Chapter 4 #2
He steps beside me but doesn’t crowd me. Doesn’t touch me. Just leans his elbows on the fence, staring out at the field like it holds answers.
“You okay?” he asks after a moment.
I shrug. “Fine.”
“That your official answer or your Phern Stone special?”
I glance at him. “You mean the one where I deflect with sarcasm and make everyone think I’m fine so they don’t look too closely?”
He nods, lips twitching. “That one.”
I exhale a laugh that’s more bitter than anything. “Yeah. That one.”
We fall into silence again, but it’s not uncomfortable.
Then Will says, “Saw you with Trey.”
“It’s nothing. He asked me out for a drink. That’s all.”
“You said yes.”
I turn to look at him now, sharp. “And? I’m allowed to say yes.”
His jaw clenches. “Didn’t say you weren’t.”
I cross my arms, hugging them close. “Good. Because you don’t get a say. Especially when you’re over there letting Missy freaking Jones paw all over you.”
Will doesn’t flinch. He nods, once. Like he expected that. Like maybe he even deserves it. But then he turns his head, and his eyes lock on mine—steady, unreadable, but burning with something he’s no longer hiding.
“You’re right. I don’t get a say.” He pauses. “But it doesn’t mean I didn’t notice.”
My heart skips, like it’s been yanked mid-beat.
Something in my chest tightens, sharp and sudden, because that? That wasn’t about Missy. That wasn’t about Trey.
That was about me.
I swallow. “Notice what?”
His gaze doesn’t waver. “You. With him. Laughing. Saying yes.”
He exhales, like admitting that costs him something.
“It hit harder than I thought it would,” he adds.
My mouth opens, but nothing comes out.
Because what do you say when the man who called you kiddo turns around and tells you he noticed? When he admits he felt something without quite saying what it is? I blink and look away, because if I don’t, I might ask the one question I’ve been holding back for years. Why now?
Instead, I say, “You don’t get to care, Will.”
Another beat of silence.
“I know.”
But he still doesn’t walk away. And neither do I.
The silence between us stretches, dense and charged. His eyes search mine like he's looking for permission or something neither of us has ever been brave enough to say out loud.
My pulse hammers in my throat.
Then he steps closer.
Just one step. Close enough that I can feel the heat rolling off him, smell the dust and sweat and whatever damn cologne he uses that always makes my knees go soft.
“Phern,” he says, my name low and rough like gravel scraped across velvet.
His hand lifts. Hesitates. Then brushes lightly against my jaw, fingertips just barely skimming the edge of my cheek. It’s tender. It’s nothing. And it’s everything.
My breath stutters. My eyes drop to his mouth, and that’s it. The dam’s cracked, the air’s gone electric, and I know he’s about to kiss me. I tilt my chin up, just a little. Our faces are inches apart.
And then—
“Will?”
The voice slices through the air like a blade.
We both freeze. I don’t even need to turn around to know who it is. Missy freaking Jones. Her heels click against the dirt like gunshots. Then she appears, rounding the corner in a cloud of perfume and audacity, all swaying hips and firetruck-red lipstick.
“There you are,” she purrs, sliding right up to his side like she belongs there. “I’m ready to head back to your place.”
I take a step back like I’ve been slapped. The heat between Will and me vanishes in an instant, replaced with something cold and hollow. My heart nosedives, crashing somewhere near my boots.
And Will? He doesn’t say a word. Doesn’t look at me. Doesn’t move. And somehow, that hurts more than anything else.
Missy clocks the devastation on my face and doesn’t even bother to hide the satisfaction curling her lips. She loops her arm through his like she’s won. Like I was never in the running. And just like that, the moment shatters.
As if that weren’t enough, she twists the knife.
“I saw you with Trey Evans, Phern. You two are so cute together.” Her voice drops, syrupy and vicious. “Does he know your little secret?”
My stomach twists.
“Secret?”
Missy gasps, dragging a hand to her mouth in faux horror. “Oh no. Did I say that out loud?” She leans in with a stage whisper. “That you’re a virgin.”
Will’s eyes snap to mine, like he’s trying to figure out if it’s true. Humiliation rushes up so fast it chokes me. I wish the ground would split open and swallow me whole. But the earth stays cruelly intact.
“Where’d you hear that from?” I ask, my voice too steady to be real.
“Bonnie,” she says, shrugging one shoulder. “She’s my cousin, remember?”
Of course. Bonnie. The girl who used to braid my hair and knew every secret of mine. Guess that’s one she didn’t forget.
I debate whether to laugh it off, deny it, or just walk away and never stop. But before I can speak, Missy turns back to Will with a flutter of lashes.
“Let’s get out of here.”
I watch them walk away.
Missy, glued to his side like she belongs there. Will, silent. Still not looking back. Each step they take feels like a slap. Like every stupid thing I let myself hope in the last five minutes was just that. Stupid.
My throat tightens, but I force myself to stand still, to stay calm, to not crumble. I blink hard, willing the sting in my eyes to go away before it turns into anything worse.
God, I’m such a fool.
Of course that look and touch was just some fleeting moment of whatever-the-hell this is between us. The kind that only goes one way.
He probably says sweet things to all the girls who look at him like he hung the damn moon.
I wait until I’m sure they’re gone. Until their voices and footsteps disappear around the corner, swallowed by dust and distance before I let out a shaky breath.
“Whatever,” I whisper to no one.
Because maybe if I say it out loud, I’ll start to believe it.
I turn away from the barn, from the fence, from where it almost happened and didn’t. My boots crunch over gravel as I head back toward the arena, jaw tight, spine stiff. If anyone notices the way my hands are clenched at my sides, they’re smart enough not to say anything.
Fine. Let him do whatever he wants.
I have interviews to do.
And if I throw myself into work like my life depends on it? Well, that’s always been my specialty.