Chapter Twenty-Seven



Justin's P.O.V.



I'm up at 4:30am so I get ready to face the day. I slept well, after I thought long and hard about how I'm going to deal with the Ariya situation. I can't say I'm particularly looking forward to this day, but it needs to be done. Someone has to break this cycle she has going on and I'm probably the only one brave enough, or maybe stupid enough, to do it. I don't suppose anyone will ever get this opportunity again, so I best make the most of it.

Mike is setting up the coffee machine when I go down to the kitchen, so I say, “Hey. I need you to work with Todd today.”

“No problem. Everything ok?”

“Yeah. Well, I'm dealing with the Ariya situation today, so I'm probably not going to be around for a while. I'll see David for all the vaccinations first, but then Ariya and I are heading to the back barn. Y'all need to make sure the horses are done. The ones we took out on the drive can go out to pasture for a few days. Grab a couple of the young horses in and work with them. Leave the cattle to rest after David has been. You and Todd can check all the fences as well. You think you can do the feed run as well?”

“Sure thing. How are you dealing with Ariya?”

“I'm going to talk to her first. Like, really talk to her.”

“Going to the back barn doesn't sound like you're only going to talk. Should I check in on you, to make sure no one is dead?”

“No. No one is going to die. She can't kill me and I'm certainly not going to kill her. I'll call you if I need anything. Once we get in the barn, we won't be coming out until she's dealt with some things.”

“Doesn't sound good. Just let me know what you need. We'll make sure the barn is sorted out.”

“Thanks.”

Lou appears, so we stop talking and I go upstairs to get Ariya.

David turns up a 8:00, just as we finish cleaning all the stalls. I send Todd, Lou and Mike to grab the young horses in, while I keep Ariya with me.

David greets me and then flashes Ariya a dazzling smile. “J, you didn't tell me you had such a pretty little ranch hand. Howdy, ma'am, I'm David. What's your name?”

Ariya rolls her eyes but doesn't answer. Instead, I say, “David, this is Ariya. She's a bit of a firecracker, so you might want to lay off the sweet stuff. She won't fall for it.”

“Wow, you don't mince your words there, J. I was just being nice.”

Ariya pipes up, “Don't bother. I'm not a nice person, so I won't appreciate it.”

David looks shocked at Ariya's words and then he chuckles, “Dude, good luck with that one. She's honest though, I like that.”

“Shall we get through the vaccinations? I've got a calf I need you to look at as well. He cut his leg pretty bad so I need you to check it out.”

“Sure thing. You want to do that first?”

“Sure. Ariya, you'll probably have a better chance of getting the calf. You want to try first?”

She shrugs and grabs a rope before going out into the herd of cattle. Both David and I are shocked that she can just walk through the sea of animals without them paying her any attention. I mean, they literally don't even look up from grazing.

As we watch Ariya, David says, “You've got your work cut out with that one.”

“You have no idea.”

“She part of the program?”

“Yeah, how did you guess?”

“The look in her eyes. She's got a hard stare, man. She a fighter?”

“What makes you ask that?”

“The wounds on her knuckles. I treat some of the ranch hands in other places when they've had brawls. They don't want to take trips to the doctor, so they just ask me to patch them up. She's got the same type of wounds. Do you need me to take a look at them?”

“No sir. She'll be fine. It's nothing she can't handle, trust me. She wouldn't let you look at them anyways.”

“Right. Well, I hope she's not giving you too much trouble. Sometimes you have too big a heart. You can't help everyone, you know?”

“I know, but I'm not going to stop trying.”

We stop talking when Ariya gets closer. The calf is limping, but he doesn't look as bad as yesterday. His mom is close behind, but she doesn't look particularly stressed about the situation.

David opens the gate and says, “Let's get him out here, but leave mom in the coral. We don't want her causing trouble.”

He removes the bandage and inspects the wound closely. “Who stitched this up?”

“Ariya.”

She's fiddling with the rope as she holds the calf. She doesn't even look like she's listening to a word we're saying.

