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kristannafever · 22 days ago

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Big Sky Ranch - 6

Kristanna Modern AU Rated: M WC: 4460

Chapter Index

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Davy and Buck hopped in Frankie’s truck, leaving Kristoff sitting alone with Anna in the back seat while Sven rode shotgun and Coop drove them back to the ranch.

He was frustrated and tired as hell. “This isn’t safe,” he said to her again.

Anna shook her head, utterly defiant. “Like I said, I don’t care. You are not keeping me out of this now.”

She was angering him. And she was also arousing him. He’d been with a cowgirl once who could give it as good as she could take it, and that was nothing compared to the fiery determination in Anna’s eyes. Fuck, he was a goner with this woman.

And he had to admit, having her in his corner like she was, that pissed off look like she had when she’d tasered those guys in the back, made him feel pretty damn good. Whatever thoughts he had that she might give up on him before giving him a proper chance, were gone. Ever since she hopped into his lap in the truck and looked at him, he could see it in her eyes, and it was all reaffirmed by the fact that she insisted on coming along.

“I’m putting my money on two,” Sven said. “No way they’re waiting until near daybreak.”

“Yup,” Kristoff agreed.

“And you really think they won’t split up and hit our houses too?” Coop asked from the driver’s seat.

Sven shook his head. “No way, too close to the main house. They know better than to draw Weadick’s attention to them.”

“He’s the man that owns the ranch?” Anna asked.

“Yeah,” Sven answered. “His family has been ranching in these parts for over a century. Everyone knows who he is, even Daddy’s boy.”

“And Mr. Weadick… was at the bar tonight too?”

“No,” Kristoff said quickly. “He doesn’t want any part of what happens outside of this ranch and everyone knows it. No one fucks with him.”

“He had a son that he planned to take over the ranch someday,” Sven explained. “Then he was killed when a drunk driver hit him and flipped his truck into a flooded ditch. Drunk guy passed out and that poor kid drown to death in his own truck. The old man didn’t really care about much after that. Waved his rifle at anyone who dared to bother him.”

“Jeez,” Anna muttered, looking sad and bothered by what was said.

“He has a daughter,” Kristoff said, reaching down and grabbing Anna’s hand to give it a reassuring squeeze. “She lives in the city with her husband. Old man Weadick is hopin’ to have a grandkid someday to leave the ranch to.”

“His daughter doesn’t want anything to do with it?” Anna asked.

Sven chimed in, “Nah, not so much. They got into a bit of a fight about it last time she was visitin’ him for dinner.”

“Could hear them arguin’ all the way at our houses,” Coop said.

“Apparently her and her husband want to sub-divide the land, build housing developments on it. You know, big estate lots. Get rich,” Sven added. “Course, old man Weadick said ‘over my dead body’.”

Anna smiled slightly at the old-man voice that Sven put on when he mimicked his boss.

Kristoff said, “So, he just sits up in that house, pays us to take care of the ranch, and bides his time.”

“That sounds lonely,” Anna murmured, still looking a little troubled. “Is he… or, was he, married?”

“He was,” Sven answered. “She died couple years ago. Cancer.”

Kristoff nodded. “She was sick for a while and he knew it was coming. Still, tragic though. She was really nice, even after what happened to her son.”

“She made the best apple pie,” Sven said with a dreamy voice.

“Wish I could have met her,” said Coop, taking a turn off the country road onto a gravel laneway that Anna recognized as the driveway to Kristoff’s cabin.

Sven laughed. “She would have liked you, kid. She could tease the new greenhorns as well as any of us.”

“Huh,” Coop mused. “Maybe not then.”

Everyone in the truck chuckled a little as Coop drove past where Kristoff’s truck was parked in front of the cabin and around to the back onto the grassy field that rolled up to a wide berm. He took it a couple hundred meters further and into a ticket of trees that had space enough for the vehicle where it would be out of sight. The men took off their hats and left them in the truck as they got out.

The moon was just a sliver in the sky, making it near pitch black as they walked the way back to the cabin. He offered Anna his elbow so that she wouldn’t trip in the dark, and she held it tight walking along beside him.

At the cabin, Kristoff went inside while everyone else stayed on the porch. He grabbed the items he needed and joined them, closing his front door and walking back into the darkness. He handed the rifle to Coop and his other shotgun to Sven. Moments later, Frankie’s truck rolled up the drive and Buck and Davy got out, each holding a rifle, and walked to where they all were standing.

