“Don’t leave on a bad note. Tell him how you feel and maybehe won’t go.”
“Wanna bet on it?” I bite back, spinning around before he can respond.
When I get to where Brantley is, I spot him right away. There are a couple of his friends hanging around while he sits on a barrel, drinking water and laughing at something.
He spots me before I get much closer and makes his way over. “Hey, you heading out?”
“Yeah, I have to work early and everything so…” I cross my arms. “Good ride though.”
He brings his arm up around my neck for a hug. “Thanks. I’ll see you sometime this week.” He pecks me on the head. “Love you,” he adds when we pull away from each other.
The words don’t roll off my tongue back to him like they usually do, so he cocks his head at me. “You really don’t want me to go to that club tonight, do you?”
I shake my head and he huffs, annoyed. As ifI’mthe crazy one.
“Addison. Would you just trust me? Please?”
The look in his eyes is genuine, soft and sincere. I guess he’s right. I have to trust him. We’ve been going out almost two years now and he’s never done anything to jeopardize our relationship.
“Okay. Fine. Love you too,” I mutter even though I don’t want to.
Heading back the other direction, I see Mason waiting for me at the end of the hallway.
“He still going?” he asks.
“Yeah.” I sigh. “I told you to wait outside.”
“And what if something happened?”
“Like what?”
“Some creep tries to lure you away or a bull gets loose. Anything is possible at a rodeo,” he insists.
“Right.”
“Hey.” He swings his arm around my neck, bringing me closer. “Cheer up. We can hit Cracker Barrel on the way home if you want.”
A smile sneaks across my face. He knows exactly what I need.
Chapter 6
Addison
Small group is every Tuesday night, and normally I look forward to it. But tonight? I have zero desire to go.
Things with Brantley and I haven’t been right since the rodeo on Saturday. The tension is still bubbling between us. Sunday, when I asked about the club, he said, “Don’t worry, the girls weren’t even hot.”
Like that was supposed to be funny.
It wasn’t.
I told him that, and he gave me a hard time. Said I needed to learn to laugh more. So, yeah, I’m not exactly feeling great about this relationship at the moment. Since then, he’s barely said two words to me.
I know I shouldn’t skip small group over it. That I should be leaning on God in difficult times, not pulling away. But it’s hard. The energy it takes to fake a smile is exhausting. I did it at church on Sunday. Then around my family all day afterward so they wouldn’t suspect anything or ask questions.
Now it’s Tuesday and I’m just tired. Tired of pretending. Tired of feeling like I’m the only one in this relationship who cares enough and wants to make things better.
I laid out what I was wearing an hour ago, but now I’m just sitting on my bed, staring at it. I don’t have the energy to change. I just wanna stay in sweatpants.
