Chapter 30
30
William Andino
“ A nybody need another beer?” I ask, standing from the card table, eyes scanning the three men opposite me. Everyone glances up at me, nodding as they continue their conversation. Walking into the house from the garage where my dad, Max, Conrad, and I are playing a round of poker, I pull open the fridge and grab four bottles of Bud Light.
Back in the garage, I drop down into my folding chair, passing the bottles out to everybody. Max has a cigar hanging out of the corner of his mouth, and I can’t help but chuckle at how ridiculous he looks.
“Hope you guys are ready to lose your fucking money,” he drawls, cracking open the bottle and downing a swallow.
Nobody is competitive like Max. I think it’s what made him such a damn fine bull rider back in the day. The overpowering need to beat everybody else took over. Tonight’s poker night was his idea, and I gotta say, it was a good one. We’ve been talking about getting together for a good old-fashioned guys’ night since I moved back to Copper Lake, but it just hadn’t happened yet.
“Do you guys remember playing poker when we were teenager during our senior year?” I ask. Chuckling at the memory, I glance at my dad, knowing he has no clue what the hell I’m talking about.
“God, those were the days,” Max murmurs, huffing out a laugh.
“I don’t think my parents ever did find out that we’d take over the barn at the ranch nearly every weekend,” Conrad adds, as he brings the bottle up to his lips for a sip.
“Did you ever catch on to the fact that I would sneak your beer from the fridge?” I ask my dad.
He laughs. “Of course, I did. I wasn’t an idiot, son, and you weren’t exactly slick.”
I don’t know why, but that’s surprising to me. My dad wasn’t exactly overly strict, but did have rules, and he had no problem reaming my ass for not following them. “Why’d you never say anything?”
Shrugging, he shuffles the deck. “I was young once,” he replies simply. “I knew where you were, who you were with, and I knew you boys were good kids. Couple beers wasn’t going to hurt you.” Then he shifts his gaze to Conrad before adding with a smirk, “And your parents absolutely knew what you were doing because I told them. Yours too, Max.”
We all laugh, the nostalgia from back then hitting me hard.
“You boys thought you were so sneaky, but little did you know, we were always two steps ahead of you.”
“I guess that’s how it is, huh?” Max asks, a glint in his eyes. “As a parent now, I can relate.” He chuckles deeply, as if thinking back on a specific memory. “Colt thought he was slick too. Always running off with Cope and Shooter, getting into who knows what up at the ranch.”
At the mention of Colt’s name, my blood heats at the same time guilt racks my nerves. We’re still lying to Max, and it makes me feel like shit. Colt’s been in Vegas for a few days now, and we haven’t spoken much today because he’s been busy with his friends. The phone in my pocket is practically yelling at me to pull it out and see if he’s texted me. I’m like a damn fiend for him, which is a little inconvenient considering I’m sitting around a poker table with his father.
“I wonder if my great, great, great grandparents knew when they purchased that land that it would become the regular hang-out spot for high school teenagers to drink and fuck around.” Conrad breathes out a laugh as my dad deals the cards.
“It really is a great spot for that type of thing,” I add.
We play for a while, the game getting pretty heated, before my father decides to call it a night. I grab the rest of us another beer as we sit around the table, shooting the shit like we used to. There’s something so special about being in my mid-forties and having the same two friends that I’ve had since I was little. Not many people can say that nowadays.
So, Christmas is right around the corner,” Max murmurs. “Conrad, I know you’re coming over, but Will, you and your dad should come too. I know it’s your first Christmas back home.”
“I’ll talk to my dad, but that should work.”
“Trish has already hounded me more than once to make sure you and Roger come.” He laughs. “She tried to get him to come last Christmas, but he wasn’t having it.”
“Stubborn old man,” I muse.
“Conrad, what’s new with you lately up at the ranch?” Max asks, eyeing him from across the table .
Blowing out a breath, Conrad replies, “Not a whole lot, really. Things have been pretty steady for a while. My nana is coming to visit in a couple months, though.”
My brows raise. “The one that lives in Norway?”
“The one and only.”
“Well, that’ll be nice, right? She hasn’t been back to the states since, what, your parents’ funeral?”
He nods, sighing. “Yup, it’s been a while.”
“Why don’t you look excited?”
Conrad has always had an incredible relationship with his nana. When we were kids, she lived in Copper Lake, but once Conrad’s papa died several years back, she moved to Norway, where she was originally from. Something about a long-lost sister she never knew she had who was still there. Either way, she doesn’t make it back very often, especially now that she’s getting older.
“She doesn’t know Whit and I aren’t together anymore,” he murmurs, brows furrowed.
I nearly choke on my beer. “Excuse me? How is that possible? You guys have been divorced for years.”
Conrad grumbles, the expression on his face telling me he’s over this conversation already. Any time Whit gets brought up, it’s like he can’t get off the topic fast enough. He’s always been a private, closed-off man, but it’s even more so when it comes to Whit and their relationship, or lack thereof now.
“She loves Whit, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her about the split so soon after my parents died,” he explains grimly.
“And it just never came up?” Max asks.
“We don’t talk on the phone all that often, and when we do, I lie and say Whit’s at work but that he sends his love.”
I can’t help it, I throw my head back and laugh at the predicament he’s put himself in. “Conrad, what the hell are you going to do when she gets here, and you live very much alone? Whit has a boyfriend, doesn’t he?”
His scowl deepens as he looks across the table at me. “Yes, he does. And I don’t know what I’m going to do. Haven’t figured it out yet.”
“Oh, man. I don’t envy you, my friend.”
Finally giving in to the itch, I reach into my pocket and grab my phone, pulling it out. My chest tightens and my stomach flutters when the screen lights up and I see I have a new text message.
Colt: Howdy, Doc. How’s poker going? About to head to the arena with Whit and Xander.
A picture is attached, and my mouth waters at the sight. Instead of his signature backwards hat, Colt’s wearing a cream-colored cowboy hat, a royal blue patterned pearl-snap shirt, a pair of deliciously form fitting Wranglers, and his boots. Whit’s in the picture with him, an awkward smile on his face as Colt flips the camera off, his tongue sticking out of his mouth. He looks sexy.
Me: Remember… mine. ;)
Checking the time stamp of his message, it was sent about a half hour ago, so he probably won’t see my response for a while if he’s already at the arena. I feast my eyes on the picture again, taking in every detail.
“Who’s got you smiling like that?”
My head snaps up, gaze colliding with Max’s smiling face. He looks amused, and my stomach drops as I quickly lock my phone and shove it back into my pocket.
“Oh, no one,” I say. Real fucking smooth, Will.
He chuckles. “You seeing someone and holding out on us? ”
As the weeks go by, it’s becoming harder to keep this from him. A large part of me wants to just tell him already and get it over with. He deserves to know. The fact that everyone at this table knows except for him doesn’t help my guilty conscience either. I’ve found myself on more than one occasion almost reaching for Colt, or leaning into him, in front of his parents before I catch myself. It’s only a matter of time before I slip up. Being around Colt feels like we’re magnetically connected. The need to be touching him at all times is overwhelming.
My face heats, but before I have time to think of an answer, Conrad chimes in.
“Max, did you see the Millers bought a fancy new fishing boat?”
Max takes the bait, and they dive into a conversation about said boat, and how we’ll have to go out on it with them next summer. I let out a deep breath, thankful for my friend and his ability to change the subject.
Colt and I are going to have to revisit the topic of telling him and Trish eventually, but for now, I’d prefer to tuck it away like the chicken shit I am.