Page 36 of Love, Hate, Love

“Driving off with Barney.” This might actually be the only salve to losing that bottle. Alec had wanted to try it more than I had.

His jaw dropped. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“Nope. I bought him off with good whiskey,” I said as I walked over and took a seat on the couch.

Alec leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Man, that fucking sucks.”

“Also, you have to stay in the small gray room. Leah uses the bathroom in the other bedroom now.”

He gasped. “You’re shitting me. You know I hate that bed.”

“That’s unfortunate for you.” I shrugged.

“You better pour me some of that crap you didn’t give away.”

I topped off his glass and then leaned back.

He stared at me for a few seconds before he said, “In all seriousness, you’ve got to figure this shit out. If you keep acting like an ass, once this year’s up, she’s going to walk out of here and never look back.”

I didn’t respond at all. I couldn’t. My chest felt too tight to speak.

Chapter17

Leah

I was brushingdown Princess late the next day when Missy walked over, giving the horse a rub on her head, and Princess leaned in.

She shot me one of those smiles. Missy was as transparent as cellophane. Her face told you so many details that words sometimes got in the way if she spoke.

“You heard.” I was getting so used to my business being aired that I didn’t even blush. After having a nickname like the Devious Debutante blasted throughout one of the largest cities in the world, a handful of people finding out about an embarrassing evening didn’t have the same weight it used to. I just assumed someone would’ve heard our fight and then it would spread like fire through bunched-up newspaper.

“I swear no one was trying to pry, but it was hard not to know. First the deputy was here and then none of you were very quiet. Raised voices tend to carry around here. After all that hoopla, it would be more shocking if we didn’t know.”

“Yeah, we had words. It’s pretty much done now, though. Hopefully you won’t have to hear us fighting again for at least a couple days.” Our longest streak was three days, but that was only because we were avoiding each other on and off.

“I think you push his buttons like no one else can.” Missy had a look on her face like she was holding back a secret.

“Don’t get any crazy ideas. It’s not like that.” And it never would be. I was keeping Kade at arm’s length. No way would I let that man close enough to hurt me again.

“Do you think he was jealous? It sort of seemed that way,” she said, trying to sound naïve.

“I think he likes to fight. That’s it.” This girl was watching too many rom-coms. She’d be better off switching to murder mystery if she was going to label us, because I was about to bury Kade in an unmarked grave behind his ranch.

“I don’t see him fighting with anyone else, though.” She shrugged, keeping up the innocent act.

“Okay, he likes to fight with me. But that’s all it is. There’s nothing romantic between us. Trust me.” Any illusion of caring on his part was just that. And me? I couldn’t afford to care for him. This year was about survival and holding on to the last shreds of who I was. If I let Kade in, even an inch, he’d obliterate me.

That finally wiped that look from her face, but it shifted into furrowed lines. It was too much of a swing in the other direction. She glanced around before she stepped a little closer.

“So that thing Kade said about you and Alec, that wasn’t true, was it?”

She looked like she was holding her breath while waiting for my answer. Oh no, this wasn’t good. Of all the people to crush on, Alec was not the one. He’d been a playboy before he got out of his teens. He’d been born to it like a zebra was doomed to stripes.

“We’re just friends. That’s all,” I said, not having the strength to break her heart—not thathewouldn’t if given the chance.

The breath visibly left her as she put a hand on Princess’s neck and leaned in to the mare.

“I wouldn’t care. It’s just I think Kade might be upset—at least, that’s how it seemed last night,” she said.

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