Drake
Drake stormed through the Rourke house. The thudding and thunder from his boots echoed across the empty interior. Lacking any décor or rugs on the walls and floors, his movements were even more amplified.
The silence only made him angrier. Trading verbal missiles with Stefanie in the hallway that morning had only stirred his blood. Plus, the silence reminded him of the sickness eating at his sister.
He shook off the sad thoughts of Emma and focused again on the riling mental processes about the middle Rourke.
Where was she? What was Stefanie doing? She was up to something.
Mucking stalls his butt. He’d gone to the barn to help. He really did want to help her. He wanted to help all of them.
Not Nate anymore though.
Drake wanted to help his sister. Emma deserved that.
Speaking of his sister, Emma’s weak voice called him from the living room. Her soft tone had to work its way through the pounding of his boots. “Drake, can you come in here?”
Drake shook his head. He was making enough ruckus to be a bull at the next rodeo. Bucking bronco Drake. Drake could hear the announcers now. Everyone screaming for him to get back to the arena.
He edged into the living room. Nodding at his sister, he folded his arms and crossed his ankle over his other leg. “How’re you doing today, Emma?”
She smiled knowingly at him. “Apparently, I’m doing better than you. You sound like you’re mad enough to eat nails. Plus, you would know how I’m doing, if you’d come in and see me once in a while.”
Her cheeks had bright points of pink while the rest of her skin was starkly pale, like she’d pinched the apples of her cheeks before he’d come in there. Try as she might, she couldn’t hide her pallor or the limp shape to her hair.
None of that mattered to her as she watched him, waiting for him to talk to her.
He stood there, his arms crossed. As if he could outwait her.
Course he couldn’t.
He’d never been able to. The years he’d been gone had only made him worse at her games. That’s what happened with little practice.
He finally dropped his arms to his sides. He looked away. “I never could win at that. Alright, I’m mad because I went out to help Stefanie muck the stalls, but she’s not here.” He avoided Emma’s gaze. There was a lot more he was irritated at, but he didn’t feel like yelling at her.
He didn’t feel like talking to anybody about it. Not yet anyway.
“Look, I know you’re upset. This is a lot to take in. I know you haven’t called yet. Do you think you could call Mom and Dad this afternoon? Go for a ride, take one of the horses, and think over how you’re going to address it, what you’re going to say. I really need you to do this, Drake. Please, you promised.” She wasn’t that weak when she was pleading for him to do something. Or guilting him. Like it gave her special powers.
He had promised. He didn’t like being reminded of it. He hadn’t been on a horse ride in a long time. Uncle Will hadn’t had horses in Wyoming. “Alright, any horse will do?”
“Sure. Just don’t take Nate’s horse. He seems to have an affinity for the brown one on the end.” Emma smiled and winked.
Drake would be taking the brown one. A small amount of revenge would be more than enough to help him get on his road to coping with what his sister asked him to do.
He inclined his head. “Alright, I’ll be back in a bit. Do you need anything?”
She shook her head, trying not to let sadness overtake her peaceful expression. “I’m fine, thank you. Nate will be in soon to check on me. He always does.” She glanced out the window as if excusing Drake from the living room.
Drake didn’t say anything. He knew better than to interfere with one of Emma’s moods.
One time in the hospital, she’d only been about ten, Drake had been eight. She’d gone into one of her very few fits. She was trying so hard to be peaceful, to not cause any problems or complain. But Drake had pushed her. Pestering her and pushing and pushing, until finally she’d lost it.
Her screaming had brought most of the nursing staff to her room.
Drake hadn’t realized she’d been in so much pain. That’s what happened when you didn’t tell people you’re hurting. Emma was a professional at keeping her pain a secret.
From then on, anytime she’d gone passively calm while dealing with her sickness, Drake had backed off.
He didn’t even need to speak. He turned and left the room.
Out in the barn, Drake found the brown mare. She was a beautiful horse that moved her ears when he entered her stall. A dusty, dark brown Stetson hung on the stall hook to the side of the door.
The hat looked like it hadn’t been used in ages. He claimed it. He didn’t need to be on a horse without head protection. His blond hair was thick but the sun always burned him anyway.
He whistled for the horse to tack her.
~~~
The ride was more cathartic than Drake thought it would be. He hated when Emma was right. She seemed to be right a lot.
Even the warm midmorning temperatures didn’t heat his anger any further.
On the back of a horse with the small breeze whistling around him, Drake actually felt he was home.
He hadn’t felt like that in a long time.
It was an uncomfortable feeling.
Drake had always associated home with his parents’ abandonment.
Now, though, seeing his sister, everything was falling back into place.
Seeing Stefanie. He’d always watched her in school, watched her as she’d always been more confident than any other girl in high school, any other girl in all of town or the county. She had had a confidence about her most women didn’t have.