Frankie leaned out his open window. “You boys got this?”

All the men nodded.

“Alright,” Frankie said. “I’ll stay hidden and keep an eye on these guys’ approach. I send the signal, you get ready. You get into trouble, you call me. When this is all said and done, I’ll escort those boys outta here myself.”

Kristoff, Sven, Davy, Buck and Coop all murmured an agreement and got into a circle as Frankie pulled away.

“How we playin’ this?” Buck asked.

“Just like the last time,” Sven said.

“Last time?” Anna and Coop both asked in unison.

Kristoff turned to Anna and gave her a smile, even if she could barely make it out in the near complete darkness. “Story for another time,” he said quietly.

Buck gave orders. “Davy, you take up point in the back on the left. I’ll take it up in the back on the right. Sven, you take up front by your brother, and Greenhorn, I need you to go hide on the slope to the river. As soon as Kristoff and Sven make themselves known to these boys, you come up slowly, rifle ready, let em know you’re there, and try to look intimidating.”

Coop said, “Sure, no proble-”

“And keep your damn mouth shut,” Buck ordered.

Coop nodded and every man peeled away from Kristoff, Sven and Anna.

“What do I do?” she asked.

That bit of anger flared up again that she was even there. “Nothing,” Kristoff said quietly. “You keep your head down until this is over.”

“I have my taser,” she said, voice defiant.

“We’re playing with guns, Anna,” Kristoff said, and started walking down his drive to where they would lay in wait. “Unless you know how to shoot, you keep quiet and keep your head down.”

She was silent as she followed them and he had to wonder if she was mad at him, or upset with him, or maybe even done with him? This was certainly not how he wanted to be spending time with her. Even though it was dark, he’d seen the surprised look on her face when he came out of the cabin with the firearms.

Shit, maybe she was scared?

Kristoff turned to her as they walked and spoke quietly. “Just so you know, we have no intention of shootin’ anyone. Just a precaution, you know. In case they come in hot.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Anna said back quietly, making it hard for him to gauge her mood. “I wouldn’t be here if I thought you were going to kill anybody.”

That made him wonder again why she was even there at all. She had to have known there wouldn’t be anything for her to do in this particular fight. Did she just want to make sure nothing happened to him? Or did she want to make sure that no one got hurt with the high levels of testosterone about to face off.

He thought back to his threat against Daddy’s boy in the bar, saying he’d kill him if he laid a hand on Anna. At the time it was an empty threat, only now, with the thought of Anna possibly getting hurt, maybe not so much.

Sven peeled off into the bush next to the laneway and ducked under a tree branch to put himself on the far side of the big Oak, hiding from the road behind the trunk. Kristoff and Anna followed and took up a place out of sight near him.

“So, what is the plan?” Anna whispered when they were settled in hiding.

“Couple of them will come up the lane,” Sven said quietly.

“We flank them and Davy and Buck handle the others sneaking up the back,” Kristoff added.

Anna said, “So when you said like last time, you meant it. Literally.”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Kristoff sighed. They didn’t have time to get into the whole story right that instant.

“With the same guys?” Anna asked.

“No, different scenario altogether, but we don’t-”

Kristoff’s phone vibrated. He pulled it out of his breast pocket and looked at it the same time Sven looked at his own phone. Frankie had sent a group text to all the men lying in wait.

“Shit, they didn’t waste any time.” Kristoff put his phone back in his pocket and took a firm grip on the shotgun.

“Probably went by the bar and looked for our truck and figured we knocked off early.”

“It would appear so,” Kristoff whispered. He turned to Anna, barely able to make out her expression in the dark. “You stay behind this tree until it’s over, you hear me?”

“Yeah, okay,” she whispered back.

“I’m serious,” he warned.

“Trust me, I believe you,” she said, and shuffled closer to the tree trunk while Sven moved closer to Kristoff’s side. He couldn’t worry about her or her thoughts in that moment. Shit was about to go down.

They were silent as they waited and listened. Everyone knew they would leave their truck a ways back and proceed on foot. It seemed to take a long time, until the crunch of gravel under boots could be faintly heard coming up the laneway.

