The Ranch Ch. 10

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Clearing the air with a false sense of security.
12.8k words
4.63
16.2k
15

Part 10 of the 11 part series

Updated 06/07/2023
Created 02/28/2015
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Bellie444
Bellie444
1,853 Followers

Quietly wandering along the corridor, Katie paused to survey each painting lining the wall.

She had changed into clothes reserved for the property's live-in staff -- a crisp white, buttoned long-sleeve shirt that was neatly folded at her elbows, and beige pants which were a size too big. Her dark, curling hair was neatly gathered in a high ponytail. The jade in her eyes was sombre and seemed to fluctuate between forest green and olive as her perusal shifted between artworks.

In an adjoining room, Cory and Mark sat facing each other at a black marble kitchen bench. Cory constantly glanced over Mark's shoulder to look at Katie.

"What's she doing?" Mark asked, not taking his eyes from the paper in front.

"Looking around," Cory murmured, reaching for more toast. "Does she seem different to you?"

"Of course," Mark sighed, turning the page. "You should talk to her." Finally he looked up, his blue eyes piercing. "What are you waiting for?"

"It's not the right time."

"It will never be the right time, Cory," Mark said, a little patronisingly.

"Why don't you talk to her, then?" Cory said irritably, tossing the uneaten toast back on the plate.

"I intend to," Mark replied. "But I just figured, you know, given your hang-ups about what happened, your bellowing nightmares, your-"

"Ok, ok. I get it," Cory sourly interrupted. "You're an asshole, sometimes."

"My heart is in the right place," Mark said sweetly, as Cory stood from the counter and made his way down the hall.

Katie paused before a particular painting for a long time. It was a small, yellow cottage, neatly positioned upon a vibrant green hill. There were two baby goats snuggled together on the lawn, the mother a few metres away nosing into a rosebush. A young man and woman embraced on the threshold. Clearly the man had just come home.

"Hey," Cory said softly, startling Katie out of her daze.

"Oh, hi," she breathed, looking up at his height.

Cory was just as she remembered him at the Ranch. Very tall, with broad shoulders, short fair hair and the same sincere, caramel eyes. It was his expression that seemed slightly changed. His features were hardened, tired and far less carefree than she had grown accustomed to. He was still very handsome in tan shorts and a tight, blue t-shirt, which showed his muscular physique had not altered in her absence.

"Can we chat outside?" he asked, looking toward the front entrance.

Katie nodded, and followed him down the corridor. Passing the doorway, she saw Mark seemingly absorbed in the paper he read.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. The property was large and divided into various sections. It was on the verge of opening, with some minor construction required out the back area. One of Cory's farming projects, he had overseen the design but never found time to visit in person. Given it wasn't too far from the Ranch, he had planned to be present at its launch at the end of his holiday with Mark.

But Katie dropped into their lap, Marco was murdered, and they discovered the police were untrustworthy. After Katie's abduction, they closed up the Ranch, Cory postponed the new business launch before it was publicised, and Mark cancelled all upcoming work commitments, stating a personal emergency.

The property was divided into separate blocks. The main section, where they took immediate residence, contained a large kitchen, seven bedrooms, and two living areas. This was intended for management, client visitors, and guests. Then there was a larger unit set up as staff living quarters with an industrial kitchen, and a massive shed for storing machinery and supplies. Beyond the construction, there was a vast span of fields to be worked, on the fringe of untouched forest.

Mark, extremely paranoid after promising Rosa's safety, insisted on the first bedroom next door to her. Katie was on the other side of Rosa, with Cory as her neighbour, and Alex at the end.

Somewhat subdued by their victory, little was accomplished on the first night by way of conversation. They were all tired, hungry, and shaken by their respective experiences. Following a very quiet dinner, Katie insisted on being alone, and Cory spent a small time chatting in Rosa's room with the door open. Alex and Mark immediately retreated for the evening. It was well into the night before the light in Mark's room went out.

Glancing around the immense, peacefully silent property, Cory finally took a deep breath and found his voice.

"About what happened...Katie, I-" he began, but Katie interrupted him.

"I hope you're not going to apologise. That would be completely unnecessary," she said, raising her eyes to meet his. There was no judgement in her gaze, only sincerity. She was so stunningly beautiful, her mouth perfectly shaped and enticingly rosy, Cory wanted to kiss her.

"I was," he said with an awkward half-smile, and Katie smiled back.

