Page 35 of Kicking Up Dust

He nods, mouth full. Tate plops down in the chair next to him and steals a Cheeto off his plate. The pile is suspiciously full, like he hasn’t had a single one yet.

“Someone took all the Cheetos,” Tate gripes. He switches plates with her when she picks up her sandwich, taking her chips instead.

“Thank you, Ty,” she whispers, leaning her head on his shoulder in a half hug. He rests his against hers for a second as well. Blair’s eyes cut over toward mine, and she has to press her lips together to hold back a laugh when I give her the told you so look.

“Bailey,” my twin sister introduces herself as she takes a seat on Tate’s other side.

Blair smiles at her. I get the feeling Bailey’s the sibling she was most looking forward to meeting. Perhaps she thinks Bailey will be easier because she’s my twin.

“Colt’s told me so much about you.”

But Bailey just nods. “I’d love to say the same, but…”

“Bails,” I admonish.

“What? We literally just found out about this a few weeks ago.”

“Still, you don’t have to be⁠—”

“It’s fine, I get it,” Blair says, her hand covering mine on her knee.

“It’s not fine.” Anger curls in my stomach, something that’s rarely ever been directed at my twin. Not as dark and dangerous-feeling as it was the night of the bonfire, but I’m still angrier than I’ve been in weeks as I glare at her.

The kitchen’s gone silent again, used to my outbursts, but not toward Bailey. The tension always drives me insane, like it’s pushing me further, begging me to make it worth it.

“Colton,” Maddie warns, voice low, but I ignore him.

Blair turns toward me and grips my arm.

“Colt,” she says quietly, and I try my best to ignore her too, but when her other hand grabs my chin and redirects my attention away from Bailey, all I can see is the concern in her pretty green eyes. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”

I stare at her for a moment, trying to find any inkling of hurt in her eyes, but there doesn’t seem to be any. I sigh and nod. For the first time in a long time, my anger didn’t build and build and build until it broke me. It simply retreated—slowly, like the tide, but retreating nonetheless.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Jameson says.

NINETEEN

BLAIR

God help me, Tatum Whittaker found out I’m scared of horses.

Most of the Whittakers had been pretty inviting.

Maddox and Bailey were still sort of distant, but Colt had assured me that wasn’t a me issue. According to him, they hated pretty much everyone.

Kendall had been beyond sweet when I finally met her. She worked and went to school, on top of babysitting, so it had taken a few days before we crossed paths in the hallway. She’d immediately hung up with whoever she was on the phone with, grabbing my hands and squealing with me about being sisters now. Everyone in this family seemed to move so fast.

But Tate… well, I seemed to be Tate’s personal pet project. Especially when I flinched away from the horses when Colt took me on a tour of the property on my second day here.

“Are you scared of them?” she’d asked, eyes wide.

“I’ve just never been around them before. Not this close. They’re really… big.”

Colt snorts and I elbow him, knowing his mind’s gone filthy. Tate doesn’t pick up on it, thank god. Unfortunately, that’s only because she’s scheming.

“You should join me while I desensitize them in the arena next week! You’ll get to see how silly they are.”

“Tate, I don’t think⁠—”