Chapter 8
Levi
Present day…
I really needed to start learning how to say no.
But I hadn’t, so I was sitting at the country club, sipping on an overpriced sweet tea while I waited for my grandfather and brother to get here.
I knew it would be a bloodbath after Savannah obliterated their last legal hope of blocking Golden Circle’s expansion two days ago. While one half of my family was relieved, the other half was furious.
And I was caught in the middle.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and when I checked to see what it was, I couldn’t help but smile.
It was a selfie from Tess mid-run. It looked like she was in the park, grinning with her hair in a ponytail.
There were some baby hairs slick with sweat framing her hairline, and her face was flushed from exertion, but she was glowing.
I leaned in closer, spotting the bubblegum pink shoes she had picked out a few days ago before the hearing.
She had been so cute when she saw them, her whole face lighting up.
And she was even cuter at the ice cream shop afterwards, trying new ice cream flavors.
She had settled on chocolate peanut butter while Luke went for a mess of strawberry and four different toppings.
Tess Hayes: Just ran a 10:40!!!! Slow but better than two days ago
I glanced around the restaurant, and there was still no sign of Preston or Grandfather, so I typed out a response, one that was probably a little heavy-handed, but I was so pleased to see her happy that I didn’t care.
Me: Keep it up! You’ll have to let me know when you go next time.
Me: We can race.
Tess Hayes: We both know you’d win in a heartbeat
Me: Don’t know… Maybe I’ll be feeling generous and let you win
My heart was in my throat, wondering if the wink was too much, if I’d gone too far. I could tell her it was a typo, and that I hadn’t meant it.
But I had meant it. I wanted to experience her after a run, after ‘beating’ me. I wanted to taste the salt on her skin while I kissed her, wanted to get wrapped up in her victorious laughter, wanted to tell her how proud I was of her for trying new things.
Tess Hayes: You’re always generous Levi
Tess Hayes: It’s one of the many things I like about you
A pair of hands slammed down on my shoulders, and I jumped, my phone falling into my lap. “Jesus, you scared me,” I panted as Preston sat down next to me.
I locked my phone and put it back in my pocket, trying to steady my racing heart. Racing that I wasn’t sure had come from Preston…or Tess.
“You’re about to be a lot more scared,” he warned, unfolding his napkin and putting it in his lap with a flourish.
Great. At least it’d get my mind off what other things Tess could possibly like about me. Her words burned through my mind like wildfire. I felt like a middle school girl wondering about my crush, and not a grown man.
Grandfather wasn’t far behind him and sat down with a heavy breath. “Levi.”
I dipped my chin. “Grandfather.”
A waitress scurried over the second he joined us, eagerly waiting for him to speak. “Three bourbons, and three of the surf n’ turf.” My eyes went wide. What the hell?
“Grandfather, it’s noon,” I said, glancing between him and the waitress. “I have work to do after this.”
“It’s Saturday. One drink won’t kill you,” Preston said, already drinking one he must’ve gotten at the bar on the way in. I was fairly certain he was a functioning alcoholic at this point.
I looked at the waitress. “Just two bourbons. I’m fine with what I have. Thank you.”
She peered down at Grandfather as if he had some kind of say over what I consumed. He just waved a hand, dismissing her like she was nothing. My jaw tensed at the gesture.
Once we were alone, he rested his arms on the table, locking his fingers. “So.”
I glanced between him and Preston. “So?”
“You tipped her off, didn’t you?” Preston asked, leaving no room to guess whether he was pissed or not.
“Who?”
“Don’t play dumb. Savannah Hayes,” Grandfather said, his voice low. “She knew exactly what our plan was. Every time we threw something at them, she had a counter ready.”
I shrugged a shoulder, sipping my sweet tea. “Maybe she’s just a good lawyer.” I knew that much was true with the way she climbed up the ladder at her old firm in Dallas. It was the reason why I offered her a partner position at Wild Creek Law.
“Cut the shit, boy,” he snapped, and every muscle in my body tensed. “We know you helped her and told her about that ordinance Beckham signed off on in 2011.”
I set my glass down roughly, rattling the table. “And what if I did? What then?” Grandfather looked like he was about to explode, his face reddening with every passing second. He went to say something, but Preston stopped him.
My brother leaned in towards me, his voice soft in a way that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand.
“Look, I know you have some kind of…loyalty to the McLeods, but we are your family,” he said, jamming his finger into the table.
