Thank you, as always, for reading! LuvReading, thank you for your kind review! Kaylee won't be able to keep her secrets forever and things are starting to spiral out of control for her now.

Chapter 41

Kaylee hurried to Ezra's truck. She needed to get into town, make her last withdrawal with Ezra's debit card, and mail a payment to Cletus. After this week, it would be less than two months and she would have Cletus paid off.

She was climbing into Ezra's truck when she saw Vin's truck pull in.

Kaylee ignored him, starting the truck and putting it in gear.

Vin got out of his truck and crossed in front of Kaylee, blocking her from driving away.

"We gotta talk," Vin said.

Kaylee could make out his words in spite of the closed windows. She shook her head, pretending she couldn't hear him. She didn't want to talk. She didn't want to do anything besides get the money she needed to and put her lies and deceit behind her.

Vin wasn't deterred. With his lips set in a grim line, he knocked on the passenger side window.

Kaylee stared out the windshield, gripping the steering wheel more tightly.

"Kaylee," Vin said, another tap on the glass.

Kaylee winced and pushed the button to release the locks.

Vin opened the passenger door. He didn't say anything right away.

"Ezra's in the barn," she said. She glanced at Vin. He looked at her without comment.

"You know I ain't here to talk to Ezra," he finally spoke.

"I have to get going," Kaylee said. It was the wrong thing to say. Vin pulled himself up into the passenger seat and shut the door.

"You can't come with," Kaylee said.

"I ain't going nowhere until we talk," Vin said.

Pursing her lips in frustration, Kaylee jammed the truck into gear and pulled out. "There's nothing to talk about." She pushed down slightly on the accelerator as if hurrying the drive to town would help.

"You scared Ezra, passing out like you did yesterday." Vin spoke quietly. "You scared me."

"I didn't pass out," Kaylee said quickly. "I got a little dizzy. Everyone overreacted."

From the corner of her eye, she saw Vin shift in his seat and lean slightly toward her. "You know that ain't true."

"I didn't pass out!" she said, her voice rising. She took the curve coming down the road from Ezra's towards Chris' too quickly and adjusted her speed, slowing slightly.

"But you ain't in good shape," Vin said, not backing down. "You've been keeping somethin' from Ezra, from everyone, for months and it's eatin' away at you."

"I'm not—"

"You owe money to someone," Vin said, not giving her another chance to argue. "Just tell Ezra what's goin' on so he can help you." His voice rose slightly in frustration. "Tell me what's goin' on and I can help."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Kaylee said, her own voice rising in volume and pitch.

"I know you're runnin' scared," Vin persisted.

"Stop it!" Kaylee shouted. The truck fishtailed around another curve and she gripped the wheel even more tightly, gritting her teeth. "I'm not scared! I'm fine! Everything's fine!"

"You're not—Kaylee!" Vin shouted.

Kaylee moved her foot from the gas to the brake too quickly to counter the truck's sideways movement and the truck skidded on the gravel, turning sideways on the road.

Vin let out another shout, reaching toward Kaylee as the truck leaned, tilted, and rolled over, hitting the ground with an echoing thud of steel against rocks, glass shattering, Vin's shout dying off, and Kaylee's own scream filling the cab.

Kaylee's seatbelt caught her with a hard jolt, knocking the wind from her. She wheezed out a breath and dragged the next one in with a burning ache.

Her face stung, her vision hazy with a red tint.

Kaylee wiped at her eyes, her hands coming away sticky. She looked at her fingers, her vision clear.

Her hands were covered with blood.

Kaylee dragged in another breath, the pressure of her seatbelt pressing into her chest painfully. She pulled at it, dizzy and disoriented. She looked over for Vin. Why was he on the ground? She was above him.

That was when she realized the truck was lying on its side. Vin was resting on the ground, his body against the passenger door. Not moving.

"Vin?" she said. He didn't move.

Kaylee tried to unbuckle her seatbelt. "Vin?" she asked again, her voice shaking.

Her fingers clawed at her seatbelt, panic setting in. "Vin!" She had to get to him. Why wouldn't he answer? She tugged and pulled at her seatbelt, the release button not moving, the belt anchoring her to her seat.

With a sob, she worked harder, desperate to get to Vin. To undo what she had just done.

#

JD kept an eye on the sides of the road for deer. He had almost hit one more times than he could count on this stretch of backroad that led to Chris', and Ezra's house past that.

He had agreed to come out and throw a rope from the back of some of the colts Chris and Vin and Buck were training. Vin wasn't up to riding yet, and Buck had asked JD to help with the horses. JD grinned. He had found a family when he moved out to Colorado to try out as Buck's roping partner. Riding with Buck Wilmington, who was practically a rodeo legend, would have been more than enough for JD. But to be welcomed into the group of men as a brother was more than JD could have ever hoped for.

