I open my arms, and she wraps hers around me. At least I know that my criminal record won’t be an issue for her.
“You’re back. How was jail?”
I chuckle. “Fine. I broke the toilet.”
Her face scrunches up. “Eww, nasty.”
“It’s fine. Gives Uncle Jimmy something to do other than harass me.”
“Are we vowing to hate him for eternity?” she asks.
I shrug. “We’ll see. At least for a week or two.”
“Deal. I got to take Cloud out to the pasture. Are you mad?”
“No, not at all.”
I place my hand on her shoulder and walk with Sadie back into the house as she tells me all about her afternoon and the joy she had being with her horse.
I’m standing at the edge of the ridge, waiting for Lark, who is now an hour late.
I debate texting her but decide against it. For all I know, her family suspects something, and she’s dealing with it.
The ridge is truly my favorite place to come to. It’s where I can think in peace and where I often find the answers I’m seeking.
Tonight my mind is caught in a constant loop about what the hell I’m doing.
This arrangement was stupid from the beginning, but now it’s a goddamn bomb waiting to drop.
The fallout will be devastating, and we’re going to hurt everyone around us. My sisters will never understand, which isn’t exactly something I give a shit about. I don’t live my life for them, and I do believe in time, they’d come around—could be when I’m dead, though.
Lark isn’t like her brothers, and while the women in my life are headstrong, they also are kind and forgiving. Well, maybe not Fallon, but I would never let her hurt Lark.
It’s really her family that would have the issue with it. I don’t necessarily care about myself—I care about her.
Then my mind circles back around to the fact that it’s more complicated than that. I can’t endure letting myself fully give in, only to end up losing her. She could get sick, hurt, walk away. I won’t fucking survive it.
I have to think about my daughter and what it would mean to her if I admit the truth about how I feel already.
What was supposed to be a feelingless fuck has become more. So much fucking more.
I don’t even know when it happened or how. I was being careful. I knew not to let my guard down, and somehow I did.
The sound of hooves pounding the ground grows louder, and I turn to see her. Lark dismounts, ties her horse to the stake, and marches toward me. Anger flashes in her beautiful eyes, and I brace.
“I almost didn’t come,” she says, hands balled at her side.
“Because?”
Lark looks up at the sky, shaking her head. “I’m so angry at you.”
“For what? Protecting you?”
“I don’t need your protection, Tristan!”
I scoff at that. “The hell you don’t. Your plan was what? Come to the jail, tell them that we’ve been sleeping together for weeks and that’s why I was on the camera?”
“Yes!” she screams and shoves at my chest. “Yes, you stupid idiot.”
