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I shrugged. “I couldn’t care less. Hopefully, she got the hint that I want nothing to do with her.”
“Be careful, little brother. You sound bitter.”
Laughing, I said, “This is why I never wanted to fall in love. I wasn’t meant for it.”
Hank appeared in the entrance to the stall. “Hunter, Jack Morris is up at your folks’ place. He said he needs to talk to you. Lincoln sent me to find you.”
Blayze’s expression was incredulous. “They let that asshole back on the ranch? Dad said he would beat his ass if he ever saw him again.”
Hank shrugged. “I guess he has something important to say.”
“I don’t want to talk to him.”
Hank glanced at Blayze, then back to me. “Lincoln told me to tell you it’s about Kipton. Guess that Jack guy knows why she left, and he’s been trying to call you.”
“What?” I asked, scrambling to my feet. “He knows why she left?”
Hank nodded. “I’ll drive you up to the house. You’re in no condition to be behind the wheel.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
KIPTON
I sat on the front porch of my parents’ house, wrapped in a blanket, as I stared toward the garden. Off in the distance, I could make out the hills.
Somewhere beyond them was Hunter.
I squeezed my eyes shut in an attempt not to cry again.
“It’s cold out here, Kipton. Why don’t you come inside?”
I shook my head and whispered, “It was all too fast.”
Aspen sat next to me in the empty rocking chair. “What was?”
I let out a laugh devoid of all emotion. “Three weeks. That’s how long the filming had gone on for. That’s too fast to fall in love with someone.”
She reached for my hand. “You met him before you started filming. Spent time on the ranch.”
I nodded. “How could I be so stupid to think a guy like that might fall in love?”
“Kipton, I really think you need to talk to him. I mean, with the whole show abruptly ending…aren’t you even curious as to why? If he really wanted to mess around with the other women, surely he’d have continued doing the show.”
“I already know why. Brock found cameras where they shouldn’t be. It was a breach of contract. He and Lincoln demanded they stop filming at the ranch.”
“Okay,” she said on a sigh. “But you’re putting your parents in a weird place. Hunter has called them repeatedly and begged them to call back. He really seems to have no idea why you left.”
Turning to look at her, I gaped. “Are you for real right now? He doesn’t realize I saw Kimber leaving his place that morning? Right!”
“Unless she told him, maybe not. She’s not in Hamilton anymore, you know. She left with all the others. I checked her Instagram, and she’s in New York City.”
Rolling my eyes, I pulled my knees to my chest. “Who cares. She was still there. Still wearing his clothes. Whether he knows I saw or not, how does he explain any of that?”
“I don’t know, hon. This just feels…all wrong. Maybe she staged it?”
Staring out over the snow, I admitted, “I thought that too. I really did. But I keep coming back to one thing—how would she have known I’d be there?”
Aspen turned in the rocker to face me. “I’ve been thinking about that. I don’t know if she did plan on you showing up. I think she went over there knowing the cameras would see her entering, going into Hunter’s bedroom, then leaving a while later. And everyone would think they’d slept together.”