“You are a Hollis. You’ll never be one of them.
You think just because you gave Savannah that win, they’re just going to accept you with open arms? That the crazy one will fall for you?”
“Watch it,” I hissed. “Don’t you fucking dare bring her into this. This has nothing to do with her.”
“Because it won’t,” he continued. “They’re just going to use you, just like Thomas Hayes and Beaumont the first used Grandfather.”
My brows furrowed. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I knew Thomas Hayes’s pockets were drying up back then,” Grandfather said.
“So I offered to buy a piece of land from him because I heard there were some good mineral deposits. Granted, my offer was fifty cents on the dollar,” he laughed.
It was cruel and bitter. “He told me he’d think about it, and next thing I know, the bastard’s drafting some contract with Beaumont the first to merge their properties and cut me out. ”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. There was no way Claire and Beau knew about this.
“Do not tell me you started that feud between them just because he changed his mind. That went on for decades!” Everyone in Wild Creek knew about the Hayes and McLeod feud; it was town history at this point.
They were our own version of the Capulets and the Montagues, up until a few months ago, when Claire and Beau put an end to it.
Grandfather shrugged, looking at me with a glint in his eyes that made my stomach drop. “It was easy. Whisper one thing in one man’s ear, something else in the other’s.” The way he said it, like it meant nothing to him, turned my blood cold.
“What’s even funnier is that the report about the mineral deposits was faulty,” Preston added with a sickening grin. “There aren’t any.”
My lips parted, and I pulled away from both of them, disgusted. “So it was all for nothing? You ruined two families for nothing?”
“Not nothing,” Grandfather said. “My name was on the line. Our name. You don’t screw over a Hollis and get away with it.”
Grandfather and Preston looked at each other like some kind of demented Batman and Robin tag team.
I swallowed back the bitter taste in my mouth, the table setting swirling in front of me.
I thought of Claire and Beau. Of everyone in the Hayes and McLeod families.
Of every fence mended, of every wound reopened because of these two.
My chest burned with shame over sharing a name with them.
“I think I’m gonna be sick.”
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Grandfather said, shaking his head dismissively.
I pushed my chair back. “I’m not being dramatic.
It’s called having a goddamn conscience.
” I stood, my fists shaking at my sides.
“I am ashamed to be related to you,” I spat.
“You two are the most heartless, soulless people I have ever met in my life, and I don’t want a single fucking thing to do with either one of you from here on out. ”
“Oh, come on,” Preston groaned, leaning back in his chair. “You don’t mean that.”
“I mean it with every fiber of my being.”
The waitress showed up with drinks as I stormed off, wondering how the hell I was going to tell everyone. I was seeing them all later tonight at the rodeo anyway for Weston’s final bull ride, maybe I could do it then, but I didn’t want to ruin the night for them either.
Either way, I knew I couldn’t keep the information to myself.
By the time night rolled around, I was a mess, and it didn’t help that the arena was packed with people coming from all over to watch Weston’s final ride. I hadn’t realized just how successful he was, and just how big a deal this was to so many people.
There was no way I could tell them tonight. It wasn’t the right time.
“I’ve never actually been to a rodeo,” I told Colt as we approached the entrance to the arena. He stopped short, staring at me like I’d just kicked a puppy.
“You can’t be serious.” My lips flattened into a thin line, and I shook my head. “We never came as kids when you would stay with us?”
“Nope. So I’m kind of out of my element.” Kind of was an understatement.
I had to buy my first pair of jeans in years for this. They weren’t well-loved and well-worn like everyone else’s, and I looked more like someone out of a nineties rom-com than a rodeo goer, but figured it was better than khakis or slacks.
Colt grinned. “Well, this is probably gonna be a little more than your usual rodeo since it’s Weston’s last ride.”
Brittany looked me up and down, mouth twitching with a smile. “We’ll have to get you some boots,” she said. “And maybe a hat, too.”
I frowned, looking down at my clothes. “What’s wrong with this?”
“Nothing if you want to look like Ross Geller at a hoedown,” she teased, clinging to Colt’s arm.
My jaw dropped, laughing. “I…Okay, so I look like Ross Geller, big deal.” I glanced around, doing a double-take when I saw Tess further back in the crowd, staring at her phone like she’d seen a ghost. “I’ll find you guys inside,” I said, my eyes still locked on her as I left them.