Nobody's Dream (64 page)

What on earth was that all about?

She returned to the fence to give them the space they needed. The dance between trainer and horse continued for another hour, and O’Keeffe accepted greater and greater weights.

“Ready to break her, son?”

Cassie’s vision narrowed enveloping her in a black vortex. Her throat closed, forcing her to draw ragged breaths.
Stale beer. Sweaty bodies. Smelly breath
. Pedro’s body pressed hers into the pool table, his breath moist on her neck.

“Now I will break you,
puta
.”

Run, Casandra!

She had escaped once. She would this time, too. Cassie maneuvered him off her and followed her instincts, turning to run. Immediately she hit a wall but reached out and searched until she found an opening to slip through. She continued to run. As she dragged air into her lungs, her vision cleared. The ground beneath her feet was brown and scrubby. She didn’t recognize this place, but knew her only hope was to escape.

“Cassie, stop!”

A familiar voice with no hint of a Peruvian accent tugged at her consciousness.

Pedro’s voice pierced her confused memory dragging her back down into the memory of that horrific night.
“Casandra, stop fighting me.
”

No one would ever hurt her like that again.

The sound of pounding feet behind her increased her panic. There was no place to hide, only the open expanse of a field before her. She must escape them!

Run faster!

Strong arms surrounded her, pulling her against a hard body.

Diego!

No!

*     *     *

What the hell had happened? Luke wondered. They’d been making great progress, almost ready to apply the saddle, when Cassie tore off like a bat out of the bowels of hell. So focused on O’Keeffe, he hadn’t been aware of her running away until Momma called out to him. He watched as Cassie’s body slammed against the round pen fence as if blinded before she hurried through the slats. Something had to have triggered her.

Goddamned bastards.

He threw the lunge rope to Dad and took off after her, but she ran as if her life depended on it. He was having a devil of a time catching up with her, but feared she’d hurt herself running at a break-neck speed like that. The ground out here was uneven. God, he needed to catch up to her before she took a tumble.

“Cassie, stop!”

His words only made her run harder. Would she ever come to realize he would never hurt her?

Just a few more yards and he’d have her. A few seconds later, he closed the gap and wrapped his arms around her upper body and pulled her against his body. Her feet lifted off the ground and kept moving as if running, only succeeding in kicking at him. The heels of her boots dug into his shins above his own boots.

“Ow. Cassie. Stop fighting me.”

“¡Nunca más!”

She spoke the word ‘never’ in Spanish, but he had no trouble translating.
Never again
.

“Cassie, it’s Luke. Lucas. You’re safe. I have you.”

She continued to fight, butting him with the back of her head and nearly knocking his front teeth out. Employing some of the techniques he would use with a panicked horse, he loosened his hold enough to ease her panic, but not enough to let her hurt herself. Clearly she was lost in a traumatic memory from the past. He needed her to know he was the one holding her. Not those animals who had hurt her.

“Shhh, Sweet Pea. I’m not going to hurt you. You know I’d never hurt you. You’re too precious to me.”

She continued to scream at him in Spanish, fighting against his hold, calling him a liar. She even warned him that Eduardo would kill him if he did this.

Fuck.
She definitely was back in that bar in Peru in her head.

His lips brushed her ear as he whispered, trying not to escalate her panic. “Baby girl, you’re safe. You’re with Lucas in Colorado. That’s all in the past. Those men can’t hurt you ever again. I won’t let them near you.”

Were her struggles lessening? He hoped so.

Keep whispering to her.

“’Atta girl.” He kissed her temple. “You’re safe. I have you now. Everything’s going to be okay, baby girl.”

She shook her head wildly and released an anguished sob that ripped out his guts. If he ever came across the fucking bastards who hurt her, he’d make sure they never hurt any other girl.

Without warning, Cassie’s body went limp. She’d passed out or was just too worn out to fight any more. He lifted her into his arms and stared down into her face. Eyes closed, facial muscles lax. Unconscious. He placed her gently on the ground. Streaks of tears had made a path down her dusty cheeks. He checked her respirations and pulse. Racing still. She seemed to be out of the panic attack. Wanting to take her back to the house and let her rest, he lifted her into his arms again and began walking across the field.