"Well, I'm glad we cleared that up," she said kindly, but with a finality that ruled out further discussion on the topic.

"I'm sorry I left you on the track that night," Cory apologised anyway, unable to stop himself. He noticed Katie's expression became masklike, and hurriedly continued "It's just... even if you say it's not my fault, I just... After what happened with G-" he broke off, unable to go further. "I just wish I didn't," he finished clumsily.

Katie stared intently at the ground. "I don't want to talk about what happened. But you should know that where it concerns you, I am only grateful. Ok?"

"Ok..." Cory agreed, reminding himself to breathe. "So we're in hiding, temporarily. What are your plans when this is all over?"

Katie blew out a thoughtful breath and scuffed her heel in the ground. "I have no idea," she murmured, looking to where the sunny horizon cast streams of light between the trees. "I wanted to be a pilot...but now..."

"You could stay with us," Cory blurted, silently cursing his inability to be smoother, like Mark.

"I thought you guys shacked up at the Ranch only now and then?" Katie smirked, but her eyes were warm with humour.

Quickly recovering, Cory slightly shook his head. "I mean, with one of us."

"Sounds complicated."

"It doesn't have to be."

Katie opened her mouth uncertainly, but Cory cut in before she could air her doubts.

"Mark and I both have strong feelings for you," he said brusquely, hoping Mark wouldn't break his neck for bringing him into it. "There's no point pretending it's not apparent to everyone."

Looking a little uncomfortable, Katie glanced away.

"Do you..." Cory cleared his throat. "How do you feel about us? I mean, me?"

Cory felt like he was in high school; painfully embarrassed, desperate, and frustrated. He wanted to beat his head against something.

"I don't know how to say this..." Katie murmured, looking up as Cory turned away from her.

"It's fine," he said, unable to keep the bitterness from his voice. "You like Mark. I'll stay out of your way."

"No," she frowned, reaching for his arm to stop him leaving. "I care about you both."

Cory turned back, confused. "Both of us? Umm. But-"

"Look, I don't know," she said shortly, sounding annoyed with herself. "It was clear in the beginning that you guys were interested. I thought it was lust but..." she cringed as recent events surfaced in her mind.

"You have both gone to a lot of personal risk to save me, repeatedly. I think I've lost count of the number of times I've been dragged out of something horrible by one of you. Even Alex magically showed up at an opportune time...maybe heroism runs in the family," she said with a thin smile.

"Alex may be my cousin, but I'm not related to Mark," Cory smiled, remembering the first time she'd questioned their relation because they were both exceptionally tall men.

"You're very close," Katie said. "Anyway...what I'm trying to say is...I've thought about this already. I know you're different, but you make me feel the same. Like, safe. Maybe it's shaped by my experiences. Or I'm damaged, I don't know." She shrugged. "It sounds selfish, but it's the truth. I know how these things turn out. So, I think we should go our separate ways when this is over."

In the short space of time she spoke, Cory experienced a bundle of emotions. Curiosity, bewilderment, elation, all ending with a stab of painful disappointment with her conclusion. Unsure how to respond, his mind whirled with positive and confused thoughts. Katie forgave him. She wanted him, but she wanted Mark, too. And she wanted to leave.

Mark and Cory had shared women sexually, but neither were the relationship types. Then they fell for the same girl. In a bizarre way, Katie's admission made him happy and not least of all, relieved. But he didn't want to pursue the subject. It was too early, and he feared he might say something stupid and make it awkward.

Ever since Alex raised the question in his blood-spattered apartment, Cory struggled with the prospect of losing Katie to Mark. But if Katie didn't choose Mark, Cory doubted Mark could bear to stick around. Then, of course, there was every chance Katie wouldn't want anything to do with either of them. Somehow, her mixed feelings gave Cory hope that he might not have to break his best friends heart, or suffer a painful loss himself. Thinking about painful losses brought his thoughts back to their one casualty.

"Why did you tell Marco everything, and not us?" Cory asked, turning to face her.

Katie hesitated, looking both bemused and relieved that he didn't comment on the feelings she disclosed. "His- he has experience with women in my situation," she slowly answered, choosing her words carefully. "He understood what I was going through."

Before Cory could respond, she continued.

"I didn't want to involve you and Mark in my problems," she said bluntly, wringing her hands. "I should have known it would be inevitable. I should never have stayed."

"I'm glad you did," Cory said quietly. It was selfish, given a number of people had suffered for it, but it was true.

