Page 18 of Forbidden Ride
Chapter Eight
“So you really don’tfeel comfortable being pampered? Every minute of this date is going to be torture, huh?” William teases. We just woke up from our nap. He was worried that I still might be weak from the accident and insisted we go out and get something to eat. He puts the car in gear, and it crunches over the snow.
I stifle a chuckle as the truck eases onto the main road. “Damn straight. But I guess I can handle dinner. You’re very good at taking care of your patient, by the way.” I throw him a wink. When no one has treated you like a woman in years, it’s a little unnerving when a supermodel mountain man starts showering you with attention.
“Berry’s Roadside Bar is hardly the kind of restaurant I’d take you to on a real date, but it’s the only place open up here and I know for a fact you’re hungry.”
Hungry for more of you...
Obviously with him being a Johnson and me being a West, a relationship with William is out of the question, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t irresistible.
I sneak a glance. Does he know how insanely attractive he is? He doesn’t look anything like his brothers, or his mom for that matter.
I don’t know the Johnsons well, but our ranch borders their property, so I’ve had a handful of run-ins with William’s mom, Maeve, and his younger brothers, Cletus and Buck.
“So has your mom always been the way she is?” I cautiously ask.
“You mean has she always been a drug dealer, or has she always been cruel?”
I swallow. “Both, I guess.”
“She changed after my dad died. I was young—seven when he passed from cancer—so I’m not sure.” His shoulders tense up, and he clears his throat. “But I have some good memories of all of us back in the day, and she seemed kinder then. She says she started selling drugs because it was the only thing she could do to pay the bills and save the house,” he explains, glancing at me. “My dad didn’t have life insurance and they hadn’t saved a dime. At least that was her excuse the whole time we were growing up.”
“And your brothers, she forced them to work with her?”
“Manipulated is more like it, everyone except Jeb and me. My brothers and I are sort of split down the middle. Cletus and Buck are younger and more susceptible to pressure from my mother. Jeb and I had more time under Dad’s influence. Then again, Buck and Cletus weren’t the sharpest tools in the shed to begin with.”
“I’m so sorry, William.”
“Don’t be. It is what it is.”
“No, it isn’t. I’m sorry you had to go through all that. I know what it’s like to lose a parent. We lost both of ours in a car accident fifteen years ago. We were lucky they left us some money and the ranch.” I gulp down a lump the size of Texas. “Shane had just turned twenty-one. Chase was eighteen, and those two really looked after me and Ryder. I can’t imagine what life would be like cut off from them.”
“I remember that accident. I’m sorry it happened to such a sweet girl like you. It must’ve killed you.” William quickly swings his gaze to me and then turns back to the road.
“It was rough going there for a while,” I admit, trying not to think back on it too hard because I might start crying.
“They must’ve been good people, because the whole town loved them. I remember all the parents crying about them at my baseball game.” He reaches over and runs his hand along my thigh. “Your brothers sure did a good job looking after you. I’m happy they did.” He laughs. “But I’m still not sure I like them.”
I’m not about to tell him that my brothers call his family “inbreds.”