The last time he saw her had been at Riddick’s pond.
Just thinking of that night, the last night, brought another wave of melancholy over him. Maybe Emma’s condition was contagious. Not the cancer of course. But her mood. Maybe Drake was set up to be defeated at every turn. Wouldn’t Emma get a kick out of his theory? That her mood was contagious. He chuckled at the thought.
The urge to be in the place where he’d last seen Stefanie when things were simpler wiped the smirk from his face. Had the pond changed? Drake had tried so hard to get her attention that last night. He’d only succeeded in making himself look like an ass.
The old watering hole was at the end of a trail, deep in the forest.
Old Man Riddick never wandered there. He couldn’t do much with that land except keep control of the borders. Not too much further past the watering hole was the line of the Salish reservation. Riddick fought with Ole Blackhawk a long time ago. He stated that no matter what Blackhawk would never get that pond back – he didn’t care about its spiritual significance to the tribe’s people.
His disregard for the Salish people brought out the rebellious nature of the local kids. For many years, most teenagers were more than happy to have their parties out at his place late at night.
Riddick never stopped them. The parties didn’t hurt him, they hurt the Salish and the reverence they had for the area. Riddick was a jerk. He was lazy, too.
A slow canter out helped with the rhythm of Drake’s anger. The pace slowed his adrenaline down, soothed his restlessness, and made him feel like maybe he wasn’t quite as angry at everything as he’d thought.
He could look at his situation a little more clearly, even if it wasn’t with any objectivity.
His sister was dying. Drake could face that. What he didn’t want to acknowledge was that he had to let her die.
Not only that, but he had to stick up for her decision to give in.
For the briefest moment, Drake had the inkling of how Nate felt. Emma had emasculated them both. Drake and Nate. She’d taken away their right to provide and protect her.
That’s where Drake’s anger really came from. His sister was dying and he couldn’t do anything about it.
Because she’d made him promise.
What had she made Nate promise?
The trees cast a shadow across his eyes, blocking the sun from his view. The drop in temperature between the sunny parts of a dry field and a shaded cool forest was enough to blow a chilly breeze across his neck. The soft touch of air pleased Drake.
He whistled softly to the horse. “Yeah I can see why Nate likes you. You’re a sweet girl, aren’t you?”
The watering hole should be just up ahead, if he remembered right.
Drake ducked his head, a branch hanging low across his path. He pushed the next one out of the way with his arm. Passing the final trees, brought him into view of the rest of the scene.
The midmorning air shifted, cooler, reminding him of that night so many years ago. The watering hole seemed to have changed.
The campfire still sat in its forever spot, marking the earth where boys and girls gathered to spend time together.
Drake smiled softly, remembering that night among so many others where he’d watched Stefanie hang out with her friends and do nothing but be carefree girls. She’d never jumped in or done the skinny-dipping, even though he’d hoped she would. No, Stefanie was classier than most. She had more taste. Modesty was always her thing.
He loved that about her.
A small waterfall fed into the pond on the far end. The water came from a large crack in the rock.
He took in the scene, the beautiful greens and browns mixed with the florals he’d missed in Wyoming with their sparse lands and scraped rocks.
Movement to the right caught his eye.
He turned, expecting to see deer or elk or maybe, knowing his luck, a bear. But that wasn’t the case. His luck might just be turning for the better.
Stefanie glanced at him over her shoulder, her hair long and stark against the white of her shirt. With her knees drawn up to her chest, she sat on a boulder at the edge of the water. She didn’t react to his presence, but looked away from him as soon as she saw him see her.
“Here we go, Drake.” He mumbled to himself. He nudged the horse closer. The soft clip-clop of the hooves on the moss and grass strewn rocks the only noise to compete with the gurgling of the water. He always seemed to have something to say to her everywhere else in the world and at any other time. But here, in this place, something about it roped and tied his tongue.
He dismounted from the horse, glancing around for a place to tie her.
Stefanie’s soft voice carried. “She won’t go anywhere. Just put her by some grass.”
“Thanks.” Drake dropped the reins awkwardly to dangle by the mare’s legs. He moved to find himself beside Stefanie on the boulder. He shoved his hands in his pockets, humbled to discover that it didn’t matter how expensive his clothes were, he was still an insecure teenager with his crush in his sights.
“You seemed pretty enthusiastic this morning. What has you down now?” He rolled his eyes at himself. Could he sound anymore green? Emma would laugh at how he was talking. He had a feeling she’d always suspected how he felt about Stefanie, but she’d never out and out said it.
Drake could respect that or appreciate it – either way, his pride could be intact as long as Emma kept her mouth shut.
With her chin on her knee, Stefanie shrugged. “It’s hard to be enthusiastic when your plans don’t work out the way you want them too.” Her mumble reached him but it was more like she was talking to the fish, the ones jumping up to snag flies on the water.
