Chapter 30
Need You Now - Lady A
Wyatt
“ I haven’t seen Jake in quite a while.” Ethan Harper, Alice’s husband, settled deeper into his recliner after dinner with a thoughtful look. “Kept thinking he’d pop up one day, you know? He had a knack for disappearing on one of his schemes, chasing after quick cash, but he’d always circle back eventually. Heard around town that he’d sold the farm. I had no clue it was even on the market. If I’d known...” He paused, a shrug lifting his shoulders as if to shake off the thought. “We all waited for someone new to take over, or for anything to happen. But nothing did. And Jake... He never came back.”
I squeezed Kinsley into my side on the couch. She had been quiet since meeting Grace. Not that I blamed her, but I didn’t want her to feel threatened. Grace and I had been over for a long time, but Kinsley and I hadn’t ever dealt with things like exes.
The dinner had been delicious. We ate like we’d been starving for weeks, which wasn’t that far from the truth. Life on the road was hard. Good meals were one of those comforts of home you always missed.
Home was getting to be a hard thing to define. I was home, but I didn’t feel it. Maybe once I found my dad and settled things, I could make it feel like home again.
I pressed my lips to Kinsley’s hair. We could make it feel like home again.
“If I were you, I’d swing by Rodeo’s End Tavern,” Ethan suggested, snapping me back to the moment. “Place has changed hands. Looks different now, but you’ll find some of the old guard still warming the stools. Somebody might know where Jake’s at.”
“Gracie, Noah, why don’t you take them? You two enjoy it there,” Alice chimed in.
Noah, baby-faced and barely out of his teens, perked up.
“Rodeo’s End, huh?” I turned to Grace, surprised.
The Grace I remembered was more likely to be buried in textbooks than hanging out in a bar. Last I heard, she was bound for Olds College, aiming for a degree in agriculture.
“Like my dad said, it’s different now.”
Memories of dragging my dad from that dive did not make me eager to go.
“I was planning on heading over there tonight anyway,” Noah said, his eyes lit up. “Can you fit two more in your truck?”
“I don’t see why we couldn’t take a second vehicle,” Grace complained from the backseat, squished between Kinsley and Grady, her voice muffled.
“It’s more environmentally friendly to carpool,” Noah said from the front passenger seat he’d snagged, his comment triggering sighs and eyerolls from the rest of us.
“There are four people back here and only three seatbelts. This is illegal, Noah,” Grace pointed out.
Glancing in the rearview mirror, I glimpsed Kinsley perched on Finn’s lap.
“Hands where I can see them, Finn.”
At my warning, Finn raised his hands in mock surrender, sending me a wink that had me shaking my head.
“Your girlfriend’s ass is bony,” he teased.
“Hey! It is not,” she protested, delivering a well-placed elbow to his ribs. “Here’s a bone for you.”
“Ow, woman!” Finn’s complaint was met with a pinch to Kinsley’s side, causing her to let out a shriek.
“Cut it out, you two!” I tried to maintain some semblance of order, my focus splitting between the road and the chaos unfolding in the backseat.
“I swear there was a better joke in there, Kinsley. Bone—”
“Shut up, Grady,” Kinsley cut him off.
“So, what kind of bar are we talking about here?” Grady shifted the conversation.
“Oh, it’s great.” Noah turned to face the back. “They expanded the place to have live music, a dance floor, and even a mechanical bull.”
The thought of a bar filled with cowboy wannabes had me mentally preparing for a long night.
“Yes, I’m getting laid!” Grady celebrated, clearly excited at the prospect of showing off his talents.
The rest of us groaned in unison.
Grace was fidgeting in her seat, trying to get comfortable, her movement bringing her closer to Kinsley. The two girls exchanged an uncomfortable look, and I dragged a hand down my face, trying to focus on the road while keeping an eye on the rearview mirror.
Catching Grace’s gaze, I lingered on her face, lost in a flood of memories.
Grace had been a constant during some of the toughest times of my life. Always there, always dependable. Our breakup had been amicable—a result of our lives pulling us in different directions rather than any wrongdoing. Leaving her had been hard; she was the girl I had pictured a future with. If the circumstances hadn’t been what they were, if I wasn’t on the road so much, maybe things between us would have been different.
The realization that I had been staring at Grace for too long hit me when my gaze flicked to the pair of livid blue eyes beside her. Shit.
I pulled into the bar’s parking lot, and everyone piled out of the truck, but instead of heading inside right away, I leaned my back against my door, crossed my arms, and waited.
Finn was smirking and shaking his head when he walked by me.
“You coming in, Wyatt?” Noah called out.
Grace glanced back at me with concern.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” I assured them.
“Let’s give the lovebirds some space,” Finn said. “They’re about to fight or fuck. Probably both.”
Grace turned and walked off hastily, her cheeks turning pink.
“Are you waiting here for me or her?” Kinsley confronted me, clearly agitated, her tone sharp.
