My Texas Sweetheart (book one) (5 page)

I look at him
. “Just what it sounded like, Adam. I’m done caring about what you do. Have fun with your ‘easy lays’,” I say and walk away. I hear Adam grumble something, but choose to ignore it.

Jeff, Amy
, and I head to our class. I walk in and see Jase sitting there, but I ignore him. By the time school is over, I’m pretty sure they are both pissed at me.

I
meet up with Jenny and Christian after school, and we talk for a while. He is a pretty cool guy. I see Adam and Jase walking out of the school, giving Christian a dirty look. Oh get over it boys, neither one of you have a say. I don’t know why I’m so pissed, it never bothered me before. I guess if I look close enough I can come up with an answer, I want Jase. How in the hell can I be falling for a guy like him? I hate man-whores. It bugs me that they can sleep with any girl and not care…. I’m just gonna have to get over it, I know there is no way Jase would ever change for me. So I can never be with him besides he probably wouldn’t want to if he known I was a virgin! Yeah that’s right I’m still a virgin at 18 years old. You would be too… if you had six brothers. Most of the guys in our small town are scared of them so not one would touch me anyways. Jenny leans over and snaps her fingers in front of my face

“Were you even listening?” she asks, well shit I didn’t hear a thing she said…. oops! I say I’m sorry and try listening to her but find it hard, my mind keeps going to a blue eyed hottie…..

Chapter 6 (Jase)

Adam and I have become good friends in the last few months, but it seems like Maggie and Heather don’t want much to do with us. We walk out of school and see the new guy with Maggie and Jenny. I really want to go over there and knock him out for talking to her. After all, she’s the girl I want and can’t have. God, she looks even more beautiful today. I know how Adam’s and my lifestyle disgusts her. The guy touches Maggie’s arm and I’m just about to go over there. Adam clears his throat.
“Don’t do it, man, unless you plan on giving up your lifestyle.  Maggie deserves to be happy and if he’s the guy, so be it.”  What. The. Hell happened to the overprotective brother?

I know he’s right
, but it doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it. “I know she does, but it doesn’t change the fact that I still want to kick his ass,” I say. Adam laughs and nods.

“Let’s get outta here before you do something” Adam tells me.

****

Over the next few weeks
, we start seeing more of Christian with Maggie.  It really pissing me off. My family and the Summers’ spent Thanksgiving together. It was pretty cool, and our families get along great. It was nice not having to see Christian all over Maggie. I wish she could see how much of a dick he is. Maybe she does and she’s just putting up with it. I know Maggie wants something with me… I can see it in her eyes when she looks at me. I also know she will never say anything.

Adam, Pete, Jake
, and I are headed to Dallas this weekend to party with Adam’s two brothers. “Dudes, are you ready to party with college girls?!” Adam smirks.

“HELL, YEAH!!”  We all say.

Maggie, Amy, and
Jeff are going to New York to a Blake Shelton concert. I’m glad they are going. It gets Maggie away from Christian for the time I am gone. Then I won’t have to worry about her being near him. I know Adam and the other guys worry about it, too. They see the same things in him that I do, but what shocks me is that Adam isn’t doing anything about it! Fuck I wish he would or one of them would.

We head
out to the truck, throwing our bags in. The girls come out with their bags. “‘Bye, boys. Have fun, but not too much,” Amy sings.

Maggie walks over to Adam and hugs him
.
“Tell Mark and Gabe that I love them.  Have a good time…and I love you, too.” She smiles up at him.

Adam smirks
. “Don’t worry. I will.” She rolls her eyes.

“Gross Adam I don’t need to know anything about your soon-to-be conquests”

She then
walks over to me and throws her arms around me. I don’t know what to do so I put my arms around her, holding on for longer than necessary.  As soon as she pulls back, I feel cold without her there. “‘Bye, Maggie. Be good in New York,” I say, lamely. She smiles and waves before they jump into her Dad’s truck.

I turn around to see Adam, Jake
, and Pete staring at me, smirking. “Why are you staring at me like that?” I ask. They just shake their heads. We jump into the truck and take off for Dallas.

