Pounding sounded through my head, waking me from my slumber.

"Kyra."

I gasped and sat up, looking around me.

"Kyra."

Ash's voice from outside as he hammered his fist on the bathroom door brought me to my senses.

"Yeah, one minute," I said.

My body aching and freezing from sleeping on a hard, cold floor, I pushed myself to my feet and stumbled towards the door, blinking the sleep from my eyes. My fingers unwilling to co-operate, it took a few seconds for me to turn the lock and open the door.

Ash and Ben stood staring at me, their eyes full of concern and confusion.

"What the hell happened out here?" Ash said, standing to the side and motioning his hand out into the room.

The duvet still lay on the floor where I'd dropped it when I ran into the bathroom. The top hinge on the bathroom door was hanging off, the screws missing, and as I peered around the corner of the fireplace, I saw the chair I'd sat on had been smashed to pieces and shoved in the fire. Half of it had been burned already, the other half still sticking out, its wooden legs in the air like a frozen corpse.

I looked my brother in the eyes and with a trembling bottom lip, I replied, "Tim."

Ash let out a long sigh and said, "I don't have time for this."

With that, he turned and left.

Ben looked at me and said, "I believe you, Ky. Let me talk to him. He's just really overwhelmed with everything at the minute."

Tears filled my eyes as I nodded. "I know, Ben, but I need him right now. I need him on my side, not fighting against me."

Ben stepped around the duvet and came to me, enveloping me in a big hug. "Just give him some time. The house hunting in London hasn't gone well, we had to pay his tenants in his house a severance package so we had somewhere to live. My work is getting busy, his work is swamping him, you and your problem with Scott, now this with your mum, and the ancient history with you and Tim..." He pulled back and put his hands on my shoulders "...I don't think he knows what to deal with first. He knows he needs to be a big brother to you regarding your mum, but he doesn't know what to do or how to do it."

My tears sprung free, sliding down my cheeks. "I just need him to believe me."

"I think he does, sweetie, deep down. I think the problem is he doesn't know what to do about it."

"Kill him. It's quite simple," I said, smiling.

He touched his index finger to the bottom of my chin and smiled. "There she is. That's the fighting spirit we know. Just bear with him, ok? Hang in there."

I nodded. "Not much else I can do."

"Are you ok? I'm going to go talk to Ash, ok?"

"I'm fine," I said, wiping my tears away.

"Ok. Tim is picking us up at nine to take us to the house for breakfast."

"Ok."

Ben gave me one last smile before running out of the door and over to his and Ash's cabin. I went to my door and locked it, not that it had served me much use last night, but now it was daylight, the chances of Tim making a sudden reappearance were slim to none.

I spotted my phone on the bedside table and grabbed it. I took photos of everything from all different angles. The duvet, the chair in the fire, the bathroom door hinge, and finally the bathroom itself. I put the mirror back in the cupboard where I'd found it and took a picture of it in there. For my own curiosity, I wanted to see if it would still be there tonight.

After taking the pictures, I found myself staring at Paul's name in my contact list. I had messaged him when we landed to say I was safe and sound, to which he had sent back a long line of kisses, but I'd heard nothing since.

If something happens with that slimeball, anything at all, and you need me, promise me you'll call replayed over and over in my mind. I did need him. I really needed him. The longer I debated calling him, the harder my heart pounded against my ribs.

I sucked in a deep breath and pressed the call button.

After two rings, he answered. "Hey, you ok?"

Just hearing his honey laden voice broke me completely. I burst into tears, managing to sob out, "I need you."

"I'm on my way," sounded like music to my ears before the line went dead.

I thought I'd been keeping it together quite well up until that point. That's when I realised that I trusted myself to be vulnerable with him. Not only that, I trusted him to see the side of me I allowed no one else to see, to see the other side to my 'fighting spirit'. I needed my rock, my comfort, and I needed him to wrap me up in his arms and tell me everything would be ok.

But most of all, I wanted him to do all of that too. And I knew he wanted to do it.

***

I pulled myself together just in time for Tim to pick us up for breakfast. I sat in the back of his truck, quiet and not saying a word. I made no effort to make eye contact with him at all.

