Blue-eyed Headhunter
Copyright© 2025 by Heel
Chapter 6: The Game
Days passed in the dim light of the hut. Outside, the plains shimmered with heat by day and froze under stars at night. Inside, the Barton brothers moved around the bunk where Mia lay, their boots thudding softly on the packed dirt. The smell of smoke and boiled coffee never left the air.
Her pain dulled but never left her; each breath reminded her of her splinted legs. Yet her mind was awake and sharp. The three brothers were changing. The cruelty that had driven them seemed to have worn down to fatigue, and something almost gentle had taken its place—clumsy acts of care that Mia studied like clues.
One brother, Tom—the youngest—was the easiest to read. He checked her bandages twice a day, nervous and careful, as if afraid he might hurt her. He talked while he worked, his words wandering from cattle drives to weather and back again. When she flinched, he apologized under his breath.
“You’ll be walking again,” he said one morning, tightening a strip of cloth below her knee. “We’ll see to that.”
Mia let her voice tremble just enough. “You’ve been kind, Tom. Kinder than I deserve.” She watched his eyes; saw how he looked away too quickly. That told her what she needed to know.
The middle brother, Eli, was practical, silent. He cooked, fetched water, and avoided her gaze. But he lingered near the bunk at night, watching the firelight flicker over her face before turning away. Respect or suspicion—she couldn’t yet tell.
And then there was Wade, the eldest, whose temper still simmered. He was the one who’d ordered the others to save her, and now he acted as if that decision irritated him. But sometimes, when he thought she slept, he pulled the blanket higher over her shoulders or refilled her cup with water from the kettle.
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