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“You know who the fuck I’m talking about. Scarlett and Eric.”
“No, I don’t think they’re dating.”
“What makes you so sure?”
Wade stopped working and faced me. His expression was serious.
“Trevor, what’s going on with you when it comes to Scarlett? It was pretty damn clear last night you’re fucking around with her feelings, dude. I love you like a brother, but you need to make a decision if you want this girl or not. Right now all I see is an asshole treating a pretty damn amazing woman like shit.”
“You don’t know…”
Wade cut me off. “You’re right, but it’s obvious to everyone around you how you’re treating Scarlett. I don’t know why she keeps letting you in, to be honest. I’m thinking Eric is probably the better choice for her.”
I stumbled back some. It felt like Wade’s words had pushed a knife right through my heart. He wasn’t finished either.
“For fuck’s sake, even I could feel her pain from where I was standing. If you don’t want her, let her go, Trevor. If you do want her and can see a future with her, then do something about it.”
Wade turned away and went back to working on the fence, leaving me alone in my thoughts.
When I finally made my way over to the fence, I felt my anger building.
“I’m not the type of guy to settle down. At least, not yet anyway.”
He huffed. “So you want her to wait for you? Pretty fucking selfish, man.”
“No. Yes, fuck, I don’t know what I want.”
Wade faced me, a serious look on his face.
“How many women have you been with since the benefit dinner last spring, not including Scarlett.”
“Why?”
“Just answer the question, Trevor.”
“One.”
He shook his head and took two steps toward me. “Admit it to yourself, Trevor. You love Scarlett and that scares the hell out of you. You obviously knew each other before that dinner. I saw the way the two of you looked at each other.”
“We did,” I admitted.
“Intimately?”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “No. We sort of grew up together off and on. Mom would bring me to her house when we were young, or her mom would bring her here. I don’t really remember much when we were little. We played tag a few times. She left to go to high school in Boston. She came back into town our senior year and I ran into her at a party. We went for coffee and I…um…kissed her.”
Wade stared at me for a few moments. “Trevor, you say you can’t give up women, that you aren’t ready to settle down, but let me ask you something. When you were with that one other woman, did you wish you were with Scarlett?”
My heart froze in my chest. I stood there, not saying a word.
“Yeah, I thought so. Why are you so afraid to commit to her?”
“I don’t know. I honest to God don’t know. I mean, all I do know is that if I give her my heart she totally has the power to destroy me and that has me fucking sideways, bro.”
He scoffed. “Well, you better figure it the fuck out, dude. Sooner rather than later. I’m pretty sure you hold that same power over her. Her tears last night were proof.”
A knock on my office door made me glance up from the planting schedule that Wade had given me earlier that week.
Cord stood in the doorway, a smile on his face.
“Hey, what brings you here?”
He shrugged as he walked in. “Maebh is over at Amelia’s for some girl’s day. Thought I would swing by and see what’s going on.”
I ignored the bit of information about Amelia’s party. “You wouldn’t happen to be free this week, would you? We’ve got to bale the south pasture, and we sure could use the help.”
Sitting in the large leather chair in front of my desk, he nodded. “Count me in. Tripp coming?”
“Yeah, he cleared his schedule, but I think that morning Harley has a sonogram he’s going to.”
Cord moved around in his seat and started looking around the office, suddenly seeming uncomfortable.
“You okay?”
He laughed. “Yeah, it’s weird thinking about Tripp and Harley. I’m happy for them.”
A warm smile moved over my face. “Me too.”
Cord looked at me with concern in his eyes. “You talk to Scarlett lately?”
I sighed and dropped back in my seat. “Sort of. I fucked up last night and took a stripper from the bachelor party out to my truck. Nothing happened, besides her sucking my face off, but before I could push her away and tell her she needed to go back in, Scarlett walked up on us.”
Cord groaned. “Fucking hell, Trevor. Are you out of your damn mind?!”
The disappointment in his voice nearly killed me. I seemed to be disappointing a lot of people lately.
“She took off with that fucker from Maebh’s restaurant.”
