CHAPTER 31
KILLIAN
The arena shudders beneath my Ariats as thousands of people jump to their feet and cheer. The atmosphere is electric. Beer flows left and right. People high five and embrace, celebrating someone else’s win. Noah wolf whistles beside me.
But all I see is her.
Her face is flushed pink. Her smile is wider than I’ve seen in years. The crease between her eyebrows whenever we’re in the vicinity of each other, is no longer visible as she bounces up and down on the spot, applauding and cheering as she celebrates with the women next to her.
The red head beside her, who I’ve learned is Lainey Rhodes, pulls her against her chest, knocking the cowboy hat from Daisy’s head in the process.
Without thought, I reach down, pick it up and wait for the two of them to stop celebrating before I gently place it back on her head. She freezes for a moment before her entire body turns to me, and her brown eyes find mine.
“Thank you,” she murmurs quietly, so quietly I barely hear her above the roaring crowd around us, as she adjusts the hat.
“You’re welcome.” I expect her to turn back to Lainey and Bella, who despite her initial scepticism, seems to have really hit it off with the other woman, but she doesn’t.
She keeps her attention locked on me, her gaze tracing every inch of my face in a look so intense I find myself fiddling with my own Stetson in a bid to find something to do with my hands.
Every second I spend around this woman, my heart and body war with one another. Every fibre of my being wants to reach out and touch her. To throw my arm over her shoulders and press my lips to her forehead. To breath in her signature caramel scent and beg her to never leave me again.
My eyes travel to her mouth. Her tongue flicks out to wet them, and I track the move. The air around us changes. It cracks and fizzles, the noise from the crowd fades into the background until it’s just me and her.
Fuck, I want to kiss her.
I want to kiss her so bad that my skin tingles, my body igniting from the inside out. An invisible force pulls me forward, urging me to just lean in. To take back everything I lost. To claim her as what she has been all along.
Mine.
But I can’t.
I can’t because even though she kissed me in the privacy of her living room, kissing her now, in front of everyone we know, is a decision that we can’t come back from.
So, I tuck my hands into my pockets and rock back on the balls of my feet like a fumbling boy who gets shy around the popular girl.
With determination in her eyes, Daisy takes a step forward, drawing closer despite my retreat. Her eyes fall to my lips, her mouth falls open on a breath and just as I think she’s about to say damn it all to hell and kiss me anyway, she’s pulled backwards by a manicured hand.
And just like that, the trance we had both fallen into is broken. The play button is hit, and everything comes screaming back to life around us.
I’m not sure if I’m grateful for the distraction or fucking pissed.
I’m gonna go with the latter.
“We’re going down to Cass,” Lainey informs her, completely oblivious to the daggers I’m currently shooting her way.
“We’ll come with you,” Noah says, overhearing Lainey. “I need to speak to Canyon about something, and I think a celebration is in order.”
Cass came out of the rodeo with one of the highest scores in bronc riding, securing himself a place in the championship three weeks from now, so it’s no surprise that Noah thinks that’s cause for celebration, but it still causes my jaw to tighten.
I’ve never met the Rhodes brothers, but I have heard of them. And knowing that they had Daisy working for them and even went as far as bragging about her to Noah, immediately puts them on my shit list.
Do they deserve to be on my list? No.
Are they on it anyway? Yup.
With a resigned sigh, I follow the three of them out of the stands and toward the exit.
Hunter, Savannah and Grayson didn’t come tonight. Hunter decided to stay home with a very pregnant Savannah, fully absorbing himself into the roll of family man. Grayson is pining over Liv, who is still in London. Leaving just me and Noah to tag along with my sister, my ex and her newest friend.
I fall back, a smile tugging the corners of my lips as the three women link arms and skip ahead, their alcohol induced giggles echoing in the empty alley. Noah falls into step beside me, nudging his elbow against mine.
“Should we link arms and start skipping?”
“Fuck off,” I respond, causing Noah to laugh.
“What was that back there?” He asks, ever the observer.
I play dumb. “What?”
“You and Daisy. Looked like you were having a moment.”
A moment would be an understatement. Even still, I double down. “Not sure what you’re talking about.”
“Sure, man,” Noah says with an eyeroll. He steps in front of me, halting me in my tracks with a hand on my chest. “Do you know what you’re doing, Killian?”
I look down at his hand where it lays against my chest with a frown before looking up at my best friend. “I know what I’m doing, Noah.”
His eyes flit back and forth between mine, searching, before he gives a curt nod. “As long as you do.”
He pats my chest twice before turning and following after the girls. The frown stays on my face as I remain in place, watching his retreating form, his question resounding in my head.
Do I know what I’m doing?
No. I haven’t a fucking clue what I’m doing.
***
There comes a point in a man’s life when his moral compass is greatly tested. It might be the day his daughter comes home crying after her asshole boyfriend broke her heart.
Could be the day someone fucks with their life’s work.
Mine? Mine is tested the moment I walk out of the arena’s exit, into the gravel parking lot to the sight of Daisy, my Daisy, jumping into the arms of another man.
My blood turns to ice in my veins, freezing me on the spot as I watch the scene not even six feet ahead of me unfold.
The man - obviously a Rhodes brother, though I’m not sure which one, wraps both arms around the middle of her back, lifts her feet off the ground and spins in a circle. Her head falls back with a laugh; he laughs along with her and my stomach sinks.
The sinking feeling only lasts a second before it’s replaced with a rage so potent that I lose complete control of my senses. My hands curl into fists and my feet carry me forward of their own accord, only one outcome in mind: get that big fucker away from my woman.
A dark, towering form steps in my path, blocking my view. “Move.”
“Can’t do that,” Noah says, sidestepping in front of me as I try to go around him.
I growl. “Get out of the fucking way, Noah.”
He stands his ground, folding his arms across his chest. “No. Don’t do something you’re gonna regret.”
“Are you fucking seeing this shit? You expect me to just stand here and let some asshole from Montana touch my wife?”
I move to the left, and he moves with me, only heightening my anger. “Except she isn’t your wife, Killian. You have to let it go, man.”
“You have no idea what your fucking talking about, Noah. Now, move out of my way or I will move you.”
With a resigned sigh, he steps out of the way and without second thought, I storm over to Daisy, only slightly happy to see her feet now securely on the ground and a reasonable amount of space between her and the meat head that was touching her.
Her shoulders tense as I approach her from behind, my boots crunching over the gravel alerting her to my presence. She spins around as I reach for her hand, closing mine around it and pulling her away from the others.
“We’re leaving.” My voice is barely recognisable. I’m operating on pure animalistic instinct as I drag her away.
Noah calls my name.
Lainey calls Daisy’s.
Someone asks if we’re coming to celebrate.
They can all go and fuck themselves.
I have one thought and one thought only as I shove her into the passenger seat of my truck, buckle her seatbelt and close the door.
I’m taking back what’s mine.