He slowed around one of the curves as he got closer to Chris'. The morning sun glinted off something in the ditch on the other side of the bend.

JD slowed more, looking in the direction of the light.

His breath caught, then escaped on a curse. He slammed on his brakes, jerking the wheel and pulling to the side of the road.

"Oh no," he said under his breath. He opened his car door and started down the sloping bank, skidding on his boots. "No, no, no…"

Ezra's big black truck rested on its side. The side windows were shattered, the windshield gone. The wheels that were up in the air spun lazily.

"Ezra!" JD yelled. "Kaylee!" He had no idea who was in the truck.

"Help!" came an answering call.

JD got close enough to the truck to look through the windshield.

"JD," Kaylee sobbed. "JD, please, help!"

JD tried not to recoil at the blood that covered her face. She was looking at him and talking, that's what mattered.

He looked at the hood, trying to figure out the best way to get to her.

"It's Vin," she said, her words spilling out frantically. "JD, it's Vin! He needs help. Get Vin!"

JD looked where she was pointing and his heart sank. Vin was leaning against the side of the truck that rested on the ground, eyes closed, no movement.

JD cursed again, followed by a prayer that came out of nowhere. He meant them both.

He shouldn't move Vin. The thought struck him. He had seen enough bad hits in the rodeo to know that.

"Kaylee, I'm gonna get you!" JD said. "Just—just stay put!" He knew how ridiculous the words were even as he said them.

He clambered back up the incline to the road. He grabbed his phone and dialed 911.

He rattled off his location, the condition of Vin and Kaylee and demanded to know how long an ambulance would take. He looked toward the rolled truck. There were too few ambulances in their rural county. It was going to take at least twenty minutes for someone to get to them. The 911 dispatcher assured him an ambulance would be there as soon as possible. JD hung up and immediately hit the screen to make another call as he slipped and slid back down the slope to where Kaylee and Vin were trapped in the truck.

"Chris?" JD asked. "There's been a wreck. Kaylee's stuck and Vin ain't looking good." His words rushed out.

"Where are you?" Chris asked.

JD told him. They were less than a mile from Chris'. Chris said he was on his way and JD felt some measure of relief that he wouldn't be alone with Kaylee and Vin and the wreckage for long.

He approached the truck again and saw Kaylee trying to get her seatbelt unfastened again, her eyes fixed on Vin.

"Kaylee," he said.

She turned green eyes to him, the blood on her face starting to darken as it dried.

"I'm gonna get you out, ok?" he said. "I can't get Vin out without some help, but I'll get you out."

Kaylee nodded, her lips trembling.

JD took off his coat, wrapping it around his fist, and did what he could to clear the most dangerous shards of glass still remaining of the windshield. He tossed his coat aside and leaned through the open space.

"Hold onto me, ok? Just hold on." JD got his knife from his pocket and opened it. He moved so he could take Kaylee's weight, shifting to position himself under her. He moved carefully, not sure how banged up she might be, straining to cut the seatbelt away from her and not knick her with the sharp blade.

From the side he heard Vin groan and nearly wanted to cry along with Kaylee. He firmed up his jaw and focused on the task at hand. He got the shoulder strap cut and Kaylee fell more heavily against him.

"Vin?" JD called. "I'm gonna get you next. Just stay with us."

He sawed through the lap belt and Kaylee fell against him. JD planted his feet more securely, tossing his knife out of the truck behind him so he could hold Kaylee. He got her in his arms firmly and worked his way back out of the truck, reassuring her that he had her.

Lowering her to the ground, she leaned against the hood of the truck, her legs looking wobbly.

"I need to get to Vin. Stay put. Chris is on his way. No—no—no, stay there," JD said when she tried to follow after him with shaky steps. He went around the hood of the truck, glancing back to make sure Kaylee was upright, even if she was clinging to the truck to stay that way.

"Vin," he said, getting closer to the other man, sucking his breath in through his teeth when a shard of glass caught his arm and sliced through his shirt. He shifted closer to the interior of the truck, looking Vin over for any visible injuries.

Vin groaned, shifting, his weight resting on the passenger side door that was pressed into the ground. "JD?" he slurred.

JD almost wilted with relief. "Don't move, Vin." JD moved in closer. He could see a lump already forming on Vin's forehead, bruises blooming on his face.

"JD!"

All the air left JD in one gust. He braced a hand against the frame of the truck. "I—we're…" He cleared his throat. "Down here, Chris!" he yelled back. He heard more than just Chris making his way down, approaching the truck and willed himself not to let any of them see how scared he was.

Vin's eyes fell shut and JD yelled for them to hurry.

