Page 107 of Revelry
“Ugh, you all suck.” She huffed but she had a teasing glint in her eye. “But thanks for doing it, it means a lot. Jack and Leo, I managed to get your shirts back. Gertie has yours Tate, and Max, I have no idea where yours went.”
“I think I saw Tilly grab it,” Leo said.
“You’re not getting that back; she’s still obsessed with you,” Jack teased. Max rolled his eyes before cursing and storming off. We said our goodbyes and then I was on the prowl for Gertrude.
I barely made it around the side of the stage, and she was throwing herself at me, my face getting lost in her mop of dark curls and I inhaled deeply, my eyes closing.
“Oh my God, who was that man that got up on stage?” she shrieked, pulling back to stare at me with amazement. “When did you plan this? How did you—”
I cut her off with a kiss, needing her close because although I had gone up on stage and done that performance, the adrenaline was wearing off and I was growing anxious. I tilted my head, sinking deeper into her, wanting to lose myself in her.
“Shall we get out of here?” I asked, a little breathlessly when we pulled apart. I plucked at her swollen bottom lip and she nodded at me with a dazed expression. I loved seeing the effect I had on this wild woman. Seeing how I tamed her.
I tugged my shirt on and took her hand, pulling her along behind me. We were almost at the edge of the fair when someone called my name.
“Tate!”
I turned and came to a stop when I saw my half-brother there. His lip was caught between his teeth, eyes wide and his keen expression piercing my chest. He looked so like my father, same eyes, same nose.
He looked like me.
Resentment settled like granite in my chest as I thought about all the time he’d had with my father. That my father had chosen him over me. Everything I’d had to suffer after he left us. How heruinedus, ruined me.
Gertrude squeezed my hand in support, like she knew that facing him was tough.
“Come on Gertrude, let’s go.” I stalked off, tugging her along behind me.
“But…Tate—”
“Let’s go.”
Eventually I wasn’t dragging her anymore, but I could feel her disapproval. I knew she wanted to lay into me, and I couldn’t deal with this now.
We got into the truck and I was pulling out of there faster than a bat out of hell. When I looked in my rearview mirror, that boy was still standing there, watching me drive away. Devastation lined every inch of his familiar face, and I squeezed my eyes shut against it.
“Tate,” Gertrude began.
“I don’t wanna talk about this.”
“But Tate, he—”
“Please,” I pleaded, and she nodded once, then quietened. I couldn’t deal with the fact that she would guilt me over this.Because I was already feeling bad enough. And more than guilt was a childish bitterness that threatened to consume me.
This was why I avoided them. This was why I wanted nothing to do with them. Because even after all these years, I wasn’t over what happened, and they still had the power to wreck me. I still felt so inadequate because… why didn’t my father want me?
I lost myself in my feelings, drowning in them.
We rode in silence. When I pulled onto the driveway and got out, Gertrude lingered between our houses, like she couldn’t decide whether to go home or not.
“I need you,” I said simply, and she came to me willingly. I was so grateful that she still came to me. I wrapped her in a big hug and carried her inside the house, past the living room with its ugly, perfect Christmas tree and up the stairs. I set her down in my room and we stared at each other.
I ditched my shirt and her eyes roved over my chest. She stepped forward, stroking her fingertips over my pecs and down my abs. My skin tingled underneath her touch, my cock growing thicker in anticipation.
“You look like a real cowboy,” she breathed, her eyes flicking to the Stetson still on my head.
“Oh yeah?” I asked, my lips lifting in a smirk. I lowered my head, whispering in her ear. “Are you the ranch owner’s daughter?”
She giggled but I didn’t miss the way she still shivered with delight. I loved how sensitive she was to my words, my touch.
