Breaking Boundaries (5th in Breaking Series)

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Aiden looked down at the message in his hand and blew out a long breath as he paced the boardwalk in front of the telegraph office.

Should he send it or should he just continue to hide and lay low while praying that those bounty hunters would simply grow tired of chasing him and his parents would just let him be. Deep inside Aiden knew that sending this wire could very well simply bring the danger right to his doorstep but a part of him was desperate to be able to settle down without the worries hanging over him.

He closed his eyes and a vision of those bounty hunters riding into town and barging into his hotel room filled his mind. In his vision Nick was there with him and those men pulled their guns and when Nick leapt to his feet to defend Aiden they quickly filled him full of lead and......

Aiden shook his head as his eyes flew open. He couldn't do that! He couldn't send this letter to his parents. While Aiden longed to once again have his family, he could also remember that coldness and hatred in his father's eyes. The lack of any remorse as his father had raised that gun and aimed it straight at his chest....

Aiden kicked at the boardwalk porch, crumpled up his letter and shoved it down in his pocket. His situation was impossible! He wanted Nick, he wanted to be with Nick. He wanted to work at the ranch. He wanted to stay in and around Bakerstown. He liked this place and he liked these people... But it couldn't last. Eventually he'd be found and he'd have to run... And he was putting Nick in danger by spending days locked in hotel rooms with him.

Aiden felt his heart break in half when he realized that he couldn't have any of the things he wanted! He would work at the ranch one more week, if the bounty hunters held off that long, and earn himself one more payday and then he would have to leave. And in this week he had left he was going to have to make it clear to Nick why they couldn't be together even though the thought of doing so made Aiden sick to the stomach.

All traces of the happiness he'd felt thoroughly doused, Aiden slumped his shoulders, adjusted the sack he was carrying and headed toward the livery to ready his horse and ride back out to Atkinson Spread.

He was nearly there when Kaitlyn came running to him and grabbed his arm, "I need help!"

Aiden looked around and then frowned at her, "Help with what?"

She licked her lips nervously and never released her hold on his arm, "I need someone to talk to. I don't have many friends, Aiden, and while this might seem real sad seeing as how we've only spoken once or twice, I'd like to consider you one."

Aiden shrugged. He'd always liked having friends, "Okay."

She smiled, "Okay! This town hates me. Sure Ryder and Susie like me fairly well but that's just because they are incapable of hating anyone...."

"Why would anyone hate you, Kaitlyn? You seem like an okay person to me," Aiden replied honestly.

Kaitlyn led him to a bench outside the livery and the two of them sat down side by side, "I was a whore here for a long time. I worked at the Bucking Bronco and a lot of men paid for my services. Wendell wants to get married but the other women in town won't even look at me. They won't help me plan a wedding, they won't even let me eat inside the diner because of what I was. I'm not that woman anymore but it doesn't matter because I've made my bed and now I have to lay in it. But Wendell doesn't understand why I keep putting him off about marriage and I can't tell him what's going on! He's already facing so much shame from simply being with a woman like me; to let him know what everyone thinks of him and how foolish they find him to be would only embarrass him more."