Page 12 of Love, Hate, Love

I picked up my pace as I made my way to the ranch, knowing the worst thing for both of us was having any contact at all.

Chapter6

Leah

“Leah,”multiple voices called out as I walked into the bunkhouse. There were some new faces I didn’t recognize among the group piled in front of the big-screen TV for Thursday night football.

It was the close of my fifth day here, but everyone acted like they’d known me since grammar school. Even if these people were concerned about my being a convicted felon, they acted as if they didn’t know anything about my circumstances here. It was so different from the crowd I’d fallen in with back in New York, most of whom cut me as soon as a hint of suspicion became attached to my name.

I gave a wave. “Just coming to use the bathroom.” I walked out a few minutes later.

“Come on, hang out with us for a few and watch the game,” Elijah said, several others chiming in as well.

“Yeah, come on,” Missy said, having come in. She walked closer and then looped an arm through mine, locking me to her side and whispering, “I need you. I’m tired of drowning in testosterone around here.”

Between the amount of people, and the number of beer bottles, my gut was telling me this was the exact scenario that would set Kade off.

“I’m not sure…”

“Kade never comes here,” she said. How she knew that was my problem was unclear, but I nodded. Missy dragged me over to a high-top table near one of the couches. “That’s Bernie, Roger, Ted, Eddie, and…” She mumbled the last name.

“Huh?” I asked.

She leaned in. “I can’t remember the other guy’s name. He’s just started coming around. Pretend I said it and smile.”

I did what she suggested, giving the group a casual wave as I braced for the awkward questions to begin. What used to be normal small talk was now like dodging bullets. “Where are you from,” “How did you end up here,” and “How long you sticking around” were the most dreaded sentences I could hear.

An interception and a third down, combined with a lack of timeouts, trumped all interest for the minute and gave me some breathing room.

“Do they all work here?” I kept my voice down so I didn’t take their attention off the screen. I’d seen some of the faces around, but others were definitely new.

“Some work at nearby ranches—everyone hangs out here for the games, since the bunkhouse has the best screen in town.”

It really did. I’d never seen the projection screen on before, but it was like watching the game in a theater. The thing had to be a hundred inches across.

Adam, one of the few not glued to the screen, walked over and held out a beer to me.

“I’m good, thanks.” I was walking a fine line being here as it was. In fact, the line was about as thin as you could get. The last thing I needed to do was break a rule as big as drinking. I might’ve kidded that prison would’ve been better, but as I was settling in, this place wasn’t turning out to be so bad, especially since I barely saw Kade.

“It’s been a long week. You deserve a beer,” Adam said.

“Really, I’m fine,” I said.

“I’m going to put this right here. If you take a sip, no one is going to notice.”

He put the beer right beside me on the table I was leaning against and then gave me one of those killer smiles, the kind that probably got him company any night he wanted.

“Can you go drool somewhere else? I left all the rags back at the barn,” Missy said.

“Isn’t it past your bedtime?” Adam replied.

“I’m staying up late while I wash the crabs you gave me out of the sheets.” She followed that with the sweetest smile you’d ever seen. These two didn’t play around, or at least not in the way they clearly had in the past.

It was a hard enough blow that Adam’s face turned so red it was causing a rash all the way down his neck.

“Fuck you,” he said, obviously out of original lines, as he walked away.

“I guess you two don’t like each other much?” The way she looked at him, I was glad there weren’t any nearby knives.

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