Page 79 of Branded Betrayal

I pound on the sides of my seat, a frustrated cry knotting in my throat. “It means that you’ve barely tolerated being around me since I got back. I get little glimpses of the brother I used to know a long time ago, which make me hopeful, and then when I think that things might actually be okay with us, you attack. Or you fire off some nasty dig to remind me of the fact that I didn’t care about you or Aunt Marg, or that I’m a lovesick idiot on a carousel to nowhere.”

“Maybe that’s your own guilt talking,” he mutters.

“I think it’s more than that. Yes, I have plenty of guilt, enough to haunt me for a lifetime. But I’m trying to make things work here. I’m trying to make up for lost time, trying to help put Red Rock back together so it can thrive again. Can’t you see that?”

“Kinda hard to see your noble efforts while you’re stuck in Hartman’s net.”

“Look, I was at the Hartman ranch when Blaze got the call about Wyatt. I brought over some desserts for them, which is something I always used to do. He was upset, and I didn’t think he should be by himself.”

“Oh yeah?” Nash asks, slanting me a look. “Is that why you reek of him right now? Because you were sitting together in his truck? Standing together in the hospital?”

Breath catches in my lungs. “Why do you care, Nash? Is it because we went behind your back all those years ago? Is that what this is all about? Are you still angry that we were together?”

He slams his hands on the steering wheel, muscles twitching in his tight jaw. “You don’t know shit,” he mutters. “Thinkin’ it’s because you pulled the wool over my eyes.” He lets out a sharp, humorless laugh and shakes his head. “Grow up, Savvie. Open your damn eyes. Because you can’t protect yourself from him. And you fight me every time I try to.”

He pulls off the road and heads down the driveway leading to the house.

My mind reels, trying to process his caustic words when his foot lands hard on the brake. I lurch forward, then hit the back of the seat. Nash doesn’t make a move to turn off the ignition. He just sits there, eyes straight ahead, stubbled jaw tense as hell.

“So that’s it? You’re just going to leave?” I bite down on my lower lip, pausing for a beat. “I thought we were making progress.”

“Yeah, well, that was when I thought you’d stopped making dumbass choices.”

“I told you, nothing hap—”

“Sure, Savvie,” he interrupts. “Nothing happened. Got it.”

“I really want this to work, Nash. The whole thing. Red Rock, us. I want to fix what’s broken. So if you needed to hear that, then there it is. I am in this.” Twisting around in the seat, I put my hand on his arm. “Can’t you see that?”

“It’ll take a hell of a lot more than a few words to smooth shit over.”

“Well, tell me what you need. Talk to me. Please. I don’t want to dance on eggshells around you. I want us to go back to the way we used to be.”

He looks at me, remorse swirling in the depths of his green eyes. “That’s the problem, Savvie. You can’t ever go back. Some things just can’t be fixed, no matter what you want. No matter what you do.”

Pain fractures my insides. “So that’s it? We’re done?”

He shakes his head. “I’m not talking about you and me.”

“You and Blaze?”

“He’s quicksand. You never saw it. Still don’t.”

“I don’t understand. If the two of us can move past what happened, why can’t you do the same with him?”

Nash grits his teeth. “Because he ain’t worth my time or effort. Fuck me once, shame on you. Fuck me twice, shame on me. He’s a self-centered asshole tangled up in some seedy shit, shit that’ll blow right back onto you if you don’t stay away from him.”

“Thank you for caring so much. But I can take care of myself. I know who he is, Nash. I’m not the same girl I used to be, the one who had rose-colored glasses permanently stuck to her face.” I give his arm a squeeze. He might be angry as hell, but he’s still being protective. I guess I should take what I can get.

It still niggles my brain that Nash can’t get over the affair after all this time. Yes, we betrayed him, and it was a horrible fallout at the worst possible time in our lives.

I’m as much to blame as Blaze. But for some reason, Nash has a crap ton of resentment targeted at him.

“Just be careful, Savvie,” Nash says. “He hurt you once, and he’ll do it again. No matter what he tells you.”

“I appreciate your concern. Really, I do. But I’m good. I won’t let him hurt me again.”

Nash lets out a grunt that tells me exactly what he thinks about that. Then he turns off the ignition and hops out of the truck.