“Isn’t it weird how the fish seem to eat around this pond all day and night instead of just in the morning and evening? In Wyoming, it gets so hot the fish won’t feed unless it’s dusky or shaded.” Drake could’ve shot himself in the foot. He was an idiot. Who wanted to talk about fish?
Stefanie lifted her large eyes to him and gave him a soft smile. “It’s really shaded here and it’s cool. Even on a hot day they don’t get that much discouragement from swimming up to the top of the waters. The Salish believe the spirits protect the fish here because it’s an epicenter for all things holy.” She bit her bottom lip, the soft skin tugged between her white teeth. Squinting at him, she continued, “I didn’t know that about Wyoming. Do you like it there?”
Interest in Drake? He could get onboard with that. He wouldn’t fight her questions. Stefanie showing interest in him was like a wolf being friendly to a rabbit – it never happened.
Drake edged closer to her. He leaned a hip on the expansive rock. “Yeah, it’s been okay. It took me a while to appreciate it for it what it is because I’ve been so mad at my parents. But eventually I did. There’s a whole lot of rugged beauty there, in the people and the land.” He shrugged. “I’m not sure if I’m even over my parents and being... banished.”
The serenity of the moment snared him into a level of intimacy he might not have reached at Bella Acres. Like their secrets were safe there, and they could say anything because it would never leave that clearing.
He still didn’t know how he felt about his parents. That was the whole point of the ride – come out there and figure out what he was supposed to do regarding them.
Calling them wasn’t on his list of priorities. He didn’t want to call them. Thinking about the promises he made Emma and the stuff waiting for him back at Bella Acres, Drake grew pensive. He stared into the water, matching the direction of Stefanie’s gaze.
“I want to buy Bella acres.” Stefanie sniffed, as if she too were caught up in the moment. “But now Old Man Riddick wants it. He has the money, right? I’m just a kid to them.” Even in her early 20s, Stefanie looked nothing like a kid.
Her hair had been pulled halfway back, leaving her curls to fall around her shoulders. The softening of her hair allowed the angles of her face to smooth, enhancing the curve and color of her eyes. Drake had always been drawn in by her eyes but now her lips were even more intoxicating to look than the rest of her.
“You want to buy it? Riddick was going to stop you from doing that? That doesn’t sound like the Stefanie I know.” He didn’t want to fight her, wasn’t going to bring up the things that caused so much tension between them. He was enjoying the peace too much. But if he didn’t goad her away from accepting failure, he feared she would lose herself in the grief of loss before even really trying.
As if holding back a sob, her breath hitched. “Yeah, well, there’s only so much a couple hundred dollars can do for you, you know? Nate was serious when he said we don’t have any extra money. I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to do it. How can I get money at this stage of the game? Mr. James said I only have two weeks.” She wiped at the sudden moisture under her eyes with quick, efficient strokes.
An instant pang tugged at Drake’s chest.
He wanted to buy the land. Him. He wanted to kick Nate off the land.
He’d never thought about how it would affect Stefanie and Hannah when Drake bought the land and kicked their brother off. What would he do with the girls?
They didn’t deserve to leave their home. Plus, he couldn’t handle doing anything like that to Stefanie.
How did he kick only one part of a family off the land?
He had to rethink things, but now more than ever he had to buy that land. Especially since Stefanie couldn’t afford it. “Are you positive you can’t buy it?”
“Yeah, Ronan James is the bank owner in Colby. He told me I didn’t have enough... enough anything.” Her sardonic laugh ended her words as if she too believed him but hadn’t thought about it much or even considered it to be a stopping point. “You know what’s crooked? To borrow money from the bank, you have to be able to prove you don’t need their money. Which doesn’t make sense at all.”
Drake couldn’t handle the condescension with which she treated herself. He’d cared for Stefanie for far too long to allow her self-esteem to waiver. “That’s the most brilliant thing I’ve ever heard, which is something I would expect from you. But this lackluster attitude of giving up? Who are you? Stefanie Rourke doesn’t take no from anybody.”
He nudged her shoulder with his, leaning over to invade her space just enough to capture her attention. “Do you remember that night? When Nate came and grabbed you? And Emma sent me home?”
Stefanie stilled, as if Drake had brought up the bull in the room, the topic not to be discussed. She nodded slowly. “Yeah, I remember that night. I remember a lot of things.”
“Oh, I remember that you didn’t take crap from anyone. Especially a loser guy like me.” He winked at her, as if trying to calm the ire starting to brew in her gaze.
Her voice stiffened even further, vulnerability strong in her tone. “You can laugh about it all you want. You hurt me. I don’t know if I’ve ever gotten over that. Heaven knows I never was able to really date guys because I was so certain it was going to be a game to them.”