Momma waited for him on the lane with the Jeep and held open the passenger front door for them. Luke sat with Cassie in his lap and swung his legs inside.

Momma reached out to stroke Cassie’s hair. “Is she okay?” Luke couldn’t speak past the rawness in his throat and the adrenaline pumping in his veins, so he merely nodded. “Poor thing. I wonder what spooked her like that.”

Luke glanced down at her as they drove back to the house. “Something bad happened in her past.” He didn’t elaborate, because it wasn’t his place to share Cassie’s story. He brushed her hair back from her face and tucked a strand behind her ear. So peaceful now. What would happen when she came to?

Oh damn
. O’Keeffe. “Is O’Keeffe okay?” He’d abandoned her like a hot potato to go after Cassie. Not the way to train a horse to saddle.

“Dad’s with her. I’m sure she was fine with ending the session before you got that saddle on her.”

“Yeah, probably. Glad you all were here.” He’d have to start over with her again tomorrow. O’Keeffe, sure, but also with Cassie.
What the hell had he said or done to send her running in terror?
She said she had made a lot of progress since her appointment with the therapist in Denver. He remembered the article he’d read, though. It never completely went away.

“Happy we can help out.” Momma pulled up to the front porch. Luke opened the door, swung his legs out before easing her head past the doorframe, and stood up with Cassie. She hardly weighed anything and felt so good in his arms. Momma rushed ahead and opened the screen door for him to pass through.

“What can I do to help?”

“Maybe some herbal tea.”

“I saw some chamomile in the cabinet. I’ll fix her a mug.” She headed toward the kitchen.

“Thanks, Momma.” Luke carried Cassie to the bedroom. Not wanting to let go of her yet, he sat on the edge of the bed and held her tight. He gazed down at her now serene face.

“You’re safe now.” Luke had to tamp down the rage festering below the surface. How could a man call himself a man after raping a girl like those three had done to Cassie?

At least they couldn’t hurt her again. And he’d be here to pick up the pieces and help Cassie reclaim her life. With him, he hoped. But even if she chose to move on without him, he wanted her to be happy. Not hiding away from life, but embracing it fully. Her passion simmered beneath the surface just waiting to explode for the right man. He wanted to be that man.

“Come back to me, Sweet Pea. You’re safe now.”

“Here you go.” Momma set the mug on the nightstand and stroked the top of Cassie’s head. “Poor baby.”

Cassie stirred at either Momma’s touch or her voice. She grimaced and her left arm flailed out, clocking him in the chin again. “Let me go, Pedro!”

*     *     *

Strong arms held her tight against a hard body. Smothering.
Never again!
She fought, and the arms loosened but did not let her go. Would he rape her? Or let one of his friends do so again? Diego seemed determined he would have his turn.

She pounded against the one holding her, screaming her rage at him, but could not escape. After a time, all fight left her as exhaustion set in.
“Por favor
, let me go.” Had she spoken the words or only thought them? She had no strength left. This time, without a doubt, she would die at their hands. The first time, she had not known what Pedro and his friends were capable of, but this time he had to know she would go to the authorities. And tell her family. Pedro’s own father would kill him if he shamed his family’s reputation in this way. She was not that same scared girl he had raped and silenced the first time.

And yet she could not totally give up. Her will to live was too great. “I will not tell. Do not do this to me again.”

“Shhh, Cassie. It’s Luke. You’re at my ranch in Fairchance, Colorado. No one here wants to hurt you, Sweet Pea.”

Her brows furrowed, and she blinked several times until his worried face came into focus above her.

“Lucas?” She struggled to sit up, and his firm arm against her back helped her. She scooted off his lap and faced him—and his mother. “What happened?”

“Some of those demons came knockin’ again.”

Her face burned with embarrassment that Lucas’s parents had witnessed her insane behavior. “I am so sorry, Mrs. Denton.”

“It’s Penny, and there’s nothing to apologize for.” She reached for a mug on the nightstand. “Here. I made you some chamomile tea. Why don’t you sit in this rocker and just relax?”

