Chapter 8
LUCAS
The morning sun is shining high in the sky, and Everett asked me to take one of the horses out to a rodeo a few hours away. Frankly, after the week I’ve had, I’m ready to kiss his fucking boots for the excuse to get out of here.
So, I decided that I was going to steer clear of Jenny after our…
fight, but nothing is ever easy with her.
In fact, she seems dead-set on making my life difficult.
In the days since our painful run-in that one night, we somehow run into each other several times a day.
No matter how hard I try to avoid her, it keeps happening, and I’d have to be blind to miss the looks she sends my way.
Sure, she’s not chewing me out over everything down to the way I breathe anymore, but this is almost worse.
Whenever she catches my gaze, her lips curl in disdain, brown eyes narrowing as she rakes them over me.
To top everything off, she looks at me even when she thinks I don’t notice, and that’s so much harder to ignore.
Sometimes, the disgust and annoyance in her eyes fades into something darker, something hotter, and I have to busy myself with anything in arm’s reach to stop myself from begging for a taste of her.
In short, she’s fucking killing me, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
I’m hoping that a weekend off the ranch for this rodeo will be enough to let me get my head back on straight. It’s not off to a great start, though.
My leg has been acting up for the past few days, the on-and-off rain making my muscles ache and lock up with every step. The horse I’m supposed to be taking is giving me nothing but trouble, snorting disdainfully at every attempt I make to get him in the trailer.
“Please?” I ask after the fifth attempt to get him to step backwards into the trailer.
I was supposed to leave ten minutes ago and I feel pathetic for resorting to begging a damn horse to cooperate, but I don’t know what else to do.
I try to lead him back again, but he tosses his head, nearly clocking me in the face. My leg twinges sharply when I stumble back, pain racing all the way up to my hip as the stallion shakes his mane in annoyance. I glare at him, my lips thinning out in frustration.
“Dude,” I say, sharp and annoyed, even though I know he’s a horse and can’t understand me. “Can you just fucking cooperate?”
“His name is Ernie, not dude.” Jenny sounds far too amused for my level of frustration, and I dig my nails into the lead before turning to face Jenny. “Is this precious little guy giving you trouble, Cross?”
I grit my teeth at the saccharine sweetness in her tone, the mocking light in her eyes. This is the first time since that night in the barn that I’ve been alone around her. I’ve been so careful to stay away from her, always ensuring there are other people around if we have to be in the same space.
I hate myself more than a little for jerking off that night, and it’s only made my feelings for her even more complicated.
“This precious little guy is being a fucking dick.”
Jenny clicks her tongue at me and rolls her eyes, but she can’t keep the smug grin off her face.
I tense as she closes the distance between us, holding my breath to ensure I don’t get a whiff of her shampoo.
She ignores me completely and walks right up to the stallion, cooing at him and running her fingers through his forelock.
Asshole almost bit me just for trying to put a halter on him, but as soon as he sees her, he’s meek as a lamb.
She produces a mint from her back pocket and unwraps it for him, stroking down his face as he lips it up.
He doesn’t even pretend to be stubborn when she takes a step forward, following her lead and walking himself back into the trailer like he’s done it a million times.
He probably has, actually: Everett said all of their rodeo horses are trained for travel.
And it’s not like I was doing anything wrong, it can’t be that damn hard to back a horse up. Especially when said horse already knows what’s expected of it.
Which means he was being intentionally spiteful.
“Don’t listen to the mean, mean man, my sweet boy,” Jenny croons as she closes one of the trailer doors and clips Ernie into the safety lead. “You just relax and enjoy the ride.”
I scowl at her as she gives him one last scritch on the nose before closing the trailer up and latching it. It’s not my fault I’m bad with horses — they just don’t like me. They’re spooky, and I’m more than happy to let them keep their distance.
“Not that hard, Cross,” Jenny says with a scoff. “You taking him to Billings?”
I bite my tongue to stop myself from snapping at her. It’s not her fault I can’t sleep without being haunted by her. Well, it kind of is, actually, but I’m not going to admit it out loud.
“Bozeman,” I correct her. “Tony’s taking a few of the others to Billings. Everett asked me to do this one since the trip’s easier.”
She arches a brow, raking a judgemental gaze over me.
“Bet he didn’t figure you’d be having so much trouble before you even got on the road,” she muses.
What’s a guy have to do to get some sympathy around here?
I don’t respond, as much as I’d love to give her a piece of my mind.
I’ve made my peace with having a strained professional relationship with her, and blurting out how desperate I am to kiss her again is definitely not the way to go about that.
