My heart takes off and I bend to slide on my boots. “She okay?”
Brianna tosses a hand, looking worse for wear herself. “She’s fine. Just sick and tired. And I’m in no shape to get her in the house.”
I add all this up in my head. Am I supposed to carry Darcy into the house? Drunk Darcy? Drunk Darcy who’s mad at me and wants nothing to do with me? This could get ugly, fast.
Brianna sticks a hand out. “You gonna come help me, or you gonna stand there catching flies?”
I sigh. “You took her gun, right?”
“You scared of getting a little bb in your ass?” Bri asks. I’m pretty sure if you have two X chromosomes and arrive on this farm, your job is to give me constant hell. “Yes, I took it.”
I wince and nod, popping my other heel into my second boot. I pull the door shut behind me. “Show me the way.”
We walk in silence except for the crunching gravel under us, Bri wavering back and forth a little. “So I’m buzzed, you’re canned, and I guess Darcy is blackout?”
Bri whips her whole body back to talk to me, but her face is concerned. “Looks that way. It’s been over a decade since she did this. She’s always so responsible.”
I stifle a belch, putting my fist up to my mouth. “I’ve noticed.”
Except this morning, when she was grinding on my dick and begging me to fuck her when we needed to get up. But that aside, she’s very responsible.
“The thing you’ve got to understand about Darcy is she’s never really trusted anyone but herself. Not even me sometimes. She tries, but it’s hard for her.”
I let that hit me. “Are her parents addicts or something?”
Bri lets out a sardonic laugh. “That would make more sense. They’re just free spirits. You’ll see. Darcy’s always been a bigger adult than them.”
“She never got to be a kid,” I suggest. “Wait, I’ll see? I figure I’m not welcome at the barbecue.”
“Gosh, you give up easy,” Bri scoffs. “Thought cowboys were a little more rugged than that.”
“Well, I try to be respectful when someone tells me they don’t want to see me. Is there something wrong with that?”
“For Darcy? Yes. If everybody actually listened when she pushed them away, she’d never have nobody.” Bri tips her head. “Anybody? Anybody. Never have anybody. Not nobody.”
I pause. “But what if I’m the problem?”
“You’re not,” Bri assures me. “She’s just healing and can’t tell which way is up.”
I chuckle as Bri lets loose a burp so deep that it must have come from her toes. “Excuse you.”
“Jesus. Wimpiest cowboy I ever met,” she mutters, then whistles.
I spot Darcy’s form in the moonlight. She’s closer to the pond than I’d like for someone who can’t wake up enough to walk herself home. She’s in the grass with Stormy sitting up next to her, acting like a worried mother.
I crouch next to Darcy and Stormy asks for pets. “She likes you?!” Bri gasps. “She hates men.”
“I feel like you just emasculated me, so maybe that’s why she likes me.”
“I’m just giving you a little shit, cowboy,” Bri says. “I like you alright.”
“Hey, boss,” I coo, running the back of my finger over Darcy’s cheek. She doesn’t really move, but she’s breathing evenly. I feel her pulse, and it’s steady and normal.
“She didn’t even drink but three or four beers,” Bri adds. “I think the old girl’s just exhausted. It’s all catching up to her.”
I chew my lip and shake my head. “I wish I wasn’t part of what made her exhausted.”
“It’s not just you. Trust me. You just set her off.”
