Chapter Twenty-Six
Nick was feeling uneasy. He wasn't sure what was causing the uneasy feeling in his gut but it was there and it was gnawing at him. The cattle were quiet, the stars were shining and the crickets were chirping. He was keeping watch while everyone else slept and it would only be an hour or so before dawn began to arrive.
Nick scratched at his stubble covered jaw and realized he was in desperate need of a shave. He could see the lights from the oil lamps in town but town itself was quiet and dead. No one was out this late—or early depending on how you looked at it.
Standing from the boulder he'd been seated upon Nick stretched out his legs. He rubbed at the aching muscles in his thighs and wondered what was happening at the ranch. Was Aiden okay? Was he sleeping soundly in the bunkhouse? That thought caused Nick's arms to ache with the longing to hold him.
Nick let out a sigh and decided to hop on his horse to make a trip around the peaceful herd. He swung himself up into the saddle and that's when he heard the gunshot. There was a pause, a lapse in time itself as his brain tried to understand and put together the sound with the fiery pain now filling his chest.
He tried to take a breath but his lungs pushing against his ribs nearly caused a cry of pain to leave his lips before his head began to swim. He could feel blood soaking his shirt and vest as he clung to his horse.
He was aware of the cattle growing restless and the shouts of men around him. He heard someone shout that the shot had come from a rifle at long range and no one knew exactly where the shooter had been. He was aware of Brody hollering as he ran toward him.
Nick put a hand to his chest and then pulled it away, staring dumbfounded at the blood coating it.
"Dammit, Nick, snap out of it!" Brody's angry voice growled as he smacked Nick's leg and Nick looked down at him.
"I've been shot," Nick whispered. He couldn't breathe very well because the pain in his chest was overwhelming.
"I can see that," Brody replied as his brow shot up. "It's low down and to the side so your heart is fine. And you seem to be breathing alright so it didn't get your lung. Reckon you can ride into town of do I need to pack you?"
Nick glared at Brody. He was in a lot of damn pain and Brody acted as if this was nothing to be worried about. He was bleeding from his goddamn chest! That was definitely something to be worried about! Slowly Nick nodded as he clasped one hand tight over his wound and grabbed his reins with the other, "Yeah..."
Brody hopped on the horse that Nick hadn't even realized he'd been leading, "Come on then. The doc'll need to take a look at that cuz the bullet must still be in there. Trapped in a rib if I were a betting man."
"You a doc now?" Nick gasped through gritted teeth. Every step his horse took sent shockwaves of pain throughout his body.
"Nope," Brody's eyes were narrowed but it was clear to Nick that he was focused on every single movement around them. "I've just been shot a time or two. You could say that I'm pretty damn familiar with that territory."
Wendell came galloping up beside them, "I left Frank and Kent to watch over the herd but they ain't none too happy about it. I'm gonna ride up to where I think that shot came from and see what I can find."
"You better be damned careful," Brody warned. "Of course I reckon they're gone. They would have shot at us at least once more if they planned on sticking around."
"I was the only one they wanted," Nick cut in weakly. He was having trouble keeping his eyes open as blood ran freely between his fingers.
"Don't you worry, Nick. I'm gonna find out who shot you and I'll pay the bastard back," Brody assured him.
Wendell broke away from them and Brody led Nick down into town, where Ty and LeRoy were just coming out on saddled horses, "What the hell happened?" Ty demanded.
"Exactly what it looks like happened," Brody replied. "Someone shot him."
"What for? What did he do?"
"Why do you think he did anything?" Brody questioned with a touch of anger in his voice. Nick glanced up to see Ty with a look of uncertainty, fear and a little disgust in his eyes as he looked back at Nick. Nick knew that look. Someone had told him the truth about what Nick was and who he loved.
Nick wanted to tell him and Brody both to simply shut up but he was too weak now to talk. All of his concentration was going into simply staying in the saddle and staying awake.
"Folks don't just go around shooting other folks for no reason," Ty replied to Brody's question.
