ℙ𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕚𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝔸 𝔻𝕖𝕒𝕕 𝔾𝕚𝕣𝕝 - 𝕂𝕒𝕪𝕔𝕖 𝔻𝕦𝕥𝕥𝕠𝕟

ℂℍ𝔸ℙ𝕋𝔼ℝ 3

I didn't sleep an eye that night, my mind was wandering pretty deep, I couldn't stop thinking about what I was going to do about Jane, who slept peacefully below me. I had to spend the next 24 hours with her to find something she could be useful at.

           If we were able to apply my special skill set to the ranch, I'm sure we would be able to find a job that caters to her. My last resort would be to make her shovel shit in the stalls. I knew that she was worth more than to be a new stall boy. Nonetheless, it was that or I'd be walking her back to her death.

Every time Jane would move in her sleep I would peek over ever so slightly to see if she was awake. A few times I was close to being in deep slumber, but the slightest shuffle would wake me right back up. I finally gave in to my exhaustion way later, but I still wanted to know when she was up and moving, so I dropped my arm from the top bunk and let it dangle there.

After I was asleep for what felt like five minutes, I was awoken by a tingling sensation in my hand. I assumed my arm had fallen asleep, but I realized the tingling was tracing my palm rather than shocking my entire arm.

           Jane was awake, I feel her small hand land gently over mine like she was comparing sizes. This shoots me full of adrenaline; I instantly retract my arm and sit up before speedily crawling down from the bunk, grabbing my shirt from the ladder.

    I look down at her, she's rubbing the sleep from her eyes with a soft smile. I feel refreshed knowing she got some decent sleep. The bags under her eyes were already starting to disappear and I could see the color in her face returning.

    "Mornin'." I say while I put my shirt on. She stretches out for a moment but quickly curls back up with her eyes squeezed shut in pain. "Probably need to change your bandages. Get you some medicine to help with the pain too."

I rush to her service, grabbing everything to clean her up and rewrap her stitches. When I returned to set the items down on the nightstand next to our bunk, she removed the blanket from her legs. I had almost forgotten she was wearing my boxers. She notices my staring and shifts herself so that her stitched leg is poked out right in front of me. I look at her through my eyebrows, my hand instinctively starting to move towards her thigh. I wait for her to give me a confirming nod for permission to touch her, which she does.

I remove the blood and pus-soaked bandages. When I take to the rubbing alcohol to clean the injuries out, she winces at the contact but then lets out a soothing breathe. Considering how long she's been a walking infection; I can imagine that this is best pain she could feel.

Once I've got her cleaned up, I hand her the sweats I had picked out for her previously and walk over to the kitchen to get coffee started.

While the coffee brewed, I searched everyone's drawers for jeans small enough to fit Jane, not caring who I woke up in the process. I knew with most of the hands growing up on this ranch, there had to be something lying around good enough to get her by.

I eventually found a pair and stole a belt from Ryan's drawers. I punched a few extra holes in it so it would fit, and when I went to present the clothes to Jane. She was nowhere to be seen.

I glance around for a moment, figuring she might just be enraptured by some shiny belt buckle, but nothing. That's when I noticed the front door cracked open.

I gather her clothes and follow her trail which leads me straight to the barn. It's then I see her leaning over a stall, petting one of the horses. It soothes me to know she isn't going to be terrified of the steeds, otherwise she'd have no chance here.

"You're walkin'  around this barn barefoot? That is much braver than runnin' with wolves." I joke and place her boots down next to her. "Wanna go in and say hello?"