Jed snicker. “You’re not getting me on a stage.”
“The ranch,” Tripp speaks up, glancing quickly between us. “That’s what matters to you.”
“No. He’s not betting the ranch.” West grabs Jed and Tripp bythe shoulders, hauling both men up from their seats. “Get the fuck out. Now.”
Tripp laughs, backing off, his hands raised in surrender.
Jed ignores West. “You want that parcel of land that heads north into the mountains. It’d double the size of Coyote Falls.” Silence falls as Jed works out how to best bait his hook. “A championship ride on a championship-level bull until the bell.” He pauses, rheumy eyes hardening. “Wrecking Ball. Eight seconds.”
West pivots, halting as his gaze finds my face. The tiniest shake of his head, a plea made in desperation. Begging. Something I never thought I’d see him do ever again.
I ignore him with a shrug. Everything I want, everything I know I can do, what I can achieve in that short period a few days from now. I find Jed’s greedy face, past West’s whitening face, and nod like his bet means nothing instead of everything in my entire world.
“Agreed.”
THIRTEEN
CORD
Falling Alone
When the boys have gone, I stare across the empty room at Lanie, her hair the final barrier beyond a crevasse of everything unsaid between us.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” she whispers, as she turns toward me with desolate eyes.
I shrug. “I shouldn’t do a lot of things. Maybe they’re right. Maybe I’m bored.”
“That’s bullshit,” Lanie snaps, a glimpse of the woman I’m fast falling for pushing through the gap I created an hour earlier with a choice I know I shouldn’t have made.
West was the first to leave without another word, fury rolling from him in waves. Tripp chattered on loud enough with Jesse for the sound to echo inside my head while Jed… He just watched quietly. That was when I knew how far I’d fucked up.
But it’s done now, and I can only ride out the choice I’ve made.
And not lose.
“It’ll be an easy ride. Wreck—well. We have a history, that bull and me. Besides.” I attempt a facsimile of Billy’s easy grin and fall short. “Someone told me to be impulsive.”
Lanie doesn’t say anything as she retreats into the hall leading to my room, bumping into the walls with hands that shake.
Every step she takes away from me steals a little more of my peace. I exhale hard, rounding on my heel to stride out to the yard, needing the air.
I’m not the only one. West leans against the veranda, staring out over the fields opposite the house. No lights show up at this distance; only the faintest glow from the town illuminates the night sky beyond the horizon.
Neither of us speak as I join him at the railing. Something twinges in my lower back. I raise my hand to brush my scar, the numb patch there more terrifying than anything else in my life.
“What the hell are you doing?” West finally explodes. “You deserve a fucking good bitch slap for whatever the hell that was in there.”
I ignore him. “Do you know if anything’s up with Levi?”
West turns, his face half in shadow. “He’s good. Heard he found himself a little action.”
A grin spreads over my face at the thought of my chef finally finding an outside distraction from this place. “That’s not a bad thing.”
“You’re an asshole. You know that?” West glares at me, his fists balled at his sides.
We both know he’d love to beat all hell out of me for what I just did. We also both know he can’t, not unless he wants to be my nursemaid for the next few decades of my reduced lifespan, if he doesn’t kill me on the spot.
“It’s a ranch, West. It can be replaced,” I say softly, though my heart falters at the words.
