Destry (12 page)

“Since the author’s cute and it’s a good book.” She snatched it back from my hands and hugged it to her chest. “Nice dodge but no prize, big brother.”

I sighed and leaned back crossing my legs at my ankles and running my hands down my face. “Yeah, she’s under my skin,” I admitted and crossed my arms over my chest.

“She’s more than under your skin.” She smiled up at me like a fool. I needed to halt this conversation pronto. I wasn’t real keen on chatting relationships with my baby sister… who was innocent.

“What’s this I heard about you going to a bonfire with Jimmy Rogers the other night?” I cringed and waited for her answer. Ellie-May might have been the baby and protected by us all, but she was growing up and none of us could stop it, no matter how hard we tried. Baby sister or not, we were screwed. I looked over at Ellie-May who was still smiling with a dreamy look in her pale blue eyes. Her honey-blonde hair hung in waves down her back. Her tiny frame and small dimple in her left cheek, teamed with her blinding smile that could light up an entire room, meant she was already the center of attention. She was a knockout, which in big-brother speak meant we weren’t just screwed; we were royally screwed.

“He’s cute.” She blushed while I groaned out loud.

“Cute isn’t good enough,” I told her gently.

“He’s not just cute; he’s smart. He’s sweet to me.” She looked down at her hands, which were now tracing patterns on the cover of her book. “He’s not like the other boys.”

“I know you’re not a baby anymore, Ellie-May, but… please just be smart.” I swallowed past the thickness in my throat. “You can always come to me or the boys. Strike that; don’t go to Austin, unless it’s in dire circumstance. Or somebody needs a hidin’.” I scrubbed my hands down my face again and stared off into the wide expanse that was our ranch, contemplating the day my little sister falls in love.

“Ellie. Please stop calling me Ellie-May. I’m not a baby, you just said it so I’d really like it if you stopped calling me that.” She protested in what I was sure wouldn’t be the last stand on her ‘growing up’

I’d always been her protector, her rock. The moment she came home from the hospital, she was my little Ellie bug and that was never going to change. She picked her book up and climbed off the swing, squeezed my shoulder and shuffled inside. Our mother had died while having her and left us boys and a newborn little girl with Dad, a guy who was a hard worker and an all-round good man, but had no clue how to raise a little girl or cope with losing the one woman who’d brought him to his knees. Hell, he had no clue how to keep on going after Mom died. So he packed us up and moved us out to the ranch. Not even two years later, he was with Mom thanks to a nasty kick to the head from a stallion he was training.

Our family had always been into training horses; they were beautiful creatures, but damn if they weren’t strong and on occasion unpredictable. An animal to be respected, once in a while, you’d find that one horse you connected with and she’d be your best friend for life. I pushed off the chair and made my way to the stables where my girl was. I’d been given Gypsy on my tenth birthday as a gift from Gramps. He’d told me every boy needed a good horse and this one, ‘she’ll be good to you.’ He was right too. She was getting up there in age now, so she didn’t go out often, but damn if she hadn’t always been right by me when I needed her most.

“Hey, old girl,” I called when I got to her stable door. She lifted her head and neighed a gentle greeting before nudging my hand looking for her treat. “Hold up, I’ll get you something,” I told her, rubbing the spot near her cheek where she loved to be petted. Reaching over, I snagged a couple of carrots from the bucket I kept close by and fed them to her. “I really like this girl, Gypsy.” A small snort from her and I kept going, unloading all my thoughts on the one friend I knew I could trust. “She sort of snuck up on me. I really don’t know what it is about her, but I think I need her in my life.” She nudged my empty hand and I fed her the other carrot I’d picked up. “Maybe, it’s her sense of humor. She’s so damn gorgeous it makes me want to turn into a pansy-ass and tell her every five minutes. Simple things like washing her hair, and she acts like I’ve just moved a mountain. She’s so goddamn sweet and she gets along with Ellie-May and the boys. When she smiles. I swear to God, the angels must cry; it’s that beautiful. I mean, what’s not to lov—” I shook my head trying to dislodge the word and the feeling behind it. Gypsy nudged me hard this time and neighed at me. I looked at her; she blinked at me, and then dropped her head.

“Ah, shit,” I cursed when realization sunk in. I dropped down on the stacked hay bales behind me and put my head in my hands. “I love her. Holy shit. I do. I love her.” I pulled my head back up and looked over at Gypsy who was now completely disinterested. “This week is gonna be a head fuck,” I noted aloud. I stood up, moving to the barn doors and wandered out to the lake where Amelia and I had spent some of our time together while she was here.

Gravel crunching under tires had my head popping up from the book I’d pinched off Ellie a few hours ago. I moved off the chair I was stretched out in, and made my way outside to see a bright red, obnoxious looking convertible pull up. A lanky guy with a massive bald spot flung the door open and started yelling, “Amelia, Amelia!”

“What the fucking hell?” I heard Austin curse from behind me. I ignored him and stomped toward the front door to find out just what this guy thought he was doing and why he was looking for my girl.

“Amelia!” he was still yelling, because apparently, if she was here, she was deaf.

“Can I help you with something?” I asked sternly when I made it to the top of the steps. I crossed my arms over my chest in a display of ‘pissed the fuck off’ and glared at him. He took a step back when I felt Austin and Braxton flank either side of me.

“I’m looking for Amelia,” he snipped, looking me up and down like I was a bug he needed to swat with a newspaper.

“Clearly. What’s your business with her?” I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

“Amelia!” he yelled, craning his neck to see past the solid wall of cowboy barricading the front door. “Amelia!”

