Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
BAYLOR
My brother watches me from across the barn. I can feel his gaze on me, but I don’t stop what I’m doing. I need to take Apple for a ride, and it’s a good day for that. And a good day to think, which is also something I need to do.
I claimed Emily last night, and I meant every word I said. But right now, being alone with my brother and our horses, I’m wondering if claiming her… if loving her is enough. Turning my head, I look back over my shoulder at him.
“Maisie talked to me yesterday.”
“Yeah?” I ask.
He hums before he speaks. “Emily Brown.”
I stare at him, arching a brow as I wait for him to continue, because he’s no doubt got some smart-assed shit to say. He doesn’t speak immediately. Instead, he continues to stare at me, watching me. Crossing my arms over my chest, I tilt my head to the side as I wait him out.
“What the fuck are you doing with her?” he asks.
“Is there something wrong with her?”
He shakes his head once, clearing his throat before he rocks back on his heels. “You know she wants you for your last name, don’t you?”
“I thought you said I could bring her around, no matter who she was.” I remind him of the conversation we had not too long ago right here in this same goddamn barn. But clearly, he meant that anyone except Emily wouldn’t matter.
“And I thought you were distracting her so I could get with Maisie. You been fucking her for a year?”
I don’t like the way he asks that, and I can’t imagine what he would say if the tables were turned and I said something about Maisie. This situation isn’t ideal and something I would have liked to avoid, but here I fucking am, and here he is.
“Does it matter how it happened?” I ask.
He shrugs a shoulder, his gaze never wavering, focusing on mine and looking nowhere else. “I guess it doesn’t. Just know there will be a prenup. She’s not going to get our last name and the ranch.”
The fact that my brother is standing in front of me like an absolute fucking hypocrite is almost laughable. I wish I could pull a mirror out of my pocket and show him his own fucking reflection.
Pressing my lips into a thin line, I decide that I can’t deal with this conversation for another moment longer. Slipping my foot into the stirrup, I throw my leg over the side of the saddle and grab the reins.
Beckett hasn’t moved. His head is tipped back, his gaze on me. Wrapping my fingers around the horn of my saddle, I lean forward. I’ve got about a million things rolling around inside my head, but I don’t say any of them.
Instead, I tug on the reins. Apple backs up, but neither Beckett nor I say another word. I think about flipping him off, then decide it’s not worth it. I want to avoid any kind of fight that this relationship would bring, but here we are, in a goddamn fight about it.
Well, I’m not in a fight. I’m offended that he’s being an asshole. He might be in a fight with me, but I’m going to prove to him that what I feel for Emily isn’t just her wanting my last name. It’s more than that.
He’s going to have to see it to believe it, though.
And I’m going to show it to him.
“Believe what you want,” I state. “Be skeptical. I don’t give a shit,” I continue, even though I kind of do give a shit, because the whole thing pisses me off.
My brother, of all people, doesn’t have the fucking past to back up what he’s trying to say to me right now. He spent years pretending that he wasn’t in love with Maisie by fucking other women.
Acting like he had to carry our entire family on his back with no help, like the rest of us were just fucking idiots who couldn’t do shit.
I honestly think he wanted to be in control of everything.
I don’t know if it became overwhelming or what happened, but he finally relinquished a bit of the business to the rest of us, but not much.
Now he’s finally got his personal shit straight, no thanks to himself. If it weren’t for us, for his family, he’d still be a miserable asshole instead of just an asshole. Tilting my head to the side, I tug on the reins again.
“Emily Brown is a good person, Beckett. I know you’re thinking of the rumors and whatever you two had together, but that’s the past. Maisie can overlook it. She’s cool with it. I would hope to fuck my brother would be okay with the woman I’ve fallen in love with, too.”
Without giving him the option to respond to me, I tug on the reins and click my tongue. Apple takes off like a shot, ready to run. He’s been cooped up lately with my work schedule, fixing the house, and all things Emily.
Pinching my eyes closed, I let Apple do his thing, enjoying every second of it.
I didn’t realize that I needed this, maybe even more than Apple.
When he stops, it’s at the edge of our property and the Ackermans’; it’s as if he knew that’s where our property line ended, even though the fence is gone.
I don’t push him further. I’m not sure I want to right now. The view is too pretty. The house in the distance, the cedar trees, and the stock tank. This is it. My future. Seeing it right in front of me like this, I can’t help but realize that Emily fits.
She’s the one.
I hope it doesn’t cost me my relationship with my brother, which ironically was the one thing I didn’t want to lose.