AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His heart fought against that concept, pushing against it with the full force of everything it had. Lucas had done a lot to win her over. He’d shown her that he deserved to have her affection. If she couldn’t see that he was still worthy of that, then what was this whole thing about, anyway?
“Hey,” he mumbled.
“Don’theyme,” she spit out. “I hope you took him out there and kicked him to the curb.” She shook her head, venom dripping from her words. “Taven is a bottom feeder, and I really hope he showed up because he thought it would be funny. You didn’t invite him here, did you?”
He frowned. This wasn’t going to go as well as he’d hoped. “Of course, I didn’tinvitehim to come here. My brothers told him where I was.”
She huffed but didn’t make any further comment. Ella probably thought Lucas was in on this whole thing. Heck, based on the combative way she was reacting, she probably thought Lucas had been pretending this whole time.
But he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to convince her that he had nothing to do with Taven’s treatment of her. His onlychance was to try to convince her that she needed to be patient with him.
Lucas shoved his hands into his pockets and shuffled his toe against the ground. He glanced away. It was hard to find the words for what he was feeling right now. His loyalty to his friend and his new-found feelings for her conflicted in ways he wasn’t prepared for. “He’s not as bad as you’re making him out to be,” he finally mustered.
“Yeah, right. I heard what he said, Lucas. I know he talks about me like I’m not good enough for you. To him, I’m not good enough for anyone.”
His eyes darted toward her. “That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it? I’m not smart enough. I’m not pretty enough. I’m not your usual type. What has he said so far?”
Her words cut at him deeper than he was expecting, but he didn’t get a chance to smooth things over before she spoke again.
Ella moved toward him, her eyes flashing and her cheeks red. “You can’t be friends with him, Lucas. It’s not good for you, and it’s not good for us.”
Lucas stiffened. “I know he’s not the best friendship material, but don’t you think you’re being a little unreasonable?”
“Unreasonable?” she practically screeched. “Taven has never been anything more than a bully. He puts people down to lift himself up. Can’t you see that?” She paced in front of him, and Lucas didn’t think it was possible, but the redness in her face continued to deepen. When she stopped suddenly to face him, he realized she expected him to say something.
“What do you want me to say?” he asked.
“Tell me you don’t see that all he wants is to make people miserable.”
“I’m not going to say that. I know he has his faults. And I’m not going to make excuses for him, but we can’t just give up on him.”
Ella laughed. “We? Oh, I gave up on him a long time ago. I’m not going to have anything to do with him. And as for you, it’s him or me. I refuse to have that kind of negative energy in my life.”
His brows shot up. “What? You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, I’m dead serious. I’m not going to spend time with you if you plan to keep spending time with him.”
There was a sharp pain in the pit of Lucas’s stomach. He wanted to move—to charge around the barn just like she was doing, but he couldn’t. He remained frozen to his spot as he watched her continue to lose her cool.
“I don’t care what you think. I don’t care if it’s unreasonable. Taven has burned bridges in Copper Creek and I’m not going to have any part of him being here.”
“Well, he’s leaving so—”
“Tomorrow?”
“Well, no, but—”
“So, you’re going to keep hanging out with him?” she demanded. Her eye twitched and she pressed her palm to her temple as if to quell it.
“Ella—”
“It’s a simple yes or no answer, Lucas. If a dog attacks a child, you can’t make excuses for it. You have to get rid of it.”
Lucas’s mouth hung open. “Taven isn’t a dog.”
She pressed her lips together and looked away. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
