Chapter 4
MATTY
The wind tore through my hair like it was trying to steal my thoughts.Good luck with it. There was nothing I would like more than to forget everything and live in the moment.
I kicked my heels lightly against Junebug’s flanks, and she surged forward across the pasture, hooves pounding against the dry earth in a steady, wild rhythm that thrummed through my spine. This—this—was the only time my mind ever shut the hell up.
It was just me and her. No wedding prep. No tense dinners. No hushed whispers in corners of the house that went silent when I walked in. No Hudson standing in the back of my head like some damn ghost I couldn’t outrun.
Junebug snorted as we crested the small hill behind the stables, her body shimmering with sweat and sunshine.
I eased her to a trot, then a slow walk, letting her cool down while I drank in the sharp scent of sweat and early afternoon heat.
The sky stretched out wide and cloudless overhead, and for a second, I could almost forget everything that had been chewing at me.
Almost.
Back at the barn, I slid off her back and gave her a good pat. “You’re a good girl, June.” I grabbed a handful of oats from the bucket and let her nibble while I rubbed her down. Her sides rose and fell in an easy rhythm, and I leaned my head briefly against her shoulder, grounding myself.
Once again, she was the only love of my life. The only one I could count on.
This place used to give me peace of mind. Now it felt like every corner had claws.
Once she was brushed and fed and tucked away with a fresh bale, I gave the stall gate a final check and headed toward the house. My boots kicked up dust as I walked, the sun pressing warm against my shoulders, sweat drying in patches along the back of my neck.
My steps faltered.
Hudson and Ozzie stood way too close by the porch.
Hudson had that loose stance he always wore around people he trusted, like he didn’t expect to be punched in his fucking gorgeously lying mouth at any second.
It’d been a long time since he appeared with so much ease when I was around, but he hadn’t seen me yet.
What was so special about Ozzie that he let his guard down around him?
Ozzie was smiling in that sweet, angelic way of his like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.
Something in my stomach twisted hard. I didn’t trust him one bit. His engagement to Carter couldn’t be real. I knew my brother, and he was too shallow to seriously marry someone like Ozzie.
I slowed my steps, quiet enough not to be noticed.
It wasn’t eavesdropping exactly. I was… paying attention.
Closely. Because something was off with my brother’s fiancé, and I’d been trying not to name it.
But seeing them together—smiling, comfortable—lit a match under every suspicion I’d been holding back.
Was Hudson the one?
The guy Ozzie was screwing behind Carter’s back. I had no doubt he was sleeping with someone on the ranch. The very day he arrived in Bristlecone Springs, he’d spent the night in the barn with someone.
I swallowed down a snarl. No. Hudson wouldn’t, except… hadn’t he already proven he would?
If he touched Carter’s fiancé, I would kill him.
The breeze shifted, and their voices drifted to me.
“…before you know it, you’ll be canceling your wedding for me.”
I stopped short. Rage lit up behind my ribs, fast and scalding.
“Why would Ozzie cancel his wedding for you?” I snapped, striding up before either of them could pretend they weren’t having some flirty little moment on my family’s land.
Hudson turned, jaw already tight. “It’s none of your fucking business.”
The way he glared at me—like he hated me, like I was nothing—only made me see red.
What did he have to hate me for? I was the only one allowed to hate.
For his cheating on me. For having a child with someone else.
For marrying her instead of talking to me.
For flirting with my brother’s fiancé right under my nose.
“It’s my business if my brother’s fiancé runs off with the help.”
I turned to Ozzie, giving him my best cut-you-dead look. “You’re not stupid enough to fall for his tricks, are you? You should be aware he’s known for pretending, so don’t get your hopes up with this one.”
Hudson planted his hands on my chest and shoved me, hard. But not hard enough to hurt. I knew what he was capable of when he really tried. Like that night I’d left campus, took a plane across state, and returned home just to confront him about marrying Heather.
At first, he hadn't fought back, but when he’d seen I wasn’t letting up, he’d damn well put up a good fight. It was the first time we’d bruised each other with hate instead of love.
“Fuck you, Matty. Don’t bring Ozzie into this.”
“You brought him into this.”
Our chests were inches apart. His eyes were dark with fury. Mine probably weren’t much better. It was a miracle I hadn’t thrown a punch yet, but I was close.
“Will you guys just kiss already?” Ozzie blurted, all nervous laughter.
We both turned to him, and I scowled. He flinched. Good. He should.