"It was a terrible mistake," Katie said miserably. "I told Marco at the time. But he shared things with me that-" she paused, becoming emotional. "I won't give the details. It's personal and could place him, and his family, in danger."

Cory felt as though he'd been slammed in the stomach with a tonne of bricks, as he realised Katie didn't know Marco was dead.

Katie curiously watched his expression change to utmost dread.

"What's wrong? Cory, what is it?" she asked, stepping forward and gripping his arms. "Tell me."

Aghast, Cory stared down into her lovely, concerned face. He didn't want to be the one to tell her. But he didn't know how to lie.

"Katie," he said hoarsely, and cleared his throat to retrieve his voice. "Katie, sit down."

"Just don't tell me Marco's been murdered," she joked dryly, settling on a large log that formed part of the unfinished enclosure.

Trying to stay calm, Cory gazed down at her with speechless horror.

Peering through the window at them, Mark saw the look on Cory's face. "What on Earth are you doing, Cory?" he frowned, wishing he could lip read.

Cory's silence spoke volumes to Katie, and the cynical humour in her eyes faded to anxiety, then devastating realisation dawned across her face.

"No," she pleaded, running a shaking hand through her ponytail, pulling it loose. She shook her head vehemently, her dark hair framing her face in waves. "Just tell me it isn't that, Cory. Say something."

"I'm sorry," he said bleakly. "When Greg left us ... it happened."

"Oh, no," Katie moaned, covering her face. "That good man...I killed him," she cried into her hands.

After enduring trial after trial, Katie told herself to hang on for her sanity, that she would survive it. But this news broke something within her, the thin line precariously keeping her emotions together snapped, and she didn't know how to repair it. She was grateful when Cory's arms closed about her comfortingly.

"Shush," he whispered. "You didn't kill him, Katie."

"But it's my fault that-" she sobbed into Cory's chest, but he wouldn't let her finish.

"Nothing is your fault. You were only the victim. And if that is a fault, then no one is innocent," Cory said, holding her tighter.

Neither of them spoke after that. Katie cried for a long time, and Cory held her firmly.

Mark watched from the window, completely baffled.

"How's it going?" Alex said from behind him.

Mark jumped, embarrassed to be caught snooping. He was so intent on what was happening outside, he completely missed Alex's approach.

Alex stood alongside him to look out the window. His long, ash-brown hair was tidily secured in his usual loose ponytail at the nape of his neck.

Alex had his own clothes, but nonetheless thought it'd be a hoot to dress in staff attire. The crisp, white staff shirt pulled flatteringly across his wide chest, and the beige pants were, if a little short for his height, well-suited to his figure. When Mark questioned it the night before, Alex jokingly claimed to be showing solidarity with Katie. Mark didn't argue, but the way his mouth set in a firm line indicated what he thought of the witticism.

"Are they having 'the talk'?" Alex asked, hooking both thumbs in his pockets.

"What do you mean?"

"You know," Alex smirked, turning from the window and seating himself at the long kitchen bench. "Love me, love me not."

"Whatever it is, it's not going too well."

"Anyway, when is the good doctor arriving?" Alex drummed his fingers along the bench.

"Hopefully soon. If the time-frame passes..."

"She could carry George Castillos' kid," Alex finished his sentence. Reaching back to tighten his ponytail, he took a deep breath. "I knew they were sickos. But that is one, fucked up family."

"It's the patriarch." Marks gaze hardened. "That's where the poison started."

"The apple didn't fall far from the tree," Alex mused, recalling how he'd come across Katie, bound and gagged on the bed, petrified. "Sons become their fathers."

"That's bullshit," Mark snapped savagely, his broad shoulders tensed.

Realising he'd touched a nerve, Alex watched curiously as Mark made an effort to relax before leaving the window to sit across from him.

"Anyway," Alex discreetly continued on a brighter note. "I feel like Sandy's so close, I can almost taste her. That's my light at the end of the tunnel."

Mark laughed. "I never thought you'd fall in love."

"Ditto." Alex raised his eyebrows meaningfully over his cup of coffee. "To be perfectly honest, I was pretty sure we'd all be dead now."

Despite a persistent suspicion that their troubles were far from over, Alex was quite jovial. The heavy lifting was done; they had the girl and were all in one piece, at a safe location. It was better than anything they could have hoped for. He wasn't one to count his chickens early, but there was a small spark of growing hope that he might actually get to live happily ever after with Sandy.