Ben and Ash acted like nothing was wrong and that they knew nothing, making senseless chit chat with him all the way up to the house and all the way through breakfast.

I picked at my food, managing to swallow down one pancake. Every few minutes I would check my phone, desperate to see any communication from Paul as to when he would be there, but not a word as of yet. Given the length of the flight, plus travel times and everything else, I realistically didn't expect to see him for at least twenty-four hours.

"Kyra," Tim said. "Did you sleep well?"

I snapped my head up and looked at him. I could feel the burn from Ash's stare without even looking at him. I nodded.

"Good," he said, smiling. "I like to take care of my guests."

I said nothing back to him which earned me a hardened glare from Ash. I couldn't keep feeling under attack by own family and letting it get me down. Reaching across the table for another pancake, I forced it down me as things started whirring around my head.

Tim placed a glass of orange juice in front of me, and as he did, I looked up at him and in my most innocent voice, asked, "So are you going to tell us what exactly happened with Mum?"

Tim froze. His green eyes filled with surprise before he cleared his throat. Sitting back down on his side of the table, he said, "We had a thunderstorm. Your mum heard one of the horses getting upset so she went to check on them. It was Nelson, my big black stallion. He can be rather sensitive and temperamental at the best of times. All the horses were in the barn, so I thought nothing of it. But something spooked him, and he lashed out and caught your mum on the side of her head. I didn't find her for nearly half an hour. It wasn't until she'd been gone that long that I realised something was wrong." He broke down in tears and started sobbing. "If only I'd gone out instead of her. It would be me laying dead and not your beautiful mother."

I rolled my eyes at his crocodile tears. My gut niggled at me about his story. Something was up with it. Call it woman's intuition or whatever, but it just didn't sit quite right.

Ash scooted up next to Tim and threw an arm around his shoulders whilst staring at me.

Ignoring Ash, I looked at Tim and said, "That's a good question. Why didn't you go out to them instead of her?"

"Kyra!" Ash yelled. "Stop it. Now."

"No, Ash," I said. "I have questions I want answered and he has the answers."

"What?" Tim asked.

"Why didn't you go out to the horses? It was the middle of the night and pouring with rain, so why did Mum go?"

He faltered for a moment, wiping at his tearstained face. "She was already dressed as she hadn't come to bed yet. She grabbed her hat and coat and off she went."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Why didn't you follow her? Why would you leave your older wife to deal with spooked horses on her own in the middle of the night? Especially when there are stallions in there?"

I wasn't going to leave it alone. It didn't make sense to me. Unless he was just a coward of a man.

Ash kicked my shin under the table. "Kyra...," he said, his voice low and full of warning.

I glared at him. "No, Ash. I'm entitled to ask questions."

A sheepish look crossed Tim's face before he whispered, "The truth is..." He inhaled deeply. My heart rate spiked as I wondered if this would be the ultimate confession. He let his breath out and said, "I'm scared of thunderstorms."

I couldn't help but laugh at his pathetic admission and poor excuse. "Of course you are. A seasoned cowboy scared of storms."

"Are you happy now?" Ash said, the venom in his voice almost giving his words a life of their own.

I stood up and said, "I'm going out for some air."

"I'll come with you," Ben said.

Surprised but grateful for Ben's company, we wandered outside into the cool December air. We meandered our way over to the nearest paddock, leaning on the post and rail fencing as we gazed out across the rolling hills at the grazing horses. I'd always thought of Texas as being nothing but sandy desert until I'd actually visited it. It still amazed me seeing lush green grass somewhere so baking hot.

"I don't like that guy," Ben said.

I turned to him, trying to read the confused emotions swirling through his dark eyes. "Can I ask why?"

He shrugged his big shoulders. "I don't know. Just something a little—"

"Off?"

He nodded, smiling. "I can tell there's tension between you both."

"I presume Ash told you what had happened at the wedding?"

He nodded again. "Like I said earlier, I believe you. I know why Ash thinks you did it, freaking out about your dad and all, but I don't know, there's just something not right with him."

I grinned, glad I had at least one ally on my side. "I know exactly what you mean."