AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Pax fiddles with the brim of his hat, shifting his shotgun and checking the safety again. “Mostly.”
I snort. “That means no.”
“It’s not like Madi was sitting in the dorms alone, pining after me.”
“Fair point.”
“Anyway, whatever, man. I’m getting tired of this back-and-forth shit.”
“It has been years,” I concede.
“Two. But I love her.”
My eyes bug out, and I choke on air. “You do?”
“Probably.”
“What the fuck are you doing, then?”
Pax smirks, meeting my gaze. “No clue.”
I bark out a laugh, and it echoes extra loud in the woods. Birds take flight above us, startled.
“What about you?” he asks. “Any women aggravating the hell out of you?”
“Too early to say,” I admit. “Hopefully a friend, right now. But she’s prickly.”
“Pretty?”
“Very. Remember Winnie Sutton?”
“That smart chick who graduated early?”
I tamp down my sigh. I’m getting used to the idea literallyeveryone else knew Winnie in high school and I was a blind fool. “I guess so. I didn’t know her well in school. I think her little brother’s dating your sister, though.”
“Jesse. That’s right. I hadn’t made the connection. Walker was friends with her, too, I think.”
I whip my head around. “He was?”
His eyes dance with amusement. “Yeah, I remember them talking at lunch sometimes.”
“Huh.” I’m quiet for a bit, mulling over what Pax has revealed. Why would Walker addBefriend Winnie Suttonto the list if he was already friends with her?
Walker, you meddling fucker.
“I’m sorry about Walker,” Pax says suddenly. “I don’t think I ever said that. But I meant to. We all were sorry about him.”
I nod. And for today, for right now, I don’t feel angry about Walker’s passing. Just sad. That’s progress, right? “Thanks.”
We continue on in silence for a long while, but it’s not so awkward anymore. It’s normal. We don’t see any cute rabbits, we never take off the safeties on our guns, and we never bring up Walker again, but that’s okay. More than, actually.
Instead, we hop on the four-wheelers and rip off to the farthest fields, tearing them up and letting loose. And I make it one more day.
TwelveCASE
I finish my workout with Brody early the next morning, just as the sun is fully coming up. Instead of heading inside to shower off, I make my way to the fence, climbing up on the bottom rung and slinging a leg over to sit on the top.
“Hello, Charles,” I drawl, taking in the nearly two-thousand-pound longhorn bull that belongs to my father. He’s a killer. Absolutely. His horns span at least six feet across and curl up to sharp points. These days, Charles is more of a show bull than anything else. My dad studs him out and moves him with the herd, so he’s rarely this close to the barn and the tourists, but he’s on rotation this week.
