CHAPTER 22
Keaton
I looked up from where I’d been sitting on the porch waiting for my brothers to come home and scowled at Owen the second I saw him. Standing up, I closed the space between us and shoved him hard. Gray was instantly between us, his face twisted in confusion and anger.
“What the fuck? What’s wrong with you?”
I met Owen’s gaze and saw he knew that I knew. I could tell by the shifty way he couldn’t hold my gaze. I could practically smell the guilt radiating off of him. “Guess who went back to finish the job with Billie.”
Gray turned to face Owen, a look of shock on his face. “What’s he talking about?”
“She came into the barn earlier and told me I could sleep with her since Owen had really made sure she wasn’t a virgin anymore.” I shuddered at the phantom feeling of her fingers on my chest. It’d taken every ounce of control to not strip her naked on the dirty barn floor and have my way with her. I hadn’t, though, because we’d decided it was for the best that we stayed away from her. Apparently, that was a rule only Gray and I had decided to follow.
Owen swore and walked into the driveway, moving our conversation away from the house, where anyone could hear. “I didn’t mean to.”
Gray scowled. “So, it was an accident?”
“No. I just…I saw that piece of shit Brad guy over there and I overheard him saying that he wanted her when she was basically still a kid. He was hinting at finishing what he’d tried to start and I saw red. I got him away from her and she was fighting mad. She has a mouth on her and it pushes every button I have. I fucking tried to walk away. She goaded me, said she was going to call him back to fuck her.” He ran his hands over his hair and shook his head. “I caved. And then I woke up this morning, I realized what I’d done, and tried to sneak out.”
I wanted to hit him. “You spent the night with her.”
He glared at me like I’d been the one buried in Billie’s sweet body the night before. “Yeah, I fucked up.”
“You didn’t say that to her, though, right?” I thought about the wild glint in Billie’s eyes when she’d approached me and already had the answer. “You did. You really did, didn’t you?”
He looked away. “Yeah, I did. She made me feel about two feet tall over it and I deserved every bit of her anger.”
Gray let out a humorless laugh. “Alright. Well, that relationship is fucked all to hell and back. Good job everybody. If she didn’t fully hate us before, she does now.”
“She left.” I watched the panic bloom in Owen’s gaze and wondered for a moment if we weren’t kidding ourselves about staying away from her. We weren’t ready for her to get away from us but we didn’t think we could have her for ourselves. We were in a weird limbo where Billie would continuously get hurt if we didn’t keep our hands and mouths and dicks to ourselves. “I saw her take Turtle and drive out of here. We’ll be lucky if she comes back.”
“She has to come back.” Owen pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Where else would she go? That asshole Brad’s place?”
Gray took his phone away and thumped him on the forehead with it. “What are you doing right now? Going into another jealous fit? Stop it. I don’t like the idea of her crawling into his bed any more than you do but it’s not our business.”
I shifted from foot to foot at the image that created. “If she does it just as a ‘fuck you’ to us, isn’t it our business?”
Gray pulled out his own phone while we watched and growled at the look on Owen’s face while he dialed. After around a minute, he hung up and grunted. “She’s not answering.”
I pulled out my own phone and dialed. When I saw the annoyed look on Gray’s face, I shrugged. “What? She doesn’t like you all that much. Maybe she’ll answer for me.”
He was smug as I got her voicemail, too. We were all quiet for a moment and then Gray pulled out his keys. “Come on. Let’s just look around to make sure she’s safe.”
Jamison came out onto the porch as we headed towards Gray’s truck. “Where are y’all going? It’s nearly dinnertime.”
Owen waved back at our little brother. “We just need to run to town for a bit. We’ll be back.”
“Is this about sweet little Billie Myers racing through town earlier? Looked to me like she was headed out of this place as fast as possible. She didn’t even stop in town for muffins.” Smirking, he tipped his hat at us and let the screen door slam behind him as he went back inside.
I was quiet for all of ten seconds. “You don’t think she really left, right?”
Owen yanked open the truck door. “She can’t leave. She’s got…responsibilities here.”
Gray nodded. “Her house. The cow. That raccoon. I’m not taking care of that raccoon. It doesn’t like me.”
