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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Devlin tookone look at Teagan’s puffy red eyes and her crestfallen expression and he was ready to murder someone. He could take a wild guess who’d made his little bird cry. Ryan Moore needed to run when Devlin would come looking for him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked her.
“It’s a long story…” she glanced away. He took in her black tight fitted jeans and her black T-shirt with the Lucky logo on her left breast.
“You need a ride to the pub?”
She shook her head. “No. I’ve called in sick.”
He had an inkling he wasn’t getting anywhere with her if they stayed at her family’s farm. “Come, sweetheart. I’d like to show you something.”
She nodded sullenly before she got on his bike and wrapped her arms around his waist. She let him whisk her away, no questions asked.
He felt her tears on his back through his IVMC T-shirt. He stopped for a red light and squeezed her thigh. She kissed him between his shoulder blades in silent thanks. The small gesture cracked his heart right open.
He wished he could take her pain away. Devlin hated that he’d probably had been the cause for that distant look in her eyes and those mascara trails running over her cheeks. If only he’d kept his distance from her, then her family wouldn’t have made her miserable about seeing him.
He’d been stuck in his head on the ride over to his favorite spot at the Colorado River. Devlin passed the larger bend where his club brothers liked to hang out on his way over to a much smaller and more tranquil spot he’d first taken his sister Nora to years ago. It had been their fishing spot ever since.
He killed the engine, and a breath of fresh air filled his lungs. The beautiful trees and the serene water immediately calmed him, no matter how on edge he’d been at arrival.
“Wow. It’s so peaceful out here. Thank you for bringing me here, Dev,” she said as she walked over to the river. She went straight to the outside bend, and he watched her perky jean-clad ass plunk down in a bit of grass.
Whenever he would take Nora fishing, he avoided this spot. They usually sat a bit further away at the calmer backwater areas where fish sought refuge of the strong current.
It was nice, though, sitting side by side with Teagan, taking in the rippled surface of the secluded river. They were both silent as he enjoyed the afternoon sun. After coming face to face with her brother, he could imagine that she also needed a moment.
As an overprotective big brother himself, Devlin couldn’t be too harsh on the guy. Although he still felt that Ryan clearly needed to back off from Teagan if he’d made her cry.
He kissed the top of her hair when she rested the side of her head against his bicep. “Are you ready to talk about it?”
She nodded and sat up straight again. Her fingers weaved through the grass next to her thigh before she pulled a long blade from the ground. She spun the blade between her thumb and index finger, her gaze mesmerized by the twirling green blade.
“You remember last night, when we talked about me going after what I want…?”
He hated she kept her head down, hiding her expression behind a curtain of blonde curls. Normally, he would try to persuade her to never shy away from him, but something in her tone of voice told him he shouldn’t press her.
“I eh, I… ugh, I hate this. I’ve never talked about this with anyone outside my family…”
He took her fidgeting hand in his and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me now. You can tell me whenever you’re ready.”
She shifted on the grass and faced him after putting some distance between them. He wondered how bad her story would get.
“I’ve always been an impulsive child. I rode horses at my parent’s ranch most people wouldn’t dare touch, followed the wild boars around, jumped fences to roam around on our neighbor’s land… I loved doing things others wouldn’t dare.”
He could see that side in her. And since it stood in total contrast to her innocent appearance, it drove him absolutely insane. She had the best of both worlds.
“When I was fourteen, I… eh, I had my first kiss.”
He didn’t want to hear about some pimpled knucklehead kissing his little bird. He gritted his teeth as he nodded for her to continue her story.
Teagan broke eye contact and stared over the water. She huffed a breath. “I thought I was in love. Phhst. I was sure we would stay together forever and live on a farm for the rest of our lives.” She snorted before she threw a pebble into the river.
He watched it twirl down toward the bottom of the river. “Hey, you should have seen me at fourteen. I fantasized about being the next addition to the X-Men so I could kick my dad’s ass.”
Her half smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Yeah?”
