4. Grayson
FOUR
Grayson
T he Wildflower—the only bar in town—is loud and rowdy tonight, but worst of all, it’s filled with half my family. Some old rock song plays in the background, but the chatter drowns out the lyrics.
I shouldn’t have come .
People who have no concept of how far their voices can carry, especially when drunk, are talking about me and making bets on who I’ll go home with. It’s like being back in high school all over again.
Wyatt and I arrived about two hours ago, and of course, I drove, so now I can’t leave until he’s ready to go.
As soon as we walked in the door and I saw how busy it was, I found the only empty stool in the entire place and parked my ass in it as I kept a watchful eye on my siblings in the low lighting.
Wyatt is playing pool with Kade and some women I don’t recognize.
Gracie is on the dance floor with our cousins, Autumn and Olivia.
They’re drawing stares with their loud laughter and silly dance moves; they’ve obviously had too much to drink and will pay for it in the morning.
I’m just glad everyone seems to be having fun, even if I’m not.
I take a slow sip of my drink, my eyes fixed on the condensation sliding down the glass when I place it on the stained bar-top.
Behind me, I catch the faint murmur of ‘Avery’s back’.
My chest tightens to the point of pain, but I don’t turn around, don’t ask questions, trying to confirm what I already know.
Instead, I tighten my hold on my glass and pretend that a certain blonde country star and her return to town has nothing to do with me.
I know she’s been back since she left—people talk about it enough—but I didn’t see her then, and I probably won’t see her now.
Besides, the ranch is my priority, not finding love or making nice with my ex.
A flash of a memory has me sitting taller on my stool.
Her tear-streaked face, those pleading green eyes that I used to get lost in for hours, and the sight of her taillights disappearing into the dark.
She’d begged me to leave, but there wasn’t ever a question of me doing that.
Wild Heartlands and my family are at the very core of my existence.
It’s in my blood, in my bones, even if losing her ripped the soul from my body.
“Cheer up, big brother.” Gracie slings her arm around my shoulder. The force shakes the still full bottle of beer in her hand, sending foam up the neck, which spills over the lip and onto my worn jeans. Great . She steps back, laughter falling freely from her lips.
I snort, brushing the damp spot on my thigh as I narrow my eyes at her. “Thanks, Gracie,” I admonish, shaking my head.
She grabs a handful of napkins from the bar-top, holding them out to me with one hand as she tips her beer back with the other. As if my night couldn’t get any worse, I’m now going to reek of beer. I dab at the wet spot, even though I can feel it seeping through the fabric and onto my bare skin.
“Well, that’s what you get for being a grump.” Gracie grins, a twinkle in her eye as she sticks her tongue out at me.
I cock a brow. “I deserved to have beer spilled on me for trying to have a quiet drink?”
She rolls her eyes, as if my deduction of the circumstances is ridiculous. “No. You deserved it for looking like you’d rather be anywhere else but here.”
“That’s because I would,” I reply matter-of-factly.
Huffing out a breath, she leans closer, shouting to be heard over a sudden increase in volume from the bar patrons. “You need to live a little, Gray. It’s not healthy for you to keep yourself so cut off from people.”
I chuck the damp napkins on the bar-top, turning in my seat. With my full focus on her, I tilt my head, lean in close, and ask, “You mean like you do with Reed?”
Gracie stumbles back, her jaw going slack as she huffs out a breath.
Shock collides with disbelief as it flits across her features.
Reed Harrison, my Chief Financial Officer, is Gracie’s best friend and has been since they were running around in diapers.
For half a second, I feel bad for calling her out on her own shit, but then it’s gone.
Her voice is low and urgent when she says, “We’re not talking about me.
Don’t deflect your own stuff onto me, Gray.
I’m well aware of my situation.” When she steps back, her eyes dart across the bar, and I don’t need to follow her gaze to know who she’s looking at.
It’s clear in the way her features soften.
Autumn approaches, snaking an arm around Gracie and resting her chin on her shoulder.
Her face and chest are flush from the alcohol, and her chestnut brown hair sticks to her forehead.
A light sheen of sweat covers her body, and patches of liquid are dotted around her red summer dress.
I wonder if Gracie spilled her drinks on Autumn too .
“Gray, you’ll never guess who I saw today,” Autumn slurs.
“Who?” I ask, signaling to Titan, the owner and a muscled up biker, for a top up. Any time Gracie and Autumn get together, I need a drink. It’s always been this way; they talk each other into stupid shit that I end up having to fix. Every. Single. Time.