“Of course you.” I tried to sound as reassuring as possible.
“Of course me? I’m not the one you were sharing long, lingering looks with in there,” she retorted.
“It wasn’t like that,” I tried to explain.
“You could barely keep your eyes off her!” she accused, her voice rising with each word.
“We have a past. She was part of my life for a long time. She brings back memories. That’s all. I was thinking about how life would have turned out if my dad wasn’t such a mess, if I had stuck around home more.”
“You were thinking about how you could’ve gone home a long time ago to be with your high school sweetheart? How the two of you lost so much time?” Kinsley’s words filled with hurt, her voice cracking.
“No, Kinsley!” The frustration of the situation had me pacing now.
“Did you love her?” Her question came softly.
Her eyes shimmered, and I hated myself for causing her pain.
“I don’t know! Maybe?” I admitted, my voice fraught with confusion. “We were friends for a long time, and when we started dating, it wasn’t an a-ha moment; it was just expected. And, yeah, I cared about her, a lot. She’s a great girl; I’m not going to lie. She was comfortable and safe. But was it love? I’m not sure. With you, though, it’s different. The first time I saw you, it was like being struck by lightning. When you first spoke to me, my heart cracked wide open. There was no questioning it; I just fell. Kinsley, I knew I was in love with you the second I saw you.”
Kinsley’s gaze was piercing. Her lips pressed together so tightly I thought she might draw blood. Then, suddenly, she was in my arms, her hands tangled in my hair as she pulled me into a fervent kiss.
The intensity of her reaction left me breathless. I’d never gotten that hard, that fast.
Our tongues tangled together, and we clawed at each other’s clothes.
“Get back in the truck,” I commanded.
“Trying to tell me what to do now?”
“Kinsley. Get back in the truck.”
Her expression turned from teasing to heated. She opened the back door and crawled inside, putting her perfect round ass right in my face.
“I don’t know what Finn was talking about. Your ass isn’t boney at all.” I gave it a good smack.
She squealed, turned around, and laid back across the seat while I positioned myself uncomfortably over her, one knee on the floor and the other between her legs.
“You are too big for sex in the backseat of a truck.”
“Nah, I’ll make it work.” My dick was already aching and straining against my jeans; if I had to put my back out to make this happen, so be it.
I kissed down Kinsley’s throat, trying to take my time and not be a pig, but the little moans she made were not helping. The shirt she was wearing was low-cut, and I pulled it down to expose one breast. She wasn’t wearing a bra, which I was very grateful for. I took her nipple between my teeth, and she arched herself into me.
“Wyatt,” she whimpered. “Please don’t make me wait.”
She was already undoing my belt and unbuttoning my jeans, releasing me from the restraining fabric. She stroked my length, and I shuddered.
“Fuck,” I breathed.
I made it my mission to peel the skin-tight jeans from her body. I fumbled in the small space, but I’d never needed anything more than I needed Kinsley naked right that second.
“Wyatt, hurry!” She lifted her core, seeking desperately.
“I’m trying!” I grunted with effort as I pulled her pants free from her body.
She was writhing beneath me, and my dick was throbbing. Us and trucks, it was a thing.
“Wyatt…” Her hand was between her legs. Such an impatient girl .
I removed her hand and pinned it over her head. “I can’t let you do that.”
“Then you better stop me.”
I didn’t hesitate. I couldn’t wait a second longer either. I entered her deeply in one thrust. She gasped at the brute force.
“Better?” I asked.
“Mmm, yes.” Her eyes were closed, but a smile played over her lips. Relief. “I love being filled by you.”
I bit at her bottom lip. “Don’t get too relaxed.” I started pumping into her, slowly at first, savouring it, but then I quickened my pace, building us both into a frenzy.
We breathed into each other, deep and heavy, and sweat glistened on our skin.
It wasn’t until her mouth opened in a silent scream that I let myself go in one last hard thrust and collapsed, my face buried in her chest. Her fingers threaded through my hair, stroking.
“Ow,” I mumbled into her breasts.
“What muscle did you pull this time, old man?”
“I think all of them.”
“Aww, poor baby.” She rubbed her hands over my back. “Do you want to ask your other girlfriend if you can soak in her tub tonight?”
I raised my head to look at her. “You’re not funny.”
“Oh yes, I am.”
I dug my chin into her chest and wiggled it, making her shriek, squirm, and trying to get away, all the while laughing.
I painfully lifted myself up and looked around the truck to make sure the coast was clear before I opened the door and stepped out into the darkness. I pulled my pants up. One of these days, I was going to get my girl into a proper bed.
Kinsley grabbed her jeans and pulled them on before sliding out of the truck, giving me a quick kiss.
“Do we have to go in there and watch Grady show off on that bull?” I asked.
“Yep. We also have some investigating to do.”
Right. We’re here to ask around about my dad. Did I want to know where he was or what he was doing?
“Alright. Let’s go.” I took Kinsley’s hand and tugged her along to the door.