Kristoff waited as three of them walked past, taking careful steps to minimize their noise and one of them with a flashlight pointed to the ground to see where they were stepping. Of course, Daddy’s boy was leading the charge. One of them had a shotgun and the other two had something else in their hands that Kristoff wasn’t quite able to make out in the dark.

Now behind them, Kristoff and Sven crept silently up to the gravel, walking on the grass on the edge a few steps to get closer. Kristoff stopped in place and Sven went to the left, flanking them on the side. When he was in place, Kristoff made his move.

He racked the shotgun, breaking the silence of the night with two loud metal clacks, and all three men stopped dead in their tracks and whipped around towards him.

“Help you boys?” he asked in a low voice that resonated almost as loud as the shotgun in the quiet of the night.

Sven racked his shotgun, and their focus immediately went that way. Then Coop approached from the other side and cleared his throat to let them know he was there. Now all three men were looking back and forth to him, Sven and Coop, realizing they were effectively surrounded. The one with the gun was keeping it low for the time being. Good. It was better this didn’t escalate much further.

“You boys are trespassing,” Sven warned them without raising his voice too much. “Not smart.”

“What you got in your hands there, shitheads?” Kristoff asked.

Both of the men holding the small-ish object moved their hands behind their backs to hide what they had. Not one of them said a word. Kristoff knew they were waiting for the other two coming up the back to get them out of their predicament.

He started walking towards them slowly, gun up at the ready and aiming at their knees. “Drop it,” he demanded through gritted teeth.

They listened, dropping the objects that sounded like thick, liquid-filled glass as they clinked off the gravel. A second later a sharp whistle came from somewhere behind the cabin.

“Comin in,” Buck warned in his loud voice.

“Davy too?” Sven shouted back.

“Yup.”

“Good, now we got ourselves a party,” Sven said as he approached the three men Kristoff had the gun trained on. He reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone, using the flashlight to see what they’d dropped on the laneway.

“Are those… Jesus shit,” Sven said. “I knew you guys were fuckin’ crazy but I didn’t think y’all were this nuts.”

“What do we have?” Kristoff asked.

“Couple of Molotov cocktails,” Sven answered. “No doubt with your name on ‘em.”

In a moment of pure anger, Kristoff raised the gun face level to the three men in front of him. “You gonna burn down the cabin with me in it. That the idea?”

Buck and Davy came into view from the side of the cabin with two men walking in front of them, rifles trained on their backs.

“Please, let me go. I didn’t even want to do this,” said the other guy who had been holding a burn bottle. He raised his hands slowly. “I can’t take this shit anymore.”

“Shut your goddamn mouth, Lyle,” Daddy’s boy warned his friend.

The man with his hands in the air turned to his boss. “No way, Boone. You’re a fuckin’ psycho. I’m done with you.” He turned to Kristoff. “Can I go, please? I will never, ever, set foot in this county again. You have my word.”

Kristoff jerked his head to the side in answer and the guy left hastily with his hands still up in the air. “Let Frankie know,” he said to Sven.

Taking one hand off the gun, Sven got his phone and dialed. It was answered right away. “Got one coming out. Let him go.” Then he hung up and put the phone back in his breast pocket.

“Who the fuck was that?” asked the man next to Boone with the gun pointed low.

Kristoff answered, “Cops.”

“Oh, fuck no, I’m out.” He raised one hand slowly, and with very deliberate and careful movements, bent to lay the gun on the ground.

“Seriously, Chet? You fucking pussy,” Boone spat at his friend.

Chet straightened slowly. “Same deal. I’m done. I ain’t never comin’ back here. I promise.”

“Fuck off then,” Sven said.

“How about you two?” Buck asked the men stopped in front of them. The assholes shared a look and then slowly raised their hands in surrender.

“We see you fellas again,” Buck warned, “this is gonna end very differently.”

“Yup,” they both agreed, and started walking quickly away.

“You fucking sissy ass motherfuckers,” Boone screeched in their direction. Neither man answered.

Sven grabbed his phone again and dialed Frankie. “All four, good to go on foot. Just got Daddy’s boy left to talk to.”

Boone stood there stark still. Kristoff could just make out the anger and defiance in his eyes. He wanted to hit Kristoff… badly. Hell, he wanted to set his house on fire with him in it no doubt. He was a dangerous man who could not be turned loose to strike again.