"After Katie's shit luck, we were due a win," Mark retorted. "Raped by father, son, and a psychopath-"

"Or a holy ghost. It's a miracle she escaped," Alex interrupted. "Most women never get out. Katie's lucky you're both suckers for her." He gave Mark a shrewd look.

"So what do you really think?"

"About?"

"Her." Alex jerked his head to the window through which they'd been watching.

"I don't take your meaning."

"Oh, I think you do," Alex smiled ruefully, clasping his hands to together in a businesslike manner. "You were always annoyingly sharp."

Mark paused. A shadow crossed his handsome face as he considered facts that he preferred to bury rather than face.

"If it came down to a physical seduction, I would win," he finally murmured. "But Cory... has an essence about him that I never had." Mark's arrogant demeanour faded with the depressing truth of his instincts, and Alex felt rather sorry for him.

"I know what you mean," Alex quietly agreed. "There's something inherently good about him. He's always been that way. So..." he trailed off, watching Mark expectantly. "Are you going to step aside?"

"I will wait and see what she wants," Mark shortly replied. "Time will inevitably tell who she prefers. If he can make her happy, I will leave." Something twisted inside him, and though he tried to suppress it, the pain showed in his expression.

"And if she chooses you?" Alex inquired, with a searching look.

Mark looked slightly foreboding.

"So, let me get this straight," Alex surmised, ignoring Mark's grim expression. "If she chooses Cory, you will leave and ultimately Cory will lose your friendship. If she chooses you... it will hurt him. He can stay and suffer, or you'll lose him as a friend."

"I will never forfeit his friendship. It's not problematic. We don't live together."

They both paused, seeing movement outside. Wandering back to the window, they watched Cory lift Katie into his arms and carry her off.

"Well, well, well. There's a development," Alex observed, casting a knowing glance in Mark's direction before moving back to the bench. Mark remained where he was, motionlessly staring out the window. "Think he'll tuck her in nicely?"

"You're funny."

"I can't help it -- the TV's not connected," Alex said loudly to Marks tall, retreating figure as he disappeared around the corner. "Are you going to tuck her in too?" he called. Laughing at his own joke, he was fairly certain Mark swore at him on the way out.

Sighing at the departure of his last source of entertainment, Alex focused on plunging coffee, all the while wondering about his instincts, and the niggling feeling in this gut.

"Let the games begin," he said, in a theatrical voice.

**********

Dom jumped at the cold shock to his system as a bucket of ice emptied over his face. Shaking his head, he opened glazed eyes to the figure standing over him.

"Get up, numbnuts," Greg said disgustedly.

"What happened?" Dom grunted, dizzily combing shards of ice from his hair. His glorious, shining dark hair was finally beginning to grow back after being shaved to tend his head injuries.

"You fucked up. Not me. You." Greg snarled, wondering if it was time to finish Dom and continue his journey alone. "After the sweet little lecture you gave me, you royally fuck up. Well done." Greg clapped his hands together a couple of times with mock admiration, then began to pace about the room, packing.

"Luckily we didn't settle in," he said poisonously, enraged that his fun with Katie had been pushed back.

"What- what do we do now?" Dom muttered angrily. He was furious, but he had no one to blame but himself.

"What do you think? Go after them."

"But how-"

"I'm not a fucking idiot," Greg spat, viciously zipping up a bag. "I knew there was every chance you would be the screwup your dad always said you were."

"Don't talk about him," Dom growled.

"Shut up, boy." Greg checked his watch. There was a tiny red light methodically blinking on the strap.

"You bugged her," Dom breathed with elated relief. "Tracking?"

Greg pulled a face. "Not as detailed as I'd like. But we'll know the general area, eventually. I need to get my hands on a computer. Get your ass in the car. And Dom?"

"What?" Dom snapped. Realising Katie had outdone him yet again, his hideous temper simmered to surface.

"Pull something like this again, and I'll take out the rest of your teeth before I snuff you."

**********

Cory and Katie sat together on her bed, both with their backs to the wall. His arms were still around her, her cheek pressed to his chest. Cory felt her unsteady breaths, her shoulders occasionally trembling, her soft hair brushing his chin.

Inhaling Cory's familiar, rustic cologne, Katie's heart began to beat a little faster as she remembered the hot night they spent together. Eventually she eased back a little to peek up at him, her hand splayed across his chest for support, feeling the heat of his body radiate under her palm.

Bellie444
Bellie444
1,853 Followers