“That should cover my tab.”
“That’s way too much.”
“Well, then, keep the change or put some of it toward the damages I owe.”His eyes flit to the mechanical bull.I had to put an out-of-order sign around its neck tonight.“But you should just keep it,” he says, turning back to me.“If it’s okay with you, I’d like to look at the bull myself before you call someone in to fix it.”
I shrug.“It’s already broken.”
The corner of his mouth lifts slightly.“Have a little faith, Amelia.I’m good with my hands.”
I don’t know why that surprises me.The man owns a ranch.Things must break down all the time over there.I just can’t imagine him fixing them all, and to be fair, fixing a tractor-trailer is probably a lot different from fixing a mechanical bull.
“Are you?”
“You know I am,” he retorts huskily.
My eyes shoot wide, and I smack my lips together before I say something I’ll regret.There is no way he meant that suggestively, especially not after what he witnessed tonight.
Holding my gaze, he taps his knuckles against the bar.
“I’ll come by one day after the funeral.”He pauses for a beat, taking a step back as he shoves his hands into the front pocket of his Wranglers, but his eyes don’t leave mine.“Amelia.”
“Don’t,” I whisper.“Just forget what you saw and heard tonight.”I mean for the words to sound harsh, but they come out more like a plea.
“I wasn’t…” His voice trails, then he clears his throat.“I just wanted to tell you I think your kid is great.”
I don’t need anyone to tell me that, but it’s nice to hear, especially coming from Maddox.
And that’s probably a problem.
ChapterSeven
Maddox
Ishouldn’t have gone inside the Rodeo Roundup on Monday night.What I should’ve done was send someone else to collect the trucks my men left behind, but I’m a fucking fool.I used keeping my distance from my sister as an excuse, but that wasn’t entirely true.Yeah, I was avoiding Della like the fucking plague, but I didn’t hate the idea of seeing Amelia again either, and I figured I could use a distraction from all the heavy shit I was dealing with.
Things didn’t play out that way, though.
The moment Amelia placed that first drink in front of me and disappeared to serve her customers, my mind started spiraling.It turns out there is no escaping my troubles.I can push them to the back of my head, but they don’t stay there for long.
I drank too much that night and spilled way too many of my secrets.
By the time I realized my mistake, it was too late.I couldn’t stop the shit from coming out of my mouth, so when Amelia sauntered over and announced her ex-husband had arrived with her kid in tow, I took that as my opportunity to shift gears.The plan was to take the heat off me and divert the conversation I was having with Shadow to Amelia’s situation.
The fact he openly called me out for the way I carry myself around his cousin must’ve loosened my inhibitions because I found myself asking him questions I had no business asking.Questions like, why hasn’t he put a bullet in the back of Russell’s head yet.I took things even further when Shadow announced he was going to take a piss, and I made my way outside.In my drunken haze, I convinced myself Amelia had been gone for too long, and that checking on her was something any noble man would do.
Fucking lies.
If there is one thing I’m sure of in this life, it’s that Amelia is tough as nails.She survived over twelve years with that motherfucker, six of which she was married to him.She didn’t need a fucking hero, especially not one the likes of me.
Something she made very clear the moment I intervened.
The only thing I managed to do was to shift her wrath of fury from Russell to me, which seemed crazy to me.There she was, handing me my ass when he was the one who had disrespected her.The things he said were vulgar and vile, and to say them in front of his son—there must be a special spot in Hell waiting for Russell Cain.
I never wanted to hurt someone as badly as I wanted to at that moment, and I would’ve had Amelia’s son not been standing right there.
Since he was born, I worked hard not to pay him any mind.Looking at him hurt like hell, especially when he was younger.The times I saw him and Amelia together flayed me, and I won’t get into how I felt whenever I saw them with Russell.
Dylan represented everything I lost.