“You did a good job, Ariya. I'm impressed.”

She doesn't comment. It almost looks like she doesn't know how to deal with praise. If that's the case, then that's a sad thing. No person should not know how to handle praise. Everyone is good at something, and they should be told when they're doing a good job.

David doesn't just let it slide. He asks, “Where did you learn to sew up a wound like that?”

“Around.”

“Well, most city girls can't do things like that. You saved this little guy's leg, and probably his life. I'd like to shake the hand of the person who taught you that skill.”

She scoffs and bitterly comments, “You really don't.”

That comment leads me to wonder where she did learn to treat wounds the way she does. I eye her closely and she seems to sense that I'm staring at her. She looks at me squarely, almost challenging me to say something. For now, I bite my tongue. She has no idea what's in store for her after David has gone and I'm not about to give anything away right now.

David doesn't do anything with the wound, except re-dress it and give the calf some intravenous antibiotics. Mom is starting to get antsy, so we vaccinate him and then release him back to his mom.

We work quickly, getting the cattle into the chute one by one. Everything gets vaccinated and those that aren't tagged, get tagged at the same time. We get through the 150 cattle in a couple hours and David leaves, sending a wink Ariya's way. She rolls her eyes again and I hear her mutter, “Scumbag.” Thankfully, David doesn't hear her, but the look I shoot her, lets her know I did. She has got some serious problems with people, particularly men. He's not trying anything on with her, yet she's acting like he is. He's just being friendly, but it's like she can't even handle that. Unless she's mistaking people being nice for something sinister. That would explain a lot.

After David has driven off, I say to Ariya, “You. With me. Now.”

She eyes me carefully, but with a hardened stare. She's angry at the way I spoke to her. I don't want to treat her this way, but she's left me no choice. The nice approach obviously doesn't work with her, so I have to use stronger methods.

She follows me to the back barn and I can feel her apprehension the further we get from the main buildings. She does a good job of guarding her reactions, especially when I open the barn doors and motion for her to go inside. I have to admit, I am pretty impressed that she hasn't kicked up a fuss or even asked what's going on. I know I'd want to know where I was going and what was happening. Maybe she doesn't want to talk to me so much that it overrides the need to ask questions.

There's not too much in this barn; we don't really use it anymore. It has my dad's old pick up in it and some old furniture. I grab a dusty chair and say, “Sit.”

She stares at me but doesn't make any attempt to move.

“I'm not kidding, Ariya. Sit on the freakin' chair.”

She finally opens her mouth and speaks to me, “Why should I?”

Her tone is cold and very suspicious.

“Because you're skating on very thin ice right now. I don't think you have any right to argue or question me after the stunt you pulled with Todd. And because I told you to, that's why you should take a seat. I'm done playing nice.”

She smirks, that trademark expression is back, but it looks like she's using it to cover up something else. I'm not sure what, because she's masking that emotion. She stares at me for a bit longer, so I decide to take a seat on the chair opposite the one I offered her.

“I can wait. We've got all day.”

After a few minutes, she reluctantly takes a seat. I wait for her to settle into the chair and then I stand up. She watches me closely and I know if I'm going to make this work, I need to do it quickly. If I don't get it right the first time, there's no way she'll let me have a second attempt.

I make my movements as relaxed as possible and I swiftly put a zip tie around her arm, so she's tied to the chair on one side. I don't know if she's shocked or what, but I manage to get the other one on before she completely flips out. I used zip ties, because I can't chance her getting out of handcuffs.

She stands up with the chair attached to her and yells, “What the heck do you think you are doing, you piece of sick, twisted scum?!”

She's gone from being quiet and suspicious to foaming at the mouth in just a couple of seconds and if I can't placate her quickly, then I have a feeling she'll run at something to try and break the chair.

“I warned you. I told you it was up to you to choose the hard way or not. You didn't accept my help or my attempts at making it easy for you, so you get the hard way. I don't want to do this, but you're leaving me with no choice. We're going to talk, Ariya, and I can't have you trying to hit me or running away. We need to talk. We've got as long as it takes, so I suggest you think about how you want to handle this...”

