Chapter 11

"Get out."

Sam looked up at the sudden stop of the truck and the equally sudden command.

Chris' eyes were hard in the rearview mirror, fixed on Ezra.

Ezra finished shuffling the deck without pause. He pocketed the cards he had been idly shuffling for the long drive back to Denver.

Sam looked out the windows. They were parked near a strip mall on the outskirts of Denver.

"What the hell, Chris?" Sam asked. "You're dumping him off here?"

Chris held up a finger to silence her, nearly vibrating with anger. "Not another word. He's lucky we didn't leave him in the middle of nowhere."

"But—"

"Thank you, gentlemen, for the transportation," Ezra said, opening his door.

"No! This is—"

Ezra cut Sam off. "This is more than was necessary," he assured her. He got out of the truck. Sam scowled at him, almost as annoyed with him for listening to Chris as she was at her brother for leaving Ezra.

"I'm sure our paths with cross soon," Ezra said to Buck and Chris. Chris answered with a grunt. Buck kept his eyes fixed forward with a hard set to his jaw.

"I…" Ezra met Sam's eyes and for a second she thought she saw a flash of regret there. But then he smiled easily and stepped back from the truck. "Maybe our paths will cross, too."

"They'd better the hell not," Chris said, putting the truck back into gear.

Ezra gave Sam a wink, then shut the door and stepped back as Chris pulled out with more revving of the engine than was necessary.

Sam turned in her seat to see Ezra pull out his phone as he walked toward a diner like he didn't have a care in the world. But then she saw him look after the truck before they turned the corner.

Sam fell back heavily against her seat. Returning to Denver without Morgan was painful. She had known that's what they were doing. Morgan's absence was painfully obvious the entire drive. But crossing into the city limits without her cemented what Morgan had done. The choices she had made.

Sam glanced up at Buck and could tell his thoughts were heading the same direction.

"You want to come out to the ranch?" Chris asked quietly.

"No," Buck snapped with an anger Sam couldn't remember ever hearing from him. "I want to go back to Wyoming and get Morgan."

"You know what would happen if you tried that," Chris said, but Sam could tell from the look on her brother's face, he wanted to do exactly the same thing.

"We just left her there!" Buck exploded. "With some guy! We just walked away and left her!" He slammed a fist against the dash.

"What would've happened if we dragged her out of there?" Chris asked.

Buck didn't have an answer for that. At least not one he shared, but Sam knew exactly what would have happened. Morgan would have just fought even harder, no promises to show up at school on Monday, no agreement to call Buck. Morgan would have launched herself head first into the deep end and none of them would be able to hear her if she screamed for help.

"She'll be back in Denver by tomorrow," Chris said. "We'll run the guy's name, find out who this guy is."

"Her husband," Sam interjected. Chris and Buck both glared at her. Sam set her jaw, determined to stay on Morgan's side, no matter what. "That's who that guy is. Morgan's husband."

Buck turned in his seat and the second she saw his expression, Sam regretted her words. Buck wasn't just angry, he was scared.

"What do you know about him?" Buck asked.

Sam shook her head. "Nothing," she admitted. "But I know Morgan. She's smart and she's strong." Chris and Buck had no idea how strong Morgan was. But Sam did.

"Why would she do this? What's goin' on?" Buck asked.

Sam clamped her mouth shut. Buck studied her, then turned around to face forward again. He dragged a hand over his face and Sam felt a flash of anger at Morgan for putting Buck through this. Buck was a good guy, a good brother and he had proved that to both Morgan and Sam, treating Sam as much like a little sister as he did Morgan.

"We'll figure it out," Chris said.

Judging by the set of his jaw, Sam didn't think it was going to go well for Vin when Buck and Chris figured it out.

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Morgan looked at Vin, arching an eyebrow. "What?"

Vin shook his head, feeling awkward. He cleared his throat, not sure how much discomfort could really be between them after the night they had spent together. "Just never saw a girl as pretty as you," Vin said.

Morgan tossed her hair back over one shoulder and smirked at him. "I bet you say that to all your wives."

Her answer startled a laugh out of Vin. She grinned back at him before looking back at the bus schedule.

"How do you feel about getting into Denver by midnight?" she asked. "Will you be all bright eyed and bushy tailed for school?"

Vin shook his head. "Don't much matter to me. I ain't been to school in a few weeks."

He expected judgment on her part, but she just tilted her head in question, and when Vin didn't say anything more—didn't tell her how hard school was for him, or that he had to work loading boxes at a warehouse to pay for his food and the room he rented—she didn't push.

She kept managing to surprise Vin, with her humor, the way she didn't push him for information. She was a strange mix of pushing and giving him space.

"That the bus we're taking then?" she asked.

"Guess so," Vin said. He dug in his pocket for his wallet and approached the counter of the restaurant that doubled as the bus station.

He got their tickets and nodded towards the tables. "You want supper while we wait?" he asked.

He hadn't missed at the way Morgan had picked at her food earlier in the day.

Morgan went to a booth and slid in, picking up the menu. She studied it for a minute, then set it down.

"Who's back in Denver for you?" she asked suddenly.

"What?" Vin asked.

"Family, friends?" Morgan asked. "Girlfriend who's going to be really angry at me?"

"You mean, someone who might react to you the way your brother did to me?" Vin clarified.

"Is there?"

Vin shook his head. "Ain't no one."

Morgan waited for him to say more. Vin shrugged. "Don't got no one." He hadn't for a long time.

Morgan's eyes softened briefly before she shuttered them. "Sometimes no one's better than who you can get stuck with."

"That's true," Vin agreed. "You been stuck with someone? Your brother?"

"More like who gets stuck with me," she said sharply before she clamped her mouth shut and lifted her menu again, her shoulders stiff, making it clear Vin had crossed a line. Any talk about her was off limits.

"Sorry," he said.

"You want a burger?" Morgan asked. "I'm buying."

Vin didn't push. He closed his menu, agreeing to the burger, watching her until the tension in her shoulders eased slightly.

"I don't feel stuck," he said.

Morgan narrowed her eyes at him.

"I ain't stuck with you," he said. He wasn't completely alone for the first time.

Morgan made a small scoffing sound, telling Vin without words that he may change his opinion on that. But Vin knew he wouldn't. He had meant the vows he said, even if he didn't know Morgan. He would keep the promises to stay by her side. She could count on him even if she didn't believe it yet.

They ate in silence, Vin letting her pick up the bill rather than risk offending her. When the bus pulled up, Vin handed her his light jacket. Morgan took it to keep the chill from her bare shoulders, still in the clothes she had worn into the bar, but at least she had a pair of shoes on her feet now.

She took the window seat Vin motioned her into. Vin handed her a bottle of water he had bought before they boarded. Morgan looked like she was going to refuse it at first, but took it without comment.

Vin settled into his seat, comfortable with going where the road took them. Morgan looked uneasy.

She fidgeted until the bus pulled onto the endless strip of highway that would take them into Denver.

As the road hummed along under the bus tires, Morgan's movements slowed until she leaned back in her seat.

Her uneasy movements stilled, her eyes started to flutter closed.

When her head dropped against Vin's shoulder and her breathing came in slow regular breaths, Vin moved slightly to take her slight weight against him more easily.

Her hair smelled like flowers, silky against his face. Her long lashes rested on smooth skin, full lips relaxed.

Vin had meant it when he said he had never seen a girl as pretty as her.

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