Page 61 of Spurred On

“You . . . you . . . you . . .”

“You’re dating Sidney?” Cade asked.

Why the hell did he sound so fucking thrilled? Cody glared at his brother.

But the others were crowing with delight as well . . . and he had to break away to glare at them too.

“Congratulations,” Ford said, reaching over to shake Ben’s hand.

“She’s a catch,” Logan said.

“Pretty as all get-out,” Brandon said. “I wish I’d gotten to her first.”

Ben shot a grin around the table. For some reason, it landed on Cody. “Well, you snooze, you lose.”

“I always did like redheads,” Brandon said.

“She’s not a redhead,” Cody blurted. Her hair had more of an auburn highlight. Auburn with little flecks of sunlight blazing through them. And soft. So soft—

Ben shrugged and picked up his cards. “Well, she’s redheaded enough for me,” he said. And when Cody scowled at him he said in a prissy voice, “Shall we play?”

***

Holy fuck.

Sidney was dating Ben Wilder.

Cody could not evict the thought from his mind.

It burrowed its way into his cerebral cortex and burned him from the inside out. Visions of the two of them together, in bed, tormented him throughout the evening, resulting in some nasty glares at Ben, who—for some reason—found them amusing. Those visions continued to haunt him through the drive home and all night long.

He barely slept a wink.

When he came down to the kitchen table the next morning, Cade and Claire were sitting there with solemn expressions on their faces. The two of them were rarely somber, so it was a little disconcerting. Lisa, Cade’s girlfriend and the ranch baker, who was puttering at the island, shot him a sympathetic glance and then turned away. “What?” he barked.

“Sit down,” Cade said in a growl.

Cody glanced from one to the other and then did as they said. He knew these expressions. Something was wrong. “What is it?”

“Family meeting,” Claire said.

“Family meeting?” They hadn’t had one of those for a while. “What’s wrong?”

“You,” Cade said with no preamble.

“Me?”

“You,” Claire repeated, though he’d heard Cade the first time. “This is an intervention.”

What the fuck? “An intervention?”

“Yes.”

He frowned. “What’s wrong with me?”

“You tell me.”

Cody stared at his brother. How was he supposed to know what was wrong with them if they wouldn’t even give him a hint? He shrugged.