****

Partying with Adam’s older brother was pretty cool; the college girls were an added bonus. We also met Gabe’s girlfriend, Kara. She didn’t come to Thanksgiving so I didn’t get to meet her before this. She told us how she agrees with Maggie about our playboy lifestyle. She also thinks that Maggie deserves the world because she’s just the sweetest girl ever, as well as beautiful. I could not agree more. Maggie does deserve everything. I wish she would see that and get away from Christian.

“I wouldn’t say how many girls you hooked up with this weekend,” Adam says.

I
look over at him, wondering why the hell he said that.
“Where is this coming from?” I asked, confused.

He
looks at me like I’m a dumb ass.
“You know what I’m talking about. Any warming up Maggie has done with you will be ruined if she finds out.”

Oh
, fuck, he’s right about that, but how am I going to keep this from her? She’ll find out eventually. “Shit, she’s going to end up hating me,” I say, hanging my head. Adam nods. Gee, thanks. What a friend.   

****

Over the next few weeks, we get ready for Christmas. Heather and I do some shopping in Dallas. I ask Heather what she thinks I should get for Maggie, but she was no help at all. Maggie and I have become a lot closer since we got back from Dallas and New York. It’s been nice hanging around with her and joking … until Christian shows up. Adam and Maggie were talking to us about Chase one night as we all sat in the field at school. “I really want Chase to come home for Christmas. I miss him. It’s been far too long since he’s been home,” Maggie says, sadly. They tell us that he joined the Navy when he was 18 and has been in for ten years. He’s only seen his family off and on that whole time.

“When’s the last time you two saw him?” Heather asks. Adam and Maggie share a look. “Two years. After that, he reenlisted for another four years,” Adam says with a sad look. You can see how heartbroken both of them are. The last call they got from him was a six months ago.

Their phones
both go off with a text. From the look on their faces, I can only imagine what it’s about. Maggie looks like she’s close to tears and Amy hugs her. “That was from Creed. Chase isn’t coming home,” Adam says. Fuck, no wonder they look sad. Half hour later we all say our goodbyes.

I drive Adam and Maggie home. As soon as we get there, Maggie walks towards the barn. “Where’s she going?” I ask.

He looked out at the barn
, then back at me. “This is what she always does when Chase doesn’t come home, or when he goes back after a visit.  It’s her way of trying to deal with it.”

Damn
, I want to help her get through this, but I understand the need to be alone. I look back at Adam, who’s still looking at the barn. “It pisses me the hell off when Chase does shit like this! He can get time away, but he doesn’t want to. I’m the one left picking up the pieces when Maggie falls apart! I wish she would stop getting her hopes up when it comes to Chase because he’ll always disappoint her! He’s her hero! Did you know that?!” Adam yells. Wow, I have never seen him this mad before. I don’t know what to say, but I know I can’t make this better for either of them. I think Chase is also Adams hero, and he misses him just as much.

“Yeah, she told me that once,” I say, kicking some pebbles.

Adam starts walking towards the river
, and I follow.
“You know, I used to want to be a SEAL, too, but then I see how it’s keeping Chase away. I know that there’s stuff that haunts him, but he never talks about it to any of us… not anymore, anyway. Once when Maggie and I were eight or nine, we got lost at the town fair. We were both crying and scared, and Chase was the one that found us. He said that he would always be there for us, no matter what. I believed him then…not now, though.  But Maggie still believes that he’ll be there.  That’s why he’s her hero.” I don’t say anything. I figure he needs to talk about it.

“He sent a poem home once that we haven’t let Mom or Maggie read. It shows how broken he really is. I don’t think Dad will ever let them read it. I can’t remember it all but I do remember the title…Where Broken Soldiers Go. I just hope that, one day, he talks to us about what’s bothering him.” I hope that, one day, Adam shares that poem with me, and that their brother comes home. He needs them as much as they need him.

I hear a sound and look around. 
OH, SHIT! MAGGIE HEARD THAT! I turn back to Adam. He looks shocked.
“Mags, please, let me explain…,” Adam begs.

She starts shaking her head
. “How could you keep that from Mom and me?! We had a right to know!” she yells and walks off.

Adam is about to go after he
r when I stop him. “She needs some time, Adam. Let her have it,” I say. He nods. I don’t think any of them see how much all of this is ripping them apart. Wish there was something I could do but let’s face it the only one that can make this better is Chase!!

