Page 20 of Between the Stars

Speaking of Rhett, I hear his laughter from the other room as Dad walks in with Rhett beside him. “Abbi Gabbi? You’re home for Christmas?”

I grin, my arms open wide. “Surprise.”

The next five minutes are filled with hellos and them questioning why Griff isn’t with me. What I do focus on is my mother telling me who’s coming into town tonight.

My cousins on my dad’s side.

“Are they really coming?” I ask, heat crawling up my neck. I came home to see my parents and Rhett, not my extended family.

Rhett turns to me, a sly smile tugging at the corners of his mouth knowing how I feel about our cousins and my uncle Luther. “Thirsty, kid?”

I wait until my parents are out of the room and grab my brother by his jacket. “If I’m going to survive tomorrow, I need a drink. But first I need to shower.”

Rhett wraps his arm around my shoulder. “I know a place.”

CHAPTER6

Christmas blues

JACE

Whiskey might just be the best medicine.

“She’s pregnant.”

I don’t know who Morgan’s talking about, but I act surprised. Because I fucking am. Remember when I told you I held pressure to this guy’s nut sac so he didn’t bleed to death? I did. And though it’s an event I try hard to push out of my memory, it’s there.

“What?” I turn to face him. “Really?” I drive another post into the frozen ground, wind slapping my face as Morgan twists wire around the posts to secure it. In case you haven’t figured it out, Amarillo’s winters suck. Wind, snow… it’s harsh, and bullshit. “I thought you couldn’t have kids.”

Morgan’s jaw clenches, his cold eyes on the herd of cows looking at us like we’re insane for being out in this weather. We are. I can think of so many things I’d rather be doing today, but none are as relaxing as spending the day on the Grady Ranch.

“I can’t,” Morgan finally says after a brief pause to shield his face from the gust of wind blowing ice pellets.

I squint as the ice batters my face. “So…” My breath comes out in a cloud of steam, the wind whipping around between us.

“Yeah. She’d been fucking someone else. Long before me and Lil.”

“Wow, man. That’s shitty.” I can say all kinds of things about cheating on people, because sadly, I’ve done it. I’m not proud of what I did back in high school, but to be completely honest, they were all a distraction from Abbi. She was always the one I was sneaking around with. So… can you call it cheating? They were technically just borrowing me until she had time.

No, that sounds even worse, doesn’t it?

Hell, maybe this Griff motherfucker is just borrowing Abbi until I’m ready?

Nope. Still sounds awful and, man, does the idea of her with him still sting. It’s like I’m driving one of these posts into my chest.

“So what are you going to do?” I ask, packing up the wire cutters and wrenches we’ve been using as we head back to the ATVs parked in the snow.

“It’s fuckin’ over, that’s for sure,” he grumbles. “Fuck her.”

“And you and Lil?” Of course I’m curious about that. They’re both my friends, and while I understand what happened between them with a one-night thing, they love each other and I know from experience that doesn’t just go away. Hell, maybe I’m wondering because it’ll give me hope. I don’t know.

“We’re” He pauses and stares at the fence we just repaired. Snowflakes blow through the wind and blind our vision of the barn in the distance. “We’re, I don’t know. Complicated?”

“Man” I snort and lift the old fence posts into the back of the trailer attached to the ATV Morgan was on. “Don’t talk to me about complicated.”

He laughs as he removes his work gloves. “You going to do something about her marrying Tennessee?”

“I haven’t decided yet. Maybe.”

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