“There you go again, making decisions withouttalking to me,” I hissed, pulling away from him.
Rooster raised an eyebrow. “Tell me, baby, and be honest. Would it or would it not have totally grossed you out to know that your mom’s best friend was trying to make a play for your brother?”
“Well, duh, but why couldn’t I have known about it?”
“Because I have always strived to keep that shit from you, and so has your brother.” He stroked my back. “I just want you to be happy.”
“Dumping me and leaving me was proof of that,” I snarled.
He sighed. “Direct hit, sweetheart.”
I bit back tears and turned away from him. “You stayed away, Kam.”
He took my hand and pulled me to him again, settling me back on his lap.
Katie
“WHEN I GOT to Colorado, Sundance saw something in me. Something not even I saw, and he introduced me to one Dr. Paul Chandler. Chan’s in charge of development. Specifically, the development of new and better strains of cannabis for the Howlers’ grow op. He is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met and cool as fuck.”
“You’ve always had a green thumb,” I pointed out.
“I know that, and you know that, but there weren’t a whole lot of other people who noticed that. Sundance did. Or he noticed somethinganyway and a beautiful friendship was formed.”
“So you stayed away because of pot?” I practically snarled.
“KitKat, settle,” he ordered, giving me a squeeze. “I would never stay away from you because of something so insignificant.”
I let out a huff and glared at him.
He gave me an annoying, albeit, gentle smile. “Chan never once treated me like an idiot.”
“Well, you’renotan idiot and I hate it when—”
“Are you going toletme finish my story?”
I pressed my lips together and sighed. “You know, for a man who’s known for his monosyllabic ways, you sure can make a story last for hours.”
“You keep that up, beautiful and I’ll stop talkin’.”
“Rude.” I wrinkled my nose. “Continue.”
“Chan and I worked closely together developing different strains of weed for all sorts of ailments, and soon I was running the entire Monument grow op. Sundance paid for continuing education, so I did a double major in microbiology and business.”
I couldn’t hold back a quiet gasp. “You did?”
“I did.”
“That’s amazing.”
“It was a lot of work, but it was also something I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do, and I did.”
I cocked my head. “Why didn’t you think you’d be able to do it?”
“Because I’ve been told I couldn’t my whole life, honey.”
“That’s not true,” I countered. “Your dad said you couldn’t, true, but Ms. Hamon saw how smart you were and was constantly pushing you, I knew how smart you were, Billy did, Hatch did…”
“Okay, you have a point,” he said. “But when you’re raised by a son of a bitch who is constantly filling your head with bullshit, it’s hard to rewire that.”