“I ain’t got nothing more to say to you.” I switched my attention back to Hudson. “Get off my ranch.”
Hudson snorted. “I don’t work for you.”
“But someday you will,” I bit out before I could stop myself, the words laced with venom. “And then your ass will be mine.” I realized only too late what I’d said. Heat flooded my face. “I—I didn’t mean it the way it sounded.”
Hudson smirked. That same cocky, aggravating smirk that had once made my heart flip. Now it made my jaw clench.
“In your dreams, cowboy.” He tipped his hat. “See you around, Ozzie.”
He turned on his heel and strutted away, leaving dust and silence in his wake.
I watched him go, fists curled tight at my sides, chest burning. Something in me wanted to chase after him, demand he explain what he was doing with Ozzie. Was he on to his next conquest since his wife left him?
But I didn’t budge.
“Stay away from him,” I barked at Ozzie. “He’s not for you.”
Ozzie pursed his lips. “And he won’t be for you either if you keep being so nasty to him. And to me.”
The air punched out of my lungs. I hid my surprise behind a scoff. Was I so transparent that he knew how much Hudson affected me?
“You know why I don’t like you, Ozzie?” What he didn’t know was that when I was backed into a corner, I punched hard.
“Because you have this sweet butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-your-mouth crap going on, but you don’t fool me.
You were only here one night, and you were already fooling around with someone else. ”
His eyes went wide. His hand flew to his mouth. Guilt was written all over his face. I would never forget that morning I’d bumped into him with straw in his hair like he’d rolled right out of the hayloft. And out from beneath someone.
“You don’t understand,” he said softly, but the redness of his face told me all I needed to know.
They all made me sick. Him. Hudson. Hudson’s wife. Was no one sincere anymore? Why did they all cheat? The first man I’d been with had cast me aside for someone better after I gave him everything he wanted.
“What’s there to understand?” My voice rose as the anger billowed inside me. I was mad at Ozzie, sure, but some twisted part of me knew I was yelling at more than just him.
It was Hudson’s face I kept seeing in those blinking moments between my words.
The same stunned, guilty look he’d worn that day I confronted him.
The day everything fell apart. Ozzie just happened to be standing in the blast zone.
“You’re a whore who sleeps around on your fiancé, and my brother might be an ass, but he doesn’t deserve that. ”
“Matty, enough!” Dad’s voice cut through the air like a blade, sharp and full of warning.
I froze. The fury in me flickered but didn’t go out.
Maybe I crossed the line, but he deserved to hear it.
Dad made a beeline for Ozzie, reaching out for him, but Ozzie stepped back. I knew guilt when I encountered it, and he wore it like a big scarlet letter stitched across his chest, bold and burning, announcing to the world exactly what kind of man he was.
“Are you okay?” Dad asked Ozzie.
“You’re only defending him because you don’t know what I saw the morning after he came here,” I said, voice thick with disgust. “He’s not being faithful to Carter.”
My older brother was a fucking prick, hardly came home, and was intent on splitting up the land, but the audacity of his fiancé to be fucking someone right under our noses was disgusting.
“You’re way out of line, and I need you to apologize to Ozzie right now.”
My brain stalled. What? Didn’t he hear what I just said?
“N-n-no, he doesn’t need to,” Ozzie said, his face pale.
Good. Cheaters needed to be called out on their bullshit, not go on to live happy lives with wives and kids while you had trouble sleeping through the night.
“Yes, he does,” Dad insisted, glaring at me. Me!
“I’m not apologizing.” I rarely challenged my dad, but with this, I refused to back down. “I haven’t done or said anything wrong. In the meantime, Dad, you should consider canceling the wedding.”
“The wedding’s already canceled.”
“What?”
I barely had time to register the blow before Dad grabbed me by the back of my shirt and steered me toward the house.
“We’ll be right back, Ozzie,” he said over his shoulder.
“Dad, I’m not a kid anymore.” I dug my heels in. It’d been a long time since he’d been this physical with me, and in the past, it was usually to break up fights between me and Carter. “You can’t treat me like this.”
He pushed me inside and shut the door hard behind us. “If you don’t stop acting like a kid, I’ll treat you like one.” He jabbed a finger in my chest. “What you said to Ozzie is disrespectful. I didn’t raise you like that.”
“Didn’t you hear a word I said?” I was practically shaking. Why didn’t he listen? “He’s been cheating on Carter.”