Untamed (7 page)

Clint held his hand up, signaling Cam to stay put, then ducked back behind the shed. When a harsh whisper came from inside, he jumped.

“Clint?”

He ducked down, looking for a crack in the weathered boards. “Lil? Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m okay.”

“Cam and I are going to get you out of here.”

“I can help.”

“How? The door is padlocked from the outside.”

That presented a problem. Even if he could kick down the door or shoot off the lock, it would alert the goons to his presence. They needed some kind of diversion.

It came to him and he grinned. “Think you can give us a diversion?” he whispered. “Maybe a nice fire up around the main house?”

He could almost hear the grin in her whisper. “I think I can manage.”

“Okay. Make it big. We want all of them busy with the fire. Stay near the door. Once they’re occupied, I’ll come around and let you out.”

“Gotcha.”

Clint worked his way to the end of the shed and gestured to Cam to make his way to the shed. A few seconds later he heard a shout. He hurried to the opposite corner and looked around the side of the shed.

Tongues of flame were licking the side of the main house, spreading fast. Two men were already working at beating out the fire. Within seconds they were joined by three more.

Way to go, Lil,
he thought as the fire billowed, spreading up the side of the house and into a tree overhanging the driveway.

He hurried around to the front of the shed and cut a look over this shoulder. Lily’s husband was climbing into a car parked beneath the now burning tree, while the other men shouted and gestured.

Clint stepped in front of the door, gave the rusty hinge a once over then drew back and kicked the door. Dry-rotted wood gave way under the force of his kick, pulling free the rusty screws holding the lock arm in place.

Before he could take a step toward the opening, Lily was rushing out. He grabbed her arm and hustled her around to the back of the shed, nearly colliding with Cam.

“Time to go, bro,” Cam said with a grin.

“Right behind you.”

Hanging on to Lily’s hand, Clint followed Cam back the way they had come. None of them spoke until they reached the truck, then Lily threw her arms around Clint. “You came for me.”

“You had any doubt, sugar?” he replied, hugging her tight.

“Never,” she said and pulled away to turn to Cam.

“Come here, you.” She pulled him to her for a long, hard hug. “Thank you.”

“Anytime, beautiful,” he returned with a grin. “Now come on, let’s get home. I get a feeling that these dicks aren’t gonna take it well when they discover you gone. We need to get home and get ready.”

Clint had not considered that until Cam said it. He looked at Lily, seeing anger and fear stamped on her face, and took her hand. “We’ll be fine,” he promised.

She nodded, trust gleaming in her eyes. He hoped he hadn’t just made a promise he couldn’t keep.

Chapter Eight

It would be dawn soon. Lily sat beside one of the windows in the living room, her back against the wall with a hunting rifle across her legs. Clint sat on the opposite side of the window, and Cam was positioned at the second window, scanning the darkness.

“Maybe you should call the police again,” Lily suggested.

“They’ll be here,” Clint replied.

“And maybe those goons won’t show,” Cam offered.

Just as the thought went through her mind that she hoped he was right, lights slashed the darkness.

“Car,” Cam announced.

Clint and Lily both turned, peering from the edge of the window. The car stopped. With the headlights on, it was hard to see much of anything. They all were frozen, eyes searching for signs of movement.

“I’m going out the back to sneak around behind them,” Cam said.

“No,” Lily argued as he moved to stand.

Almost simultaneously, the window exploded and Cam lurched backward. Clint dived across the room, slid on his belly to the window and opened fire.

Gunfire rained on the front of the house, bullets impacting with the block walls and more than a few shattering glass and slamming into the back wall of the living room. Lily scooted across the room on her belly to Cam.

His shirt was dark with blood on his left shoulder and chest. “Oh god,” she breathed. “Cam, hang on.”

She wiggled out of her t-shirt and used it to press down on his shoulder. He groaned and gripped her wrist holding the compress. “Help Clint, I’m okay.”

“You need to get to a hospital!”

“I’m—”

The sound of sirens brought a sudden cessation to the sounds of gunfire. Clint kept his gun trained on the car. They heard voices, demanding that someone lay down their weapons.

In moments, a voice called out, “Clint? Cam? This is Dave Billings. You okay in there?”

Clint hurried to the door. “We need an ambulance. Cam’s been shot.”

