Destry (8 page)

Her face went from lust filled to soft and thoughtful. She dropped her head and took a deep unsteady breath before looking back up at me. “We better get back,” she whispered. I helped her down from the hood of my truck and opened her door, waiting until she was tucked safely inside before I closed it and walked around to my own side, climbing in and starting it up. She was quietly reflective as I drove toward the ranch, thinking about the day and all the events that had brought us to this moment.

“You were defending me?” Amelia asked softly, a few miles up the road. I gripped the steering wheel tighter and nodded my head stiffly. Thinking about Jake’s insults brought back some of the anger I’d felt earlier.

“I didn’t... I mean nobody’s ever… thank you,” she stumbled on her words. The only thing I really heard was ‘nobody’s ever’. I clenched my jaw tightly and stared straight out the front window. The fact nobody had ever defended a girl like her irritated me. Every girl, no matter who they were, deserved to be stood up for.

The rest of the drive home was silent, unlike my
r
iled up internal monologue. Regardless of trying to convince myself that Amelia was a mistake, there was something about this girl that had me teetering on the edge of a drop off. I just needed to decide if I could jump and still survive the fall.

I curled deeper into the comforter trying to block out the alarm clock screeching just out of arm’s reach. I’d been having the most delicious dream about one very handsome cowboy and the fact I had been so rudely interrupted by the incessant sound of ‘wake the hell up’ o’clock made me curse into the moss green pillow. I still wasn’t quite used to getting up so early, but I was going to do it even if it killed me. And killing me it was.

Sleep had been evading me since the night at the bar two days earlier. I was still unsure why Destry had stood up for me when dick-for-brains had started running his mouth. One minute, he’d been hot for me; the next, he tried to blow me off, and then not even two hours later, he was standing up for my honor and all but tearing my clothes off on the hood of his truck. The guy was the epitome of hot and cold. I wasn’t looking for anything with him. Hell, I wasn’t even staying in town long enough to have much of anything with him, even if I’d wanted to, but all the same, he was giving me whiplash. Every night since he’d taken me on the table and followed it up by the searing kiss on the roadside, I’d had trouble finding sleep, and when I finally did drift off, I’d had variations of the same dream. Destry making me scream his name while he did things to me I’d never thought of doing with anyone else. I had no idea my mind could conjure up such vivid, graphic images.

Unable to tolerate it any longer, I crawled out of bed and turned off the alarm before getting ready and heading downstairs to see what the day held.

“Morning, sunshine.” Austin smirked at me and passed me a cup of strong smelling black coffee the moment I walked into the kitchen. How the boy was so chipper before the sun had even come up was beyond me.

I took a sip of the hot liquid and sighed. “You’re fast becoming my favorite person to see in the morning,” I joked, bringing the cup back up to my lips. Austin laughed at my appreciation for the liquid gold in my hands and wandered off.

“I resent that.” Braxton pouted with a cute look on his face as he put a steaming dish of scrambled eggs on the table.

“Oh, don’t pout, honey. I have to tell him these things or else he’ll sulk all day.” Braxton laughed and sat across the other side of the table as Austin called out, “I heard that!”

“I think you were meant to,” Braxton jibed at him. The relaxed, easy way we’d all slipped into a routine made me smile. They were so accepting and sweet. I felt comfortable in a way I’d never experienced. Ellie-May chose that moment to wander in and plonk herself down at the table with a scowl across her pretty face. Austin and Braxton took one look at her, looked at each other and slid a large stack of pancakes and a bottle of maple syrup directly in front of her. The entire table was silent while she dumped half the bottle of syrup over the steaming pile and stabbed her fork into them like they’d personally offended her.

Both boys loaded up a plate quickly and quietly before slinking away and dashing out the back door. I sat there looking around completely confused, just before I opened my mouth to ask what was wrong, Destry’s thick voice sent a rush of warmth through me as he whispered in my ear, “I’d make a break for it while you still can.” I turned my head slightly to find his face inches from mine, his hot breath tickled over my ear making me blush when I realised he was staring at my lip caught between my teeth.

“I… I umm.” I shook my head slightly lost in a dream state, completely derailed from my train of thought.

Destry’s mouth opened slightly as he stared at me, our hot breath mingling in the small space between out faces. I could feel the want crackling between us. It was impossible to ignore what had happened between us. I tried and failed. Nothing I did could tamp down the chemistry that was brewing like a storm. I wanted to feel his soft but calloused hands all over my skin, again. I wanted to fly apart while he drove into me rough and hard.

“Y’all going to stop making eyes at each other now or should I take breakfast elsewhere?” Ellie-May’s annoyed inquiry made us both jolt away from each other like we’d been burnt.

“I’ll be out back when you’re ready to go, ‘Melia.” I’d had the nickname ‘Melia by one person or another before, but never had it made me feel warm and comforted. I watched as Destry stepped out the back screen door, and when it sacked back against the wooden frame, I poked around at the food that’d been put on my plate.

“Sorry. I don’t mean to be a snappy cow,” Ellie mumbled stabbing at her pancakes.

“No harm, honey.” I cleared my throat and took a sip of the strong black coffee that was wafting up toward me. “Anything I can help with?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t over stepping my boundaries.

“Boys suck. Being a girl sucks and I’m just mad.” I smiled into my mug. The reason behind the boys’ hasty retreat became clear. My brain translated her mood and words in a way that reminded me of long-forgotten attempts at sisterhood with Nikki.

“PMS?” I asked quietly, picking up my lightly buttered toast and trying not to laugh.

