Chapter Seventeen
Parked in front of the TV, Liz examined the frozen dinner rapidly cooling on her lap, and with a sigh, set it on the coffee table in front of her, her appetite gone.
She would much rather be eating at the house with everyone than here, poking at a sad excuse for food, but she also wanted to be alone. She turned the channel to the news, not paying attention, her thoughts preoccupied, her nose hurting more than she’d like to admit.
The big, fat pregnant heifer that was sitting on her conscience made her want to just take a beat and think without anyone else around as well. She needed to figure out what that damned kiss had meant.
If she got involved with Jake, would it get complicated? Would Tanner be completely pissed when he found out? Not that he could change her mind, he had no say in her damned love life, but it would just be another thing to deal with right now and she was already tired.
But no matter what, she knew she liked Jake.
A lot. He was different, which was a big reason behind the physical attraction.
He ticked all the boxes. Tall, gorgeous, and masculine.
Plus, he could cook, had a thought in his head other than trucks or livestock, but looked every inch a cowboy once you put him in those damned jeans that fit him so very, very well.
He would be a lot of fun, and she wanted to have fun, damn it.
She pinched the bridge of her nose carefully, the tape against her fingers wrinkling, angry at herself for getting caught by that damned horse.
She looked ridiculous, and he had kissed her anyway.
What did that say about him? What did that mean?
He seemed like a genuinely good man. Her gut told her he wouldn’t take advantage of her or play her, like Darren had.
It was confusing, and she hated being confused.
Being in love, all that bullshit was supposed to be straightforward.
Black and white. You either were or you weren’t.
Darren had muddied the waters when he’d cheated on her, and she hated that she still thought of him when it came to being with someone, making her second-guess her own decisions.
It was exhausting, measuring every other man against him.
It had been over a year since she’d thrown her engagement ring at him, called him a fucking asshole, and stomped out of the clinic, every nurse and orderly standing gaping.
Dramatic and stupid, she knew it would mean I told you so and Don’t throw away the best man you’ll ever have statements from people would come and dig into her like spurs.
So she’d closed that part of herself down, clueless about how to ease the hurt of being rejected.
Darren was supposed to be a safe choice; the solid, comfortable guy. Choosing him was security for the future and protection for her heart because it was simple. Now, she wasn’t sure what the future with someone else looked like, only that it felt out of reach.
A fling was not the right answer to all that baggage, not with someone as volatile as a long-lost West who was currently causing havoc in her family’s life. Not by his own doing, of course, but all the same, it would be a stupid move.
But the ghosted heat of his mouth on hers whispered in her ear that she really, really wanted to.
A door slamming outside broke her train of thought, and she abandoned all thought of her dinner congealing in the plastic tray.
Being the closest bunkhouse to the main house, she could easily hear comings and goings, and that had come from the front of the house, not the back door that everyone used. Curious, she looked through the window and saw the front door wide open, a square of light in the gathering dusk.
“Better go see if Mom needs me,” she muttered to herself, and shoved her boots on to walk the few steps over. As she was going up the steps to the veranda, she heard shouting and stopped, debating about whether she should go any farther.
Shit. Tanner knew about her and Jake. What else could it be? She sighed and continued up the steps. If she needed to be there to set Tanner straight, she might as well wade in.
As she entered the hallway to the dining room, deep voices echoed from the kitchen. Tanner and Jake were shouting at one another, with a swear word or two thrown in the mix. Brady was yelling at them to stop, of course. Everyone was mad.
She startled as Tanner, with his arm across Jake’s throat, burst out right in front of her, Jake hitting the wall hard enough to make all the picture frames and the sconces rattle with the impact.
A West brother earthquake.
“Tanner! Stop it!” she yelled as she rushed to their side. He turned, his eyes glittering with rage, and she stopped dead.
She hadn’t seen him mad like this in a long, long time.
“Back off, Lizzie,” he hissed, and turned his attention back to Jake, who, now that she looked from one brother to the other, she could see was just as angry.
