Page 27 of That One Night
“Make sure you close everything up,” he shouted. “The storm will be here soon.”
But she just walked back into her house.
Chapter
Eight
“Frank!”
Emery sat bolt upright in bed. She’d been sleeping fitfully since about nine o’clock, thanks to the sounds of the storm lashing against the house. They matched the dark thoughts in her head.
She’d spent most of the night alternating between hurt and anger. How dare he accuse her of improper behavior? His twisted double standards were such bullshit. And yet they’d hit something deep inside of her, something that made her feel like she deserved them.
She’d fallen asleep fuming. But now she felt disoriented, hearing the rain still hammering against the window. And something else. Something that she couldn’t quite catch.
“Frank! Where the hell are you?”
She could barely hear the words over the sound of the storm. Frowning, she sat up and put her feet on the wooden floor then padded over to the window, yanking open her curtains.
Rain was blasting against the glass, and she had to lean forward until her brow touched the cool glass to see through the torrent. Her breath fogged the surface as she frowned, her eyesfocusing on Hendrix’s house. The door was open and the light glowing through revealed the silhouette of a man standing at the top of the steps.
Emery pulled her window open and rain immediately covered her face. “What’s going on?” she yelled, but the wind swallowed her words.Was Frank missing?That goat was a pain in the ass, but like Hendrix she had an affinity for animals.
Every farmer knew that your livestock worked hard for you and in return you protected them.
“Dammit.” She slid her feet into her sneakers at the foot of the bed and ran down the stairs, being careful to keep her movement light, because the last thing she needed was to wake up her mom.
When she opened the front door Hendrix wasn’t at the bottom of his steps anymore. His front door was closed, too. For a second she hoped that Frank had come to him, but then his door opened again and Hendrix ran out. The light was bright enough for her to see that he was wearing a pair of shorts and sneakers. No shirt, though he was pulling a raincoat around his shoulders.
“Has Frank taken off?” Emery yelled from her own doorstep. Hendrix frowned at the sound of somebody else outside. Then his gaze fell on her, taking her in.
She was wearing way less than him. Tiny shorts, a camisole, sneakers, and nothing else. At least she had a top on this time.
“Go back inside,” he yelled back.
But of course, she didn’t. She and Frank, they had an understanding. And on the farm, neighbors helped neighbors, no matter if they were asses who had demanded you don’t talk to them.
She grabbed an old raincoat of her dad’s from the hook in the hallway and ran out of the house, pulling the door closed behind her. Her shoes squelched against the path as she went to joinHendrix in the road. A river of rainwater was running down the middle.
“Dammit, I told you to get back inside,” he shouted when she was close. “Just turn around.”
Ignoring him, she pulled her hood over her head. “Where do you think he went?” she yelled. Rain was plastering her face, her hair.
“I’ve no idea. He must have gotten spooked. I got woken up by a loud bang, and when I looked out, the door to the barn was open.”
A spooked animal was the worst kind. “Then I guess we should start looking.” She slid her hand inside the raincoat. “You got a flashlight?” she asked, fiddling with her phone to illuminate the area in front of her.
“Yeah.” He had a bigger one. One of those heavy metal flashlights that you could probably kill somebody with if you needed a blunt instrument.
“We should split up,” she suggested. “I can head toward the pond and you can look on the road.”
“We’re not splitting up. You’re going inside.”
Shaking her head, she started jogging down the road, her feet splashing in the puddles, her skin shivering at the coolness of the water as it clung to her legs. Yes, it was a summer storm, but a few minutes ago she’d been snug as a bug in her bed, not soaked to the bone.
“For fuck’s sake,” Hendrix said behind her. She could hear the thud of his feet catching up with her.
“I’m serious,” she told him. “You need to go the other way. We’ll find him in half the time.”