Disoriented, all fight gone, she accepted the mug first. “Thank you, Penny.” She felt strange calling her by her first name. Seemed disrespectful. But Mrs. Denton seemed too formal. “I’m sorry I—oh, no!” She turned her gaze to Lucas. “Is O’Keeffe all right?”

“Happy as a clam that I’m not training her to the saddle right now.” Lucas smiled. He was not upset with her for disrupting the session.

She thought back to the last thing she remembered. She had been there to keep O’Keeffe calm and read her thoughts, and then—

“Ready to break her, son?”

The mug began to shake in Cassie’s hand, sloshing its hot contents onto the floor. Penny reached out. “Here, you sit down first, and then I’ll hand it to you.”

Before she could sit, Lucas stood and came toward her. He wrapped her in his arms. She began to struggle to escape his arms, instinct telling her to run to the bathroom or anywhere else to hide. But instead of revulsion at his touch, for some odd reason, being in his arms helped stop her shaking.

Safe.

She held on tightly, afraid of falling into the abyss again, and wrapped her arms around the middle of his back. Tears spilled onto his shirt.

“Did you remember something?” The deep timbre of Lucas’s voice reverberated through her chest.

Penny stroked her arm. “I’ll give you two some privacy. Just call if you need anything.”

Cassie pulled away. “No, Penny. I do not wish to hide from this anymore. Telling Lucas, even though I had not wanted to tell him either, released some of the shame and guilt I had buried inside all these years.”

Having Penny reach out to her like a mother to a daughter made Cassie miss her own
mamá’s
touch intensely. She motioned for his mother to sit in the rocker and Lucas, on the bed. He indicated his lap was available, but she shook her head.

“I need to stand on my own two feet, especially after that meltdown.”

“Friends lean on each other in tough times, darlin’.”

She had done that for Kitty—and Goddess knew Kitty had done the same for her many, many times. But it was different being friends with a man. Even a man she thought she could trust, like Lucas.

“Thank you, Lucas, for being there. Your support means more to me than you can ever know.” Knowing she had someone like Lucas by her side gave her a sense of peace and strength.

Before discussing what had happened in the corral, she filled Penny in on what Lucas already knew about the gang rape five years ago. Rather than become emotional, Cassie stated the facts the cold, hard facts. She had already poured out her heart to Kitty, to Lucas, to Savannah, and to her new therapist. The more she talked about it, the easier it became.

“Oh, you poor child. How awful for you to have to face that at such a young age.”

Not having a response to that, and in an effort to calm herself, Cassie went to the nightstand and picked up the mug again, drinking half of the lukewarm tea in several gulps. Then she turned to the man who always seemed to be there for her when the monsters came back to haunt her.

Demon was too pleasant a word for Pedro and his friends.

“A few days ago, I went back into therapy again. I want to reclaim my life. I have seen improvement already.” She focused on Lucas. “But out in the round pen earlier, your father said something about breaking O’Keeffe. I think that is what triggered my panic attack. One of the rapists used similar words during the attack. Right now, to be honest, I do not know which man.”

“You screamed Pedro’s name when you were fighting me outside.”

Then it probably
had
been Pedro. She thought it sounded like his voice in her head, but had spent five years trying to banish those voices from her memory. She doubted she remembered the exact words any of them had used during the attack at the bar.

“I’ll talk to Bill before we go to work again with O’Keeffe. He didn’t mean anything—”

“Oh, no! Do not say anything. It was not his fault.”

“Still, I want to make sure he doesn’t use those same words that are so painful to you.”

Cassie hated having them make concessions on her behalf, but the thought of another meltdown held no appeal either. “Thanks, Penny.”

“Dad’s old-school about working with horses.”

Lucas never talked about breaking O’Keeffe, only training her. Calming her. Working with her to overcome her past. Being around horses was new to her, but the similarities in his approach to his battered horses reminded her of the way he treated her.

Now something that had been nagging at her since the vision with the deer yesterday needed to be brought up. “Lucas, I have a favor to ask.”