Brody clicked his tongue and moved closer to Nick, grabbing his arm and helping to hold him steady. Nick moaned a thank you because he knew he would have slid from the saddle if Brody hadn't noticed his sudden weakness. "Ty, no offense meant to you but it's been my life experience that folks do just exactly that most of the time. Now why don't you head on up to the cows and find Wendell. He's gonna try to find the man that did this."
With that Brody urged his and Nick's horses faster and left Ty behind.
Nick's eyes continued to slip closed and he was running out of the strength to pull them back apart. He kept seeing Aiden's face in his mind and knew he had to stay alive for him. Aiden needed him and Nick couldn't let him down, though even if he did die, at least he had given Aiden something real and made the man see that what he was wasn't bad. Aiden would find love again someday........
"Come on, Nick, ya gotta stay awake," Brody urged roughly.
Nick was trying but he'd lost too much blood and was in too much pain. Slowly, as if he were moving through tar, he slid sideways and felt himself falling as his world went black.
***
"Susie...." Susie heard the voice calling to her and she laughed lightly when warm breath tickled her ear. "Susie, are you awake?"
"I am now," she mumbled as she turned on her pillow and smiled at the anxious face of her husband.
"You said you needed a couple of hours of sleep and that was at three," Ryder slid his hand beneath the covers and Susie trembled when she felt those calloused fingertips dance across her soft thigh. "and now it's five so that's been a couple of hours."
"Haven't you had enough, Ryder?" Susie asked sleepily, though she already knew what his answer would be.
"Not of you," Ryder replied as he shook his head and Susie laughed as he disappeared beneath the covers, though her laughter quickly faded and turned to moans and sighs as his lips danced over her most private places.
Susie gripped the sheets roughly in her hands, loosing herself quickly in Ryder's kisses. Yes she was tired, exhausted really, but Ryder made her feel so good and he desired her so strongly at all times that she never could tell him no. It still amazed her just how badly the man craved to be with her when it hadn't been very long ago that she had been certain no man would ever even want to look at her; the overweight woman with dark freckles and plain hair.... She certainly didn't feel that way any longer. Ryder looked at her every time he saw her, even if she had only left the room for five minutes, as if she were the most beautiful and treasured sight he had ever seen.
Then just as suddenly as he had disappeared beneath the covers, he was jumping out of them and hopping into his pants as he went to the window. "What's going on?" Susie gasped.
"Get dressed, Susie, we got trouble," Without another word, Ryder grabbed his gun belt and hopped out the window.
Susie heard the hooves and the wagons then. She heard the murmuring of a lot of voices. She recognized some of her family and she wondered why they would be riding up before dawn. Quickly she got out of bed and slid into her nightdress and robe before walking through the home she shared with Ryder, lighting a lantern and stepping outside.
She gasped at the sight of her family and most of the remaining Atkinson hands in the lantern light. Everyone was covered in soot and ash and it appeared that at least Ellie had been crying.
"What's going on?" Ryder demanded as he slid an arm around Susie's waist.
"Someone attacked the ranch house. They burned it and the bunkhouse to the ground—we couldn't save them," Elizabeth replied sounding exhausted. She had Lexi and Bryant curled up to her legs in the wagon seat and Nathan was beside her.
"Are you okay?!" Susie gasped.
"A little singed but that's about it," Sally replied comfortingly. Susie looked at her twin and saw that Max had his head in her lap and appeared sound asleep as she stroked his hair.
"Does Brody know yet?" Susie asked.
"No," Elizabeth shivered, "And Lord have mercy on those bastard's souls when he does find out."
"Where's Aiden and Thomas?" Ryder spoke up. Susie noticed he was much more still than usual but a glance at him told her that was because he was on high alert and ready to protect her.
"They followed the tracks of whoever started the fire," Ellie whispered before coughing violently and then wincing. She laid a hand over her stomach and Susie could tell she was in pain. Pain from what however, Susie didn't know.... Smoke perhaps? Eli whimpered in her arms and Ellie kissed his brow.
