AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Fallon snickers.
Beef passes Ruby another pink drink, and she feels blindly for it, staring at Charlie like a woman long gone.
I smother a smile, watching Davis redirect his brothers like they’re children instead of tough cowboys.
Turning to Fallon, I arch a brow, run a hand over my stomach, feeling the little pepper of feet. “Mucous plug?”
She gives a cavalier shrug. “I did some research.” She lifts her glass in the air and loops her arm around my neck. “Welcome to the Weird Cowgirl Club. It’s you and me now, Koty, no take backs. No secrets.”
“No secrets,” I echo, ducking my head so she can’t see the tears that have sprung to my eyes.
Ruby stirs her drink, a bright pink clashing of liquors while the Montgomery men claim a table in the room’s corner. Davis gives me a nod, tugs his hat down low and settles in like my personal attack dog.
“God,” Fallon groans. “Are they always so—”
“Morally gray cowboys with killer tendencies? Yeah. They are,” Ruby breathes, watching Charlie from above the rim of her drink. She looks enamored. Lovesick. “That’s my cowboy.”
“Really leaning into this wild honky-tonk lifestyle, aren’t you?” Fallon says to Ruby.
Ruby sips her drink, slurping as she reaches the bottom of it.Her cheeks are bright pink. “Oh, yes.”
I point my straw at the brothers. “What do you think a pack of them is called? A murder of Montgomerys?”
“Welcome to the dating pool in Resurrection,” Fallon drawls with a flick of her hand. “Your options are a douchebag from California with mommy issues who won’t date you until his psychic reads your aura, or a cowboy with busted boots and a dusty attitude who is prepared to antagonize you even through a zombie apocalypse.”
At that, Ruby and I share a wide-eyed look.
“Wow,” Ruby breathes. “So specific.”
“No more about me.” I twist on my stool toward my sister. I can feel Davis’s intense gaze burning a hole in my back. “Let’s talk about you. And this guy you’re seeing.”
Ruby squeaks.
On Fallon’s lips is a rebuttal, but I shake my head and grab her hand. “One secret. Tell me.” I give her a hard look. “We can be real tonight or we can bullshit.”
“Real,” Ruby echoes.
“Ugh, god. Fine.” Fallon puffs her chest out and exhales. “He’s just some guy I met at the stock show in Butte.”
It all makes sense now. Fallon wearing lipstick, nail polish, sneaking out of work early. Her duffel bag full of lacey undergarments. My fierce, independent little sister has a boyfriend. She was never an idealist about love, especially after our mother left. Usually, she was quoting Elizabeth I’s speech on avoiding marriage and cursing men.
“When was this?” I ask.
“Over the winter,” she says, downing another shot. Her fifth or sixth of the night. By now, I’ve lost track of counting.
I slide a glass of water her way, hoping she takes the hint. I don’t want a repeat of graduation night when I held back Fallon’s hair while she threw up Four Loko. “Well, don’t stop there. What’s his name? What’s he like? Tell. Me. Everything.”
“Relax, Dakota. It’s not a relationship or anything.” She cocks a brow. “We’re casual. It’s something fun with someone who’s not a cowboy. Who doesn’t live in the hellscape that is Resurrection.” A smile softens her face. “We’ve been on maybe six or seven dates. Had sex in a Pinto. Girl’s gotta get laid.”
A groan-laugh pops out of my mouth. “I’m happy for you and didn’t need to know that.”
Ruby wobbles on her stool, grips the bar to steady herself, then clears her throat. “But what about Wyatt?”
Fallon scrunches up her nose. “What about him?”
Ruby casts a confused gaze at me, but I stay quiet. Fallon’s beef with Wyatt started long before they ever competed.
“Shit,” Fallon mutters, glancing at the Budweiser clock on the wall. She stands and grabs her duffel bag tucked beneath the stool. “I gotta change. Metalhead concert in Missoula.” She wiggles her brows. “With Danny.”
