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“Please let me explain…” I hold up my hands, hoping he’ll take mercy on me since I’m here with my son and there are guests around.
Riley’s tight jaw and daggers tell me he doesn’t give any fucks about that. “I warned you, Diesel.” He fists his hands in my shirt and pushes me against the wall. Maize squeals, telling Riley to take it outside, but he’s too pissed to listen. “I warned you to stay the fuck away from my sister. And now I’m gonna punch your pretty face in for hurting her. I knew you’d do this. You just couldn’t stay away, could you? Just wouldn’t feel content until you hurt my sister, the way I always knew you would.” Before I can get a word in, Riley rears back and punches me in the face. I try to block it, but he’s too fast. If it were any other person in the world, I would’ve laid them out flat, but I don’t fight him back. I can’t.
“Hey!” I hear a woman’s voice shout.
“Mama,” Dawson says, holding his arms out. She takes him from the high chair and kisses his cheek.
“What’s going on here?” Chelsea asks, walking toward the group of us, and Riley retreats, putting space between us.
“What are you doin’ here?” I ask, holding a hand to my face. I’m gonna have a black eye now. “And how did you get here?” I’m actually shocked to see her. I hope she didn’t walk because that’s miles down a dirt road, and it’s hot outside.
“I might be from the city, but I know how to drive a four-wheeler, Diesel.” She laughs. “Truthfully, I got nervous. This is new territory for me, and I just wanted to check on Dawson for my own sanity.”
She notices my face fall, but I don’t blame her. This is new territory for us all.
“It’s nothing against you. He’s around strangers and an unknown environment, and I started to worry. I just needed to see him and make sure he was safe.”
I nod. “I understand, it’s okay. He was having a good time. He saw the horses, and then we stopped in here for a snack and water.”
Dawson begins to tell her about the pony. “Hold on, baby, one second.”
Chelsea looks at all of us.
Maize is annoyed and crosses her arms over her chest. “Glad your girlfriend could show up and save your ass.”
Riley is ready to beat me to a pulp, and John is overly annoyed because we caused a scene…again.
I look at Chelsea. “Rowan saw us together this morning.”
Her face drops. “Oh no. I’m so sorry,” she says to me, then looks at everyone. “Whatever you think happened between Diesel and me this morning didn’t and was one hundred percent my fault,” she explains. “I made a move, but he stopped me, then admitted he was dating someone. It’s all a really big misunderstanding, honestly. There’s nothing between us,” she says, and I’m so damn thankful she’s here because they wouldn’t have believed me, thanks to my past. Riley’s still tense and so is John. Maize’s eyes soften, though.
Silence cuts through the room as my heart erratically beats. I never thought Rowan’s and my relationship would be announced like this, especially since she’s not even here, but I’m glad the news is out there finally. Assuming she’ll give us another chance, I’ll fight to prove how much she means to me.
“Is that the truth?” Riley asks me.
“I swear. I would never do anything to hurt Rowan, man. I’m in love with her and have been for years. She’s the only woman I’ve ever felt that way for. I love her,” I confess, then wait for Riley to say something. But the only sound heard is a loud gasp behind us.
We turn around, and that’s when I see Rowan standing at the top of the staircase, looking as beautiful as ever with her hair down and pushed to the side. Her eyes are bloodshot, like she’s been crying. I fucking hate knowing I upset her. She stares at us, and I know she heard what I said by the shocked expression on her face. I’m not sure if it’s because of what I just said or the fact Riley knows about us now. Either way, I’m in love with her, and I want the whole goddamn world to know.
Chapter Eighteen
ROWAN
Maize refused to let me go home to an empty house for the rest of the morning, though I had every intention of doing so. She threatened to come over, but she had work to do. So instead, she suggested I hang out at the B&B and even bribed me with my own personal breakfast full of strawberry pancakes, bacon, eggs, and homemade hashbrowns.
One thing’s for certain—if Maize Bishop ever volunteers to cook something special for you, you do not deny her. It’ll be one of the best meals of your life. She should open her own restaurant but enjoys working for the family too much. Maize acts modest, but she one hundred percent knows she could win contests with her food, and people drive over an hour away to eat it.