“Yes, I hate it. It turns me into a rampant lunatic,” she grumbled, bringing her fork up to her lips and shoving a dripping piece of pancake into her mouth, nearly inhaling it. At that moment, I wished I’d had a sister who cared enough to have a relationship with me.

“You wanna talk about it?” I asked my little sister Nikki from the doorway of her bedroom.

“No, I don’t want to talk to you, Little Miss Perfect,” she screamed into her pillow.

“Come on, Nikki, you know it isn’t like that.” I really hated when she called me that considering as I had always felt like the outsider of the family. I didn’t like dressing the part in ridiculous dresses, perfect makeup and flawless hair. I wanted to go out camping and be bike riding with the boys. I wanted freedom and the power to choose what I did with my own life. I wanted out of this suffocating society of snooty women and demeaning men.

“You just had to go and ruin my life, didn’t you?” she screeched at me from her pink, puffy princess bed.

“I haven’t ruined your life. I was just pointing out that I don’t love him. I don’t and I should be able to marry whoever I want, shouldn’t I?” My small display of rebellion had come about after my parents and Wesley had sprung an engagement proposal on me.

“If you don’t marry him, I’ll be looked down on for you being a spinster.” She spat the word ‘spinster’ as if it offended her. “You’re getting too old for anyone to want to marry you.” She glared at me through her cold gray eyes.

“I’m not too old. I’m twenty-four. Twenty-four isn’t too old.” I didn’t bother to argue with her on the spinster status affecting her chances of a good pairing since that much was true.
If I didn’t marry Wesley and lay claim to his family, word would get around that Highsmith girls were difficult, thus lowering the chances of Nikki marrying well.

“Stop being a bitch and just marry him. He’s rich for crying out loud. You won’t have to work a day in your life and you can live like mother.” Her gaze turned dreamy at the mention of money and Mother’s lifestyle of pretentious debutants, country clubs, and martinis.

“I wish you and I could have some other kind of relationship. You’re my sister for Christ’s sake. We’re supposed to have more than this, ” I verbalized, the wind from my sails deflating when her porcelain face screwed up.

“Relationship? No, what we have is an arrangement and you are nothing but competition. I’ll be polite and put my game face on when people are around, but know that that’s what I see you as. You’re competition to me. Just know that I will win. My marriage will be more plentiful and richer than yours. My husband will spoil me in lavish gifts. I’ll do it bigger and better than you ever could and with more class.”

“Don’t for a second think that you’ll ever have more class than me, Nikki. It’s sad this is the kind of life you want. You’re looking at it through rose-colored glasses. Can’t you see how lonely it would be? You think pretty things and fancy dinners will make up for that? You’re wrong. You’re so very wrong.” With that, I turned and left the wicked witch to her precious castle. My family were horrible people with tiny minds and conniving attitudes. I had hoped I could save Nikki from becoming the one thing I detested by opening her eyes to the realities of our lifestyle. It had been a waste of breath. She’d already been blinded by the glamour of it all. The shiny surface that was hiding a thick sludge she would one day drown in. Me, on the other hand, I always had a defiant streak under the cardigans and pinned up hair. I was a people watcher, and even from a young age, I hadn’t liked what I saw.

I shook my head to clear the memory and focused on Ellie.
“Happens to the best of us, lovely.” I put my hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze while I pushed away from the table and stood up. She was such a sweet girl. I hadn’t had much contact with sweet, but damn if she hadn’t wiggled her cute self into my heart a little.

“He likes you. He’s lousy at showing it, but he does,” she told me quietly, making me stop with my hand in the air halfway to the door.

“Maybe,” I mumbled in return. What more could I say to that? He screwed me senseless right where you’re eating breakfast but then he went cold as a dead fish? That probably wouldn’t go down well.

I walked out the back door to find the boys all leaning against the quads waiting for me.

“You survived the wrath of Ellie,” Austin snickered, jumping on to his ATV as I shook my head at him and climbed onto the back of Destry’s quad, gripping onto his shoulders. I wasn’t sure why I had jumped on Destry’s bike in particular until I felt his strong body between my thighs. Oh, yeah. This probably wasn’t the best of ideas. I was so attracted to him that just sitting here was wreaking havoc on my libido.

Braxton and Austin took off ahead of us as Destry kicked the bike to life, the rumble of the engine vibrating under us. He reached up to where my hands sat and pulled them down, wrapping them around his waist.

“Hold on tight, sweetheart,” he rumbled before we shot off into the fields. I was acutely aware of the warmth of his skin coming through the deep blue cotton t-shirt. Every bump we went over bounced me around, my breasts rubbing against his muscled back. He grunted loudly when a large dip in the road had my hands losing their grip and landing solidly in his lap. With a cringe, I quickly righted myself and gripped the sides of his shirt as we flew through the green grass.

“What’s she doin’ up the tree?” Austin’s voice drifted up to where I was climbing onto another slightly smaller limb above me. I was so close, just a few more branches to go. I reached for the next one and lost the grip I had on the rough bark. Grasping for purchase, I tipped backward and before I could right myself, I was tumbling through the air.

“Amelia!” Braxton’s panicked voice penetrated my mind just as I hit the ground with a thud and skidded on my side.

“Shit, Austin, get my pick up. Brax, first aid kit.” Destry’s short bark seeped into my foggy brain, his voice closer than the others were.

I shifted with a groan and moved to sit up; his hand holding me in place stopped even that. “For shit’s sake, don’t move, woman.” I blinked a few times trying to understand what the heck his problem was. He had no reason to be an ass, yet short of growing a tail and pointy ears, he’d suddenly become one.

“I’m fine, “ I snapped back at him, pushing his hands off my shoulders.