Page 73 of Wilder

“And I said I’d figure it out,” Laken shot back.

Dallas let out a slow, long-suffering sigh, his expression completely unreadable save for the slight furrow of his brow. “Watching how-to videos on YouTube isn’t going to keep you from blowing the transmission.”

Laken responded with a wave of his hand.

I snorted, shaking my head as I fell into step beside them, following them toward the exit.

It was so good to finally be back.

The weight of the last few weeks—my homesickness for the ranch along with the anxiety and overthinking I’d put myself through—all of it faded just by having them here with me. I’d fully expected to grab a cab, like I had when I left, and gotten a ride back that way, so this was a pleasant surprise in general.

Once we were packed up into the truck, Dallas took the driver’s seat while Laken sprawled out in the passenger side, my duffel bag wedged somewhere between his legs while my suitcase was back here on the bench with me.

I relaxed back into the seat while we pulled out of the terminal parking lot, hitting the highway soon after to head back toward the ranch.

Laken did most of the talking as expected, filling me in on everything I’d missed over the break, from Ryder and Dusty’s latest dumbassery to a story about some guy at the feed store picking a fight with Sully over a bag of livestock feed.

Dallas, on the other hand, didn’t say much, not all that unusual. He just listened, his focus split between the road and our conversation, only shifting every so often to change the radio station when the signal grew too staticy.

A small, familiar rhythm settled between us, the kind that didn’t need any effort.

It felt like home.

It was exactly what I needed to distract myself, to keep my mind busy and remind that loud part of my brain that I wasn’t walking into something terrible.

At least, not yet.

But the closer we got to the ranch, the more the familiar feeling of dread started creeping back in.

By the time Dallas pulled the truck through the entrance and up to the main house to park, my stomach was knotted so tight it hurt. I sucked in a deep breath, forcing myself to just get it over with.

Sitting on this any longer was only going to make it worse. Dragging out the inevitable and letting it fester until it completely consumed me would drive me insane until I found myself huddled behind the stables trying not to have a massive breakdown.

I only hoped Wilder would take it easy on me.

With a sigh, I popped open the back door and stepped out, immediately hit with a fresh breeze. I pulled the air deep into my lungs, held it there for a second before slowly exhaling, letting it settle me just enough to get my feet back on solid ground.

Looking around at the same sprawling pasture and long stretch of dirt roads leading around the property, I was happy to see everything looked exactly the same. Which wasn’t surprising, I’d only been gone a few weeks, but was comforting nonetheless.

Tossing a glance over my shoulder at Laken, I asked, “Where’s Wilder?”

He barely looked up as he yanked my duffel bag from the truck.

The door whined loudly as it was shut. “He and Sully went to an auction over in Hondo. They’re looking at another stud for those two mares we took in right before you left. Not sure when they’ll be back.”

I barely caught my disappointed frown before it settled too deep. I wasn’t sure whether I should feel relieved or frustrated.

On one hand, a delay was good. It gave me time to think and get my shit together, to maybe figure out what the hell I was going to say to him before I ended up rambling like I did last time. The other... well.

It left me with way too much time to overthink into a paralyzing state of limbo.

God, this was so stupid.

I was a grown adult, for fuck’s sake. Having a simple adult conversation about feelings shouldn’t be this goddamn stressful. I needed something to do—something to pull me out of my head before I spiraled any further.

Pelly.

If anyone could ground me more than Laken and Dallas had, it was her.