“Fuck!... how could I be so stupid?” Adam yells out, I know it isn’t a question he wants answered

“Bro clam down… there’s no way you knew she would over hear that”

I didn’t even hear her coming so how could he, Adam starts pacing back and forth. I could go talk to Maggie, make things right between her and Adam or I could stay out of it. Fuck it this is something I can do for them. Just when I go to leave, we hear a door and a few minutes later we see Maggie walking towards us...... Thank fucking god! They need each other.

Chapter 7(Maggie)

I cannot believe my father and brothers kept something like that away from
Mom and me. I am beyond pissed. Why couldn’t they just share it? Why won’t Chase come home? Should I go tell my dad that I know about the poem? Chase is my hero, but why won’t he come home? This is breaking all of our hearts. The family is going to fall apart. We are only so strong. I just… I just don’t know what to do anymore. I do know that I should go find Adam. He didn’t deserve being yelled at. I doubt it was his idea to keep the poem a secret.

I walk
back outside to find Adam and Jase in the same spot. “Adam, I’m so sorry I yelled at you.” I walk over to hug him, and he hugs me hard. I know this is just as hard on him as it is me. After all, Chase was once Adam’s hero, too.

“Maggie, its fine. I understand. Dad had no right to keep that from anybody, but he knew that it would break Mom…and you. It wasn’t that easy to read it. I’m pretty sure that Chase didn’t want any of us to see it.” Adam sighs.

“I know. I should have thought of that before I yelled at you,” I say. Adam nods, but doesn’t say anything else.

I look back at Jase
, who’s looking out at the river with a sad look on his face. I walk over and give him a hug. He looks shocked for a second before he wraps his arms around me. “Thanks for the hug, beautiful, but why?” he asks. Oh, my god. Did…did he just call me beautiful? I ignore it for now.

I smile up at him
. “Because it looked like you needed one, too.”   He smiles at me, but says nothing.  The three of us just sit there and look out at the water.

Jade
, Creed, Mark, and Gabe soon join us and we all sit there. It’s like there is an unspoken communication between all of us, and we don’t want to break it. Hours must have passed before someone finally said something. “I say we go kick our brother’s ass home,” Creed says. We laugh and agree that we should.

Jade jumped up like his butt was on fire
. “I have an idea,” he said.   Okay, not sure I’m going to like this, but we wait for him to tell us what it is.

“Well, what is it, Jade?” Creed asks with eyebrows raised.

“I think we should play hide-and-seek.” He looks at us. “Hey, don’t give me that face. I’m serious.  It’ll be fun and we’re not too old,” he grumbles.
It makes us all laugh.

“Okay, I’m in. It sounds like fun,” I say. I look at everyone else and, after a second, they all nod and stand up.

Jade star
ts going over some rules about not going too far out, watch out for wild animals, blah blah blah.
“Maggie, were you even listening?” Jade asks. I smile and shake my head, causing him to roll his eyes. I really don’t think anyone was listening to him, actually.

Creed decides
that he’ll be the one finding us first so the rest of us start running. I end up hiding with Mark because he grabs me and says that he has a great spot to hide…up in a tree. After about 25 minutes, my butt starts getting sore. “Is he ever going to find us? I wonder if he found the others,” I whisper.

Mark
looks down, then back at me. “God, I don’t know, but this sure as hell is taking forever,” Mark whispers back.

We can hear Jade, Gabe, Creed, Adam
, and Jase somewhere around the tree so Mark and I share a look. We both have big grins on our faces, waiting for them to look up. Mark elbows me and points. I look down to see that Adam and Jase are standing right under us, looking around.
“Shit, where the hell are those two? I forgot how good they are at this game,” Adam says to Jase.

Soon, they all are standing under the tree.
“I’m going to kick their asses for hiding so good,” Creed says.

Mark and I are both shaking our heads and muffling
our laugher. “How can they not feel us staring at them?” I whisper in Mark’s ear. He just shrugs. God, my butt really hurts. Please, just look up already…geez.

“Let’s go look over that way,” Jase says. God, how dumb can they be? I mean, Adam and Gabe should both remember this hiding spot. They all disappear from view.

