He hums softly, his gaze dropping to my mouth.“More than like it, baby.”He lifts his hand and reaches across the table.His thumb drags across my lower lip and his eyes flit back to mine.“When are you going to let me take you on a proper date so I can prove to you I’m not walking away this time?”
“You think one date and some sex is going to erase the past?”
He lowers his hand and shakes his head, squaring his shoulders back.“No, but we gotta start somewhere.”
“How about we start with you telling me what’s going on between you and Della?”
He leans back against the booth.“Not where I was going with this, Amelia.”
“Actually, it is,” I counter.“You came here tonight because your sister got hurt, and you needed a favor from me.”
He swipes a hand over his face and sighs.“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
I shake my head.I don’t want to be a distraction from what’s bothering him, and I think he could honestly benefit from airing out his troubles.Something tells me he doesn’t do that often.
“Fine.There has been animosity between us for a long time, but things kind of imploded more recently.After the funeral, I found out that my grandfather left the ranch to both of us.”
“That makes sense,” I say.“You’re both William’s grandchildren.”
Anger flashes in his eyes.
“It makes no fucking sense at all.Della abandoned the ranch.She left everything for me to handle on my own.The ranch.Our grandfather.Fucking everything.”He pauses for a beat, roughly dragging his fingers through his hair.“You know, after our mother died, I knew my life was going to change.That I was going to be forced to become a man and take on more responsibilities.It’s the very reason I ended things with you.I didn’t want to drag you down.”
The first time he spoke those words, they angered me.Now, I’m just saddened by them.I get we were both young, but things could’ve been different if he had just spoken to me about what was going on.Instead, he robbed me of the opportunity to decide my fate.
“I did not know just how hard things were going to get,” he continues.“And while she was off making a better life for herself, I was struggling to hold everything together.The ranch is in trouble, Amelia.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“We’re drowning in debt, and I got some fucking oil mogul trying to rip the land out from under me.”
“Does Della know any of this?”
He scoffs.“No.How would she know?She doesn’t ask questions.She doesn’t fuck visit.Our grandfather has been sick for over a year, and I can count on one hand how many times she’s visited, and the number of times she offered to help is even less.The only reason she’s back here now is because he’s dead.”
His fingers close around the glass, and he knocks back the drink.This time in one gulp.
“You need to tell her, Maddox.She’s a smart woman, and she’s good with numbers.I mean, isn’t that what she went to school for?Maybe she can help.”
He lowers the glass back to the table and pours more whiskey into it.“I’m not asking her for help.That ship has sailed.The Fallen Demons are going to buy her out.”
I gawk at him.“She’s signing over her inheritance to the MC?”
“She’s going to.I just haven’t told her about it yet.”
My eyes widen.“Maddox, you can’t do that.”
“The fuck I can’t,” he growls.“She’s made it clear she wants nothing to do with the ranch.This is the best solution for everyone involved.She gets her money, I keep the ranch, and she goes back to her cushy little life.The club will provide protection, and I will get Landry Oil off my back.”
“How do you know that’s what she wants?”He opens his mouth to speak, but I quickly silence him by leaning over the table and pressing my finger to his lips.“No, you listen to me.I get you’re hurt, and you probably even feel a little betrayed, but you don’t get to play God with everyone’s life.You’re robbing Della of the chance to make her own decision, just like you robbed me of making mine.That’s not fair.”
I pull my hand away and take a deep breath.
“Amelia, don’t compare what happened between us to what’s happening between me and my sister.It’s not the same.”
“It’s exactly the same.”I grip the edge of the table and slide out of the booth.“I’ve got to get back to work.”
His hand closes around my wrist.“Don’t go.”