Kristoff had wanted to settle this himself, but the only way this was going to end permanently was a line that he was not about to cross, regardless of his previous feelings of anger.

Sven moved to his side. “This is really fucking serious,” he whispered.

“I know,” Kristoff whispered back. He knew damn well Boone could hear them from the look he was giving them. The man was furious.

“Tell me those aren’t what I think they are,” Buck said as him and Davy approached, shining a flashlight at the ground where the gasoline filled bottles lay.

Kristoff nodded at the old man.

“Shit,” he said slowly. “Sven, you better get Frankie up here.”

Sven turned away taking out his phone. Kristoff watched him walk away and spoke quietly to the man on the other end. Then he saw movement far past in the direction Sven was heading and was about to swing his gun around, thinking one of Boone’s boys had a change of heart, when he realized it was Anna.

He pointed the gun at the dirt immediately and swiftly walked over, telling Buck to ‘watch him’ over his shoulder.

He strode up to her quickly, angry that she didn’t listen. “What do you think you’re doing?” he hissed, then looked over his shoulder, hoping they were far enough away that Boone didn’t see her in the dark.

“I saw four guys run out of here and didn’t hear anything for a while,” she whispered back to him with her own harsh tone. “I was worried.”

“We’re fine, go back to the tree,” he said, and turned away.

“No.”

He stopped in his tracks and turned back slowly. He stared at her, quiet around them except for Sven’s voice faintly in the distance, and the far-off drone of crickets and frogs. His eyes, so much better adjusted to the low light, appraised her furrowed brow and serious expression. Never in his life had he ever felt such a deep urge to kiss someone.

And never in his life had he ever felt such a deep urge to protect someone.

“Anna, listen, this turned serious. I do not want-”

“What do you mean serious? Is someone hurt?”

He shook his head quickly. “No, no. But Boone is a dangerous guy.”

“Boone?”

“Ringleader’s name apparently,” he said impatiently. “Listen, Anna, I do not want him to know that you are here. I absolutely do not want him to make a target of you. Please, please, go back to the tree. This is serious.”

Her wide eyes, shining in the scant moonlight, finally showed understanding. She nodded and turned away without a word. Kristoff trudged back to where Sven was just hanging up the phone, hoping they were far enough away now not to be overheard.

“What did he say?”

Sven pursed his lips. “He’s pissed, of course. And he’s headed over now to take this fuckwad into custody. But even charging him probably won’t stick like it didn’t stick last time. Daddy has deep pockets and knows how to go over Frankie’s head.”

“Yeah, I’m worried about that too.” Kristoff rubbed a hand down his face. “What can we do?”

“Dig a grave,” Sven said solemnly.

“Come on, Sven. We aren’t those men.”

“Kristoff, brother, if he ever hurts you, I am one of those men.”

He nodded, unable to help where his mind went all of the sudden. If it was Sven, or Anna, and the worst happened… well, then he wasn’t sure what he’d be capable of, but he imagined it would be a lot. Like Sven, he supposed he would be one of those men after all.

Headlights stabbed through the darkness on the country road and turned off onto the gravel laneway. Kristoff and Sven stood where they were, watching as Frankie’s truck pulled up. While neither of them uttered it out loud, they were both afraid of what Boone might be capable of should his father bail him out of jail again.

*****

Anna waited, eyeing the truck that was now leaving the ranch and wondering what was happening. Then Kristoff was there a moment later, calling to her in the dark. She finally came out from behind the tree and met him on the road. He looked worried. Exhausted.

“Frankie has him now,” he said by way of a greeting. He shrugged dejectedly.

“What happened?” She couldn’t help but ask. Her curiosity was running amok.

“I, uh… I need to get you back to your place. Hop in my truck and we can talk on the way.”

Kristoff turned and walked away, so she followed. When they approached the truck, he reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out some keys then went to the passenger side and unlocked the door. It was clearly an old truck, made even more apparent to Anna that it didn’t have automatic locks. He opened the door and waited until she crawled up into the cab before shutting it.

He unlocked his own door and hopped in and had just started the vehicle when the big dually rounded the corner around the cabin. Kristoff rolled down his window with a hand crank when the bigger, nearly brand-new truck stopped. The back window went down.

Sven looked out at them. “Drive safe. See you in a bit.”

