I gasp in humid air, wishing desperately for the scrape of blunt nails on my thighs, for Jenny’s sweet voice in my ears. The thought is enough to send me over.
My orgasm slams into me, vicious and sharp, dragging me over the edge by the throat. All I can do is pant my way through it, my cock throbbing as I paint the tiles with cum. I stroke myself, slow and steady, drawing it out just to bask in the pleasure for a little longer, to pretend I don’t feel guilty.
Dirty.
I grit my teeth as I rush through the rest of my shower, forcefully keeping my mind blank. I don’t want to think of Jenny, or my desires, or the pain of losing her.
I don’t want to think about anything.
I just want to lay down and go the fuck to sleep and forget about all of this.
Maybe it’ll be easier in the morning.
LUCAS
The morning sun is shining high in the sky, and Everett asked me to take one of the horses out to a rodeo a few hours away. Frankly, after the week I’ve had, I’m ready to kiss his fucking boots for the excuse to get out of here.
So, I decided that I was going to steer clear of Jenny after our… fight, but nothing is ever easy with her. In fact, she seems dead-set on making my life difficult. In the days since our painful run-in that one night, we somehow run into each other several times a day. No matter how hard I try to avoid her, it keeps happening, and I’d have to be blind to miss the looks she sends my way. Sure, she’s not chewing me out over everything down to the way I breathe anymore, but this is almost worse. Whenever she catches my gaze, her lips curl in disdain, brown eyes narrowing as she rakes them over me.
To top everything off, she looks at me even when she thinks I don’t notice, and that’ssomuch harder to ignore. Sometimes, the disgust and annoyance in her eyes fades into something darker, somethinghotter, and I have to busy myself with anything in arm’s reach to stop myself from begging for a taste of her.
In short, she’s fucking killing me, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
I’m hoping that a weekend off the ranch for this rodeo will be enough to let me get my head back on straight. It’s not off to a great start, though.
My leg has been acting up for the past few days, the on-and-off rain making my muscles ache and lock up with every step. The horse I’m supposed to be taking is giving me nothing but trouble, snorting disdainfully at every attempt I make to get him in the trailer.
“Please?” I ask after the fifth attempt to get him to step backwards into the trailer.
I was supposed to leave ten minutes ago and I feel pathetic for resorting to begging a damn horse to cooperate, but I don’t know what else to do.
I try to lead him back again, but he tosses his head, nearly clocking me in the face. My leg twinges sharply when I stumble back, pain racing all the way up to my hip as the stallion shakes his mane in annoyance. I glare at him, my lips thinning out in frustration.
“Dude,” I say, sharp and annoyed, even though I know he’s ahorseand can’t understand me. “Can you just fucking cooperate?”
“His name is Ernie, not dude.” Jenny sounds far too amused for my level of frustration, and I dig my nails into the lead before turning to face Jenny. “Is this precious little guy giving you trouble, Cross?”
I grit my teeth at the saccharine sweetness in her tone, the mocking light in her eyes. This is the first time since that night in the barn that I’ve been alone around her. I’ve been so careful to stay away from her, always ensuring there are other people around if we have to be in the same space.
I hate myself more than a little for jerking off that night, and it’s only made my feelings for her even more complicated.
“Thisprecious little guyis being a fucking dick.”
Jenny clicks her tongue at me and rolls her eyes, but she can’t keep the smug grin off her face. I tense as she closes the distance between us, holding my breath to ensure I don’t get a whiff of her shampoo. She ignores me completely and walks right up to the stallion, cooing at him and running her fingers through his forelock.
Asshole almost bit me just for trying to put a halter on him, but as soon as he sees her, he’s meek as a lamb.
She produces a mint from her back pocket and unwraps it for him, stroking down his face as he lips it up. He doesn’t even pretend to be stubborn when she takes a step forward, following her lead and walking himself back into the trailer like he’s done it a million times. He probablyhas, actually: Everett said all of their rodeo horses are trained for travel.
And it’s not like I was doing anything wrong, it can’t be that damn hard to back a horse up. Especially when said horse already knows what’s expected of it.
Which means he was being intentionally spiteful.
“Don’t listen to the mean, mean man, my sweet boy,” Jenny croons as she closes one of the trailer doors and clips Ernie into the safety lead. “You just relax and enjoy the ride.”
I scowl at her as she gives him one last scritch on the nose before closing the trailer up and latching it. It’s not my fault I’m bad with horses — they just don’t like me. They’re spooky, and I’m more than happy to let them keep their distance.
“Not that hard, Cross,” Jenny says with a scoff. “You taking him to Billings?”