Liz prudently stepped back just as Jake’s arm came up and broke Tanner’s choke hold and pushed him back against the wall on the other side of the hallway.
Jake didn’t retaliate, and stepped back, breathing heavily.
He looked ready to swing at Tanner, his entire body rigid.
“Back off, yourself,” Jake growled at Tanner, which made Tanner step in and crowd him. You could practically see the testosterone in the room, and Liz—had this not been Tanner and the guy she was attracted to—would have found the scene amusing to watch.
“You fucking asshole. You have no business—”
“What I do on my own time is none of your damned business—”
“It is my fucking business when it’s Liz, dickwad.”
“Kiss my ass, cowboy.”
They were yelling at one another again, noses inches apart, cords in their neck popping. They were spitting images of one another, with curled fists, set jaws, and tense shoulders, making it anyone’s guess who would throw down first. Someone was definitely getting punched any minute.
“Tan, stop, let’s talk about it,” Brady said as he stepped between them, a hand on his brother’s chest. Tanner shoved him aside, and Brady stumbled.
“Dude!” he yelped as he grabbed the door frame of the dining room. “Seriously?”
Where was her mom? Liz decided to go look for her, and as she attempted to sidle past them, ear-splitting clangs echoed through the house as Peony strode out of the kitchen, banging a pot with a metal spoon.
Everyone stopped and turned to her as she planted her fists on her hips, pot and spoon firmly grasped, and gave them a look of sheer annoyance.
Her mom was livid as well. Ooh . . . the last time Liz had seen that look was when she’d gotten home from playing hooky from high school and her mom had found out.
Her ear had hurt for days from where Peony had grabbed it and dragged her into the house, yelling at her the entire time. She’d been grounded for weeks.
The tension in the room was palpable, and Liz’s anger bubbled out.
Once more, some man was being a jerk about something that he had no business interfering in.
She knew Tanner would be pissed, but this?
Where did he get off, thinking he could control her choice regarding who she wanted to be with? It was her life, her decisions.
“Listen up, you Neanderthals. Take your fight outside. I will not be pleased if you wreck my house,” her mom said tersely, and Liz cringed on instinct at her mother’s sharp tone. “I am done with this bullshit. Figure out your differences because if you don’t, so help me god—”
“We’re going. My apologies, Peony,” Jake growled, rubbing at his throat.
He pushed Tanner away from him and stalked past Liz without even looking at her, and out the front door, clattering down the steps.
Tanner, a slightly shocked look on his face, followed right after him, but not before stopping to grab at Liz’s arm.
“You and I are talking after this, you hear?”
“You’re not my keeper, Tan,” Liz snapped, shaking his hand off. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
He let go of her arm and stomped out the door. Liz looked at Brady, and they both headed to the door.
“Get the first aid kit and some ice,” Brady said. “One of these two idiots might need it when this is done.”
Liz bristled, fed up with the whole damned thing. Both of them could go to hell.
“Yeah. They can get it themselves.”
Despite her statement, she opened the front closet and found the first aid kit they kept there, setting it on the key table by the front door.
They’d find it easily enough, and she should go help her mother clean up dinner, which was likely still on the table.
Let them beat each other to a bloody pulp.
This had nothing to do with her, even if it was about her.
Her mom was in the kitchen, picking up things off the floor. The kitchen looked like a bomb had gone off.
“They started shoving each other like stupid yearling bulls in here,” her mom said, and waved a hand around. “Tanner just barged in halfway through our meal, grabbed Jake out of his chair by his shirt, and threw him through the door.”
“Fucking hell,” Liz muttered, looking around.
Papers had slid onto the floor from the side table, the wire dish rack normally on the counter was halfway across the kitchen.
Liz picked up the tea towels normally hanging on wooden pegs near the ovens and threw them toward the sink.
The sprayer head was sideways, knocked off the tap and hanging listlessly.
“Care to tell me why?” her mom asked, leaning on the counter. She tapped a spatula and a butter knife against her leg.
“Um, well, it seems that someone, most likely one of the hands, saw Jake and me, um, kissing in my office today.”