Fuck me.
Heat crawls up my neck, sharp and ugly.
Dixon. The nice farrier.
The guy who didn’t stand her up.
“That’s right,” Harleigh says, plopping into the chair beside Cabe. “I tried my damnedest to talk her into bringing him here, but they wanted to be alone.”
Alone.
The image hits me without mercy—Shelby dressed up, laughing, letting Dixon open doors for her, letting him touch her arm, maybe her waist.Maybe more.Letting him do all the things I should be doing to and for her.
“Uh-oh,” Charli says as she slides into Bryce’s side, his arm curling around her like it’s second nature as he continues his conversation with one of his admirers. “You look like you might get sick, Waylon. Where’s your friend? I’m sure she’d be more than happy to play nurse.”
I glare at her. “What the hell are you talking about?”
She tilts her head, eyes sharp. “The blonde you had your arm around two days ago.”
“Cheyenne.”
“Who?” Harleigh asks.
“Ruby’s aunt,” I say flatly.
Charli’s face twists. “Ew. You’re messing around with her aunt?”
“Fuck no,” I snap. “She’s just visiting to meet Ruby.”
“Meet her?” Charli squints. “She’s never met her?”
“No.
“These women,” I mutter, dragging a hand through my hair.
Before I can say something that’ll get me murdered by the entire Storm clan, Cabe stands. “Come on, Way. Lemme wipe the floor with you at a game of pool.”
I let him pull me up.
The pool table’s crowded, but people move when Cabe and I approach. He racks the balls while I chalk my cue, my mind refusing to let up.
Dixon Fisher.
Why the fuck would she be out with him again? She clearly didn’t like the guy.
Maybe she changed her mind.
Maybe you pushed her right into his arms, asshole.
Shelby deserves better.
She deserves someone who won’t disappear when things get complicated. Someone who won’t show up with another woman hanging off his arm after blowing off their date.
God, I fucked that up.
Sure, I had my reasons. Valid reasons. But the fact remains that I’m the asshole who was already on thin ice with her.
“You gonna break, or you just gonna stand there, brooding?” Cabe asks.