With that he hurried to his brother’s side. “Hang in there, bro.”

Cam nodded, his face pale and lips tight with pain. Clint looked at Lily. “I’ll take this.” He put his hand over the compress. “Go grab a shirt.”

She nodded and rushed to the bedroom, grabbed a t-shirt from the dresser and pulled it on as she ran back down the hall. The next fifteen minutes passed in a blur. More police arrived, along with an ambulance and two fire trucks.

By the time Cam was loaded into the ambulance, she and Clint had answered questions on what happened. They’d been informed that one of their attackers was dead, and had been told they could follow the ambulance to the hospital, but that an officer would follow to finish up taking their statements.

Lily insisted that Clint go in the ambulance with his brother. She’d follow in Clint’s truck. She knew he was torn, feeling he should be with her, but wanting to be with his brother. In the end he agreed.

She could barely remember the drive. All she could think was that if Cam died, it would be her fault. By the time she reached the hospital, she was sick with fear. She hurried into the emergency room and spotted Clint talking with a police officer.

“How is he?” she asked as she ran over to him.

“They’re taking him straight to surgery. EMT’s said the bullet passed through but they’re worried an artery was hit. He’s lost a lot of blood.”

“Oh god.” All at once her legs gave way and she reached out for Clint’s arm to steady herself.

He caught her. “You okay? Are you hurt?”

“No, no, I’m fine. Just worried.”

“Come on, let’s sit,” he suggested and led her to a seat.

They spent the next hour answering questions. When the officer finally left them, they both were silent for a long time. Lily was fighting not to cry. This was all her fault. If Clint hadn’t tried to help her, if she hadn’t let herself get involved with him, none of this would have happened.

She’d screwed up his life and Cam’s.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered and reached for his hand.

“It’s not your fault, Lil,” he responded, giving her hand a squeeze.

“Yes, it is.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Clint, if anything happens to Cam…”

“He’s going to be fine.”

She could tell his words were of hope and not certainty. He was as scared as she that someone was going to walk in and tell them Cam hadn’t made it. She didn’t know if she could face that and if she couldn’t, what in the world would it do to Clint?

Nausea bubbled in her stomach. She leaned back in her seat, gripping Clint’s hand and praying. Two hours that felt like an eternity passed before she heard a man’s voice calling Clint’s name.

Clint jumped up as a doctor approached. “The surgery went well,” the doctor said. “The bullet passed through, but nicked an artery. We’ve repaired the damage and he will be fine.”

“Oh thank god,” Lily breathed.

“Thank you.” Clint shook the doctor’s hand. “When can we see him?”

“One of you can come back now to recovery. But only for a few minutes. He’s just starting to come around.”

“Go,” Lily encouraged Clint when he looked at her.

He nodded, gave her a kiss on the cheek and followed the doctor. Lily watched as they passed through the double doors leading from the waiting room. Cam was going to be okay.

For now.

She tried to ignore the voice in her head reminding her that he wouldn’t have been shot in the first place if not for her. That Johnny B was still out there, with more goons, and that he probably wouldn’t stop until he either got what he wanted or got revenge.

In short, as long as she was around, Clint and Cam were still in danger.

That realization hit her with a near physical blow. She turned and ran from the emergency room and climbed into Clint’s truck. As much as she wanted otherwise, she had to leave. She couldn’t put Clint or Cam through more, couldn’t put them in more danger.

She drove back to the ranch, threw clothes into her duffel bag and grabbed the wad of cash she kept stashed in her underwear drawer. Despite all her protests, Clint had paid her every week for working on the ranch. She had enough to rent a car or get a flight.

To where, she didn’t know. All she did know was that it was time to say goodbye to any hopes of a future with Clint.

* * * * *

“Lily!”

Clint kicked the door closed behind him and hurried through the house, calling her name. Where the hell was she? When he’d returned to the waiting room after seeing Cam, Lily was gone.

His truck had been missing from the parking lot and she didn’t answer her cell phone, so he’d called a cab to get home.

When he got hom his truck was sitting in the drive but here was no sign of Lily. He went into the bedroom and stopped cold. Dresser drawers stood open, the normally tidy stacks of clothes within them jumbled.