No, what I need to do right now is get the keys out, get in the truck, and get the hell away from here for the weekend.
Jenny snatches the keys out of my hand before they’re even fully out of my pocket, and I firmly do not think about the bare inch of space that was between her fingers and my dick. She already has her back turned to me and is walking around the trailer by the time I recover from my shock.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
I gape at her as she twirls the keys around her finger and makes her way to the driver’s side door.
“Coming with you,” she says, turning to look at me scathingly before yanking the door open and hopping up.
I shake off my surprise and double-check the latch on the trailer as she starts the truck, but I don’t let her get any farther than that. She has zero reason to join me, and I’m not in the mood to torture myself with having her so close.
I snag the door just as she tries to pull it closed, refusing to let it budge.
“Jenny, get out of the fucking truck,” I snap. “You’re not—”
“Please, you can’t even get him in the trailer on your own.
What, are you going to ask our client to unload him at the rodeo?
Help you get him back in after?” She sneers at me, and I flush in embarrassment.
I didn’t think about getting him back into the trailer to bring home, but I probably wouldn’t be much more successful there than I am here.
“I’m not letting you make a fool out of my family’s name.
Get in the damn truck or don’t, Lucas. You’ve already put us behind schedule, I’m not feeling very inclined to wait for you. ”
Like fuck am I staying behind.
Everett’s already doing me a favor by letting me work for him even though I’m damn near useless.
I don’t need to rub my incompetence in his face by not even going after Jenny took over the simple task he gave me.
That doesn’t mean I have any desire to get in the truck.
Just seeing Jenny from across the ranch has been hard enough.
A four-hour drive with the two of us cramped in my truck is the last thing I want to do right now.
I don’t have much of a choice, though, so I release the door and ignore Jenny’s look of triumph before rounding the truck and climbing into the passenger seat.
My leg is still killing me, but I grit my teeth and refuse to limp in front of her.
She’s already dug her claws in regarding my injury once, no need to give her any further ammunition.
She leans over to set her phone up in the clip on the dashboard.
My eyes fall to her shoulder when her shirt shifts with the movement, and I’m greeted with the sight of fresh tan lines.
I know this tan is from just the other day, because I saw her — and the memory of her sprawled out in the backyard to tan with Mary is beyond unhelpful right at this second.
I’m pretty sure Mary wasn’t tanning, as she was relaxed against the house and reading a book in the shade, but Jenny had dragged an old lawn chair out and laid across it under the bright midday sun, covered by nothing but a miniscule bikini with watermelons printed all over it.
I keenly remember thinking that her ass looked just as juicy as the fruit on her swimsuit.
I also keenly remember the way she caught me staring at least five separate times.
She knew damn well that she was tormenting me, and she seemed to enjoy it.
Her skin is perfectly gold now, freckles a little darker than usual on her face. I tear my eyes away from the tan line before I can let my thoughts wander any further.
I already have to spend four hours in the car with her. No need to make it any harder on myself. It’s a better idea all around to just face front and keep my mouth shut. Sitting still for four hours straight is going to be hell on my leg, but I have my pain meds with me, if worst comes to worst.
The familiar sights of my hometown slowly bleed into endless expanses of rolling prairies, bits and pieces of the Rockies coming into sight every so often.
Silence stretches between us, nothing but the murmur of Jenny’s playlist on the speakers to break it, but it’s not as strained as I expected it to be.
I don’t really know what the feeling between us is right now, but I know it has me off kilter and unsure of myself.
She’s so back and forth, hot and cold, and it feels like her mood switches on a dime.
I don’t know what to make of her these days.
After so long apart, it feels like I both know her and don’t.
Like she’s a stranger wearing the face of the girl I loved all those years back.
Every conversation I have with her gives me fucking whiplash, but I still find myself biting my tongue to stop myself from filling the silence between us. I’m not even uncomfortable with sitting in the quiet, I just want to hear her voice.
It’s a dangerous thing to admit, even to myself.
The quiet is better than anything that will come out of my mouth if I start talking right now, and I have no desire to give Jenny any reason to ditch me on the side of the highway. It’s enough to just be here, stealing glances at her every so often and scolding myself for it immediately after.
I just can’t resist drinking in the sight of the sunshine on her golden skin, the way her lips move as she sings along to the music under her breath, her impossibly long legs bared by shorts so short they should be fucking illegal.
It’s the same way it always is around her, frustrating and tantalizing and driving me to the brink of madness.
Christ, maybe I should’ve stayed behind. This is going to be a long fucking drive.
So much for my weekend alone.