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“That the two of you should have ended up together. That one of you most likely felt too afraid to move past friendship.”
“Steed thought we should be together? He said if I ever kissed his daughter he was going to twist my balls so hard I would talk like a girl the rest of my life. I was just a kid when he told me that shit, so I believed it.”
Trevor’s head tossed back in a laugh. “Oh, man. I’m going to remember that one for Aurora. With her being a freshman in high school, I know the boys are coming.”
I slapped Trevor on the back. “Hate to break this to you, but I’m sure she’s already had her first crush.”
He gave me a look that made me tremble.
“Okay, well, should we finish up?” I asked.
“No, I wasn’t finished. Like Steed, there were a lot of us who thought you two would end up together. But I think you need to be prepared for tonight, Rip.”
“Why? What’s tonight?”
“Easton will be with her.”
My stomach felt like someone had forced me to drink lead. I swallowed hard and tried to shrug it off.
“Well, they have been dating for a while, so it would make sense that he came home with her to celebrate her graduation.”
He nodded. “I just didn’t want you to be caught off guard when you saw him.”
I stood, finished off my water, then put my gloves back on.
“If Chloe is happy, then I’m happy.”
Trevor stood. “Is that why you get lost in a bottle of whiskey every week at Cord’s Place?”
Glancing over my shoulder, it was my turn to shoot the dirty look. “I’m good, Trevor. Like I said, I’m happy for Chloe.”
“You dating anyone?”
With a half shrug, I replied, “I haven’t in a few months. Don’t mean anything.”
We worked for a few minutes before I said, “And I did feel the same. She totally caught me off guard, and I wasn’t ready for it. I mean, I was, but I also wasn’t.”
He nodded. “I get you, believe it or not. I understand what you’re saying. Let me give you one piece of advice, son, then I’m going to let this go. If you love her, if you want more than friendship with her, you better put your fucking fighting gloves on and be ready to take it to the mat for her. Don’t let her walk away this time.”
I stared at him. He knew something I didn’t. When he went back to work, I stood there another few moments. His words settled into the middle of my chest.
Take it to the mat for her. Don’t let her walk away this time.
I shook my head and got back to work. With each hay bale, I tried to think of some reason I couldn’t be there tonight. In the end, I knew I had to be. It was Chloe, after all. And I wanted to be there to welcome her home. Easton or no Easton.
I’m ready to fight for her.
Chloe
I STOOD IN the middle of my room and smiled. It was familiar and made my nerves ease up some. Daddy had moved us into one of the guest houses on my grandparents’ ranch when we’d moved to Texas. My Aunt Waylynn and Uncle Jonathon also lived on the ranch in another house that they had remodeled and expanded after they adopted Liberty and Hudson. Liberty was fifteen and Hudson thirteen. Liberty was a mini-me of my Aunt Waylynn. She had no issues telling you how it was, or least how she saw it.
Easton was staying up at the main house on the ranch, which was owned by my granddaddy and grammy. He was only staying for tonight, then heading back to Houston early in the morning. When Easton asked to stay at my grandparents’ house, I was confused. Maybe he thought my father would want it that way. I didn’t argue, though.
“Getting settled in?” my mother asked me from the doorway.
“Yes.”
She walked into the room and smiled. “Chloe, are you okay? You seem so distracted.”
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the diamond ring I had slipped off before I got out of my car. I knew Easton was wondering why I hadn’t announced it right then and there, but I needed to take a few moments to myself before I started to tell my family.
My mother gasped as she watched me slip it onto my finger.
“Easton asked you to marry him?”
I smiled and nodded.
Then she frowned. “You said yes?”
“You sound disappointed.”
“No. I’m…in shock, sweetheart. He’s not…”
I raised a brow. Was she about to say he wasn’t Rip?
Clearing her throat, she went on. “I mean, he lives in Houston and…”
Her words stopped short when it hit her. Covering her mouth, she turned away so I wouldn’t see her cry.
“Oh, Momma, please don’t cry.”