He noticed the closet door standing open and went to it. Her duffel bag no longer lay on the top shelf. Clint turned, looking blankly around the room. His eyes fell on the nightstand. Propped against the lamp was a folded sheet of paper bearing his name.

He hurried to pick it up, unfolded and read.

I can’t keep bringing trouble to your life. It’s my fault Cam got shot, and it will be my fault if Johnny B sends more of his goons. I can’t do that to you. I love you, Clint, and I’m sorry. Lily.

Suddenly Clint’s knees went weak and he sat down hard on the bed. He stared at the note, read it again. She was gone. Lily had left him.

* * * * *

Lily stopped and stared at what had once been her home. Now it was little more than a charred pile of rubble. She turned off the engine of the rental car and climbed out. The silence hit her. Where was the chirps and trills of the birds, or the agitated chatter of the squirrels? It was like all life had left this place.

The enormity of it hit her like a physical blow. How could she have destroyed something that was once so vital, alive and beautiful? How could she have let her anger drive her to something like this?

The shame of it made her feel sick. Sure, she could blame Eddie. He’d lost the farm to Johnny B, but he hadn’t set the fire. Maybe if she’d tried harder, she could have found a way to save it.

Maybe if she’d tried harder, she wouldn’t have ended up in Florida with Clint and his brother Cam wouldn’t be lying in a hospital recovering from a gunshot. Maybe she wouldn’t now be feeling that there wasn’t much point to her life.

She’d fallen in love when she was a teenager and had lost that love. And when life gave her a second chance at it, she’d screwed it up. Her trouble had followed her and put the people she loved in danger.

What the hell kind of woman was she? And what would her parents think if they could see her now?

Thoughts of her parents brought another flood of tears. She wandered through the rubble of what had once been her home. There was nothing left but a few of the floorboards and those were charred and warped.

The toe of her boot caught on something and she looked down. The ring for the cellar door, what was once called a root cellar. Her mother used to store the vegetables she canned in the root cellar.

Would any of that have survived the fire?

Suddenly it was the most important thing in the world to find out. Lily shoved and tugged, pushed and pulled the debris away from the door. She pulled it open and looked down into the darkness. Shame she didn’t have a flashlight.

No, wait. She did. In her duffel bag. She hurried to the car for the flashlight then returned to the door of the cellar. She climbed down, coughing at the dust and ash that rose when she jumped the last couple of feet to the dirt floor.

Lily shone the flashlight around the small space. Memories came back with sweet sadness as she looked around, for a moment seeing it as it had been when she was a child.

Gone now were the neat rows of jars, organized by contents. Now empty broken jars coated with webs and dirt lay scattered over the hand-built shelves and littered the ground.

Like the rest of her life, it was all destroyed. There was nothing left. She turned to leave and as she did, the beam from the flashlight passed over something jutting up from the dirt floor.

She dropped down on her knees and dug. When she finally uncovered the small metal box, emotion welled up so strong inside her that tears started to stream down her face.

It was her dad’s coin collection.

He’d saved old coins her whole life. She could remember how excited he’d be when he’d come home from the road with a new “find”. She never really understood how he could be so excited about an old penny or nickel but she’d never told him that. She’d just smile and listen, then watch as he’d deposit his new treasure with the others.

“One day this penny might just make us rich, Lily girl,” he’d say.

That had not happened. Not that it had mattered. He’d given her what was more important than things. He’d given her love.

But to now have these coins meant more to her than anything ever could. She hadn’t lost everything. She had a piece of her dad. Clutching the box, she climbed back up the ladder, took one final look around then returned to the rental car.

She had enough money to keep the car for two more days, and stay in the cheap motel another day. That meant she had forty-eight hours to find a job and a place to live.

Fat chance.

What the hell was she going to do? She looked at the coin box lying on the seat beside her.

One day this penny might just make us rich, Lily girl.

The idea of selling her dad’s coins made her want to cry. But she’d heard him talk about people getting as much as a thousand dollars for a coin. If she could get a thousand dollars out of the whole lot, it would buy her time to find a job. And right now life was all about just surviving.

She pulled out her cell phone and ran a search. There were three rare coin dealers in Charlotte. She didn’t know if the coins in the box would be considered rare, but it was a good a place as any to start.