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CHAPTER SEVEN

The Ranch

“So, what did you do?” Bowman asked as we drove out of town toward my family’s ranch.

“Do?” I peered at him as I kept hold of the pastry boxes on my lap.

“Gracie, Lucy . . . they seemed to know you’re a hair trigger. Clearly, you’ve got a track record. Or a rap sheet.”

I glared at him.

“Come on, tell me a story,” he begged. “I’ll tell you one of mine if you tell me one of yours.”

He glanced at me but didn’t take his hands off the wheel.

For a moment, I was mesmerized by the size of them. They were huge, and I instantly remembered the way they had coasted over my skin and spread my thighs . . .

“Salem?”

“Yeah.” I dragged my eyes up to his.

He arched a brow. “I’ll trade you story for story.”

“You have youthful transgressions?” I asked.

“Several. Come on, tit for tat.”

“I’m not showing you my tat.”

“I’ve seen yourtat.” He grinned. “And I’ve seen your ink, too.”

“A youthful transgression.” I wanted to get far away from the conversation about my ink.

“Yep. You gotta go first, though.”

“Why?”

“Because.”

“That’s not a reason.”

“Humor me.”

“Fine.” I sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to let it go. “There was a really mean girl named Amber in high school who made Hadley cry. So, one day I put hair removal creamin her face cleanser bottle. After soccer practice while she was showering and washing her face, she got a nice little surprise—her eyebrows mysteriously fell out. Oh, and her hairline got pushed back about a half an inch since she got some up on her forehead.”

“Vicious. What did she say to Hadley that made her cry?”

“I don’t remember,” I lied.

He looked at me but said nothing.

“Now you. Tell me one of your youthful transgressions.”

“There was a stray cat in our neighborhood,” he began. “It only had three legs. But it was a scrappy little fucker. These two idiots—just big, dumb, mean motherfuckers—managed to trap it.”

Dread coiled through my stomach.

“You can tell when a kid is off, you know? They were fourteen. And they definitely knew better. Anyway, they trapped the cat and were tying firecrackers to its tail.”