Page 4 of Wild and Wrangled

Teddy:SHE’S HAD A ROUGH DAY.

Teddy:(but I have so much to tell you)

Dusty:Haven’t talked to her. She hasn’t seen me.

What would she do if she did? Run in the other direction? She’d been damn good at avoiding me for the past year since I came home, and in a town like Meadowlark, that took a lot of effort.

My thoughts flashed back to when I saw her last year—for the first time in years. Emmy, Teddy, Ada, and Cam were having some girls’ night. I walked in on it, and there she was.

And she was wearingmyMargaritaville T-shirt. I’d given itto her the summer after high school. It had been in the back of my truck after we went swimming, and she’d needed something to wear. I had completely forgotten about it until I saw her wearing it that night.

It put ideas in my head—about what coming home meant for me. And then, I looked down and saw the giant rock on her ring finger.

Hopes: dashed.

Whatever. It was fine. I was fine. It was stupid to think that the girl I’d loved would be a woman waiting for me—I knew that, but it didn’t hurt any less.

The door to the bar swung open a while later. This time, three men came through the door. Gus and Wes Ryder and Luke Brooks.

Gus called out for Cam, and her head shot up to him. She looked like she’d just been caught doing something she shouldn’t have, which made more sense when I saw the bottle of vodka clutched in one of her hands.

I smiled.

She made her way through the bar while Gus tried to stop her. She stumbled over her dress a few times before making it to the bathroom, where she slammed the door.

Brooks looked up, and his eyes scanned the bar. When he saw me, he turned to say something to Gus before making his way over to where I was sitting.

“Hey, man,” he said with a nod. Brooks cleaned up nice in a pair of black slacks and a white button-down.

“Hey,” I said. My voice cracked a little—nice. “What’s going on there?” I gestured toward the bathroom door, where both Gus and Wes were knocking. I tried to be nonchalant about it but knew I probably failed.

Brooks shook his head. “Groom didn’t show.” My mouth fell open. At his words, I felt my ears get hot.

“Seriously?” I asked. Who the hell doesn’t show up when they’re getting married to a woman like that? What a fucking idiot, I thought—talk about fumbling the bag.

“Seriously,” Brooks said. “It’s safe to say the wedding is off.” My heart kicked at my rib cage. “Gus and Amos handled almost everything, but Cam’s parents are pieces of work.” I already knew that. Rutherford and Lillian sucked—they always had. They probably always would.

“Where’s Riley?”

“With Teddy and Emmy. Leaving her with them was the only way we could guarantee that they wouldn’t hunt Graham down and kick his teeth in.” They would, too. Emmy and Teddy weren’t a duo that you wanted to mess with—especially if they had a common goal. If they had their heart set on ruining that guy’s life, it’d be done by tomorrow.

“Shit,” I breathed.

“Shit.” Brooks nodded. I looked over at the bathroom door again. Gus was still knocking, but Wes was making his way over to us.

“I don’t think she’s coming out,” he said.

“She’s not,” I said. Cam was stubborn, and she didn’t like to be at the center of everything. She liked the outskirts. The way people would rally around her now would probably make her uncomfortable—even though she deserved people showing up for her. That didn’t matter, though. Cam would prefer to disappear.

She probably wouldn’t leave the bathroom until the bar was empty, like totally empty.

“I know how to get her out,” I said to Brooks. “But we’vegotta clear this place. She won’t come out with all these people around. Can we do that?”

Brooks nodded and called over to Gus and Wes, who started walking toward us. “Dusty has an idea,” he said as they approached.

Gus narrowed his eyes at me—always the protector. Gus Ryder was a good man. I idolized him growing up and still looked up to him more than he knew. “What’s your plan?”

“She doesn’t want to face any of these people here,” I said. “And she definitely doesn’t want to see any of you.” Wes deflated a little bit at that.

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