Chapter 8
Roarke
I didn’t know much about Heather, other than what Gavin told me. Each time I saw Eric in passing at the ranch, I was half tempted to sidle up to him and ask about his quick-to-anger cousin.
But asking around about Heather James would be a sign that I was interested. Or curious. Either could be taken far out of line and interpreted as something much more serious than it was.
Having some more details about the curvy, raven-haired woman might ease this stupid habit of thinking about her. If I knew something else about what made her who she was, I doubted I’d spend half the time that I did on trying to figure her out. On wondering.
Simply put, I couldn’t get her off my damn mind.
That little face-off on the sidewalk was far from my first argument with a woman.
Veronica and I battled constantly, in the privacy of our home near Dallas and out in the open, publicly. I wasn’t new to standing up to a bossy or vindicative individual, male or female.
The more Heather lingered on my mind, though, I couldn’t decide if she had been on a power trip to boss me around or if she’d been in the mood to be vindicative.
I failed to get a read on her when she crashed into me. With how quickly she snapped at me with what was seeming to be her signature sass, I assumed she didn’t give a shit about the run-in. It had been on the tip of my tongue to tell her that I was sorry. That it was my fault for skimming through my mail and not facing forward when I was walking.
But no... She just had to look at me like I was the nastiest piece of garbage on earth and—
“Roarke.” Gavin chuckled to my right. “Are you playing or not?”
I furrowed my brow, snapping out of my thoughts.
Shit. I hadn’t been paying attention at all. Poker wasn’t that complex, but I had checked out of this game with some of the ranch hands. A glance at my hand proved that I’d forgotten my own damn cards.
I cleared my throat. “Uh, yep. Yeah. I’m playing.” I grabbed my beer and drank.
“You gonna act like it?” he teased.
I played my hand and sighed.
It’d been days since I ran into Heather, and ever since, I hadn’t seen her at all.
Maybe she hexed it to happen. Like a witch. When she said she wished she never saw me again—bold, harsh words for not ever fucking knowing me—perhaps she’d made it come true.
A witch? I rolled my eyes at myself, wondering when I started being this ridiculous. Or maybe it was the Halloween spirit affecting me.
“What’s on your mind, man?” another ranch hand asked. “You’ve been out of it the last couple of days.”
“Your niece?” Gavin guessed.
There we go. Nevaeh was a good excuse to explain my distant mood. None of them needed to know that I had a woman stuck in my thoughts. “I just don’t know what to do with her.” They were all familiar with who Nevaeh was and that she’d stopped in Burton again.
“Did she show up again?”
“Who?” I frowned at my buddy. “Heather?”
He furrowed his brow. “What?”
Fuck. “Nevaeh?”
“Yeah, did Nevaeh show up again since that first night?” he asked, eyeing me curiously.
Saying Heather’s name was a dumb mistake. I cleared my throat and nodded, not looking at him. Screw this game. I didn’t have the clarity of mind to watch the others for their tells.
“She did.” The other night, Nevaeh showed up, riding a damn ten-speed bike, of all things. She crashed on my couch, again. She didn’t speak much, again. Then she was gone, again. “She claimed she had ‘errands’ to run. And that was the last I saw of her.”
The others shook their heads. A couple argued about who bet what.
While they smoothed out the issue, I couldn’t help but compare the two. Nevaeh ran off and didn’t stick around, literally acting like a ghost—
Really? A ghost now? I was being ridiculous.
Heather, on the other hand, was just never there. A worry grew in the recess of my mind that this could be nothing more than a case of wanting what I couldn’t have. The lure of the forbidden. Being tempted by the unattainable.
Sure, she was attractive. I doubted she even tried to present herself in any sort of style, but what snagged me was her clear and complete lack of interest. She was the first woman not to want me in a long time. I’d never consider myself a ladies’ man. I wasn’t some heaven-given-gift-to-women idiot, thinking so highly of myself like that. But it was different. After so many women here in Burton eyeing me like candy just because I was one of the few single men, it was a change of pace to encounter a woman so totally uninterested in me.
Maybe to the point of hexing us to never cross paths again.
No hex. She’s not a witch, for fuck’s sake.
Just a sexy woman who wanted nothing to do with me. I should’ve counted on it as a blessing, not an oddity.
“Roarke,” Gavin prompted, reminding me it was my turn.
“Right.” I played and wondered when I could call it a night and go home.
“What do you think Nevaeh’s hiding from?” he asked.
“I’m not sure. But I’m assuming the worst.” That wasn’t being mean. Just honest. Nevaeh had yet to convince me I should have faith in her.
“You know,” another ranch hand said, “I’ve heard rumors at the bar that she’s getting mixed up with drugs.”
I didn’t know this man that well. He worked in a different end of the ranch, simply joining in on this casual poker night for the hell of it. Yet, I wasn’t quick to dismiss what he said. “I wouldn’t be surprised,” I admitted.
And it peeved me. Nevaeh already had an inclination to break the law and be a rebel. Drugs wouldn’t be too far of a reach. After all, Gracie had been dealing drugs and doing them before getting into an accident and then caught and imprisoned.
“It’s hard. I’m not a parent. I never thought about being one. And that’s what she needs.”
Gavin nodded. “True.”
“She sees me as a friend more than an uncle, and I hate that I need to keep giving her the tough-love kind of reaction.”
“But that’ll help her in the long run. She needs an adult in her life.”
I huffed. “She’s quick to remind me that she’s legally an adult herself.”
“Just barely,” another guy said. He was a father of teens himself, likely far more used to young adults insisting that they knew it all.
“I can’t trust her though,” I said, honest and open about it.
“Hell, you don’t trust anyone,” another guy said before he folded.
Definitely not another woman trying to get her way with me. It couldn’t be healthy, to be this hurt in love and life to be so rigid, but it was the only way I could operate so far.
“I don’t,” I agreed. “I’m so worried about what Nevaeh is bringing to my doorstep that I got a security camera yesterday.”
Gavin raised his brows. “No shit?”
I nodded. “For the peace of mind, at least.” He was the only one I’d confided in about her stealing my stuff in Texas. “If she’s messing around with drugs or anything bad like that, I sure as hell don’t want it in my home.” It was bad enough I’d learned my lesson about keeping cash or valuables at home. If my niece tried to pull one over me again, she wouldn’t find much to hack or sell in my cabin.
“It’s just a simple one, with sensors on the windows and door to tell me if any are opened,” I said as I pulled my phone out of my pocket. “The app took some getting used to.” I leaned over for my friend to look. “But it’ll tell me...”
I didn’t finish. Words left me as I focused on the red dots preceding the notifications lining the screen.
What the hell? I tensed, looking down and not moving.
“What’s it telling you now?” he asked, squinting to see.
“Someone’s sneaking into my cabin.” I stood, staring at my phone. “Right now.”
What the hell, Nevaeh?
I tossed my cards to the table and pivoted to leave.