“I tried to give you time,” she said. “I thought in the hospital, you were acting crazy because you’d just been shot and the drugs were clouding your judgement. But I see it’s so much worse than that.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
She jabbed her finger in the direction of the barn. “Shehas you under some kind of spell. She put up this big fuss when you got shot like she’d been mortally wounded herself, and you fell for it.”
“I didn’tfallfor anything. Not that I oweyouan explanation, but I’ve loved that woman since I was nineteen. Not a day has gone by where I haven’t.”
Addie reared away from me like she’d been slapped.
“Even when we—” She cut off, and I nodded.
Not long after we met, Addie and I had given into our urges. Both of us were nursing emotional wounds, and it had been too easy to fall into bed together. Afterward, we agreed it had been a one-time thing, and we’d proceed by keeping our relationship strictly professional.
Over the years, of course, while we’d never slept together again, the lines between colleagues, sometimes friends andmoreblurred. Hence inviting her to Crew’s wedding, amassivemistake on my part.
Addie’s hand found her mouth, eyes widening in horror.
I couldn’t tell if it was all an act or if she was genuinely hurt by my words. I was getting the sense it could go either way with her.
This whole thing had gotten far too messy for my liking, and I needed her togoand never come back.
“Please leave, Addie. And leave me and my family alone. You owe me that.”
Those final four words got her, a reminder that she owed me a life debt. The least she could do was respect my wishes now.
As her expression cleared, shifting from pain to something akin to determination, I once again marveled at how quickly her moods shifted. It was terrifying to watch.
Without another word, she threw herself into her SUV and peeled away from the ranch, leaving deep, tire-shaped gouges in the grass of the lawn in her wake.
Emotionally exhausted, I walked back to the barn, rejoining my family near the bar. Though my brothers shot me concerned looks, I subtly shook my head, silently begging them to let it go.
Before I said anything to them, I needed to talk to Sutton.
After the party wound down, my brothers, Aspen, Reagan, Sutton, and I stayed to help Mama clean up. The women hauled the leftovers into the house while my brothers and I put away the tables and chairs.
Soon, we were saying our goodbyes and climbing into my truck to head home.
Sutton was quiet the entire drive, but the tension between us was damn near suffocating.
Once we were inside, I pounced.
“Before you go up, can we talk?” I asked.
Sutton paused with her foot on the first stair tread, shoulders hiked up to her ears. I thought she’d refused, but she sighed, long and low, and turned to face me. Dragging her feet all the way to the couch, she took a seat on one end, and I dropped down on the other.
“What happened earlier? Did Addie say something to you?” She nodded. “What?”
“Nothing worth repeating.”
“Then why are you acting like this? It obviously upset you.”
“It’s not important, Lane. Can I go to bed now?”
“No,” I said firmly. “If you won’t tell me, I’ll just ask Trey.”
“Why don’t you just askher? Since you’re so close and everything.”
“We arenotclose.”
