My Texas Sweetheart (book one) by Pauliena Acheson

please let her be okay.
    Chase interrupts my thoughts. “There’s something wrong with Storm. Take him back to the stables. I’ll go to the house and get Dad and the boys. We’ll need to grab more flashlights, water, and blankets. I’ll get Mom to wrap us up some supper. We need to form a search party and fan out. I’ll have Todd and Nate take two groups, and I’ll take the other. This has to be controlled or we might miss something. Let’s go!”
    I gallop back to the barn with Storm, who was snorting really hard. I quickly threw a blanket over him, made sure he had food and water, and closed his stall door. Running as fast as I could, I went to the house. It was beginning to lightly rain. No, not now! Everyone was preparing for the search party when I walked through the door. Chase, Adam, and I would be in the first party heading along the trail towards town.  Nate, Creed, and Jade would head on the trail towards the river. Todd, Mark, and Gabe would be heading towards the forest.   Lily had gathered enough food, water, and blankets for all of us. She would stay home with Brad, just in case Maggie came back. We had strict orders to check in with him every fifteen minutes. We ran back to the barn. Everyone had their horses saddled and ready to ride within minutes, and we start riding out.
     
     
     
    (Maggie)
     
    I hurt so much. Where did Storm go? I hope he’s okay. I can feel my pants being taken off, but I can’t move. Please, God, don’t let this happen. I scream at myself to get up and fight. My pants are being pulled off. I can feel hands on my underwear, pulling them down. Why can’t I move or open my eyes? Everything hurts and I feel so cold. He’s climbing on top of me and I feel him at my entrance. I try kicking, but nothing is working. He moves into me…oh, God, NO! The last thing I hear before I black out again is hoof beats coming towards me. Please, somebody, help me!
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 11 (Jase)
     
    Chase, Adam, and I are racing along the path. “Make sure you check in the brush, too!” Chase yells. Why didn’t we keep our mouths shut back at the house?  If we did, this wouldn’t be happening right now. We see movement in the distance and hope soars in me. Please be Maggie. Chase’s bellowing scares the shit out of me. “GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER, YOU SON OF A BITCH! I’LL KILL YOU!” We see Christian scrambling to his feet. He smirks at us, taking off into the woods.  
    I see Maggie lying, half-naked, on the ground. My heart is breaking into a million pieces.   Chase jumps off of his horse, and runs over to her, throwing a blanket over her. Adam and I both jump down, heading towards Chase. “We need to get her to the hospital. Adam, call Dad. Tell him we found her and are heading home. Don’t give him details, but tell him to start the truck. Jase, radio the others. Tell them that we found her and are heading back to the ranch. Both of you…no details until we get back home.” I quickly radio the others, letting them know we found Maggie and to hurry back to the ranch.
    Chase gets up on his horse , and Adam and I carefully hand Maggie up to him.  We jump back on our horses and gallop as fast as possible back to the ranch.   Brad and Lily are waiting out by the truck, the other groups arriving at the same time. “No time to explain. We need to get her to the hospital!” Chase hollers.
    He hands Maggie down to his father and Jade , while the rest of us quickly put the horses in their stalls. When we’re done, we see that Brad, Jade, and Lily have already taken off for the hospital with Maggie. Adam, Chase, and I jump into my car and take off after them, while Creed, Gabe, Mark, Todd, and Nate get into one of the trucks and are right behind us. We make it to the hospital just in time to see the doctors rushing Maggie into the back. One of the nurses comes up to us. “We’ll do everything we can. Once the doctor knows something, he’ll come out and talk to you