Page 10 of Love, Lies, and Whiskey

Over the years she’d come to understand that she was only sixteen, too naive to see past the hearts in her eyes, and she must have romanticized that summer.

But that was a long time ago, and she was surprised by the way he treated her last weekend. They weren’t kids anymore. Wasn’t he even curious about his son?

She stewed on that as she finished examining the colt and reported back to her client. When she pulled out of their driveway, she was still too keyed up about Seeley to run the errands she’d planned to take care of before Lucas got home from school. She couldn’t go on like this. She needed to clear the air with Seeley once and for all.

DOC GAVE STORMY, a ten-year-old gelding rescue, some extra love as he finished his afternoon rounds. Stormy came to them with squamous cell carcinoma in his eye that had been unresponsive to conventional treatments. Doc had excised the tumor and performed cryotherapy, and he was glad Stormy was recovering comfortably.

He saw Sasha heading his way. She was an equine rehabilitation therapist, and excellent at her job, but his family had been hovering since Saturday, trying to get him to talk about Juliette, and he was sick of it. Even Birdie had been texting to check up on him. She’d pick a scab until it bled.

He quickly finished writing up his notes, hoping to escape before Sasha reached him, but as he put Stormy’s chart in the rack beside the stall, Sasha sidled up to him.

“He looks good, doesn’t he?” Sasha said.

“Yeah.” He headed out of the barn at a fast clip, waking Mighty, who’d been sleeping in the sun.

Sasha stuck by his side. “Cowboy and Hyde are on their way back with two rescue horses. One is in critical condition.”

“I got the text. Hannah is setting up the OR.” Hannah was one of their temporary veterinary technicians. Doc had always used temporary on-call assistants and interns from a local service, but the rescue had grown over the last couple of years, and he’d recently started thinking about hiring a permanent employee.

Hurrying to keep up, Sasha said, “Doc, can you stop walking for a second?”

Gritting his teeth, he stopped, and Mighty followed suit. “Sure, as long as it’s not to talk about Juliette.” Why the fuck did it still hurt to say her name? He had a club meeting tonight, and he couldn’t fucking wait to get there. Being around the brotherhood, hitting up the Roadhouse bar afterward with the guys, and maybe getting lost in a willing woman was exactly what he needed to take his mind off this bullshit.

Sasha’s brow wrinkled. “I know you don’t want to talk about her, but if you change your mind, I’m a good listener.”

“I won’t.” He took a step away, but she grabbed his arm. He glowered at her.

“Sorry.” She let go of him. “But I’m worried about you, and about her. Birdie said you were brutal to her.”

“Look, I know you think you know what went down between us, but—”

“No, I don’t,” she snapped. “Nobody talks about it. All I know is that you fell for her, and it ended so badly, Mom and Dad put that no-intracompany-dating policy into place.”

“I was a fucking fool, okay? End of story.” He headed for his veterinary clinic, but she and Mighty hurried after him.

“What does that mean?”

He turned on her. “It means, unlike her, I’m honest with the women I’m with just to get my rocks off.”

Sasha’s eyes widened. “You mean she was using you?”

“Let it go,” he fumed as a red pickup came over the hill. “Who the hell is that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Mighty, sit.” The dog sat. “Stay.” Doc took a few steps forward, watching the truck slowly approaching. It stopped on the side of the road. The door flung open, and Juliette climbed out. His chest constricted, hurt and anger gnawing at him like a feral beast. “What the fuck does she want?”

Juliette stalked toward him with her chin held high, her brown hair bouncing over the shoulders of a T-shirt that clung to her perfect fucking tits, jeans hugging every goddamn curve.

“That’s far enough,” he warned when she was about ten feet away. She was his kryptonite. He didn’t trust himself to be any closer to her. She’d gotten even more beautiful, which he’d thought impossible, and the blue eyes that had haunted him for a decade and a half still held him captive. He didn’t want to look at her, much less be close enough to smell or touch her, but he was powerless to look away.

“Doc,” Sasha chided.

“It’s okay, Sasha,” Juliette said confidently, her eyes never leaving his. “Hello, Seeley. I’m sure I’m the last person you want to see.”

“You’re right, so you can go back the way you came.”

“Seeley…?” she said a little pleadingly. “We—”