Between the Pines (Black Springs Ranch #1)
1. Josie
josie
. . .
If heartbreak insurance was a thing, my premium would be sky-high.
My relationship roadmap was littered with head-on collisions and fender benders galore, and it would appear from the severe case of whiplash I was currently sporting, I hadn’t learned my lesson.
Stumbling upon my boyfriend balls-deep in a blonde buckle bunny after one of the largest rodeos of his career was one hell of a lesson to learn.
The asshole hadn’t even had the sense of self-preservation to stop and ask himself if fucking her against my trailer—a trailer I’d stupidly let him borrow—was a good idea or not.
Clearly, it was not.
I’d taken one look at his bare ass seated between her thighs before my self preservation kicked in. I turned on my heels, called my sister, and got the hell out of dodge.
My mom always said that when the going gets tough, I would get going. She insisted it was a joke, but some days, like today, it didn’t feel like one. In fact, it felt like a goddamn truth I didn’t want to face.
Maybe that was why I climbed into my sister’s car and hit the ground running.
Or driving, I suppose.
I tapped my fingers against the steering wheel as George Strait sang about all his exes living in Texas. I couldn’t help but laugh as I drove as far away from Texas and my exes as I could.
The last thing I remembered seeing were his wide eyes in my rearview mirror as he chased after me, one hand desperately clinging to his jeans while the other was waving for me to stop.
I didn’t know what I had seen in the guy, what made me think this one would be different from the string of others. His red flags were a mile long, flying high for all to see from the very beginning.
But red was my favorite color, and I had a stubborn streak a mile long.
Wyatt Walker was too smooth, too polished, for a cowboy. He came in from the city, sweeping into our small town like he was god’s gift to the rodeo scene—even though his rides left something to be desired.
But what he lacked in skill, he made up for in looks and swagger. He sauntered up to me at my favorite local bar, turning on his megawatt smile and Southern charm. After a few heated glances and just as many beers, I found myself staring up at his ceiling the next morning with my hair mussed and his arm slung around my waist.
A one-night stand turned into a full-fledged relationship, and eight months later, I was going with him to every rodeo and event he’d attended. He’d met my parents, and I’d met his.
Hell, we’d even talked about moving in together.
And now, I was running away as fast as I could to a cabin in the mountains of Tennessee to pull myself together .
Did I think Wyatt was going to be my one true love? Eh, the odds had never been in our favor.
But I was woman enough to admit that I’d been charmed by deep blue eyes and a pair of dimples. His betrayal stung more than I wanted to admit, but I knew some fresh mountain air would do me good.
It always had.
Looking up ahead, I saw a sign for a gas station and pulled in when the driveway came into view. I’d barely stopped on the way, wanting to get as far away from Texas and the boy who had broken my heart as quickly as possible.
My phone buzzed on the passenger seat as I turned off the ignition. I groaned, falling back against the headrest before reaching over and grabbing the damn thing. There weren’t many people I wanted to talk to right now and even fewer who knew where I was headed, but I checked it, nevertheless.
The words ‘Do Not Answer’ flashed across my screen, complete with red alarm emojis that I had thought drove my point home in the heat of the moment. It may have been a bit immature to change Wyatt’s contact as soon as I found myself alone, but I just didn’t trust myself not to answer in a vulnerable state.
I’d lost count of how often he’d called since leaving him in the dust last night. He’d filled my voicemail full of tearful apologies and half-hearted excuses, most of which I’d never listen to. I should have let this one roll, too, but call me curious… I wanted to know what he thought he could say to make up for what he’d done.
I swiped my thumb across the screen, bringing it to my ear and cringing as Wyatt’s slurring, drunken voice came across the line.
“Josieeeeee, baby, you finally answered!”
“What do you want, Wyatt?” I asked, rubbing my temples to disband the tension headache that threatened to surface .
“Baby, you gotta listen to me”—hiccup—“she means nothing to me. I dunno what I was thinkin’. I wasn’t thinkin’—”
“Yes, you were,” I said, stepping out of the car into the chilly evening air and taking in my surroundings. The sun was setting behind the pines, washing the Tennessee sky in pink and orange hues. “You were just thinking with the head between your legs versus the one on your shoulders.”
“Never again,” he slurred. “Never, ever again, Josie. Starting right now, I’m your man and your man only.”
I stepped inside the store, ignoring the bell as it jingled overhead. The clerk looked up from their phone, mumbling a hello before turning their attention back to their doom scroll. My shoes stuck to the floor as I hunted the aisles for junk food and energy drinks. I hadn’t slept in well over twenty-four hours, and I was still at least two hours from the cabin.
“Honestly, Wyatt… You should have ‘been my man’ since the beginning. I shouldn’t have to catch you with your dick in someone else for you to have an epiphany about our relationship.”
“No, I swear it. You’re the one for me. You’re it. I wanna get married.”
I couldn’t stop the laugh from bubbling up as I reached into the fridge and grabbed two energy drinks. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen. Let’s just call it, okay? We gave it a shot and?—”
“But your dad was going to sponsor me in the upcoming season…”
The words were a shot to my chest, sending my heart crashing into the pit of my stomach. Of course, it all boiled down to a stupid sponsorship. Wyatt didn’t regret cheating on me. He didn’t regret getting caught. It was all about losing what I assumed was a large chunk of money.
As a retired world champion team roper, my dad made a name for himself through horse training. People had traveled from all over the country to attend his clinics, and his stables were always full of yearlings in need of a guiding hand.
And since his name still held significant weight on the rodeo circuit, having his endorsement could’ve catapulted Wyatt’s already budding career into something he could only dream of.
Too bad the cheating bastard would never see a dime of my dad’s money now.
I added four bags of chips and a bag of mini SweeTarts to my haul and took it to the counter. The cashier looked just as bored as they had when I walked in, putting their phone down with a sigh before scanning each item.
“Well, maybe you should have thought about that before you fucked Trisha Lawson out in the open for God and all his children to see.”
He tried pleading with me, but I didn’t listen.
“Have a nice life, Wyatt.”
I hung up, quickly cursing myself for my stupidity. The clerk stared with wide eyes and a slack jaw, their hand outstretched, my bag hanging between us.
“Cowboys,” I mumbled before swiping the food and heading back to the safety of my car.