Chapter 36
CHAPTER 36
Tagger
With tears wobbling on her lower lids, threatening to fall, Pris says, “I don’t want you to go.”
I look into her pretty blue eyes and smile despite the pain in my hand and her dad telling me to go home like we’re star-crossed teenagers. I’m fucking thirty, but I’ll still respect his wishes because I’m standing on his property.
With my back against the driver’s side of the truck and an ice pack taped to my hand, I hold her around her waist and kiss her. “It’s only tonight.”
“Tonight.” She throws her arm out in frustration. “You only have two left, and then you’re back in New York. You might as well be in Bali because they feel the same distance to me. My heart doesn’t know the miles. It only knows that when you’re here, my life is complete.”
“I feel the same, but you have your family to deal with, and I need to get off the ranch before someone comes out with a shotgun.”
Her gaze drops to my chest, where she fiddles with a button. “No one’s shooting anyone.”
“You sure about that?” That gets me a hard-earned smile. I lift her chin to get a better look at her just in case I’m not allowed on Greene property in Greene County again anytime soon. The tears have fallen, but no others are in line. “It’s going to be okay, babe. We’ll take the night and let everyone cool down. Tomorrow, we’ll reconvene.”
“I know that’s what we should do to smooth things over, but what about us? Don’t the two in the eye of the hurricane matter at all?”
I’d love to give her some words of wisdom and leave her to chew on a tidbit of positivity, but I can’t. I’m struggling to make sense of this as well. We’re adults, but we’re being treated like kids. Fuck that. “Come with me. Come stay with me for the night.”
The appeal of the idea curls the sides of her mouth up. “I could , but what about your parents? Will they mind if I’m there? I could sleep on the couch or?—”
“You’re going to stay with me.” I push off the truck, adjusting her back so I can stand. I glance at the house, and say, “Go inside and get your stuff. I’ll wait here for you.”
She lifts on her toes to steal a kiss, then takes off. “Give me five minutes.”
I can’t believe it’s come to us sneaking off together for the night. Wait . . . It’s literally no different than what we’ve already been doing. “I’ll be here.”
Stopping, she looks back and whisper-yells, “No. Meet me closer to the gate so we don’t get caught.”
I rub the back of my neck and get in the truck. We’re really doing this. Skipping out in the middle of the night so we don’t get caught. I think I’ve seen this movie before, but no music was allowed in the small town either. Or dancing.
Releasing the brake, I start the engine but am quick to hit the radio to make sure there’s no noise. Since I have no plans to dance, I think we’re safe. Though I shut the headlights off just in case. I start a slow roll backward, trying to make as little noise as possible, and finally reach a safe distance from the house. This is good. I’m not going to have her running a half mile to catch up to me.
I wait.
And wait even longer.
I check my watch to see that fifteen minutes have passed. I don’t remember the ending of that movie, but I have a strong suspicion that he got the girl. At least, I hope so.
Then, an angel appears in the moonlight. Her hair catches in the breeze, her dress flowing behind her, a bag in her hands, and a smile that beats any sunrise set on her face. I reach over and pop the door open for her.
“Did you miss me?” she asks, tossing her bag in the back seat and climbing in.
“I always do.” I lean over and kiss her. “Buckle up, and let’s get out of here.”
We’re not far from the ranch when I can tell the excitement begins to wear off—she’s gone quiet, the smile that she had has smoothed to a more even line, and her attention has remained out her window since crossing the cattle guard.
I reach over to rub her shoulder, which brings her eyes back to me. “Are you doing okay?”
“I’m fine.” I’m tempted to believe she is by her voice holding steady. There’s no shake or uncertainty heard. She says, “What are we doing?”’
“Staying together?”
“No, I mean with our relationship. Our love for each other shouldn’t hurt the people we care about.”
“It doesn’t.”
“Tell that to my family.” She waves her hand out in the cab. “We’re still sneaking around even though we went public. Help me understand, Tagger, because I’m starting to lose faith that this will work out and keep my family intact.”
I pull off to the side of the road. It’s not a conversation we can have in my boyhood bedroom with my son sleeping in the room below it and my parents across the hall from him. Voices travel in that house. I learned that early on.
And right there is how fucking ridiculous this situation has become.
Gripping the steering wheel, I stare out at the two-lane road ahead, not another car in sight. I don’t want to say it, but this is the line we always knew we’d have to cross one day. “You’re right.” I keep my eyes steady ahead, needing to say it, to get it out there so we can’t avoid it anymore. “We can’t keep doing this.”
Even in the dimly lit cab of the truck, I can see her staring at me in the periphery. I don’t look, not straight on. We should have already had this conversation. “What are you saying?”
“We need to make the hard decisions.”
I know damn well most of those decisions fall on my shoulders, and they’re not being made yet because I’m in limbo with my son’s mom.
With her elbow secured on the door, she rests her head on her fisted hand and stares at me. “Do you care to elaborate?”
“I made your brother a promise when I was barely a man. I guess he planned to hold me to it until the day I died.”
“It was a ridiculous promise that you guys should have never made in the first place. If he’s going to make you choose between me and him, well . . .” Her gaze flows through the windshield into the dark road ahead. She sits up and looks right at me. “You don’t have to choose for me. You don’t even have to choose me over your best friend. You need to do what’s right for you and for Beckett. I’ll understand if I’m not what’s best for your lives. I won’t like it, but one day, I’ll look back and remember how great it was to love you. Even if only for a short time in our lives.”