She seethes, “You're all the freakin' same!! You're all sick!!”

“Who's all the same?”

She doesn't answer, she simply scowls and glares at me. I don't find her intimidating, but that's because of my training and the things I've previously seen as a Marine. If I didn't have those experiences or the ability to defend myself, then I'd probably be intimidated. Instead, I find it quite sad that she feels like she has to be this way. It's tragic that the events in her life have shaped her into this. This angry, tormented person.

“Sit down, Miss Flynn. We need to talk.”

She looks at me like I've betrayed her trust. I suppose she has put some form of trust in me. I don't believe she would have followed me in here when she first arrived. I may have lost that tiny shred of trust now, but it's for her own good.

“Don't make me have to force you to sit down, Ariya.”

I hear her mutter, “I'd like to see you try...”

I smirk at that. She's not so shocked now and she's getting back to her normal self somewhat. She seems tired, like she hasn't slept in at least a few nights. Probably the night she told me about what she did to her dad was the last time she slept. The morning she woke up in my arms. That's when everything changed. She's been slowly unravelling since then.

“Just sit down, Ariya. Please. I'm not going to ask again.”

She doesn't move, so I walk closer to her. She grinds out, “You touch me and you'll wish you never even attempted it...”

“Don't make me out to be the bad guy here. I ask you to sit, but you have to be stubborn. If you just do as I ask, then I won't need to touch you.”

My words must get through to her, because she waits a minute or two and then sits down. She's not close to me, but at least she's sitting. She's still angry, but I think she's feeling betrayed and maybe a bit scared. I wouldn't want to be tied up, with limited ways to protect myself either. So I try to lessen her fear, without actually telling her I know she's frightened.

“I'm not going to hurt you, Ariya. I promise. I just want to talk. I know you'd find any way you could to escape from talking, so I have to take drastic measures. We will stay here until you've talked to me, but I'm not going to hurt you.”

She scoffs at that, but says nothing. She doesn't believe me.

“I haven't lied to you before, and I'm not going to start now...”

“You just tricked me into following you in here and then tied me up against my will... I think we're way passed the fact that you're honest with me...”

“How about we start with honesty, huh? You say you don't lie, but you insist there's nothing wrong with you. I know there's something going on. Something that makes you so angry and makes you have this compelling need to fight. Isn't that lying? You think you're the only one who's allowed to pick and choose what you tell people? If we're going by your rules, then me omitting to tell you we were heading here is perfectly acceptable.”

She growls; she actually growls at me, like she's a wild animal that's been caged. I suppose, in a way, she is. She doesn't want to be tied up. She wants to be free, probably so she can knock me around. Well, that's not going to happen. She's used her fists way too many times to escape this and it's not happening again.

I hear her mutter, “He's just like everyone else...”

“What was that, Miss Flynn?”

She speaks through clenched teeth, “I told you not to call me that...”

“Yeah? Well, I've told you a lot of things, mainly don't hit anyone, but you don't seem to listen to that. So, why should I listen to your request of using your first name? Give me a good reason and I might actually consider the request. And I'm not talking a half hearted reason either.”

She bites back a retort. I know she wants to rip my head off right now, but there's no way of her doing that. Instead, she stands up and tries to run into me with the chair. Thankfully, I preempt her action and I'm out of the way long before she can get to me.

“Seriously? You're going to try that? You do realize I'll be able to move out of the way before you can get to me, right? And the chair has metal rods inside, so it won't just smash, if you're thinking about doing that. You may as well save your energy. I know you can't have much of that left.”

I don't think she cares so much about actually getting me, more the fact that she's tried and she's putting up a fight. She doesn't want to seem weak, so she won't give easily. I move my chair further across the room and take a seat, just watching her closely.



“I'll just wait over here. Whenever you're ready to give me an answer, then I'm ready to listen. Mike is managing the ranch, so we've got all the time in the world.”