“I’m not here to bust your balls, man.All I’m saying is you’ve been here less than an hour and have taken down four doubles like they were water.Now, I’m getting the impression you ain’t in a hurry to get back home, so if I were you, I’d brace myself.”
“It’s only been an hour?”I ask miserably as I tear my gaze away from him and swipe a hand over my face.
“Fifty-six minutes to be exact.”
This fucking guy.He just keeps pouring salt on the wound.
“Fuck.”
“You hiding out here so you don’t have to deal with the funeral, or is something else eating at you?”
“Am I that fucking transparent?”
Shadow shakes his head and reaches for his beer.Holding it to his lips, his eyes cut across the bar to where Amelia is serving a group of guys.“Not usually, but my cousin is standing twenty feet away and your attention is not on her, so…”
My head snaps to the right, and I narrow my eyes at him.
“My attention is never on Amelia.”
He scoffs, hiding a mischievous grin behind the glass of beer.“You try to make it so it’s not, but anytime you and her are in the same vicinity, you always got one eye on her.”He takes a drink of his beer, finishing it off.“I’ve been wondering when you’re going to pull your head out of your ass and shoot your shot.”
“You’re insane.”
He lowers his glass and shrugs.“I don’t know, maybe I am, but you’re both single, and I don’t see the harm in it.”
If he knew I already pulled the trigger thirteen years ago, and broke both of our hearts, the man would be singing a different tune.
“She needs to cut loose and so do you.”He stares at me for a beat, that sly grin of his returning to taunt me.“Be fun as hell to watch.”
Yeah, about as fun as watching a train derail off the tracks.
I shake my head.“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but that will never happen.”
“If that’s the case then whatever is pulling you away from the ranch must be deeper than William’s funeral.You’re a man who thrives on responsibility.Hell, the guys in my club have dubbed you Mr.Do The Right Thing.Yet, here you are, avoiding everything.”
“Not everything,” I mutter.“Just my fucking sister.”
He quirks a brow at that.“Mousey little Della is what has you running from the ranch?”
“It’s been a long time since you’ve seen her.She’s more mouthy than mousey these days, and I’m not in the mood to hear her tell me all the ways I failed our grandfather.I figure if I hide out here for a while, she’ll get bored or tired and lock herself in her room.If God wants to grant me any favors, he won’t make her come out until the funeral.”
That’s not likely, but a man can hope.
“Are you saying Della blames you for what happened to William?”
My mind wanders back to the phone call.I hadn’t told her the details of what happened before we were at each other’s throats, but she didn’t say much of anything when I finally divulged everything to her.I chalked it up to her being in a state of shock.
“She didn’t say it, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t think it.”
Della drove three hours to come back home today, and I’m sure she thought long and hard about all the ways I could’ve prevented Granddaddy’s death on that drive.I could sense as much the moment she stepped out of her car, and my eyes locked with hers.
“I just have to get through the next few days, then she’ll be on her way, and I can focus on how the fuck I’m going to save the ranch.”
“Save the ranch,” Shadow parrots.
Realizing I slipped up there, I turn to him and flinch.“I didn’t mean to say that aloud.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have had that last double shot after all.
