Page 86 of Home in the Country
FALLON: I should have told you Tanner was coming today and I’m sorry. There’s nothing going on between us and I need you to trust me. Trust you and me.
FALLON: Trust us.
FALLON: I have to go back to work now so be mad – but be ready to talk when I’m done. You’re MINE, Otto Raymond.
Throwing my phone into my purse, I back the car out of the parking space and send up a little prayer that all my bravado isn’t for nothing.
29
OTTO
My hands tighten around the steering wheel as gravel crunches under my tires. Hank’s lakeside property is quiet and serene and completely at odds with the absolute mayhem raging inside me.
I’m fuming because Fallon didn’t tell me, when I’m bustin’ my ass every single day to show her I’m in this for always.
My phone is still quiet which I’mmore pissedabout and then I realize that the damn thing is dead.
Fuckin’ perfect.
Plugging it in, I step out of the truck and let the gentle sound of the waves wash over me as I pick up a flat rock and skip it across the surface.
I do it again.
And again.
My mind is speeding faster than a racecar in Daytona, but the thing that hits the hardest is that I’mhurt.
Fallon didn’t trust me enough or think I deserved to know that Tanner was here officially.
I’m not sure how long I stand there, but the more time that passes, the less settled I feel. My phone is lit up when I get back in my truck with several missed calls and text messages from Fallon, which I read but don’t respond to even if the last one almost makes me smile.
The one from my brother, though, gives me pause.
CASE: Don’t be an idiot. Talk to her. I took care of Smokin’ Joes.
I don’t respond to that one either, but it settles me at least a little bit. With a dangerous amount of free time on my hands, I head back into town and toward the small, newly rented house I know Tanner now occupies—one of the perks of a small town.
Throwing the truck in park, I stomp up to the door. There’s no plan other than I’m already sick of waiting and not knowing what’s going on. I trust her but that doesn’t mean I trusthim.
Fallon and I are something special, and I’ll be damned if Tanner thinks he’s just going to waltz into my town and take my girl.
My fist slams against the door, and I’m surprised when it opens before I have the chance to hit it a third time.
The guy that opens the door is a few years older than I am with light brown hair and a runner’s build. I recognize him from his picture immediately.
Taking a step back, I clench my fists at my side.
“If we’re going to fight, can we do it out back? I haven’t met the neighbors yet, and the house is too small to do it in here even without any real furniture.”
The words are like a bucket of cold water. “Do you think we need to fight?”
“You tell me.”
He’s not intimidated by me even though I probably look like a raving lunatic. This whole conversation is freaking me out, so I stay silent.
“Cool,” he says after a minute. “So how about I grab us some waters and we talk in the backyard andthenwe can decide if we’re going to fight?”
I seriously want to laugh becausewhat in the actual fuckis going on? Tanner turns and leaves me standing on the front step as he makes his way into the kitchen.