How did we end up talking about a life without each other when we should be planning our futures? I reach over and rub the back of her neck. Watching her eyes close and her giving in to my touch doesn’t help me decide. I already knew who I’d choose.
“Baylor can call me a traitor all he wants. I’m not willing to lose you, babe. I just need time to figure out how to do this better because seeing you once a month isn’t enough.”
Blue and red lights surround the truck and, “Pull over,” is blasted over a speaker. Pris and my eyes connect. She rolls hers right after, and I roll down my window.
I can see him in the rearview mirror, taking inventory of the truck and tags, the registration stickers and the tires. When he reaches the window, I sit up. “How are you this fine evening, Deputy McCall?”
He tilts his head to make eye contact with Pris before me. When he looks at me, he says, “We’re well past evening time, Mr. Grange.” Shining a flashlight in my eyes forces me to squint. “You broken down?”
“No, sir.”
“You’re obstructing traffic.”
I check the rearview mirror and then swing my gaze forward. “There is no traffic.”
Pris leans over. “Can we go?” I have a feeling he won’t appreciate her direct approach.
“Ms. Greene, you’ve been pulled over?—”
“We weren’t pulled over, Dirk. We were having a conversation that we thought was best, safest to have on the side of the road so we wouldn’t obstruct traffic.” She throws her arms up, and yells, “We can’t win.”
Ten minutes later, the cuffs are removed from my wrists, and he says, “All clear. You can get back in the vehicle, Mr. Grange.”
It’s not the first time I’ve tangoed with the law, but this is the first time I haven’t broken it. I rub my wrists and get back in the truck. I know he tightened the cuffs because I’m sitting with the woman he can only dream about being with.
As soon as I shut the door, I shoot a glare in her direction. “Happy?”
Sympathy lies in every feature of her face, and she says, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know he was going to search you . . . and the truck . . . and my bag.”
“He didn’t search you, though, the mouthy one who got me frisked and cuffed in the first place.”
“He was never going to take you in.”
“Let’s not push our luck. Getting booked into county jail isn’t something I want to do. So zip those lips, and I’ll handle it from here.”
In the side mirror, I watch Dirk returning by walking close to my side of the truck again.
She says, “I think he’s just lonely and jealous of you, Tagger.” She spies him one second too late. “Oops.”
“Step out of the vehicle, Mr. Grange.” He opens the door wide for me. “And put your hands behind your head.”
“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath and glower in her direction. You have got to be fucking kidding me. Don’t miss these small-town cops. Not one fucking bit.
He starts into the spiel, “You have a right to remain?—”
Pris says, “Hold your horses, Dirk.” Hopping out of her side of the truck, she comes around. “Put the cuffs away. You’re not arresting him.”
“I am, too, Christine,” he says indignantly while cuffing one of my wrists, “so stick to your business.”
“He is my business.” Her voice is firm, but I think she’s playing with fire. “And my boyfriend.” This is really not going to go over well.
Trying to calm tempers, I say, “It’s okay, babe. Take the truck and?—”
“No,” she replies with a stamp of her boot, giving me the sass that’s getting me arrested. She marches right up to him and pokes him in the chest. “Release him now.”
* * *
Four minutes later . . .
“First time here?”
She bursts out laughing. “Don’t make me laugh. It hurts with my arms twisted like this in the back.”
“You’ll get used to it.”
“I don’t want to get used to being arrested and shoved in the back of cop cars.”
Leaning my head against the seat in front of me, I try to keep her mind off being arrested for the first time. I don’t want her scared. “What’s your dad going to say when he finds out you’ve been arrested?”
“He’s going to kill me.” She’s grinning, a good sign, but then shrugs. “Kidding. What can he really say to me?” She leans forward, mimicking me.
“Fair.”
McCall gets in the driver’s seat and buckles in. “You both struggle to keep your traps shut, but I expect silence out of the two of you.”
Pris and I exchange looks and then laugh.
The car pulls out, grinding gravel under the tires. The laughter fades as does her smile. She sits up and looks around once before taking a deep breath.
I sit back up but inch closer to her. “It’s going to be okay.”
She sighs. “I’m not worried about being arrested. My boss is tough, but since it’s me, I’m okay hiring a hardened criminal.” Angling in my direction, she bumps her knees against mine and looks into my eyes. “What about us?”
“We’re going to be okay as well.”
With a playful grin, she asks, “Promise?”
“I promise, but I’m thinking this is the last one I should ever give. They tend to get me in trouble.”
“Keep it down,” McCall says, banging on the mesh separating us from him.
You know what? Fuck that. “I’m not going to keep it down. I’ve been hiding too long.” Turning to my girl, I say, “When I get back to the city, I’m going to figure out a way to make this work. I don’t want you sleeping alone in our bed, and I’m tired of missing you so much. I promise you the whole fucking universe, Pris, because you deserve nothing less.”
A sniffle fills the air, but it’s not Pris.
“That was beautiful, Tagger.” McCall is pulling a tissue from a box in the front seat.
“Thanks, man.” I look at the woman beside me, caring more about what she thinks, though. “What do you say?”
“I do love that bed.” She falls to the side and rests her head on my arm. “So is that bed in Texas or New York?”