Page 45 of Where She Belongs

She grimaced. “You’re not in love with me, Alexander. You’re infatuated. The more time we spend apart, the more you’ll come to realize that.”

“You’re wrong,” he insisted. “We were made for each other. If you’d only let me prove⁠—”

“That’s enough. I’ve already made my decision and it’s time you accept it. If I come back at the end of the summer, then maybe we can reevaluate.”

“If?” It came out a near screech and she cringed. She hadn’t meant to say “if.” And yet, she couldn’t bring herself to make the correction. Especially not to Alexander King. He was getting far too overbearing for his own good.

“Goodnight, Alex. And please, give me the space I requested.” She hung up the phone before he could argue with her further. When she turned around, she came face to face with Faith and she nearly screeched. Her hand flew to her chest and her breathing grew ragged. “Faith. You startled me.”

Her new friend was giving her a curious look. “Bad breakup?”

“Something like that,” Rylee muttered. Though she’d never dated Alexander. It just felt like it sometimes with how clingy he had become. “Did you need something?” she asked in an attempt to change the subject.

Faith chewed on her lower lip, her scrutinizing gaze almost too much to handle. “You said if you go home. Did you really mean that?”

Rylee blanched. That made two people who had heard her slip up. Two people who would now start to wonder if she was as serious as she tried to sound when she said she wasn’t ready to settle down.

“It’s okay,” Faith said with a wave of her hand. “You don’t have to tell me. I was just curious.” She forced a smile. “Tate is… he’s really special, you know?”

Nodding, Rylee fidgeted with her phone. “Yeah, I know.”

The phone was still warm in her hand. She thought about blocking Alexander’s number. Then she thought about what Roxy would say when she found out, and settled on changing his ringtone instead, so at least she’d know when not to look at her phone.

“Good.”

Faith’s comment definitely wasn’t a compliment, but wasn’t quite a warning, either. Rylee stood alone in her hallway trying to decide what kind of smile she should put on when she went to the kitchen to follow Faith.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Tate was all too aware that he was avoiding looking in Jason’s direction. There had been arguments on both sides, and plenty of them. Jason was acting cagey. He was hiding something, Tate was sure of it. There were times when Tate would spend his evenings with Rylee, getting in late with the expectation that everyone was home and asleep. Only for him to find out, right after he locked everything up, that Jason was hot on his heels.

His twin insisted he was just hanging out with some friends, but they shared friends. Tate would have heard if there was something going on in their group.

Seeing as he was shirking some of his responsibilities, Tate didn’t feel comfortable demanding that Jason tell him what was really going on. His reasoning had everything to do with the budding relationship he had with Rylee.

Had he asked her out officially? No. But there was no denying the chemistry.

He’d lost track of the number of times he’d nearly just gone for it and kissed her senseless. But then something would always come between them.

A phone call. Nightmare—the cat. Or a visitor. He’d been getting blocked more times than he wanted to admit and he couldn’t decide if he was grateful for it.

There was still a very small part of him that questioned if he’d be able to handle it if Rylee walked away after everything.

“You gonna be here tomorrow?” Jason grunted, ripping Tate out of his thoughts.

Tate shot him a sour look. “What’s that supposed to mean? I’m always here when I’m needed.”

Jason scoffed under his breath, but didn’t argue. Tate was tempted to throw back that he might be slacking, but at least he wasn’t keeping secrets. But he kept his mouth shut.

Right now, they were preparing the corral for their next student. The boy was eleven and he was new to the rodeo scene. His older brother had gotten him interested in the sport, but as with most things involving family, training was difficult. The kid had a hard time listening to his brother. Likewise, the brother didn’t have the patience to teach his younger sibling without snapping at him.

Tate grunted as he grabbed the wooden fixture they put saddles on to teach balance and technique. Jason had grabbed the other side and they trudged out to the middle of the ring. Neither one of them spoke even though they made eye contact several times.

“You can’t blame me for asking,” Jason said. “You’ve been gone a lot.”

“But not when it counts,” Tate shot back. They lowered the equipment, and Tate dusted off his gloved hands. Fists on his hips, he frowned at his brother. “What is this really about?”

“I told you,” Jason snapped harsher than he usually did. He moved his weight from one foot to the other. “You’re gone a lot and that means I have to pick up the slack. I want—” He cut himself off with a huff and shook his head. “Never mind.”