I look at Mark again
. He’s shaking his head. “Try and get comfortable, baby girl. This might take all night,” Mark whispers. I lay down on the tree branch, and Mark does the same on his side. I can’t even see the stars. There are too many leaves in the way.

Suddenly,
I can hear Adam yell, “Fuck! Why didn’t I think about this before?! I know exactly where they are! Hey, dudes, get over here!”

We
hear all of them running towards the tree. “How’s the weather up there?” Gabe says.

Grinning,
I turn my head to see them looking up. I can hear Mark sitting up so I do, too. I look down at the faces staring up at us. “It’s about damn time you five looked up,” Mark says, with a smirk.  

“Um, aren’t you two coming down?” Jade asks. Mark and I both look at each other, then back at them.

“Give us a minute.  Our butts are numb. We’ve been up here forever,” I grumble and they all laugh.

We start to climb down
and I slip. Everyone gasps, and Mark grabs my arm, steadying me.
“Shit, Maggie. Are you okay?” Mark asks and I nod.

When I get down far enough
, Creed reaches up for me. “There ya’ go, baby girl,” he says.

As we’re walking back to the house, Mark laughs. “We thought it would take all night for you guys to find us,” he said and everybody laughs. 

We walk through the door to the kitchen, still laughing.  Mom and Dad turn to look at us. “What’s so funny?” Dad asks, smiling.

“We decided to play hide-and-seek. Maggie and I were hiding in the tree so long that our butts were numb.  We thought it would take them all night to find us. At one point, they were standing right under the tree that we were in, but they never even thought about looking up,” Mark says.

Mom and
Dad both started laughing, too. “Seriously? None of you boys remembered that hiding spot”? Mom said. They all shake their heads.

“I made cookies and hot chocolate for you all. All you have to do is heat up the water,” Mom says.

I put on the water
, then went and stood by Jase. “Did you have fun tonight?” I ask.

He looks at me for a minute
, then smiles. “I had a blast. I can’t remember the last time I played that game.” I smile back, nudging him with my shoulder. The kettle starts whistling so I walk over and turn it off, then start making everyone’s hot chocolate. Once everybody has theirs, we all sit around the table, talking about Christmas and joking with each other.

After a little while,
Jase stands up, saying he should get home. He said his thank-yous and goodbyes, looked at me one last time, then left.  The rest of us started heading to bed.

****

The next morning, Mom and I start baking and cooking for the party tonight. We heard a knock on the door and, because he was coming down the stairs anyway, Jade said, “I’ll get it.”

We heard him talking, then he came into the kitchen.
“Maggie, it’s for you.”

I wiped my hands off
, then went to see who it was. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed. I plastered on a fake smile. “Hey, Christian. When did you get back?” I looked over at Jade, who was glaring at him. Neither my brothers, nor my parents like Christian. They think he’s bad news.

He walked over
and wrapped his arms around me, giving me a kiss. I tried not to cringe. I can’t do this anymore. I just don’t like him that way, and it feels all wrong. Did I just hear Jade growl? I look over at him. He looks pissed. I look back at Christian. “How’s my gorgeous girl?” he asks. Did I just hear Jade snort? Why is he even still standing there?  I glare at him, and he just smirks back at me.

I roll my
eyes, turning back to Christian. “I’m great. I’m helping my mom with cooking and getting ready for the party so I can’t go anywhere with you right now, but we should talk later.”

Jade starts
laughing so I look over at him.  What the hell?  Now the rest of my brothers are standing there, glaring at Christian. I give them a warning look, but they all just wink at me. I grab his hand, leading him outside. I ask, “Do you want to meet up somewhere later?”

“How about I just come back here so we can talk?” I nod and he gives me another kiss before walking to his car.

I hear another car pull up.
Oh, shit.  What are Heather and Jase doing here? Jase glares at Christian before he and Heather start walking towards the porch. I can hear Jade and the rest of my brothers still laughing when they come outside. “What’s so funny?” Jase asks, which makes the bastards laugh even harder. I’m going to kick them in the shins, and see if they think that’s funny, too.

Glaring
at my brothers, I grumble, “Nothing. They’re just jerks.”

