Wild Heart- Extended Edition (The Wild Heart Series) (17 page)

She leaned up and kissed him before stepping up into the front seat. Kate and Starla filled into the back seat and Knox closed the door behind them. She watched as he wrapped a bandana around the large gash in his arm and straddled his bike. Their engines rumbled to life, loud and angrily as they all began pulling out of their parking spots one at a time. First Knox and then Rage, Jameson, and Charon filled in behind him.
Like a pack.
Repo pulled the truck out and followed behind them into the darkness. Ani’s eyes were heavy as she leaned her head back against the headrest. She wasn’t sure how to approach this with Knox, but she knew it was time to start asking the questions he’d been worried about answering. As the headlights of passing cars blurred, she felt herself drifting off and before they were out of Gatlinburg, she was sound asleep.

She awoke to light coaxing, “Ani, darlin’, you gotta wake up.”

She mumbled as a pair of arms wrapped under her legs and around her back. She blinked her eyes open sleepily as she breathed in Knox’s scent, nuzzling her head into his neck as he carried her into the house. He gently placed her down onto the bed, slipping her shoes off her feet and dropping them down onto the floor. Slowly she sat up as her head throbbed like the bass from the nightclub.

“Are you ok?” she whispered, eyeing the make shift bandage on his arm.

“Aye, I’ve had much worse.” His eyes were filled with sadness when she looked up at him, a storm brewing in them that was sure to strike at any moment.

“Knox, we need to talk.”

“I know.” He hung his head as he took her hand.

“What happened tonight?”

“I should’ve known better than to go to Gatlinburg. Should’ve never taken you there. What happened is all my fault,” he apologized. “I was supposed to keep you safe and I didn’t.”

“Knox, that isn’t what I asked you,” she tried to contain the anger that was flooding into her, “I want to know why some asshole had a fucking gun to my head!”

“He’s a fucking Renegade; rival biker club. He was makin’ a point that we should’ve never been on his territory. Christ, Ani. I never meant for this to happen.”

“You know he comes into my bank? I’m gonna have to fucking see him again. And, I’m going to relive that moment every fucking time I see his awful face. He came in a few weeks ago, threatening me. Telling me I needed to watch out because I wouldn’t open an account for him. He’s not playing around, Knox; he will fucking kill me.” Her breath was erratic as the panic began setting back in.

“What do you mean he threatened you?” Knox’s eyes were infuriated.

“He makes deposits for an account and he came in a few weeks back wanting to open a new account. I couldn’t open it and when he flipped the fuck out on me, I stood my ground.” She paced back and forth across the room. What the hell was she going to do when this man came into the bank? She needed to call Cash; she needed to get some kind of restraining order against him. How she was going to do that she wasn’t sure; she didn’t even know the fucker’s real name.

“Ani, I will fuckin’ gut him with my bare hands if he ever looks at you again.” Knox’s hands were in fists as each muscle in his body became swollen. “He threatened you?”

“Knox you need to calm down.”

“I don’t need to do shite, except find that fucker and make him pay for what he’s fuckin’ done.” Knox let out an angry growl, “You’re my old lady, Ani; my woman. You’re my life now. Why didn’t you say something before?” He was beginning to look like a bomb that was within its last few seconds before explosion. “Baby, my job is to protect you, with my life if it means doing so.”

“Knox, I’m sorry. I didn’t think anything of it at the time,” Ani answered, tears now flowing down her cheeks.

“That mother fucker isn’t going to get away with this.” With that Knox gave into the storm that had been brewing in his eyes, like a summer thunderstorm rolling in over the mountains. You see the first signs and then the sky opens up and floods the land with unforgiving rain and violent lightning. His voice vibrated off the walls as he called for Jameson and Rage.

She wanted to go after him, but she couldn’t force her body to move. The adrenaline seized her useless as she stood frozen in the middle of the room. She didn’t know what to do, this wasn’t something she could wrap her head around. Guns, fighting, the look of retaliation in Knox’s eyes when she’d said that Chief had threatened her. This wasn’t a life that she wanted, no matter how exciting and new it was. And she suddenly felt the call of a familiar need.

