Rhett stopped me with a firm hand set on my shoulder. "No, let me." His swallow was audible. He dropped his hand back to the dock, but didn't look my way. "I don't even know what to say, but just know I should say it. Say somethin'. I'm sorry, maybe?"
"Ain't nothin' to be sorry for, brother. It is what it is."
"I never would have done anythin' about it. Never would have acted on it. I know you think you know what's goin' on, but she don't feel that way about me."
But I remembered the night Dad died. While I was too fucked up to even stand, it was Rhett who'd held Sassy when she broke down. Rhett who'd whispered in her ear until she stopped shakin'. And the way she'd looked at him when she finally pulled back... like he'd just saved her from drowning.
It was one memory in a box that I'd assembled when I'd cleaned Sassy's stuff outta the apartment, then stored away in a place in my mind that saidain't no point in revisiting these ones.
"She does. She's just stubborn."
"Brody, I just held that girl all night long while she cried. About you."
"You've always held her when she cried. Always been there for her. She's never run to me the way she runs to you. Shit, she's neverlookedat me the way she looks at you. I can see it now. And it's okay." I turned and gripped his shoulder, forcing him to look my way. "It's okay, Rhett. I made my peace with it. Now y'all have some shit to work out between the two of you."
He sighed, but nodded, turnin' back to the lake. "She's hurtin', Brody. It's gonna take a good bit of time before she's anywhere close to ready to have that conversation—if she ever is." He darted a look my way. "And you flauntin' your hookups around the ranch ain't helpin'."
I scrubbed a hand down my face, stubble a little longer than I was used to—since I was used to wakin' up to a shower and a shave instead of a soul-searchin' session by the lake.
"Shit, man. I fucked up. It just came out without thinkin'."
"You fuck her?"
"Nope." I chuckled. "Didn't have a chance. Blew on my stomach like a fucking chump."
Rhett doubled over laughin'.
So I did the only logical thing.
I pushed him in the lake.
CHAPTERNINE
When I woke up,Brody was gone, which was a good thing. I'd only had to remind myself of that a dozen times between the bed, the shower, and the barn.
There was plenty of shit to do—quite literally—and I didn't need a keeper. Maybe when the foreman of this operation pulled his head out of Tink's ass, he could give me a little more instruction. Til then, I got to work feeding the horses and cleaning out the stalls.
A throat cleared behind me and I looked over my shoulder to see the pixie herself, arms crossed and glaring.
This coulda gone down one of two ways: I could have kept up my shitty keep-everyone-at-a-distance attitude and goaded her into a fight. Coulda thrown what Brody accidentally let slip in her face and ensured she never dared to verbally spar with me again.
But something about her puffy, red-rimmed eyes had my bad-bitch exterior cracking.
So I went with option two.
"Hey." I rose from where I'd been shoveling hay and leaned the fork against the barn wall. "Listen, I think we got off on the wrong foot," I began. After I wiped my hands on the thighs of my jeans, I extended one her way. "I'm Calvin. It's nice to meet you…"
The question was implied. This was the part where you shook a hand and introduced yourself back. But she just looked at me—really fucking looked—and her shrewd gaze had me squirming. Wildly out of character for me, but whatever. This pixie was kind of scary.
I liked her.
I dropped my hand from where it had hovered between us. She still said nothing, so we stared. It was unnerving as fuck, but if this was what she needed to deal with me here—to glare me into discomfort—so be it.
After what felt like a small eternity, she finally threw me a bone. "I'm Sassy. Technically, Cassandra, but if you call me that, I will pinch you in the tit."
Couldn't help the startled laugh that came out of me if I tried. "Careful, Sassy. I might like that." I gave her a little wink and was rewarded with a smirk. I, sadly, wasn't into women, but if I was, Tink would be my type.
At the very least, I could see us being friends.