“She cringed when he kissed her, then she said that they ‘needed to talk’,” Jade says.

Glaring at him
, I walk over and kick him in the shin. “Ouch, Maggie. That hurt,” Jade grumbles.

“Good. It was supposed to.”

I look over at Jase
, who is laughing and shaking his head. “You seriously cringed when he kissed you?” Jase laughs.

Growling, I
start to walk towards Jase. Creed grabs me from behind. “Alright, baby girl. Calm down,” he says. I grumble at them and walk into the house. Mom looks over at me, shaking her head. I ignore it and get back to work. Heather soon joins in and helps with the baking.

****

A few hours later, I head upstairs to shower, and put on a tank top and shorts. I throw my hair up into a ponytail and do my make-up. Heading back downstairs, I find Heather to see if she wants to go riding with me. She’s still in the kitchen with Mom and the boys. “Hey, girl. Want to go riding?” I ask.

“Yeah, sure”

We
ride around on Storm and Dixie for a while before Gabe came riding out to tell us that it was time to change and clean up for the party. We head back to the barn, brush Storm and Dixie, gave them some food, and head into the house.
“When is Kara supposed to be here?” I ask Gabe. 

“Anytime now”, he says.

Heather and I head
upstairs to clean up and change.  Heather’s dress is a long, purple strapless dress. She has her hair up in a ponytail and has on purple high heels. My dress is a long, white strapless dress with a slit going up the side. I have on white high heels and my hair is curly and down. I redid my make-up and put on my necklace.

When we get
back downstairs, my dad says, “Wow, don’t you two look amazing?”

“Thanks, Daddy,” I say and kiss his cheek.

As
we head towards the kitchen, Jase is standing there and staring at me. “Wow, Maggie. You look beautiful,” he whispers.

I smile
. “Thank-you, Jase. You look amazing, too.” We’re just standing there, staring at each other.

I
hear someone clearing their throat and look over to see Jade and Creed smirking at us. One of these days, I’ll figure out a way to embarrass them. “Kara is here, baby girl,” Creed says, winking at me.

I look at Jase one last time before I go off to find Kara
. I see her standing with Gabe in the kitchen. She looks amazing in her short red dress, her hair pulled up. “Kara, you’re finally here,” I say, smiling at her.

“Just got here. You look gorgeous, Maggie.” Gabe nods in agreement. She says, “Hey, Maggie, can we talk for a second?” I nod and we go outside. “So I see the way that Jase and you were staring at each other.  Is there something going on, or is he still being a moron?”

I laugh. “He’s still being a moron. Besides, with his lifestyle, I’d always be worried that I’m not enough for him
. I don’t want to be with someone like that.”

She
nods “Everyone changes, Maggie. I felt the same way about Gabe at first, and I almost lost him because of it. If you and Jase decide to give it a go one day, you have to trust him that you’re the only one that he needs. Don’t let stupid stuff get in the way.”

She has a
point. “I’ll think about it, Kara,” I say and give her a small smile.

We head back into the house
. “Baby girl, can you give me a hand for a second?” Mom asks.

“Sure, Mom.”

We put out trays of baked goodies, sandwiches,
veggies, cheese and fruit platters, and drinks. Dad puts on the music, and the rest of our guests show up. I see Christian walking towards me and try not to groan. I was hoping he would come back earlier so we could talk. I really don’t want to do it right now.  I look around and see that my brothers and Jase are looking at us. Oh, great, just what I need is for them to be watching. As soon as Christian gets close enough, I grab his hand and lead him outside so we can get away from them. “Hey, I thought you would be back before this,” I say.

He
doesn’t say anything, just leads me towards one of the barns. What’s going on? This was a bad idea, I should have stayed inside. Something feels off with Christian. When we get inside the barn, he pushes me up against the wall and starts kissing me. I try to push him away, but he is a lot stronger than I am. Try not to panic.
“Christian, you need to stop. I don’t want this. That’s why I needed to talk to you. We can’t be together. I don’t feel anything for you. I’m sorry but we need to break up,” I say, but he isn’t listening to me. He keeps kissing my neck and starts to lift up my dress. “Christian, stop!” I try to push him away again.