Kristoff nodded once and rolled up his window as Coop pulled away. He put his truck in reverse, backed away from the cabin, and turned to head down the laneway to the main road. He was silent as he drove, and Anna wondered how to approach the subject. He was clearly on guard about something. Perhaps the gentle approach would be best.

“I can see that you and Sven really are as close as brothers.”

Anna could see his mouth turn up in the smallest of smiles by the dim light coming off the instruments of the dashboard. “Thick as thieves,” he agreed.

“Do you guys still know your Norwegian? After you told me the story, I got to wondering.”

He bobbed his head back and forth. “We do, for the most part. We have both forgotten a lot of it over the years. I mean, we never did learn how to read or write it. I guess we could figure it out if we really needed to, but we just embraced the English and kind of left all that behind.”

“You both speak it really well. Aside from the names, I figured you were both born here.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “Sometimes it feels like we were.”

Anna was silent a moment, then decided to get the information she wanted. “I hope no one was hurt?”

He looked over at her quickly. “No, not at all.”

“Can you tell me what happened then?”

He sighed, long and deep. “They showed up with the intent to burn my cabin to the ground. Likely thinkin’ I was in it.”

Anna’s heart dropped in her chest. When Kristoff said it was serious, she did not think it was that serious. She thought maybe someone hit someone they shouldn’t have, or maybe uttered some kind of threat. Arson and a possible attempted murder weren’t even in her wheelhouse of possibilities.

She suddenly didn’t know what to say. Now she understood Kristoff’s rather harsh insistence that she stay put and stay out of danger. It was clear to her that he didn’t think that those guys were going to do much worse than beat him up either.

“Anna, I don’t think this is gonna work. Between us.”

She snapped her head in his direction, blindsided. “What?” Her heart quickened in her chest.

“This life of mine… it’s not for you. This is never going to work.”

Anger swelled up, setting her on edge. After what they’d been through in such a short time, and the strong feelings they had talked about, she knew exactly why he’d said that. “You get people trying to murder you often?”

Now it was his turn to look quicky at her. “What? No!”

“So, this Boone guy shows up with some seriously fucked up idea to set fire to the cabin, apparently with you in it, and you don’t think someone is going to do something about it?”

“His dad bailed him out of the drunk driving charges,” he said sternly. “I’m sure he’ll bail him out of this too and he’ll try again.”

“You honestly think that? After what happened, that he’d try and do it again? With how serious this is? With how serious those charges are?”

He looked flabbergasted as he kept his eyes on the road, his mouth working silently. “Yes!” he said after sputtering a moment.

“And you’re worried about something bad happening to me because of it.” It was a statement, not a question, and Anna knew exactly what she was doing in saying it that way.

His jaw tensed and he suddenly jerked the wheel, pulling them far into the ditch as he flicked a knob on the steering column. A tick-ticking sound filled the cab as the hazard lights started flashing. He turned to her, looking down at her where she braced herself against the passenger door for how far they were tilting into the ditch. His eyes were wide. “Yes,” he said, “and that horrifies me.”

“You know what horrifies me? The thought of you getting hurt too. Why do you think I was adamant about coming along?” He didn’t react. He just stared at her with intensity. Anna pushed herself up a bit off the door to get her face closer to his. “Do you feel this? The way I feel this?”

After a second or two, his entire body relaxed along with his face and he just sat there, looking at her for a moment before he slowly nodded. “I do. I surely do.”

“Then don’t ever say something like that to me again.”

His eyes scanned hers and he nodded, the corner of his mouth turning up. “Yes, ma’am.”

Anna smiled. She liked that. The other girls at the diner hated it because they were on the young side like her, but Anna had never been addressed with a near constant respect like that from Kristoff and all the other cowboys. It was nice.

“Alright then,” Anna agreed, something Kristoff had said to her numerous times already. She even tried to mimic his slight accent and was rewarded with a bit of a smile.

He looked contemplative as he pulled back onto the road, and they drove the rest of the way to Anna’s place in silence. He parked on the street and shut his truck off, then he turned to her, only Anna wasn’t about to let him say whatever he’d opened his mouth to say.

“Stay with me tonight?”

He let out an exasperated breath and shook his head slightly. “Anna…”

“On my couch. I’d feel better if you did.”

His mouth closed slowly, looking at her with exhausted eyes, then to her delight, he nodded.

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