Cole had been hanging on to a branch despite bearing great weight in his heart, but now his only solace snapped, and he fell. He punched the wagon once. Twice. Thrice, until his entire hand pulsed with pain.
“That damn fool!”
The boy holding the newspaper looked up at Cole, wide-eyed. “Is this… our Ned? We had the Wolfman visit?”
“He’s not a Wolfman! He’s just an idiot, who chose to spite me with his own death,” Cole roared, spun around, and ran for the pasture. Someone must have seen Ned leave. Why hadn’t anyone stopped him when he chose to walk off without his horse? It was madness!
Terje was filling the horse trough in the bright sunshine, as if Ned’s life didn’t hang by a thread. Cole could still not comprehend the stupidity of it all. Ned had come here, left his horse, his dog, said his goodbyes to Tommy, and just… left?
How dare he do something like this? He should have found Cole, dragged him out of Terje’s wagon, and fought him, if he wanted to get even. Not… not do this crazy thing.
“Were you here when Ned left?” Cole snapped, pulling at Terje’s shoulder so hard some of the water spilled from a wooden bucket and made a muddy spot between their feet. “Why didn’t you stop him?”
Terje frowned at him. “What? Why would I stop him? I tried to tell you he asked me to take good care of the horse but you walked off. Who am I to question him?”
Cole brought his hands down in fury, but punching the air wasn’t nearly as satisfying as feeling flesh yield. “Who does that? Who gives up on their horse and walks away? Didn’t it occur to you he was planning something horrible?” Cole roared at the top of his lungs, but, infuriatingly, Terje stared back at him as if it were Cole who’d lost his senses.
“Like what? I’m getting a feeling there’s more to this than the horse… Did he steal from you or something?”
“He gave himself up to the police. They’ll hang him!” Cole cried, barely able to think anymore. All he could see was Ned back on the gallows in Beaver Springs, trembling as the rope tightened around his throat. “And you just let him go!”
“I never loved anyone but you,” Ned had said with a noose around his neck. And Cole had left him behind, without saying goodbye in person.
Terje spread his arms. “How is this my fault? Hadn’t you told him you don’t care if he lives or dies?”
“You don’t understand what’s between me and him,” Cole said with a growing sense of haste. Figures loomed at the edges of his vision, but he didn’t care who they were or who could hear him. “I just need to deal with this myself,” he said and moved toward the horses.
“What do you think you’re doing? The man’s turned himself in. Move on!” Terje followed him like a nagging fly trying to sit on his nose.
“Don’t try me, Terje,” Cole snapped, grabbing his saddle and rushing toward Carol, who turned toward him with a calm huff. “You didn’t stop Ned, and you won’t stop me now.”
Cole didn’t have a plan, but he needed to stop this madness. Needed to smack Ned for doing something so idiotic. And take him back to safety.
And admit that he loved him.
“All in order?” Roger yelled from afar, when Terje, the obstructive piece of shit, grabbed Carol’s reins.
“Not really. Cole thinks that he can swan into the police station and bust out his past lover, who, by the way, is also the Wolfman of the Rockies,” Terje shouted like a kid with a compulsive need to snitch on his siblings
“Give me back my damn horse. It’s no concern of yours,” Cole said, pushing at Terje, but the other man dragged Carol away from the pasture gate, hiding behind her, in case Cole wanted to use force.
This was taking too long. What if Thaddeus Craig had beaten Ned black and blue? What if only minutes parted Ned from being transported to a high-security prison? How would Cole rescue him from there?
Faded stripes passed through his line of vision, and when he turned to see one of the fake Zebras, thinking was no longer on his agenda. He dropped the saddle and grabbed the painted horse’s short mane, leaping on its back. His heels dug into the mount’s sides even as it frantically tapped its hooves against dry dirt.
“Go! Go!”
“No! You cocksucker! Leave Tanya alone!” Terje yelled, but Cole left him to eat dust and smacked the mare’s rear in a bid to make her bend to his will.
He didn’t know where the jail was, but the sooner he arrived in the city, the sooner he’d find out. His heart pounded faster than the horse’s, and he couldn’t believe this was happening. So many times Ned had begged for his love and attention, but Cole hadn’t been ready to face his own feelings until it was too late.
If he could only get to him on time, if he only got to save Ned, he’d never reject him again. He’d be the good man Ned had always wanted him to be when they’d still dreamed of living as honest men.
Blinded by sunlight, Cole didn’t notice Judith until she screeched and dropped a wooden crate, running out of Cole’s way. But as the box hit the ground, and the air clinked with the sound of broken glass, the fake zebra reared, tossing Cole from its back.
Flying through the air, Cole thought back to the darkness in Ned’s eyes last night, but the hard fall put an end to the vision and sent him rolling to his knees while dull pain spread through him like wildfire.
At least his bones didn’t feel broken.
“Grab Tanya!” Terje yelled from afar, before Cole managed to rise to all fours, still dazed.
Someone grabbed his wrist.
“Calm the fuck down!” Roger roared at him, but Cole tried to rip his hand out of the firm grip.
“The police have him! Let go of m—” Cole’s words turned into a hiss when another pair of arms took care of his other hand, and he was helpless against the combined strength of two men.
With hair hanging in his face, Cole cried out in anger when he saw both revolvers sitting at his hips, unused. He should have taken them out in the first place. He would have never shot at Roger, but the man didn’t know that and would have let Cole go.
“What are you staring at? Get the fuck back to your job,” Terje snarled at someone.
“Judith? See if you can get Tanya back?” Roger asked in a level voice before leaning down to look at Cole. “You’re a wanted man. You’re not going to walk into that police station,” he whispered slowly, as if Cole were a child denied another piece of candy.
“How long can you keep me like this?” Cole roared and rose, attempting to use the momentum to his advantage, but his captors must have foreseen his struggle, because Terje’s foot cut his legs from under him and sent him back to his knees.
“You have no right to keep me! Let go,” Cole cried, trying to flee the two pairs of hands, but it was futile. Ned would die alone, convinced that Cole no longer cared for him.
He’d never regretted anything as much as writing that goddamn letter instead of staying until morning. A pair of worn green boots approached, and Cole raised his head to see Jan, who opened his arms with a deep frown. “What’s happening here?”
“We’re trying to save his life,” Roger said. “But might have to break his arms to do it.”