Page 124 of Trick or Tease

The cows didn’t care about my drama. They just wanted their breakfast and to be left alone, which made them excellent company for my current mood.

“Well, Bessie,” I said, settling onto the milking stool beside one of my favorite cows, “you’re probably the only female around here who won’t judge me for being a complete idiot.”

Bessie turned her big brown eyes toward me, chewing thoughtfully on her cud. She was a good listener, always had been. Never interrupted, never offered unsolicited advice, never made me feel stupid for the choices I’d made.

I had been milking her through one bad breakup after another. Technically not breakups. Most were just bad dates. Bessie heard it all. She knew all about the shitty kissers and the handsy assholes. Bessie had heard about my crushes and every other problem I had over the years.

“I fell for him again,” I continued, working the familiar rhythm of milking while I talked. “Can you believe that? After everything he put me through in high school, after years of him treating this place like it was beneath him, I actually thought he changed.”

The stream of milk hitting the pail was oddly soothing.

“Lucy thinks I should give him another chance. Says tearing up that contract proves he chose us over his fancy city life.” I snorted, shaking my head. “But you know what I think, Bessie? I think he just got caught. I think he was planning to screw us over right up until the moment his boss showed up and forced his hand.”

Bessie let out a low moo that sounded almost sympathetic.

“Exactly,” I agreed. “And even if he did change his mind, even if last night was real, how am I supposed to trust him? He lied to me for weeks. I think he was trying to blind me with sex. He kept me distracted.”

Even as I said it, I knew that wasn’t entirely true. Because the last week he’d been avoiding me like the plague. He completely withdrew. I couldn’t decide if that made me angry or hurt. It made me think that maybe he knew the end of the farm was coming, so he didn’t have any use for me.

He got what he wanted, and he was going back to the city for his Grade A women. He didn’t need his country bumpkin piece of ass anymore.

I was knee-deep in self-pity when my phone buzzed.

Billy: Can you come by the farm this afternoon? Something important I need to talk to you about.

I stared at the message, my stomach knotting with anxiety. If this was about Garrett trying to apologize through his brother, I wasn’t interested. I made my position pretty clear last night when I flipped him off.

I wasn’t just flipping him off. I was telling him to fuck off.

And I meant it.

I was not interested in being used for sex or anything else.

But Billy was my friend too. He had been through hell because of his brother’s scheming. The least I could do was hear him out.

Billy.

Not Garrett.

Me: Fine. What time?

Billy: Around 2? Kitchen.

I spent the rest of the morning trying not to speculate about what Billy wanted to discuss. Maybe he was planning to kick Garrett out. Maybe he wanted to talk about how to move forward with the farm now that the corporate lawyer brother had proven himself untrustworthy. Maybe he just needed someone to vent to about family drama.

I texted Lucy to see if she knew what Billy wanted. Her response was pretty noncommittal, which told me she knew but wasn’t going to tell me. That was not a surprise.

By the time I pulled into the familiar driveway at two o’clock, I had worked myself into a state of nervous energy that had me drumming my fingers on the steering wheel. I just wanted to get whatever this was over with so I could go home and continue pretending Garrett Hogan didn’t exist.

It sucked because if Garrett was staying, I wasn’t going to be visiting. And I knew it would put a serious damper on my relationship with Billy and Lucy.

That sucked really badly. I was losing my best friends because that selfish asshole was trying to take everything from me.

I found Billy and Lucy sitting at the kitchen table, both of them wearing expressions that I couldn’t quite read. There was a stack of official-looking papers spread between them, along with what looked like a manila folder full of documents.

“Hey,” I said cautiously, settling into the chair across from them. “What’s all this about?”

Billy and Lucy exchanged a look that made my stomach clench with suspicion.