She trembled as she moved toward her purse, grabbing her cell and dialing the number, hoping that they’d pick up. She heard it ring once, twice, three times.

Come on, please answer.
And as if God had answered her prayers, she heard the other end pick up.

“Ani?”

“Cash, I need you.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

SECOND CHANCES

For the following two weeks Ani ate, slept, and went to work; and even there she stayed shut behind the door of her office. Kate had tried to talk to her a few times about what had happened, but the damage was already done. She could feel herself shutting everyone off from her world. She didn’t know who to trust or who to believe anymore. She thought that Knox would have always made sure she was safe; she had felt that connection, but it was all just a lie. The night that she stared down the barrel of a gun proved that to her.

Every night the scenario had replayed itself in her head and each night she remembered something new. Maybe she was making it up as she went, trying to force herself to believe that Knox and the M.C. were no good for her. She could hold her own in most cases, with her attitude and strong will, but she knew she wasn’t tough enough for that kind of life. She was stupid to believe she could handle it in the beginning. She longed for Knox’s softer side, the man who could bring her to life with just his words; but that was only a part of him. She had to accept that their timing wasn’t right, maybe if she’d met him in a different time, or a different life, it could work. But for now their fates weren’t destined to be one.

She slipped on her Georgia Boots as she headed out to hook the long white trailer up to her truck. She kissed her dad gently on the cheek as he snored lightly on the couch and then bounded into the fresh Tennessee air. Once she had the trailer attached, she took off toward Cooper Hollow Road. She took in the scenery as she drove, letting the breeze pull each of her worries out the window each time it whipped against her face. She pulled up to a large red barn, backing her truck up next to the first stall as an older gentleman in a plaid shirt made his way over toward her truck.

“Ani girl, how are you?” He pulled the toothpick from his mouth and smiled, “Glad you could still make it today. Looks like the rains gonna hold off for us.”

“Yes sir, Mr. Johnson. It was a nice drive over. How is she?” She couldn’t keep the excitement off of her face as she jumped from her truck.

“She’s been waiting for you; come on over.” He led the way into the barn, turning before they made it to the last stall, “I had Bobby give her a bath so she’s all dolled up for you.”

As she stepped in front of the last barn stall a beautiful white and buckskin colored face poked out, sniffing at her hair. She looked up into the crystal blue eyes that she’d missed so much over the past week and smiled.

“I missed you too, Catori.” Ani brushed the black hair from her white speckled face.

“I took the liberty of putting her bridle on for you.” He opened the gate to the stall, leading the appaloosa mare out and back toward the entrance of the barn.

“Do you by chance have a good saddle that I can buy from you, Mr. Johnson?”

“I think I can round something up for you,” he smiled over the back of the horse at her.

They walked over to the trailer as Mr. Johnson tied off the lead and headed back into the barn, reemerging with a beautiful brown and teal saddle with an elaborately designed saddle pad made of the same matching colors.

“It’s beautiful, are you sure you want to get rid of this?” Ani asked running her fingers over the soft leather.

“This was the saddle that your mother gave Bri for her sixtenth birthday. I can’t tell you when the last time that girl got on a horse,” He smiled warmly as he walked it into the trailer and draped it on the stand. “I hope you like the name, I got her from a friend of mine up at the reservation; seemed to fit.”

“It does. I love her already.” Ani rubbed down the front of Catori’s face as the pony nuzzled toward her hand. “Well this should cover everything.” Ani ripped a check from her wallet and handed it to him, ignoring the shocked look on his face.

“Uh, Ani, this is more than twice what we agreed on.” He held the check closer to his face in an attempt to check his mental math.

“Don’t worry about it. Consider it a down payment for future help.” She reached up and untied the lead rope and walked the pony into the trailer.

“Well, I can’t tell you how much this means to me. Helps out the horses a lot.” He held the check, staring it over one last time before folding it and sliding it into the pocket of his shirt.

“You’re very welcome, thank you for all your help.”

She pulled back up to her barn shortly after, staring out at the golden rays that cascaded across the pasture. It had been long enough since it had been mowed for the patches of purple flowers to start popping up across the field. She led Catori gently from the trailer, stopping her at the gate to the pasture to saddle her. As she walked the saddle off the truck she heard a truck door shut and froze in place, peeking out through the slits of the trailer.