I leaned forward in the back seat as Gray sped towards town. “What are we even doing?”
“Just…be quiet. If we don’t acknowledge how insane we’re being, we don’t have to deal with it.” Gray cranked the AC higher and turned the vents towards his face. “Jesus. Is this what hell feels like? I’m losing my mind.”
“It was the best sex you’ve ever had, wasn’t it?” I didn’t know what made me say the words out loud but I couldn’t stop thinking about Owen being inside Billie.
The truck was silent and then Owen’s thick swallow sounded like a small bomb. “Yeah. She’s…everything. It’s never been that good.”
Gray swore and pulled over in the parking lot next to The One and Only. He slammed his fist into the steering wheel and then twisted around so he could face me and Owen. “We can’t. Right? We can’t?”
I couldn’t face him because I couldn’t make myself agree right then. When I looked out the side window, though, I saw Billie’s beat up old truck a few cars over. “Look at that.”
And with that, we were out of the truck, headed into the diner, the question still hanging in the air unanswered. Could we? None of us seemed ready to answer, which should’ve been a sign.
Inside the diner, Billie was sitting in a booth by herself. Her face was a picture of bliss as she scooped a bite of chocolate pie into her mouth. As we watched she even wiggled in her seat, happy as could be.
Gray growled and marched over to her table, sliding into the seat next to her to block her in. “Thought you were making a run for it.”
I slid in across from her and grunted when a cold, wet nose shoved itself into my crotch. I looked down and saw Turtle’s dark brown eyes peering up at me. “You brought Turtle in here? Is that allowed?”
Billie’s mouth turned down and she pulled her pie closer to her chest. “I’m friends with the owner.”
“What made you decide to stay? We heard you were driving out of Harmony Valley like a bat out of hell.” Gray crossed his arms over his chest and leaned closer. “Was it just the pie?”
I watched her eyes move to Owen and her cheeks flush before she looked at the counter and waved a fork at Charlie. “More pie, please.”
Charlie sauntered over and tapped his knuckles on our table. “You okay, Billie? Need anything besides pie?”
I felt an uncharacteristic bolt of jealousy choke out any good sense I had and barely snapped my mouth shut before I verbally assaulted Charlie for being nice to a friend. I sat back in the booth, still petting Turtle, and did my best to not make a fool of myself. Especially when Gray seemed so eager to be the fool.
He turned a cold stare on Charlie. “She’s fine. Just more pie, kid.”
Billie gasped and slapped her hand over Gray’s mouth. He looked about as surprised as she did by her own action. Then, with a sweet smile on her face we’d never been on the receiving end of, she winked at Charlie. “He’s pissy because of the rash creeping up his downstairs right now. The bumps are really itchy, I guess. Don’t take it personally, Charlie.”
I let out a bark of laughter and Turtle replied with a bark of his own. Owen tried to hide the fact he was laughing, but it was useless. Charlie especially seemed to enjoy her comment.
Gray gripped Billie’s wrist and gently removed it from his mouth before tugging it under the table. The angle and the blush on her face made me question just where he’d put her hand. “Sorry. I am in a bad mood. Not because of a rash. Unless you consider the woman next to me a rash. Can you bring us all a slice of pie? I’ll tip extra to make up for my shitty attitude.”
Billie couldn’t help herself when it came to chocolate. “I want chocolate ice cream with mine, Charlie. And a muffin.”
He rolled his eyes. “She’s not a rash but she can be kind of bothersome like one. I’ll give you that.”
As soon as he was gone, Billie pulled her hand away from Gray and huffed at him. “You’ve got a lot of nerve.”
“That was an accident.” Gray cleared his throat and wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Anyway. Are you staying or do I need to find a new ranch hand to take care of all your pets?”
Billie picked at a piece of crust before slipping her hand under the table to feed Turtle. “I’m staying. For now.”
“Good.” Owen sent a meaningful look her way. “We should talk.”
Billie’s eyes lit up as her lips stretched into a smirk. “Just because I’m staying doesn’t mean I want anything to do with any of you. As far as I’m concerned, you three were a steppingstone for me. Now I can get on with my life.”