The Lost and Found (22 page)

“What’s up, Billy?” I asked as we got closer. His eyes looked worried or anxious about something. I wondered if we were about to get a reaming for where I’d stayed last night.

“Something happened,” he began. “Ethan…”

I didn’t wait for him to finish. I raced into the house, yelling for Ethan, fear tearing through me. I heard the pounding of someone following me. I could hardly breathe past the lump in my throat. I was starting to see spots, my panic over Ethan’s safety making me lightheaded and dizzy. I skidded into the living room; my eyes flashed around the room then landed on my brother who was calmly seated on the couch. His right arm was bound tightly in a black brace and sling.

I grabbed the wall next to me, almost falling in my relief to see he was in one piece. Josiah’s strong arms encircled me, held me up, held me against him.

“Ethan,” I breathed. “What happened?”

I can always tell when Ethan is lying. His eyes won’t quite meet mine. And as I looked at him in concern, needing to know what happened, and that he was all right, I noticed that he looked right through me. His grey eyes focused on the space between mine, and my heart clenched tightly in my chest.

“Just clumsy, I guess. Fell outside with the guys. Slipped in the snow.”

I drew in a breath, about to question him, to call him out, but Josiah stopped me with a pressure to my side where his big hands were holding me. Reluctantly I pulled my gaze from my brother and looked up at Josiah. His deep blue eyes told me to wait, to let Ethan’s explanation stand for right now. I nodded slowly, and he kissed me just above my ear.

“Well, Kid,” I said calmly, “next time… be careful, all right?”

Ethan sagged a little in relief, and said, “Yeah, I will. I promise.”

Kelly sat beside my brother and he caught my eye and nodded. Daisy sat at Ethan’s feet, practically wrapped around him. She’d picked up on the tension and the fear, and she was on high alert. I let Josiah lead me back out to the patio where Billy was waiting for me. Josiah leaned against the railing, pulled me into his arms and we faced Billy.

“What happened?” Josiah asked quietly, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Kid won’t say. Just that he slipped outside.”

“Bull crap,” I spit out.

“That’s how I figured it, too, Sage.” Billy took a sip of his coffee then said, “I was in the kitchen, getting more coffee. The boys were all outside, throwing snowballs and the football around. Then, I heard raised voices. They seemed angry, but I couldn’t tell who was doing the yelling. I finished what I was doing and was just heading back out when I heard The Kid scream. I hoofed it out to where they’d gathered out by the barn. Ethan was on the ground. Kelly was on his knees beside him — in a defensive position. The others were grouped around him.

“I asked what happened and I got silence. I asked Ethan and he said he’d slipped and fallen. I got him to the clinic. Left Sally here with the boys to keep an eye on things. Bentley had a meeting in town. I got back only just before you two arrived.”

“Someone followed us, today. I’m guessing, while Sally was in charge of things, one of them slipped away and followed us — well more Crimson, than me.”

“On foot?”

“Horse.”

“It’d have to be one of the older boys then.”

“I figured as much,” Josiah said. “Question is,
why
would one of them follow us, and does it have anything to do with what happened to The Kid?”

Josiah

NOW MORE THAN EVER
, Josiah wanted to take the fight to Rob. He spoke with Billy again about his concerns; Billy agreed dishearteningly but he maintained that without proof or evidence they didn’t have a leg to stand on. He said they’d just have to be more vigilant, keep Rob under surveillance.

Josiah decided it wouldn’t hurt to make Rob aware of the added scrutiny. He found the seventeen-year-old the following day, loitering inside the barn. Josiah walked right up to him, crowded him, forcing him to step back.

“You so much as think about touching her, or Ethan again, and you’ll answer to me,” he growled at the younger man.

“You threatening me, Josiah?”

“I’m warning you, you piece of crap.”

“I ain’t scared of you, man. You know you can’t touch me and I know it, too. So back the heck off.”

Rob stood tensed and ready. Josiah held his gaze, not backing down. Rob grinned and stepped casually around Josiah. He paused at the barn door and over his shoulder said, “Tell Sage I said hello.”

Forgiven

Crimson Sage

THE SNOW ONLY LASTED
a few days then a change in the weather brought with it warm winds that melted the ice and dried everything out. Billy said not to get too excited, this was only a lull in the weather — more cold, and snow, and ice were certainly coming. Either way, I enjoyed the break. For a week the temperatures hovered just below sixty during the day and just above freezing at night. Of course we had the wind to deal with. For the most part it was just a mild breeze, but then we had a couple days where the wind kicked up, reaching speeds upwards of sixty miles per hour.

Josiah grumbled about all the extra work the wind was creating for him, but I reminded him that I’d be helping, so he wouldn’t be alone doing that work, and besides, all that extra wood made for more bonfires. And I liked bonfires, especially with Josiah beside me to share them.

Josiah swung the ax, embedding the head deep in the tree trunk with a loud
thud
. He left it there and turned to me, a wickedly exciting gleam in his blue eyes. I was sitting on the tailgate of the Chevy. Josiah had been chopping the wood while I loaded it in the truck. I was caught up with my part and had been waiting on him. Without taking his eyes from mine he removed his gloves and tossed them on the ground; he stretched a little, letting his muscles move enticingly, knowing how it affected me. I couldn’t keep the heat from my cheeks or the hitch from my breath. He stepped closer and moved between my legs, slid his hands up my thighs, moved them around to my hips, and gripped me there. His fingers flexed firmly, then he jerked me to him.

