As the door softly clicked shut, his words ran through my head.
“…you need me, I’m here.”
Words that meant more to me than I thought possible.
Chapter 12
Addicted – Saving Abel
Wilder
“You were a little distracted tonight,” Gunner said, handing me the empty popcorn bowl he’d just washed. “We could have beat the girls at Trivial Pursuit if you hadn’t had your head over the other side of the ranch.”
I shot him a glare and kept drying the bowl in silence.
He wasn’t wrong, my thoughts were definitely across the ranch, but I’d be damned if I told him that.
“We do know that you have a thing for Tally.” He nudged me, grinning. “Might as well fess up, buddy.”
“No idea what you’re talking about.”
“Yet you’re still drying that bowl like it’s got state secrets hidden in it.”
“Again, no idea what you’re talking about.”
“He spilled the full can of beans yet?”
I groaned as Nash walked in carrying empty beer bottles and two wine glasses. “Dumb and even more dumb coming in hot with an interrogation.”
Gunner dumped the water and yanked the towel from me. He leaned back against the sink and dried his own, smirking at our older brother.
“He says he’s clueless. I call bullshit.”
“Yep,” Nash added, placing the glasses in the sink. “Same here. And if you don’t tell us, Lily and Cassidy will make it their mission to find out exactly the kind of dance you and Tally are doing.”
“Horizontal.” Gunner chuckled at his own joke.
I grabbed the towel back and whipped him around the head with it. “Dick!”
“Hey, you better not mark me in any way. You don’t want Cassidy on your tail for maiming me.”
“She’s just an itty bitty thing, as if she could hurt me.” It was a lie. I was actually scared of my future sister-in-law. I’d seen the way she handled my brother. “You all need to stay out of my business.”
“Nash thinks you’re pissed ‘cause she had a visitor today,” Gunner said, way too casually.
I turned sharply to Nash. “You ran off and spilled right after we talked? Jesus, what is this, high school? You want to do our hair and nails together before prom, too?”
Gunner cracked up. “Do you not think I already knew? Setting up that board money account was a dead giveaway, little brother.”
“Yeah, Wilder,” Nash scoffed. “It was Gunner who told me.”
“Oh, great so it’s elementary school now. And,” I said,” pointing at Gunner, “you were the one who said we shouldn’t take the money. I just facilitated that for you.”
I wasn’t even mad about the money. Yes, it had been my idea to set up the account, but it didn’t mean I was in love with her. What I was madabout was her visitor, because despite what Tally had told me about her ex-husband, it still gnawed at me that he’d shown up. I trusted her, I did, but Declan didn’t strike me as someone who liked hearing ‘no’. And I hated that I couldn’t shake the unease.
“If there was anything to say, I’d say it.”
Plenty I could have said. How she made my skin burn in the best way. How her laugh made something ease deep in my chest. How she listened, really listened, and never judged. But I wasn’t ready to say any of it. We were what we were, and it suited me. No labels. No mess.
