AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I backed away and shut down that line of thinking. I couldn’t get caught up in what I wasn’t able to do, not if I wanted to get on with my life. The truth was, we’d figure this out, he’d see I was a lost cause, and then he’d leave. It was just a matter of time.
As I walked to my truck, the crunch of his boots on the gravel behind me was like a rain cloud hanging over my head. That wasn’t fair to him, but I couldn’t deny the pressure his being here put on me.
“Get in,” I grunted.
“You’re really leaning into the whole grumpy cowboy thing, aren’t you?”
“And you’re leaning into the irresponsible rock star. Which one’s worse?”
He shrugged. “At least I know who I am. You can’t seem to make up your mind.”
I gritted my teeth against the dig. “I’m plenty sure of who I am.”
After getting into the cab, I started up the big diesel engine and was fucking thankful for the loud rumble of the ancient vehicle. It distracted from the need to fill the silence with some sort of a conversation.
We pulled up to the stables where my brothers Luke and Sutton were already parked and standing at their own trucks, drinking coffee and shooting the shit.
“Hey there, Kill. What brings you here?” Sutton asked.
I winced. “Oh, you know, just here to work…like always.” I begged silently for him not to blow my cover.
The dumbass frowned. “Always? I can’t remember the last time I—”
Luke elbowed him. “Yeah. Always.”
As Jamie sidled up next to me and took up too much space for me not to notice him, I held my breath, hoping he didn’t catch on to the fact that I was lying through my teeth about my daily chores on the ranch.
“Hey, I’m Jamie,” he said, holding out a hand first for Luke, then Sutton.
“Yeah, we spoke on the phone. Nice to meet you in person. Is my little brother treating you all right?” Luke asked. He smirked as he looked between us.
“Well, he’s got me ready to work, if that’s what you mean. Though it’s not what I was expecting.”
“You didn’t have to come out here with me,” I grumbled.
“I wanted to make sure you came back. Seems to me like you’re hiding from our project.”
Sutton’s brows rose. “Oh, those are fightin’ words if I ever heard them. Sounds like Jamie here’s got your number, Kill.”
“He doesn’t have my anything.”
Luke chuckled. “I’d say the fact you’re here at nearly six in the morning says otherwise. He’s got you running scared.”
I narrowed my eyes at both of my brothers in succession. “I hate you both.”
Sutton shook his head and pushed off the side of Luke’s truck. “Nah, you don’t. There’s a whole mess of stalls that need mucking today, guys. Have fun.”
Luke followed him, both of them heading for the stables. “If you need us, we’ll be out in pasture twelve. Got a controlled burn happening today.”
I sighed and took a sip of my still-scalding hot coffee. “Fuck!” I hissed as the liquid burned the roof of my mouth. “Come on. I’ll get you some gloves and show you what to do.”
“You going to enlighten me as to why your brothers seem surprised to see you, cowboy? If you work the ranch all day every day, that doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
Irritation raced through me. “They’re always gone by the time I get out here. Those two got a late start this morning.” I was such a lying sack of shit.
“Oh, really? It seemed to me they aren’t ever used to seeing you. And from our conversation on the phone, Luke thought you’d have plenty of time to devote to writing with me.”
My hand balled into a fist. “Luke doesn’t know shit about me.”