Autumn whispers something to Gracie, and they erupt into drunken giggles. I shake my head, hoping they’ll distract each other enough to leave me in peace, but I know that won’t happen. It’s like they get off on raising my blood pressure.
Turning back to face the bar, I nod to Titan when he puts a glass of whiskey in front of me.
He shakes his head at Gracie and Autumn—still in the midst of their giggling fit—and pours out two tall glasses of water before placing them on the bar in front of them.
I bring my own glass to my lips and take a deep swig of the amber liquid, holding it in my mouth and reveling in the warmth.
“I saw Avery,” Autumn sing-songs.
I choke on my drink, and the liquor sprays over the counter as I cough violently.
Fuck me . I knew Avery was in town, and yet at the confirmation I’m still surprised.
Still shocked to hear that she’s actually here and seeking out my family.
Gracie pats me on the back, and when I look at her, her mouth is in a lopsided smirk.
“You okay there, Gray?” Gracie asks, not bothering to fix her tone and clear the ‘gotcha’ from it.
Standing, I shrug her off and reach for a fresh wad of napkins to clean up my mess.
I stare up at the ceiling before shaking my head and looking over the sea of people. My eyes land on Wyatt on the other side of the room. He’s standing next to the pool table, flirting with a buckle bunny, not a care in the world as Kade lines up his shot.
For a second, I consider leaving him to get home by himself, but then his gaze meets mine and his brows pull together.
He shoves the pool stick he was leaning against into the chest of the blonde and pushes his way across the crowded room, quickly followed by Kade.
He probably thinks there’s about to be a fight; it’s the only reason he’d move that quickly.
As if they hadn’t just handed me a grenade, Gracie and Autumn are chatting amongst themselves, darting furtive glances at me and then looking away to giggle. I can’t hear them over the noise of the bar, but I get every other word or so and catch mentions of her name.
Why has she come back?
There’s nothing here for her anymore, aside from her parents, but she hasn’t made any effort to return to Coldwater to see them in a long time.
It’s been over a decade since I last saw Avery Blake in person.
Since she made a decision that broke us apart.
Some might say that was plenty of time to get over her, but I honestly don’t think I am.
Not really. I think about her in the lonely hours, and there are far too many of those once work on the ranch is done.
Or maybe it’s the idea of what we could have had that I miss and not the woman herself.
Wyatt’s by my side when I shake my head, clearing away the unwanted thoughts of Avery. His hand lands on my shoulder, squeezing it as he looks down at Autumn and Gracie. “Did you tell him?” he asks, bringing his beer bottle to his lips and taking a swig.
I shrug him off, stepping back as far as the bar will allow me. “You knew?”
My head rears back, and I know he’ll see the hurt in my eyes that I don’t bother to hide. He at least has the sense to look sheepish, even if for only half a second. Wyatt drops his eyes to the worn wooden floor, looking up under his lashes at Autumn and Gracie, a sly smirk pulling at his mouth.
I fucking hate them all.
Okay, so not really, but they test my last nerve constantly. They’re like meddlesome children, despite all of them being over the age of twenty-eight.
“Someone gonna clue me in? Who are we fighting?” Kade asks, looking around the room as he rolls up the sleeves of his blue plaid shirt.
At least I was right about one of my siblings thinking there would be a fight.
Ignoring Kade’s question, Wyatt pulls me in by the shoulder, shouting to be heard over the noise of the crowded bar. “Look, Gray, we’ve only ever wanted what’s best for you. If that is being with Avery, then we’ll help make it happen.”
I pull back and level him with a stare. One that I’m hoping speaks volumes about how fucking stupid I think that sounds. He, of all people, knows what I went through when Avery and I broke up.
At my worst, he was there to help me pick up the pieces. For him to stand here, telling me I should be with a woman I haven’t forgiven, let alone seen in over a decade, is wild. Almost as wild as the horses that roam the pastures on the outskirts of town.
His face grows serious, and he turns us away from Gracie and Autumn. “You’ve either got to get over her or fix whatever went wrong between you. You can’t keep shutting yourself off, especially if it’s going to mean you end up dying an old, grumpy man. You’re halfway there, brother. Let love in.”
Shrugging him off, I stand taller, grinding my back teeth. “You sound like a damn hippie, and if you think I’m stupid enough to give Avery another chance at breaking my heart, you don’t know me.”
We stare at each other. I have nothing more to say that I haven’t already said.
Avery broke me, and I have no intention of letting her have another chance at shattering me completely.
I just need my family to get on the same page as me and understand that I’m fine being alone.
I’m happy to make sure they get whatever it is in life that will make them happy, and they don’t need to worry about me.