Page 77 of The Lies We Told Ourselves

“As long as my doctor doesn’t mind, I’ll come out and talk to Cole myself.”

I heard Xander’s scoff because I didn’t even wait for his response before I was heading for the door. Reece laughed softly, and I heard them all follow.

Bullet deserved a medal for everything he’d been through. And he was about to have a whole crowd of people ready to do whatever it took to get him back on his feet.

As we made our way to the barn, my eyes went to every bush, every shadow, looking for Val. The wave of relief when we wentinside the barn and found her sitting in the corner of Bullet’s stall genuinely made me think I was about to cry.

“Val!” Reece rushed out, making the dog leap to its feet and rush to her feet. “Where have you been?”

Reece dropped to her knees to fuss over Val, who immediately rolled onto her back, whimpering and crying in a way that I’d never seen before.

“I checked her over quickly,” Cole said, prepping a syringe of something. “She’s fine. A bit shaken up I think, nothing else. Hank found her locked inside one of the stalls when we were bringing Bullet in.”

My forehead creased in a frown, and I moved to my best friend, dropping to my knees as I ran my fingers through her soft fur. “What did you get yourself into, girl?”

She whimpered and wriggled closer to me, shoving her cold nose into my hand, which was partially covered by the cast, and sniffing it.

If Val hadn’t been shut inside the stable, I dreaded to think what would have happened to her when I came off Bullet in the herd. She would have tried to reach me. I know she would have. And she would have been hurt. Whoever had shut her in there didn’t do it for noble reasons, but it had most likely saved her life.

Cole finished giving Bullet the shot and then started packing up his bag. “I’ve done all I can,” Cole said, his gaze roaming over Bullet as he spoke like he was checking to make sure that he hadn’t missed anything. “I think he should pull through fine. Once we reset the leg, we were able to get him up on his feet. He’s not putting any weight on the injured leg for now, but that’s to be expected. I’ve given him painkillers, antibiotics, and something to bring the swelling down. There’s nothing to do but wait and see for now. I’ll come by and check on him in the morning. If he lies down, let him. There’s no point stressing himby trying to keep him on his feet. But I have to warn you. If he goes down and we can’t get him back up again…Well, you know the rest.”

I nodded, moving to Bullet’s side and laying my forehead against his neck. “Thank you,” I whispered, running my hand across his neck.

I had no idea how we’d both made it out of this. We might be hurting, but there was no way I was losing Bullet now. I meant it when I said whatever it took.

Cole ran through the care routine for Bullet with Hank and Reece. I’d be relying on the ranch hands even more over the next couple of months while the cast was on. Maybe now was the time to bring on some more help. We could ramp up the renovation plans and get some movement on the project while I had time to concentrate on it.

But first, I needed to get Reece alone and have a long overdue conversation.

Someone was on the ranch. Whoever had broken into the cottage hadn’t left like we’d assumed.

It was time to show them what happened to people who thought they could put the people I cared about at risk.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

REECE

The house felt too quiet once everyone had left. Xander was staying in the cottage and had taken Val with him. I had a feeling he and Booker were hoping whoever had broken in would do it again. But just the thought alone was making me want to throw up.

This had all gone too far.

The more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that Camden had done this. He loved messing with people. He liked to mess with the stuff people loved and then laugh it off, like ruining their dreams wasn’t a big deal. How I’d fallen for him completely evaded me now. He was an ass, he’d always been an ass, and honestly, I was embarrassed that it had taken me so long to walk away.

I just didn’t understand how he’d found me. There was nothing at Willowbrook that tied me here, no connections from before I’d met him. I wasn’t registered anywhere that would show up. I didn’t have a bank account, and I hadn’t even been anywhere that would have kept any record of me.

Booker walked into his room and found me sitting on the edge of his bed.

“I’m exhausted,” he admitted as he came to sit next to me.

He wrapped one arm around my shoulders and laid the other gently across his lap. I reached out and ran my fingers along the cast. This was my fault. He was hurt because of me.

“I’m sorry, Booker. I’ve brought all this trouble to your door when all you ever did was help me.”

“You don’t know that it’s him.”

I loved that he was the type of person who would try to reassure me this wasn’t my fault. Even when we both knew it wasn’t true.

“Who else could it be?” I sighed. “I…Fuck! This is such a mess.”

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