#

Buck hadn't heard what JD said on the phone. He had been in the barn when Chris got the call. But Chris had shouted for him, hardly giving Buck an explanation, just tearing out of the drive in his truck as soon as Buck closed the passenger door.

Buck hadn't been able to get any information from Chris and then realized Chris wasn't being taciturn, he really didn't know. JD had only said there had been a car wreck. Vin and Kaylee were in bad shape.

They saw JD's SUV on the edge of the road. Buck's stomach sank when there was no sign of a truck. There was only one place for it to be.

He saw Ezra's big black truck as soon as Chris pulled up behind JD's vehicle. Buck was out of the cab before Chris had it put in park.

Chris yelled out JD's name. Buck saw Kaylee slumped against the front of the truck and went straight to her.

"Kaylee?" he asked.

She looked up at his approach, blinking. Buck tried not to recoil at the sight of blood on her face.

"Are you hurt?" Buck asked.

Chris looked at Buck in question and, since Kaylee was at least somewhat standing on her own two feet, Buck jerked his head toward the truck, motioning Chris on to go help JD with Vin.

"I'm not hurt," Kaylee said, but she sounded so dazed, Buck figured she didn't much know what hurt yet. "It's Vin. Vin's not moving." A choked sound came from her and Buck wrapped his arm around her, ignoring the blood that was sure to soak his coat.

Buck heard Chris and JD speaking in low tones. He steered Kaylee away from the truck, needing to find her a place to sit, needing to see Vin. He found a level place where she couldn't see what was happening near the truck and lowered her to the ground.

Kaylee's entire body was shaking. Buck knelt down next to her and took his jacket off. Kaylee looked at the blood smeared across the front of the fabric in alarm. Then she lifted a hand to her head, pulling it away and looking at the blood that had been added to the red that already covered her hand.

"I think I'm bleeding," she said.

"JD said help's comin'," Buck assured her.

Buck looked toward the truck. Kaylee's hands gripped his arms.

He wasn't going to be able to leave her to help with Vin.

"Yeah, you are," he said.

Kaylee met his eyes. "What did I do?" she asked. "If anything happens to Vin, it's my fault. I did this. I—I—"

"Nothin's gonna happen to Vin," Buck said firmly. "You're both fine. You're both gonna be fine." He heard rustling, a couple grunts and curses and looked at the truck. He saw Chris and JD speaking quietly, but they hadn't moved Vin yet. Buck knew that meant it was bad.

He sat with Kaylee, letting her lean against him, reassuring her, promising her that Vin would be fine and hoping he wasn't lying through his teeth.

When he heard the sirens in the distance, he started moving Kaylee to her feet. She was steady, though shook up, and Buck eased her up the slope to the road, ready to hand her over to the paramedics.

He helped her sit in the back of the ambulance while she refused to let them look at her, telling them to go to Vin, that he hadn't been moving.

Buck sat with her, the hardest inactivity of his life while the paramedics and JD and Chris moved around the truck down in the ditch.

When they pulled Vin out, he had a collar around his neck, his face was discolored and starting to swell, but his eyes were open.

Kaylee jumped down from the ambulance and hurried to the backboard the four men were carrying up the hill.

Buck caught her lightly by the arms and held her back. She had refused to let the medics look at her. Exchanging a look with Chris, Buck helped her into the backseat of Chris' truck, climbing in beside her. He heard Chris tell JD to go get Ezra, bring him to the hospital.

Kaylee's shaking grew worse when the ambulance driver switched on his lights and pulled out, the wail of the siren piercing. Buck put his arm around her, tucking her against his side, repeating his promises that everything would be fine. He saw Chris glance back in the rearview mirror and knew Chris didn't believe anything he was saying anymore than he did.

#

The emergency room was quiet. Early on a Tuesday didn't lend itself to a big crowd. The only crowd was the knot of men in the far corner. Ezra went toward them immediately, JD on his heels.

Chris and Buck turned from where they were standing shoulder to shoulder, Nathan looking up from where he was seated.

Ezra saw Kaylee and that was the only thing that registered at first. She was sitting in the chair next to Nathan, in one piece.

And then he saw the blood.

"She's fine, Ezra," Nathan said as Ezra approached.

"What happened?" Ezra asked. Kaylee looked anything but fine.

Kaylee wouldn't meet his eyes. Her jaw trembled and she looked on the verge of tears.

Ezra didn't push. He had driven past his truck in the ditch with JD. It had looked terrible enough to spur all sorts of worst case scenarios in his mind, no matter what JD said to try to assure him.

Ezra took the chair next to Kaylee that Nathan vacated. He lightly brushed her hair back from her face, looking for any injuries beneath the blood.

