AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I was wondering when I’d run into you.” He chuckled, the sound as irritating now as it was the day he left town. Alex gritted her teeth when he said, “I didn’t think it would be literally, though.”
He gave her another look from head to toe, a low whistle filling the air as he did. “Look at you. All grown up and wearing girl clothes.” He met her gaze again and grinned. “I guess your pa’s plan to turn you into a lady worked. Not many thought it would but here you stand looking like a girl instead of the ugliest boy I’ve ever seen.”
She didn’t think beyond the insult he’d been throwing at her since she was old enough to pick her own clothes out. Old instincts kicked in, her fingers curling into her palm, and she hit him on that arrogant chin, the force enough to rock him on his feet and for the first time in ten years, she felt alive.
He was slow to turn his head back toward her and when he did, she hit him again for old times sake. “You’re right, Jesse Samuels, I did grow up, but you’re the same immature horse’s ass you’ve always been.”
“Now is that any way to talk to a friend?”
She snorted and narrowed her eyes at him. “We were never friends.” She left him there on the street and pushed her way through the throng of people still standing around gawking. She headed to the livery stable, barely acknowledging Percy when he greeted her. “I need my horse.”
He gave her a glance from head to toe, his brows lowering in concern. “What in the world happened to you?”
She ignored his question. “My horse, Percy.”
He straightened, a look of surprise covering his face when he looked her in the eye. “Is everything all right?”
“No,” she said, blinking to force unwelcome tears from her eyes. “I need my horse, please.”
He nodded, her obvious distress enough to get him moving without any more questions but every second that ticked by was one second too long.
Alex looked out the door and saw Hugh walking her way. She didn’t wait for him to reach her, or for Percy to get her horse ready to ride. She grabbed the reins of a chestnut gelding that stood in front of the stable, hiked up her skirts and hoisted herself into the saddle.
Leaning down over his back, she gave him a slight nudge with the heel of her boot to get him moving and rode away from the livery stable without a backward glance.
She passed Hugh without slowing and flew past the saloon and the crowd that was still gathered at a fast clip. She didn’t look to see if Jesse was still there. Nor did she admit the tears burning her eyes had nothing to do with embarrassment.
She blewby the saloon in a billow of lilac lace. If the look on her face was any indication of her mood, she was furious with him. Jesse grinned. It was as if he’d never left. He turned back to the saloon and paused when his oldest friend, Ben Atwater blocked his path.
“What the hell was that all about?”
Jesse stepped around him and jumped back onto the wooden sidewalk, pushing the swinging doors to the saloon open. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a crumpled bill and slapped it on the bar. “Here you go, Vernon. This should cover my tab.” He didn’t wait for a reply and bumped into Ben when he turned back to the door. “Gotta go.”
“Go? But we just got here.”
Jesse hit the sidewalk at a fast jog and jumped to the ground and headed straight for his horse, untying the reins from the hitching post. “I know but I can’t let her get away.”
“Her who?”
“Alex.” He tossed the reins over the horse’s neck and looked up. “It’s been ten years. I’m not willing to let our first meeting be nothing more than a few hateful words.”
Ben scratched the side of his head, his eyebrows lowered as if thinking. “What about your welcome home party? Aaron should be here any minute now.”
Jesse climbed into the saddle, shifted his weight until he was comfortable and grinned down at Ben. “Start without me. I’ll be back before that songbird Vernon hired starts singing.”
Jesse maneuvered the horse away from the others, replaying his first meeting with Alexandra Avery in his mind’s eye again. Ten years and she was as feisty as he remembered.
He nodded his head to Ben and left, barreling out of town as fast as his horse would carry him.
Ben Atwater was one of the best friends he had. They’d been inseparable as kids and knew everything there was to know about each other. Well, almost. There was one piece of information he’d managed to keep to himself since the moment he’d realized it and that was what he really thought of Alexandra Avery.
There hadn’t been a day in the past ten years that he hadn’t thought about her. Total pain in the ass she was, he’d missed her and he wasn’t going to let her get away with nothing more than a few spiteful words and her dainty fist upside his head.
He leaned down over the neck of his horse, prodded him to go faster and kept his eye on the horizon. He spotted her a few minutes later a good distance ahead of him. He closed the gap between them and smiled when she turned her head to look at him, scowling before shouting, “Go back to where ever you’ve been for the last ten years, Jesse Samuels, and stay away from me.”
“Not a chance, darlin’.”
“I still hate you.”
