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“Well since one of those kids was Leonard, I figure he must have fessed up to his old man.” Greg seems disappointed. I’ll bet he really thought he’d found himself some comradery among his fire-starting buddies.
“If Mason comes to you with anything like this again, you speak to us.” I point my finger at his face in warning, and his head nods back at me like an obedient puppy.
“You know, Garrett wanted me to wrap you up in this sheet and set you on fire.” I grip the sheet I’m holding a little tighter and when his eyes double with fear I laugh.
“I hope he can rely on your vote.” Taking the VOTE CARSON pin that Finn hands me, I attach it to his shirt. “Now get the fuck outta here.” I toss him away, making him trip on his feet as I start storming back toward the truck.
“Wait… I should get to a hospital. I might have internal bleeding,” he calls after us. “And w-what am I supposed to tell Rosie? I should be taking her out for dinner tonight?” It’s amusing how he’s making that sound like it’s our problem to solve.
“Tell her, and anyone who asks, that your pussy ass got jumped by some junkies in Billing. I swear if anyone finds out that we touched you, I’ll come back at ya with the matches.”
“That won’t happen, and please tell Leia Walker I’m sorry. I never meant?—”
“Lucky for you, Leia Walker doesn’t know about this. And Cole don’t know it was you that decorated Aubrey’s headstone either. It’s the only reason you ain’t ashes right now.” I watch him turn even paler as I open the driver's door of the truck and get inside.
“You wanna talk about it?” Finn asks as he jumps in the passenger seat.
“Talk about what?” I light myself a cigarette then toss him the pack so he can help himself.
“About the fact you’ve been in a shit mood ever since you came back from town earlier, what's with you?” He helps himself to a smoke and sparks up, taking in the view and the sunset as we head back toward Copper’s Ridge. It don’t matter how many times you take that view in, it never fails to make you feel lucky. Even on days like today.
“There ain’t shit wrong, Finn,” I tell him sternly, focusing on the road and trying my best not to think about the face I thought I saw earlier.
Finn must pick up on the vibe that I don’t wanna talk because he stays silent for the rest of the journey, and that makes it far too easy for my thoughts to go back to her. I’ve spent years trying to forget Louisa Stedman and how I let her down. Maybe today was a punishment from my conscience. Sometimes it can be cruel like that. I often have dreams or random thoughts about how things might be if I’d made different decisions. But I’ve never seen her like I did today before; like I could actually touch her.
I head straight into the bunkhouse when we get back to the ranch, ignoring all the commotion that’s coming from the table in the center of the room as I march over to my cot.
Finn pulls up a chair and joins the others who are brushing up on their poker skills, while I lay back and stare at the ceiling, allowing my mind to take over and drag me back to a time where I didn’t know pain.
“What the fuck you doin’ in here?” I hide the glock behind my back when the garage door opens and Louisa steps inside. She’s looking real hot in the preppy private school uniform she has to wear, and when she heads right for me and touches her lips to mine, I have to quickly pull away.
“Are you crazy? Your brother is right upstairs,” I remind her.
“Screw him, it’s about time he found out about us anyway.” She smiles as she sits herself up onto the work bench right next to where I got a duffel full of cocaine.
“We’ve spoken about this.” I quickly drop it onto the floor and discreetly land the glock inside it before I kick it under the bench, out of sight.
“Well we need to have that conversation again, Tate. I’m sick of sneaking around.” She tugs at my tee and takes my lips again, and just like the first time it happened, it feels far too good to resist.
I never intended to betray my best friend, but I’d dare any guy to deny this girl sitting in front of me. Louisa is intelligent, she’s kind and she’s hot, in the cutest way you could ever imagine.
“You know how protective he is over you.” I try my best to avoid getting into this again. “Alex trusts me and?—”
“Maybe you should have thought about that before you stole his little sister’s V-card,” she reminds me, and when I slam my hand over her mouth and she bites down, it makes my dick hard and my lips twitchy. This right here is a little side of her that no one else sees, and one that I’m completely in love with…
I’m lucky that a girl like her would even look at me, let alone trust me with something as important as her first experience.
I’ve been sneaking around with Louisa for over six months now and, a month ago, when we took things to that next level, I realized there was no going back from it.
“Just give me a few more weeks and we’ll tell him. I promise.” Toby has some big jobs coming up for us to pull off and I wanna have enough money in my pocket in case me and her have to leave when her folks and Alex find out about us.
“I’m so done with secrets.” Louisa rests back on her palms. “And not just ours. You don’t tell me anything anymore.” She pouts, and when I flick her bottom lip with my thumb she makes a tiny sad smile for me.
“I tell you what I can,” I assure her, knowing she wouldn’t look at me in the same way she is right now if she knew the truth.
“That’s such bullshit, Tate. You could tell me anything. You just choose not to.”
I ignore her, bending down to zip up the holdall before I pick it up from the floor.