“We don’t need all that wood to make a fire,” he rumbled against my mouth, his voice low and rough, his lips hot and a little dry.

I couldn’t stop shivering. Not because I was cold. I was so far from cold it wasn’t even funny. How was it even possible to shiver like this when I was burning up? Josiah created his own special kind of fever in me.

“Every time I look at you, every time I smell you, feel you, taste you, I’m on fire.”

I slid my hands up his back, feeling the smoothness of his skin, the firmness of his muscles, reveling in the way he responded to my touch. Today his beanie cap was navy blue and a close match to his eyes. My hands moved to the back of his neck and I gently eased the cap off, running my fingers through his dark ginger hair.

“You are pretty hot, Ginger.”

Josiah reared back a little, to get a better look at me. My eyes trailed over the dark stubble on his jaw.

“
Ginger
?” he asked.

I chuckled. “That’s what I called you, at first, when I didn’t know your name, in my head, at least.”

“I see.” He leaned down and kissed me again, tugging gently at my bottom lip. I felt that stubble now, an abrasive caress against my skin.

“You don’t mind, do you?” I breathed.

“Not particularly.”

“You don’t think it sounds too feminine?”

“As long as
you
don’t think I’m feminine, then I guess I’m fine with it.”

“And if I did?” I teased him.

Josiah gently pushed me back down on the bed of the truck.

“Well,
Little Red
, I’d have to convince you real hard that I wasn’t,” he said as his gaze moved over me. I watched him as he watched me. Felt it like a physical touch as his eyes slid over me.

Any other guy I’ve known would have taken advantage of me in that position. At the very least they’d have copped a feel and groped me. Josiah never did. Not one time had he allowed his hands to brush against me anywhere that might have been considered a personal and private space. I marveled at him, that he respected me so fully. That I could trust him so completely.

“Wait,” I said, raising up on my elbows. “
Little Red
? How do you figure that? My hair is blonde — far from red.”

“You’re
my
Little Red. Little, because compared to me, you are. And Red, because of your name. Crimson — Red.”

I’d never had a nickname before, not from a guy at least. My parents had called me Tadpole, because of my love for water. But never had a guy given me a nickname. I liked it. I couldn’t keep the stupid grin from my face. Josiah correctly interpreted the look on my face.

“I take it you don’t mind?”

I shook my head silently at him, positive that stupid grin was still on my face.

“You like it?”

“Yep.”

“All right, Red. Let’s get busy. I keep telling myself I need to keep my hands off you, but it’s getting harder and harder.”

We worked another couple of hours chopping and loading the wood from six trees that had fallen in the windstorm. It took three pickup loads to get it all moved. Josiah and I tossed the wood from the truck, and the boys stacked it in neat piles. I looked around for Ethan, but didn’t see him anywhere. Kelly was closest to me so I asked him. “You seen Ethan?”

“Yeah, he’s watching the tube.”

“He all right?”

“Seems to be,” he shrugged as he reached for more wood.

I’d asked Ethan several times about his arm, how he’d fallen, how it’d gotten broken, but each time he would vaguely brush aside my concern and reiterate that he’d just fallen. I stared in the direction of the front room, where I was sure he’d be sitting; five days ago he’d discovered Billy’s collection of The A-Team on DVD and had been steadily moving through them. My eyebrows were drawn in concern; Josiah nudged my shoulder and said, “Go on in. Check on him. I got this.”

“Thanks,” I said as I hopped down from the truck.

I took a minute in the kitchen to make sure I was calm, to not give away my suspicions about him. I stuck my head around the corner. “Hey Kid. I’m making more coffee. You want some?”

Without turning to look at me, Ethan said, “Nah, I’m good.”

I frowned in silence and quickly finished my coffee before joining him on the couch.

“How’s the arm?”

“Fine.”

“Not bothering you?”

“It itches a little.”

“I hear that’s normal,” I agreed.

Ethan’s response was more silence. For a couple minutes I watched him as he watched Hannibal, B.A., Murdock, and Face bring their plan together. My eyes took in his curly, slightly shaggy, light-brown hair that was right on the cusp of needing a cut and looking adorable. Ethan’s grey eyes were sharp, intuitive, and a little haunted. Absently he stroked Daisy’s head where it rested in his lap. I grinned grimly and tried to think of a way to get him to open up to me about what had really happened.

A furious, sick feeling had settled in my heart that he was maintaining his silence for my protection. Ethan was generally a peacemaker, not wanting trouble. That was why his getting suspended had been such a big thing for me — it was just so unlike him. He could get along with most anyone. And now this thing with his arm. His vague answers, his refusal to meet my eyes, all made me doubt what he’d told me. And yet I had this gut feeling that to push him might put him in more danger. Ethan was obviously standing between me and someone else, trying to protect me; I was sure.

I wished there was some way I could get him to understand that I could take care of myself, and besides, I had Josiah firmly in my corner, in Ethan’s corner too, for that matter. Turning back to the TV, I was content to watch it with him in silence. When the current episode was over, as Ethan was skipping to the next one I said, “Hey, Kid? You know I love you, right?”

Ethan glanced in my direction, and nodded.

“I won’t let anyone hurt you, and Josiah won’t let anyone hurt me. You know that, right?”