So much for the softer side of Bridger.
I’m done with this conversation. We’re working on our friendship. I don’t need dating advice.
Clark
You’re fine, buddy. The women love that rugged rancher look you’re rocking.
And that’s why you’re my favorite.
A slew of texts came through with unwanted advice, and I tucked my phone in my back pocket. I didn’t have a client here, but I had a shit ton of work to do, and I was done with the conversation.
Wren walked by, and I glanced up. She wore a pair of cutoff jean shorts, a brown-and-white plaid button-up, and some cowboy boots. Her hair was a wild mess of waves falling all around her shoulders, and her dark brown eyes were flanked by long black lashes.
“What’s up?” I asked as I tried to focus on the compartment I was building. I’d been a little distant from her ever since everything had come to light. But she’d been trying, and I didn’t want to be a dick. I was happy to have her back in my life. I needed to let this anger go.
Anger at her brother for causing us to lose so much time.
Anger that she didn’t come to me about it two years ago.
“Hey. I made lunch, do you want to take a break?”
I glanced up. “You want me to come to the break room and eat?”
“Nope. I want you to come for a quick ride with me out to our tree. Can you sneak away for a little bit?”
I set the wrench I was holding down on the table and wiped my hands off. “Sure.”
She was trying, and I’d hear her out.
I could tell she was a little nervous. Even after all the time we’d spent apart, I felt like I still knew her just as well as before.
Wren was loyal to the people she loved. She’d always been that way. I’d just always been at the top of the list. But back when she’d caught her father having an affair, she’d become more guarded after that. We’d talked about it.
But I could see the toll that her brother’s betrayal was taking on her.
Hell, I could feel her pain, the same way I always could.
I took the backpack from her shoulders and placed it on mine before we took Wrax and Honey out to our favorite spot.
We tied up the horses, and Wren pulled out a blanket, some sandwiches, a bag of chips, and two bottles of water from the backpack.
“You’ve been distant, and I wanted to talk to you about that.” She sat on the blanket, her gaze locking with mine.
“All right,” I said, taking a bite of the turkey sandwich and groaning because it was so damn good.
“I owe you an explanation, Axel.” She set her water bottle down and screwed the cap back on. “Better than the explanation I gave you the other night. I was in shock that my brother would lie to me like that. And I’ve had some time to process my thoughts.”
“Listen, Wren. It’s a shit situation. I understand why you did what you did, but I’m just pissed about it, I guess. You should have come to me.”
“You’re right. I should have known you well enough to know that you wouldn’t do that to me. I don’t know why sometimes it’s easier to believe the bad than the good.” She shrugged. “And I have had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that my brother would lie to me like this. That he would do this to me. To us. Knowing how close we were, even before that night, youknow? You were my person. My best friend. And I should have come to you instead of shutting down.”
I ran a hand down my face. “Listen, we’d just spent the night together after years of friendship. We were both nervous about doing anything that could affect our friendship. And then all hell broke loose with your brother and Emerson, which had emotions running high for everyone.”
“And then he filled my head with a bunch of lies, and I believed them.” She shook her head. “Collin can be an asshole, I’m the first to admit it—but this is different. This is deceitful and manipulative. I wouldn’t have ever thought him capable of being this evil. But it’s on me that I didn’t give you the chance to defend yourself. That I spent two years feeling betrayed by the person I’d always trusted most. I wish I could go back and change the way I handled things.”
“I get it, Wren. He’s your brother.”
“And you’re my best friend. I messed up,” she said. “I think the reason I believed it was because he said that you’d told him about my father’s affair. You and my mother were the only ones who I talked to about it. So in that moment, it felt like betrayal. Like a gut punch. And then when he said that you were making out with Megan Wilson, and that you left with her—I just thought you had turned your back on me. He definitely knew how to manipulate the situation. It’s appalling and disturbing all at the same time.”