“Ani, you out by the barn?” She heard Cash’s voice.

She contemplated hiding, but figured with the horse roped off outside the trailer it would be hard to pull off. “Yeah, I’m out here.”

Cash came up to the back of the trailer, the sunlight beating off of his white shirt as he leaned against the door frame of the trailer. “I see you got your baby home,” he grinned over toward Catori.

“I did, we just made it back. I thought about saddling her up and taking her for a ride around the pasture. You should go get Tank and bring him down,” she lifted the saddle onto Catori’s back and began tightening it down.

“You think she’s up for a trail ride? You still have the path up the back forty right?” He ran his hand down Catori’s neck as she sniffed him questioningly.

“Yeah, I walked it the other day. It’s still pretty open and the creek’s full too.”

“Ok, let me go get him. I’ll be back down in a few minutes.” Cash stood next to Ani for a moment, his face had a thousand thoughts running over it, before he leaned down and kissed the top of her head and strolled back toward his truck.

She didn’t fight it, she no longer had the energy to. She knew that the best thing for her was to stay with what she knew; what was familiar. Yes, Cash had been her past and she hadn’t expected him to be her future; but she knew he could provide for her in every way she could ever need. She’d tried to experience a new life, but each time she had Cash still remained prevalent in her mind. His memory was too firmly implanted for her to let him go.

She eased up onto the saddle as Catori shifted slightly underneath her. She had missed this, the connection, the feeling of being one with such an amazing creature. She could feel the trust flowing through Catori into her as she leaned forward and pulled the rope from the fence. She led her slowly into the pasture, feeling each step she took forward, the way she leaned and rocked as she went. She walked her around the edge of the pasture as she caught sight of Cash and Tank galloping up the driveway, a long trail of dust behind them.

Tank was a beautiful horse, a brilliant shade of red with the darkest black hair Ani had ever seen. He was tall and muscular, quite like Cash and the two looked like a scheming pair as they strolled into the pasture. Ani smiled at the cowboy hat that Cash had resting on the top of his head.

“Nice hat,” she said sarcastically as they trotted toward the gate at the back of the pasture.

“I thought you’d like it,” he smiled over at her, “So, anything exciting happen this past week? You didn’t have any problems at work did you?” She could hear the caution in his voice. She’d made it very clear that she didn’t want to talk about what had happened at the club. But she had to disclose some information to Cash so that he would know what was going on.

“Nope. Just a bunch of paperwork.”

“Good,” he hopped down and opened the gate to the back forty acres of the property, “So, when do you think I could claim that dinner voucher you owe me?”

“Cash,” her voice was practically a growl as he came up next to her.

“I just know you have to eat at some point; figured I could take you out to a nice dinner at the Steak N’ Shake. Get you a chocolate milkshake before laying some cheesy pick-up lines on you,” he laughed at the unimpressed look on her face.

She took a deep breath, “You can make me dinner tonight.”

“I think I can handle that.” His face held a smug grin as they passed along the edge of the creek and up toward the mountain ridge.

A comfortable silence transcended between them, nothing but the song of the birds and the leaves crunching under the hooves of the horses. She tried to push out all of the negative thoughts from her mind, but with each try she found herself coming back to the image of Knox’s face in the club. The fear of what could have happened to her written in every line. It was time she made a choice. She couldn’t continue to keep up this constant battle of who was right for her and who she needed to let go. She might not control who fate brought into her life, but she could control who she let walk out of it. Or who she’d refuse to let go of.

Life wasn’t supposed to feel forced, where every moment of every day you have to work to keep yourself happy with the choices that you make. Life, and love, were supposed to be effortless, natural. But the more she tried to forget about Knox and think about Cash her life felt the exact opposite of natural.

As they neared the end of the trail the colors of the sky reflected in every direction of the valley. The lush green tree tops rolled over the tops of the hills that seemed to span out for thousands of miles. She took a deep breath and exhaled all of her worries, all of her cares. She needed to stop evaluating every move she made and just live. If two people were destined to be together, they would.