A certain level of satisfaction rent through him that she’d never dated, but he couldn’t focus on that when her words shocked him. He’d hurt her? How had he hurt her? She ripped his heart out by not responding to his calls, by not doing anything every time he reached out. “I called you a couple times. I wanted to talk to you. I tried talking to you at school before that night. You wouldn’t have it.”
“I was never good enough for you, Drake. Never good enough for the Benson boy.” She stood, dusting invisible dirt from the back of her denim skirt. The curves of the line of the skirt traced her thighs and her rear end without being overly snug. Drake envied the skirt.
He shook his head and blinked hard. “What are you talking about? I liked you all through high school, even into middle school.”
Stefanie thrust her finger toward the ground, holding her tone taut and controlled. “Don’t start with me. You and I both know that you did not feel anything for me. If you had, you wouldn’t’ve made a fool of me of that party. You wouldn’t have...”
“Made a fool of you? I kissed you and you pushed me away, no interest. Nothing. Look what it got me? I kissed you in front of everyone, and then I was sent away.” Drake’s bitterness shot through him. He’d held that kiss as the only positive thing of that day. Even though she’d pushed him away, his lips still throbbed with the memory of her lips on his.
She threw her hands in the air. “Alright, remember it how you want to, cowboy. I know what happened in my head and in my heart.” She turned to walk down the slope of the boulder to the grassy trail that led away from the water.
Rushing around to that side, Drake reached out and grabbed her elbow. “Now wait a minute. If I hurt you, I didn’t mean to. The last thing I’d want to do is hurt you.”
She lifted her chin, the challenge in her eyes. “Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do, right?”
Her words rushed Drake back through the things he promised Emma, back to the things that he had to do. Back to the things that he had decided he wanted to do, if he bought that land.
“Yeah,” he mumbled. He had the money. He could something he didn’t have to do. Something she’d never expect. “Let me buy it for you. I’ll buy the land. I’ll buy you Bella Acres. No strings attached, Stefanie.”
Stefanie twisted toward him, disbelief warring with expectant hope in her eyes. “Don’t you dare tease me or taunt me or make light of this. Bella Acres is my home. This isn’t a box of cookies or chocolate that you can give to me. It’s not something you give me to make up for the things that happened in our past. Sure, you broke my heart. No big deal. Not like life or death. It’s not like losing your home. Don’t make this about that. Please.”
Drake’s thumb rubbed the edge of her elbow, the soft inner skin tantalizing to his touch. He looked down at his hand on her. “I’m not turning this into anything. I just feel like I can help you, so why shouldn’t I?” Someone had to let him help.
“You don’t have the money, Drake. There’s no way you have enough money for me to borrow from you like you’re a bank. If you do, why not use it to help Emma?”
She had the exact reaction Drake expected. Why didn’t he use his money to help his sister? Why was he just rolling over and helping Emma pass peacefully? There had to be advancements since Emma was a child. There had to be something they could do.
Drake lifted his chin, dropping his arm. “I’m very wealthy. Stefanie, you have no idea what I’ve been up to since I’ve been gone.”
“You’re not even humble about it. There’s the Drake Benson I know.” She laughed, throwing her head back, exposing the soft skin of her throat, the creamy lines distracting. “Besides, even if you did have it. I couldn’t take it.”
“Do you ever think about that night? Do you ever think about what could’ve been with us?” Drake had to ask. He had to. She was losing the soft side of her, her walls slamming up. He had to ask before her vulnerability disappeared.
Something soft glimmered in her eyes, and she said, “I wondered if you would’ve come over and kissed me like you did if Nate and Emma haven’t been there. You probably would’ve kept ignoring me, Drake.”
“No. I saw you. I had planned on approaching you that night. I had big plans. I...” His voice trailed off as he realized how weak his declarations sounded.
She stepped away from him, her walls up and pride lifted her chin. She drew her shoulders back. “You don’t need to tease me. You don’t need to assuage me. When I buy the land, Emma is going to be on it. She’s my sister, too. I love her. I don’t need blood to have a bond like that. I’m going to do this. You just stand there and watch me. All of you – can watch me.” She turned, her long strides carrying her further and further away from him, but never as far as her pride would take her.
Stefanie would never be able to get anything lined up for the loan. The banker had most likely recommended a cosigner. Or a job. Stefanie didn’t have time to come up with either. She certainly didn’t have enough time to come up with the money to cover any kind of down payment or good faith amount. Not in the time frame she’d been given. He knew it.
One thing Drake Benson understood was money.
He returned to the mare, grabbing the reins and wrapping the leather strips around his hand. Playing with them as the sweet animal continued munching on the grass.
Maybe he wouldn’t kick Nate off the land when he bought it. Maybe Drake would buy the land, force Stefanie to stay there, and maybe he’d make her marry him.
The only way any of that would fulfill his desire for revenge was knowing that every single time Drake touched Stefanie, Nate’s blood would boil.
Talk about sweet revenge.