"We're heading into town to find the men that were with the cattle and tell them what happened. We wanted to warn you and Ryder so you could be on the lookout." Elizabeth said.
"Give me five minutes to get dressed and we'll come with you," Susie countered. "I wouldn't be able to stand being here knowing you all are in trouble."
***
Aiden could feel his anger growing along with his nerves as he and Thomas rode along in silence. He was angry that it appeared they were losing the trail of the men who had set fire to the ranch and yet nervous about finding them. What would happen? Aiden had a gun now but that didn't mean he knew how to use it... maybe he had bitten off a bit more than he could chew. Then he remembered the fear in Nathan and Max's eyes and the way Eli had screamed and clung to him and he knew that he would do what had to be done. That was his family and he would protect them—just the same as Brody had protected him.
His hand was burning terribly and the pain was nearly unbearable and didn't help relieve any of his nerves or anger. It was red and raw and the skin was burned, blistered and twisted. Not only that but every breath burned from the smoke that was in his lungs.
"Dammit, Aiden, we're shit out of luck at finding them this way," Thomas growled as he jerked off his hat and smacked it against his leg.
"Why?" Aiden asked hoarsely, glancing around and realizing they were actually approaching town.
"Because the bastards went straight into town and the tracks are getting too mixed up with all the other tracks."
"Well we already know Burt had something to do with this," Aiden shrugged, though he was frustrated as well, "It'll just be a matter of finding him and making sure he pays for it."
"Pays for it?" Thomas questioned.
"Yeah," Aiden replied, bristling at the amusement he could hear in Thomas's voice. "He could have killed a whole house full of women and children. He's got to be one heck of a coward to do something like that. I might not be a real tough man the way you, Nick and Brody are but, dammit, I'm not a coward like that."
Aiden glanced over at Thomas and saw the respect in the other man's eyes. It shocked him. "No, you're not a coward," Thomas acknowledged. "Thank you for saving my son and my nephew."
"Uh..sure," Aiden replied.
Thomas shifted in the saddle, "The cattle are on the rise at the other side of town. Let's ride over there and tell Brody what happened, I ain't real eager to do it but it's gotta be done."
Aiden nodded, sitting up a little straighter as he did so. It was a nice thing, he decided, being treated as one of the men by the other men.
As they approached the herd they realized something was wrong. Frank and Kent were the only men they could see around it other than Ty and his deputy Leroy and everyone seemed agitated.
"What's going on?" Thomas demanded when they came close enough to be heard. Aiden felt fear gripping his heart. Where was Nick? Something bad had happened... he just knew it had.
"Aiden, Thomas! What are y'all doing in town?" Frank asked quickly.
"And why are you covered in... is that ash? And you smell like a fire pit." LeRoy added, wrinkling his nose.
"The ranch house was attacked," Thomas growled. "But everyone is fine. Where are Brody, Nick and Wendell?"
Wendell came galloping up then and it was clear he was angry, "I couldn't find the bastard. I'm no good at tracking and without any solid idea of where that shot came from I stand a better chance of riding a pissed off bull than finding the man."
"Gunshot?" Aiden whispered. The eyes of every man around landed on him and he shifted in his saddle as his throat tightened, "Where is Nick?" No one answered him. "Where the hell is Nick?" he yelled hoarsely, his lungs burning.
"He.. he was shot, Aiden," Wendell replied quietly. "It uh.. It looked pretty bad."
"But he rode into town on his own!" Frank quickly let him know. "He was awake."
Aiden stopped hearing them as each person began to speak at once. About Nick. About who had fired the shot. About what had happened at the ranch.
Aiden could only imagine Nick dying in a pool of blood without seeing him one last time. Quickly he tightened his hold on the reins with his good hand, squeezed the mares sides and let out a yell to urge her forward; racing as if the hounds of hell themselves were on his heels to reach his man.