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“Things didn’t work out with Abby, so you thought you’d swing on by and see if you could have your friend back because…what? You don’t have anyone else to hang out with?”
He smiled nervously. “I wouldn’t put it exactly like that. I just want my best friend back.”
“I’m sorry for you, Ben. But you don’t get to come riding in, thinking you’re going to pick up our friendship where we left off. And honestly, I feel like we’d been drifting apart even before Abby got pregnant.”
He jerked back like I’d slapped him.
“I’m not saying that to be cruel. I’m only being truthful. I wish you the best of luck, Ben, but I don’t want the type of friend you’d started to become. Your feelings toward Maverick, the things you said to him about me, and a host of other things made me realize I was better off without you in my life.”
Ben frowned. “So you’re just going to cut me out of your life completely?”
“You made it easy to do, Ben.”
He folded his arms over his chest. “Is this because you’re fucking that ranch hand?”
And before I even saw it coming, my brother rushed up behind him, grabbed Ben by the shoulder, and spun him around. Then he punched him so hard, Ben stumbled back onto his ass.
I gasped, even as I tried to calm the horse I was on.
Nathan pointed to Ben, who was still on the ground. “He has more to offer her than you could everdreamof offering. Now get the fuck off our property before I call for backup.”
Ben slowly shook his head as he stood. He turned to me. “What the hell does he have to offer you?”
“The most important thing there is—love.”
Ben scoffed, and Nathan took a step toward him. He held up his arms and started toward his truck, not even bothering to look back.
Once he pulled away, Nathan said, “What a fucking asshole.”
“Mom would wash your mouth out if she heard you,” I said as I jumped off the horse.
Shutting the gate to the pasture, I walked with the mare and headed back to the barn with my brother by my side. The mare bobbed her head in excitement and let out a few nickers.
“See? Even she knows he’s a dick.”
“You want some hay, don’t you, girl?” I asked with a laugh.
As I approached the barn, my father stepped out. “Hey.”
Smiling, I replied, “Hey. How’s the rescue horse doing?”
Dad looked past me, then to Nathan, then back to me. “Doing good. Areyouokay?”
Nathan winked at me and headed off in the other direction.
“I’m better than okay, Dad. If you saw Ben leaving, everything is fine. Well…Nathan did punch him, but all is good.”
His brows shot up. “What?”
“Yep,” I said with a pop of my p. “Turns out things didn’t work out between him and Abby, and he assumed he could simply show up and we’d be besties again.”
“I hope you told him to go fuck himself.”
I laughed. “Not in those words, but your son did.”
“Good. I’m glad to see I’m raising that boy right.”
He walked over and took me into his arms and held me for the longest time, before stepping back. “The moment Maverick showed up on this ranch, I knew there was something special about him. Not just his way with the horses, but about Mav himself. It didn’t take me long to see the way he looked at you.”
