Chapter 38
Die From a Broken Heart - Maddie his gaze fixed on the fire. “Thing is, Kins, you kinda stepped over a line.”
Rhett chimed in; his tone more stern than usual. “It’s about trust. You and Finn went behind his back. That’s not easy to forgive.”
A surge of frustration ran through me. “So, what? I’m the bad guy here? I was trying to save his rodeo season!”
Finn nodded in agreement. “Exactly. Wyatt’s being stubborn, but he’ll see reason eventually.”
Grady turned to Finn. “You know him better than anybody! It’s not about being stubborn. It’s about making his own choices. You two decided for him; that’s the issue.”
“Yeah, I do know him better than anybody, and I know when he needs to be pushed. We did what we had to do.”
“You really think you had to manipulate him like that?” Grady countered.
“Yeah, I do. He had nothing left. You give Wyatt enough rope, and he will hang himself with it. I wasn’t about to let that happen. Wyatt will get over it. He’ll be back.”
I wished I could feel the confidence in Finn’s voice.
There was truth to what he’d said, and Wyatt would come back because he would never, ever walk away from Finn. But that rule didn’t apply to me.
“No,” Grady continued. “You guys went too far this time.”
“This time?” I asked. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means you always do this; you always push him. And you wonder why you’re always breaking up,” Grady said.
“That’s not— Maybe if I just—”
“Back off him, Kinsley,” Rhett’s voice cut through me—a tone I’d never heard from him—and it took me aback. “He needs to figure things out on his own. You can’t do it for him.”
“Kinsley, I think…” Maisey started quietly.
I stood up, cutting her off. “I’m not listening to this anymore. If you would all rather see him drown… I’m fighting for him—somebody should.” I stomped away from the camp and heard Finn’s voice behind me.
“Nice, guys,” he said sarcastically. “Kinsley, wait up!” He jogged to catch up with me.
I replayed the argument in my mind, Grady’s harsh words stinging.
‘You always push him. And you wonder why you’re always breaking up.’
Was that true? Was I always overbearing? Controlling, even?
I chewed on my lip—a nervous habit I couldn’t seem to break.
No, I refused to believe that. Wyatt needed me, even if he didn’t realize it. I saw the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was drowning, and I had to throw him a lifeline, even if it meant taking matters into my own hands.
“Finn, tell me we did the right thing.”
“We did the right thing.”
I stopped and turned to him. “You’re sure?” I bit down on my lip to stop it from quivering.
He grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to look him in the eye. “Kinsley, trust me. He’ll come around.”
I collapsed into him, unable to hold back the emotions that wanted to overtake me, and cried into his chest. Finn wrapped his arms around me and held me close while I let the tears fall.
“Finn?”
“Yeah?”
“This is really weird.” I sniffled, all too aware of the mess I was making on his shirt.
“Yeah, I’m hoping you’re almost done.”
A giggle escaped me, and I pulled away from him and stood awkwardly. “We’ve never hugged before, have we?”
“Nope, and we probably should’ve kept it that way. Wyatt is the touchy-feely one, not me.”
Hugging Finn was a little like hugging a grumpy bear, but the mention of Wyatt brought me back to reality.
“I need to go after him.” I patted at my jean pockets, hoping to find my truck keys, but they weren’t there. I never carried them around; I always left them in my trailer.
“That might not be the best idea.”
“I need to tell him I’m sorry.” I turned and started heading back to my trailer.
“Kinsley, he’s going to need time to cool down, and he will, but—”
“No. I said I would fight for him, and I meant it.” I stopped and turned in a circle, looking at my surroundings.
Where the fuck was my trailer? I was going the wrong way.
I marched off in the other direction. “He needs me to show up for him, no matter what. Even when he’s mad at me or I’m mad at him, or whatever… When we’re mad at each other, we always walk away. Every fight we have, we walk away. But it doesn’t last because we’re supposed to be together. We need to stop walking away, dammit!”
“Kinsley, wait up!” Finn jogged along behind me.
I had started running at some point. I didn’t remember when, but my trailer came into view. I flung open the door, grabbed the keys off the hook on the wall, and ran out to my truck.
“Would you stop for a minute?!”
“No, Finn, you can’t stop me. He needs me. I need him.” I climbed into my truck and started it up. It rumbled to life.
“But I can come—”
I didn’t let him finish. I slammed the door and peeled away into the night.
I glanced in my rearview mirror. Finn stood there, tossed his cowboy hat into the dirt, and ran his hand down his face.
“He’ll forgive me too,” I mumbled under my breath.
Right now, my only focus was getting to Wyatt.