Nathan handed Ezra a stack of gauze. He motioned for Ezra to hold it to the cut on Kaylee's temple.

"She needs stitches," Nathan said quietly. "We can't convince her to let them treat her. Doesn't look like she actually hit her head on anything."

Ezra's own hand shook as he pressed the woven fabric to the cut, wincing along with Kaylee.

"It hurts?" he asked her.

"No," she said.

"Liar," he said to her gently. He looked up at Buck. "Vin?"

Kaylee flinched at Vin's name. Ezra moved his free hand to hold hers. Her fingers were cold and didn't respond to his touch.

"He's gettin' his head scanned now," Buck said. "He's awake and talkin'."

Ezra nodded. It was good enough news for now. He looked at the blood across the front of Buck's coat, drying in Kaylee's hair.

"Let's get you checked out," he said.

Kaylee gave the predictable head shake, but Ezra ignored it. He had just spent the half hour drive to the hospital imagining every worse case scenario. He was at Kaylee's side now. The other men may have been unwilling to fight her and make her see a doctor until he was there, but Ezra was there now.

He helped her to her feet, ignoring the stubborn set to her jaw, and brought her to the woman at the reception desk.

"She needs to be seen," he said.

The woman looked relieved to finally have Kaylee agreeing to go to triage instead of sitting in her waiting room, bleeding.

Ezra stayed by Kaylee's side, listening to her tell the nurse and then a doctor that she was absolutely sure she didn't hit her head. That it was just shattered glass that had cut her. The doctor examined her, probing her head, checking the mark the seatbelt left across her collarbone, and seemed to agree reluctantly with letting Kaylee refuse anything more than getting her lacerations cleaned and dressed.

He grit his jaw when they rinsed the wounds and cleaned up her face, finding new shards of glass to remove. They opted for white tape strips to close the two worst cuts instead of sutures. Ezra backed away to give the doctor room to work, but he watched Kaylee's foot dance in a nervous rhythm on the floor. She wanted to see Vin.

JD had told Ezra Kaylee had been driving. Ezra had been with her in Vegas when Vin had ended up in the emergency room and seen the blame she placed on herself for something she had nothing to do with. He didn't want to think about what was going through her mind right now.

Kaylee had barely spoken to the doctor, but as soon as he left, she turned to Ezra. "We have to see Vin."

Ezra had expected as much. He led her back towards the waiting room, intending to check with the others and see if there had been any update, but Kaylee pulled away from him, heading directly to a curtained off room.

Ezra checked to make sure their detour wasn't noticed by anyone. He followed Kaylee to the room.

"We have to stop meeting like this," Ezra said to Vin.

Vin cracked an eye open where he laid on the stretcher, his face tight with pain. "Buck said it's a good way to find a pretty nurse."

"Mr. Wilmington will find female companionship anywhere."

Vin looked over at Kaylee, frowning more deeply when he saw the dressing over her temple, another on her forehead. "They wouldn't tell me nothin' about you," Vin said.

Kaylee waved away his concern. "Just a couple cuts," she said. "Vin…" she licked her lips and glanced at Ezra. "I'm really sorry."

Vin didn't say anything, but his face showed more worry for Kaylee than his own condition. "Nothin' to be sorry for. But what I said, you gotta—"

Vin's odd statement was cut off by Kaylee. She looked at Ezra again.

"What did the doctors say?" she asked Vin.

Vin studied her for a minute before giving a resigned sigh. "A concussion. Couple busted ribs. They're gonna keep me here tonight."

Ezra tried to put a hand on Kaylee's arm in reassurance, but she jerked away, self-recrimination clear on her bruised face.

"My knee's good, though," Vin said, attempting some humor.

Kaylee shook her head at Vin. She kept shaking her head, looking from Ezra to Vin. She took a step back.

"Kaylee," Vin said, attempting to sit up until he squeezed his eyes shut and leaned back against the stretcher. "Kaylee," he tried again, without moving.

"This is—I shouldn't have—I'm just—" Kaylee's stricken eyes met Ezra's for a second before she took another step back. She abruptly turned and shoved her way past the curtain.

"I've got her," Ezra assured Vin. He couldn't figure out why Vin looked so grim, but nothing really was normal right now.

Ezra followed after Kaylee, all the way to the parking lot. She stopped, looking around, clearly uncertain where she was supposed to go.

She turned to Ezra, looking lost.

A sob broke loose.

Ezra moved to her. Another sob and he put his arms around her.

Kaylee buried her face in her hands, sobs shaking her frame. Ezra held her, murmuring reassurances, telling her Vin was fine, the truck could be repaired, no one was critically injured, he loved her.

Kaylee cried like she didn't believe any of it.

#