Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Jesse
Walking into the barn the following morning, something felt off. It wasn’t just how the horses—especially Lightning—shuffled in their stalls. It was as if a storm was brewing. It was the unceasing silence, the heavy anticipation of trouble waiting to descend all around.
I should have heeded the warning.
When I saw Ethan, Beckett, and Mitch loitering near the tack room, it was too late to avoid them.
My gut twisted. Even as I wished my horses could tell me what these three were scheming, I’d gladly take anything they were planning to throw out at me if, by doing so, I knew I could set things right with Scarlet.
God, what the hell happened last night? One minute, I was trying to figure out how to introduce her to my family while they were all in town, and the next, I felt as if one of our prized stallions had kicked my heart out of my chest.
“You want to tell us what the hell you’re doing?” Ethan’s voice is controlled, but barely.
“Fairly obvious.” I pick up a pitchfork and toss it in his direction to get some free labor out of him.
Used to the chores around our family’s barn, he catches it with one hand before realizing what exactly he’s holding. He glares at it, then at me, with the same intensity. “I meant about your woman.”
Beckett, who should teach a master class on how to fuck up personal relationships and get caught on camera doing stupid shit by reporters, holds nothing back. “And you called me an ass? It takes one to know one.”
I hold out a shovel in his direction. “Are you helping, or are you just going to bitch about my personal life?”
He rips the shovel from my hands. “I can do both.”
I exhale sharply, scrubbing a hand over my face. “Pretty sure I know what this is about.”
“Oh, good,” Mitch chimes in. “Then we don’t have to spell it out for you.”
Ethan shakes his head, the disappointment on his face evident. “Jesse, man. What the hell?”
I fight the urge to snap back. “It’s not what you think.”
“Really?” Ethan’s fingers grip the handle of the pitchfork tighter. “Because I think you’ve been sneaking around with a respectable woman—who also happens to be a single mom. You fell in love with her, and you didn’t tell anyone. Not even her.”
Beckett steps forward, his blue eyes dark with frustration. “You’re serious about her, aren’t you?”
My jaw clenches. “Yeah. I am.”
“Then why the secrecy?” Mitch questions, his tone sharp. “Why are you hiding it?”
I force myself to meet Beckett’s gaze. “Because of you.”
That throws him. His brows pull together. “Me?”
I let out a bitter laugh. “You and your whole goddamn media circus of a life.”
Beckett scrubs a hand down his face, frustration flickering in his expression. “Jesse—”
“I know it’s not your fault. You didn’t ask for it. But you can’t tell me they won’t start digging when some tabloid gets wind that I’m seeing Scarlet. You can’t tell me that it won’t turn into a headline about how the brother-in-law of Beckett Miller is dating his hometown’s deputy sheriff.”
Ethan growls. “And once they start sniffing around Scarlet, they’ll find out about Rosie.”
I nod. “Exactly.”
Mitch lets out a slow breath. “You were trying to protect them.”
“Damn right, I was.” My voice breaks. “Scarlet’s everything.”
Beckett’s eyebrows skyrocket. “That serious?”
I meet his gaze dead on. “If I could figure out a way to divorce you as my brother-in-law just so I could be with her, I’d do it tomorrow.”
Ethan lets out a low whistle. “Damn.”
“I’ve never felt like this before about anyone. I wake up in a bed she’s not in and immediately reach for her. My heart feels lighter when she and Rosie are with me.”
“Speaking of Rosie—” Ethan starts, but I cut him off.
“She’s mine. No, not biologically, but who the fuck cares about that.”
“Dad’s not in the picture?” Mitch wonders.
“No.”
Beckett’s expression turns contemplative, and I figure I’ve got enough problems trying to win back my woman to worry about his meddlesome ass poking his fingers into Scarlet’s past—for now.
I focus on today’s problem—the one I caused.
“Scarlet doesn’t need cameras in her face. She isn’t someone’s headline.”
Ethan studies me for a long while before sighing. “Jesse, I get it. I do. But keeping her—them—a secret? That’s not protection. That’s opening your relationship to the kinds of fissures a volcano can erupt from.”
Mitch points at him and nods. “He knows what he’s talking about.”
Ethan gives him the middle finger before begrudgingly admitting, “Remember, I almost lost Fallon. I know what lies and deception can do to a relationship.”
“But I haven’t lied to her,” I protest.
“You’re doing something worse,” Beckett states.
“What’s that? Leave her?” I snarl at the man who left my sister for almost two decades.
“No. You’ve made her think she’s unimportant.”
“No,” I protest. “That’s not true.”
Ethan concurs. “It’s like what Rosie said about you last night. You treat them differently.”
“I know.” My voice was tight. “But the longer I keep it quiet, the longer I can keep them safe.”
Mitch hesitates. “Is that what you think you’re doing?”
That hesitation feels like a knife being pressed against my jugular. “What do you mean?”
Beckett let out a dry, humorless laugh. “Didn’t you learn from me and your sister that they will make up something if the press can’t find something to report on?”
My gut twists at the reminder of his words. “So, you’re saying…”
Ethan sighed, his frustration giving way to something else. It’s most likely pity. “You’re in danger of losing the best thing that’s ever happened to you? Yes.”
My voice is hoarse. “Don’t say that.”
Beckett rolls his eyes. “After the way you were schooled by a little girl last night? I’d say you’re well into the danger zone, my friend.”
“No.” It can’t be. I can’t lose them both.
Mitch slaps me with a hard dose of reality. “Face facts, Jesse. One of the reasons the woman is planning on leaving town is because you won’t acknowledge who she is to you.”
Ethan challenges, “What are you going to do about it?”
I shake my head, trying to ignore the pressure surrounding my heart. “Get out of my barn.”
They don’t, of course. Instead, they linger, talking about family, the ranch, and upcoming celebrations—essentially nothing that had anything to do with the headlines they’ve all been featured in. But I wasn’t paying attention. Not really.
I was too busy realizing that my own fears put me in the position of not knowing if I’d have this kind of future with the woman I love. And I could only think of one way of getting her back.
I just hope it worked.