knew he needed to work out that issue, even if he couldn't work his way up to asking Karlie to marry him...one way or another it would eventually pop up in whatever relationship they did have.  His mother leaving his dad like she had, out of the blue, and without explanation, had really left an impression on her six-year-old son.  Long term relationships hadn't been something he'd ever considered before, because of it. 

He was now, because he loved Karlie, but living together was the best he could do.  If he could at least get Karlie to move in with him, they could take it one day at a time and get to know each other better, build some trust, and maybe he would feel like he was making progress to get past his committment phobia.

"Karlie, I've been thinking..." he said then gripped the door with his hand.

"Never a good sign," she said with a hoot, then asked him, "What's on your mind
?
"

"
Things are getting better since I started the counseling, would you consider moving in with me
?" There he'd spit it out and all he could do now was wait for her to shoot him down
.

The only sound he heard for a full minute was the sound of Freddie's engine purring as she ramped up the speed when they moved onto the main highway, then she said, "You sure you want to do that?"

"More sure than I've ever been about anything in my life.  I love you, and I miss you when you're not around," he said knowing he sounded like a sappy lovesick fool, but he didn't care, it was the truth.

"I miss you too, Gabe...and sometimes I
do
feel like a third wheel with Cassie and Luke at the Double B, but I don't want to rush into anything and mess up what we have," she told him then looked over at him with a beautiful smile.  "It's too good right now."

"It is pretty good, isn't it?" he said, realizing what she said was true.  Gabe couldn't remember a time in his life when he'd been happier, more hopeful that things were going to be okay.  Even his sister had commented on his improved mood and outlook.

"Damned good...so, you think we're ready for that?"

"I know I am...I want you with me all the time, not just when I can break away and visit you at the Double B...it's not enough.
  And there are too many damned people around for me to have my wicked way with you
,
whenever I please.
"

"That doesn't seem to stop you, you wicked man," she told him with a raised eyebrow.

"Where you're concerned, sweetheart, not much could stop me," he chuckled
then told her, "Watch out that truck is stopped up there," the guy didn't have any brake lights and Gabe was afraid she didn't see him stop
.

Karlie applied pressure on the brakes then he saw her face go white, "The brakes aren't working, Gabe..." she told him and pushed the pedal to the floor a couple of times.  "Something's wrong."

T
hey were on
a two-lane highway,
and there was a line of oncoming traffic in the left lane, so she couldn't go around.  The truck in front of them was taking its time turning, and he didn't think it would finish the turn, before they reached it.  "Hit the horn honey, lay on it.  Take the fence out if that guy doesn't turn," he said frantically looking to the right at the barbed wire fence posts, down a
fairly
steep decline
off the shoulder
.
  It would be a rough ride, but that was their best bet, Gabe thought.

The truck cleared the turn at the last second and he heard Karlie huff out a breath and saw her grip the wheel tighter.  Freddie was slowing down some and the road ahead was clear at the moment.  Gabe let out the breath he'd been holding as well and held onto the 'oh shit' handle for dear life. 

"That's it baby, just ease it down...try shifting down to second, then first, and use the transmission to slow him down."
  The motor kicked when she down-shifted and jerked
Gabe
forward in the seat, but the big black
Lincoln
slowed down
a little
more. 

"Good job, just
keep him steady, and the
n
move it to first after you slow down a little
more
,"
Gabe
coached, his heart beating like drum in his chest.
  His heart-rate sped up even more when he saw a slow-moving little subcompact car in their lane up ahead. 

"Shit..." he said as they got closer to the car.  There were trees on the right side now, instead of open pasture, and that could get ugly, if they had to ditch the car to avoid a collision.  When the last car in the line on the left passed them and he saw open highway, he breathed a sigh of relief.  "Pass her on the left, it's clear."

Karlie had the big heavy car slowed down to about forty-five now, so that was more manageable than the seventy-five she'd been doing when they saw the truck.  If she had a little more open road, he knew she could get them stopped.
  When they got near the bumper of the small car, she whipped around to the left lane then pulled back into the right after she passed.  Gabe watched the speedometer and saw they were down to
forty now.

"We're almost there, baby...just stay calm.  Shift down to first now," he told her and the car bucked as she did it, and it slowed down to thirty
-five
.  They passed the tree line and
he looked to the right to see another open field, this one unfenced and with less of a decline off the shoulder. 
It was probably their best chance to avoid wrecking the car, and stop it.  "Turn right then ease down that embankment into the field, to stop us...it's our best bet, I think."

"Are you sure?" she asked in a trembling voice, "I think if we stay on the road, I can get us stopped."

"I don't think so, this is  a heavy car, and who knows what's up the road ahead.  This is our best chance.
..hurry you're running out of pasture,
"
he said and she nodded then turned the wheel to the right, taking them down the hill
roughly.  There were holes and bumps all the way and they were bouncing in the seat so violently,
and
he thought maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all, but it was too late to sec
ond guess. 

The car hit a narrow irrigation
ditch in the pasture that he hadn't seen
from the road
and jerked violently then stopped, but he saw Karlie fly out of the seat and hit her head on the roof, then fall back into the seat with her head lolling against the window.  There was blood coming from
her forehead and Gabe panicked, then opened his door and ran around the car to fling hers open.  He pulled her out of the seat and into his arms then laid her on the ground and tugged his shirt off to press it against the gash near her hairline. 

"Oh, god...Karlie, talk to me baby," he begged with tears clogging his throat.
  What a stupid fucking idea to drive the car into the field, he thought.  This was all his fault...and her pale face made his insides clutch like they were in a vice.  "Wake up, sugar...talk to me," he pleaded and held pressure on the wound.
  They were out in the middle of a pasture, he probably had no cell phone service, and Karlie likely had a concussion
,
hopefully not worse.
 

He looked around and saw that a car had stopped at the road and the driver was running toward them, talking on the phone. 
Evidently, there was service in the area, and Gabe sent up a thank you, then pulled Karlie onto his lap and cradled her in his arms, still holding pressure against the cut.

"Are you okay?" the good Samaritan asked breathlessly when he reached them.  "I called the cops and an ambulance," he said then asked, "What happened?"

"I don't know if she's okay...her head hit the roof when we went across that ditch, she's bleeding.  The brakes went out in the car," Gabe told him, then kissed the side of Karlie's head.  Like that was going to help, he thought.
  "Thank you for stopping."

"It's a good thing you were in that tank, instead of one of those new fiberglass jobbies," the guy said.

"Yeah, no kidding..." Gabe agreed then flinched thinking of what could have happened if that were the case.  Karlie moved in his arms and he held his breath looking down at her when she opened her bright blue eyes, and they fixed on his.
  He hugged her to him and said near her ear, "Oh, thank god, are you okay, baby?"

She struggled against his hold, then when he let her go, she said, "I'm fine...how's Freddie?"