Roping Her In

Chapter: 4

Two months later

Justin has been getting worse. He doesn't show it on the outside but on the inside he does. Last week I finally had to tell that McCoy girl from Burleson that she needs more goat tying practice before she can rodeo in it. She called me crazy and laughed. She's just been lucky every time. Luck runs out eventually.

Every weekend Cox and I sit and talk about how life went over the past week. I find myself doing better talking to him about it. I know he told his buddies that I'm JR's little sister. I never did ask him if he asked the rough stock boys to keep it quiet while at RU. We've gotten along so much better than I hoped.

Early October was when the leaves were wanting to change. I got home early from working Twister seeing both vehicles in the drive. I checked to make sure Dan didn't send me any messages. Nope. House must be quiet for now. I entered quietly and shut it quietly. Then went to my room. I changed out of my ranch clothes and into some house clothes.

I then went to the kitchen to fix me something to eat. They were passed out I assumed. Right before I could do anything else, I was grabbed and thrown down. Adrenaline was already hiding the pain. Dan was almost too late this time. I could only think of one place to go. I was able to get out of the house and to my truck.

I got in and went to a public place to make the call. "Hello." I couldn't believe he answered. "I need a place to go for the night and can't go home." I said through the phone. "Ok. Where are you?" He asked. "I'm at the pinnacle bank a little way outside of Burleson." I answered. "Ok. I'll be there in a few minutes." He said before hanging up.

A few minutes later a truck was pulling in and was parking. 'Which vehicle?' -C. 'The black F-350.' 'Ok.' -C. I knew it was him when he got out. He came right over to the driver side door before opening it. First thing he did was hug me. My whole body hurt from the beating I took. "Let me see the damage." He said as he looked at my face.

I didn't get a chance to look at myself for the fear of my own life. "The guys don't know about this sweetheart. I make sure they don't." He said. "Let me see your abdomen and back." I let him see the forming bruises on my stomach and back. "Come with me to my house." He said. I shook my head.

"Your going to need to be cleaned up before we see what the real damage is." He said. I must have looked fearful because he gave me a soft smile. "My parents are in Ft. Worth at a stock event with their oldest biological kid. They won't care." He said.  I nodded. "Follow me I'll try to avoid getting separated at all costs." He said.

That's exactly what he did. I followed as close as I could to him and stayed with him until we reached western Burleson. We pulled up to a house with ten acres, a barn, and about five horses in the paddock. A bumper pull sat in the drive backed in ready for use. He parked his truck in front of it and got out. He pointed to the grass spot next to his truck. I pulled into it and cut the engine. He opened the door and walked with me to the door.

"The only one that I can think of coming over is Chaz. My roping partner." He said. "Ok." He led the way through the house and stopped at the bathroom. He had me sit up on the counter while he looked at certain places on my face. "Few cuts. Won't be noticeable. The bruise on your jawline definitely will be." He said.

"Think I've got some makeup to cover it in my truck." I said. "Thought you wore makeup to hide the bruises." He said. "It's the only thing I can do without people noticing." I said. He made quick work of cleaning the cuts on my face. "Any other places that he could have gotten you?" He asked. "I don't know." I said.

"Would you like to go get dinner with me?" He asked. "Nothing else better to do." I answered. "Raisin' Cain's Chicken or Whataburger?" He asked. "Cain's." I answered. He gave a smile. "Come on. Let's go eat then." He said helping me down. He opened the passenger door for me to get in before closing it and going to his side.

I looked at my phone to see if I had any messages from Dan. None. That's either good or bad. "Troubled?" He asked. "My cousin was the one that let me escape my brother. He practically fought him to get him off me." I said. "I applaud him for that." He said. "He does this weird, I'm going to save you when you can't save yourself, yet I'm going to let you drown if you don't fight." I said.

"I get what he's doing. When you are blindsided by your brother, he jumps in to make sure you don't end up with your parents. If you see your brother coming at you and you willingly want to take the beating. He won't do anything to stop him." He said. I nodded. "He's never been this violent until this year." I said.

"Probably pent up enough anger that he's exploding all at once and you are the first person he sees when that happens." He said. I nodded as he pulled up. "Don't worry about what you look like. If they ask, say you fell off during a rodeo accident. They probably won't call the cops unless they find it's a real threat." He said.

I only nodded.