“You deaf?” I asked, taking the few steps down onto the cracker-dust driveway and stopping a few paces in front of him and his hoity toity sports coat. “What is your Goddamn problem?”

“My GD problem, as you so eloquently put it, is none of your business, but if you must know, I’m looking for my fiancée.” He put his hands on his hips and his words registered. My stomach dropped and my chest tightened up.

“Come again?” Austin barked from my left.

“My fiancée, Amelia. I’m looking for her. The private investigator I hired told me she was being kept here.” He looked around in disgust. My tongue seemed to be stuck to the roof of my mouth and a lump formed in my throat. She was engaged. To a guy I didn’t know existed. She wasn’t mine at all… she was his.

“Nobody was being kept here, needle dick,” Austin growled. My heart was close to beating right out of my chest and falling broken to the ground.

“She never mentioned you, not once in two weeks did she mention you,” Austin kept going. I put my hand up and silenced him without taking my eyes off this guy.

“What’s your name?” I asked in a gruff voice.

“Wesley Longstone Junior,” he said with his nose in the air.

Austin snickered but I pushed on. “How long have you been with Amelia?” I asked through gritted teeth, dreading the next words that came from his mouth. She’d lied to me; she had a fucking fiancée!

“Eight years or so,” he said smugly, taking a stance that under normal circumstances would have been threatening, but this guy was as skinny as a twig and didn’t look like the type to get his suit dirty trading blows.

“Fuckin’ kidding me,” Austin roared. Braxton had stayed silent through the entire exchange, simply standing by me in the event I needed him. I dropped my arms by my side and clenched my fists. Not one to show weakness, I turned to my right and walked off toward the barn without a sound. I could hear their voices as I went, but I didn’t care enough to stop. The boys would deal with the jackass. I needed to find a way to break through the searing pain in my chest.

I pushed into Gypsy’s stall and sunk down onto the straw that lined the floor. I dropped my head into my hands and pulled my knee up leaning my elbow on it.

What felt like a few moments later, Gypsy came over and nudged me with her head. She huffed at me so I rubbed her nose and pulled myself up. Being completely comfortable with each other, I passed up the saddle, threw my leg over her and took the reins. Before I knew it, we were flying across the green grass with the wind blowing past us, her muscles stretching out as we rode for nowhere.

Why didn't I realize this? She’d never spoken of her past; she never admitted anything about where she had come from? Why the fuck hadn't I been suspicious about how easily she just agreed to stay? Who does that? Someone with a fucked up secret, that's who.

“I’m such a fucking dumbass!” I cursed out loud, my voice lost in the wind. Gypsy knew what I needed and kept on pushing.

I had never felt this way about anyone before, not even with my ex. I saw a life with her. I saw us together for as long as I could imagine. I saw her completely owning the heart that she had now completely destroyed. I pulled back on the reigns and slowed Gypsy down, eventually bringing her to a stop by the water. After I hopped down off her, I tied her to the closest tree and paced back and forth, finally letting my rage and hurt get the better of me. I punched the tree I had stopped near.

“Fuck! Mother of fuck!” I yelled when I realized I’d just done some damage to my hand. “Fucking why?” I sunk down against the old elm “Why her? Of all the girls, why’d I have to go and fall for a lying city girl? Again.”

“Because you’re a glutton for punishment and you didn’t have the good sense to fucking learn a lesson the first time.”

I pulled my car into my street after hours of non-stop driving; I wanted this over with as quickly as possible. I knew it was going to take a good few days to have everything taken care of, but I wanted to get it all moving so I could get back to Luling and my cowboy. I checked my phone again as I pulled into the drive of the oppressive house I had once called home, still nothing; I hadn’t heard from Destry for hours.

I turned the car off and shot out a quick message letting him know I’d made it okay. I pushed out of the car and walked up the pathway toward the front door, noticing not a flower was out of place. Stepping through the front door, I could feel it almost instantly: the suffocating feeling I’d been living with all my life. I’d left that feeling behind two weeks ago and I intended to leave it behind for good this time. I wasn’t ever coming back here once my finances were sorted out.

I slipped the house keys off my keyring and put them in the basket by the door. I then climbed the stairs and packed all my belongings into three suitcases and a box before lugging them down to my car. I wasn’t at all surprised to find Wesley wasn’t there, seeing as he would be at the office until almost dusk. I was glad I’d been able to get all of that done while he wasn’t there. I didn’t have anything I wanted to say to the piece-of-shit scumbag. I picked up my phone again to check for a reply. When I had gone to town to get my car, I had picked up a new cell phone but kept my old number. Just as I was about to pocket it, it started to ring.

“Mother,” I answered with the simple word that didn’t describe her at all.

“Amelia, darling. Juliet just called me and told me she’d seen you driving through town. Is it true? Have you come to your senses and come back to dear Wesley?”

“I’m in town. I’m just here to collect my things,” I told her matter-of-factly.

“Don’t be rash. Your sister is terribly sorry for what happened,” she said with a slight slur to her voice. Some things never changed; it was three in the afternoon and she was well on her way to being wasted.

“Rash?” I breathed. “I’m far from being rash, Mother,” I snipped at her.

“Dinner tonight with Daddy and me at the house. 7pm. Don’t be late.” With that, she hung up and the line went dead. I’d like to have said I wasn’t planning on going but I had a few things I wanted to say to them before I left again, and dinner was as good a time as any.

I drove down the road and booked into a hotel, and then made a few phone calls to start closing down my joint bank accounts. Before I knew it, I was walking up the front steps of my parents’ elaborate home. Our long time butler answered the door as I lifted my hand to knock. Lord knew you didn’t ever enter your childhood home without a formal introduction.