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“Grrrrr.” I grip my hair in my hands and flop back onto the mattress. I have no idea what this is about and I hate that I let myself get my hopes up about us.
My phone vibrates on the nightstand and I get this stupid little hope that it might be him. When I pick it up and see that it's my dad, my heart sinks. This is the tenth time he’s called today and I can’t ignore him for much longer, so reluctantly, I answer.
“Savannah… darling, it’s Daddy.”
I roll my eyes and draw in some strength.
“What do you want?” I ask, hoping this will be quick and painless.
“I want you to come home, of course. We all miss you terribly.”
“Well, that's not going to happen right now. I told you I needed space.”
“You did, and we’ve given you plenty of it. It’s time to come home. Stop playing games, Savannah.” His tone changes from friendly to agitated in an instant.
“The fact you think all this is a game only proves you don’t know me at all,” I snap back.
“I only made this call out of consideration. You’ve forced my hand and I’ve had to take measures.”
“What kind of measures?” I sit back up when I feel the panic rise in my chest.
“The kind of measures that will get you back on track and make you start seeing sense. I’ll see you soon, darling.” His words almost sound threatening as he hangs up the phone, and I launch it at the wall before bursting into tears.
I don’t know what he has planned but it’s unreasonable for him to expect me to go back after all that happened. Whatever he has coming for me. I will fight against it, and I will fight against whatever it is Cole’s playing at too. I stand back up, heading out of my room and storming out the house to confront Cole face to face.
I find him in the tack room sitting on a crate and smoking something that smells a lot like the stuff I did at the River Boys’ party.
“What do you want?” His hat is resting low on his head and covering his eyes and he doesn’t even give me the courtesy of lifting it.
“What do I want?” I laugh at him bitterly. “I want you to explain to me what the hell’s goin’ on here. The other night…”
“The other night shouldn’t have happened. I shouldn’t have put all that heavy shit on ya. I broke the rules and I’m sorry.”
“I don’t care about the rules, Cole. And I sure as hell don’t want your apologies. I don’t want there to be rules between us anymore. I thought that’s what you wanted too.”
“Well, it ain’t.” He finally lifts his head and looks for my reaction.
“You’re a liar,” I tell him, holding back my tears because there is no way on Earth I’m gonna let him see how much he’s hurting me.
“Savannah, why do you have to push shit? I’m tryin’ to do ya a favor here.” He scrubs his hand over his face in frustration.
“By treating me like I'm nothing to you? By confusing the hell out of me and making me fall…”
“Stop… Don’t say that.” He points his finger at me, standing up and storming toward me until I’m against the wall. Just being in his presence is making me crave his hands on me. Even though the fierce look on his face suggests he could do some serious damage to me.
“I’m tryin’ hard to do what's right here, and you’re making it impossible. Stop.” He loses a little of his hard persona when his voice wobbles.
“Don’t pretend you don’t feel it too, Cole.” I shake my head at him. “It’s okay to be scared. But it’s not okay to treat me like I never existed.”
“I’m being cruel to be kind.” He hisses through his teeth. “You don’t know me, you don’t know what kind of man I am, Red. Every female I ever cared about is dead.”
“I know you.” I reach my hand up and press my fingertips over his lips so he can’t interrupt me. “And I know that, right now, you're being a coward. When you're ready to be a man, Cole Carson, come find me.” I slide myself from him and head across the yard, wiping the tears off my cheeks before I get to the house.
I head straight for the drinks cabinet and pour myself something strong, knocking it back in one gulp.
“Tough night?” Maisie asks, coming down the stairs with the baby monitor and approaching me with caution.
“You have no idea.” I shake my head and pour myself another.
