“She shouldn’t have done that,” I reply. I don’t want her to get hurt, and what she did was really dumb.
“If you pulled your head out of your ass, you would know she’s not the same girl who bullied me. She deserves a chance,” Ever tells me.
“Yeah, sure. You would say that.” I turn to walk away, but Memphis grabs my arm.
“What the fuck, man?” Memphis steps up to me.
“Sorry, Ever.” It’s not her fault my head is a mess.
Memphis backs down. This has been a shit day.
“Linc, get your head in this game. You need this. And the way I see it, she’s your partner. Maybe you don’t like it, but you need her,” Mason points out.
I turn away from the glares and my eyes roam in search of her. She’s feeding carrots to the horses and giving them water. I can see the tears streaming down her face.
I did that to her. Her brother joins her and she throws herself into his arms. I can see her body shake as she sobs.
“Fuck,” I mutter.
“You’re a dick,” Memphis adds.
I nod. I am. I’m a dick.
I need to apologize.
“You guys can go home for the night. This is just day one,” Sal tells us.
“We have to do this again tomorrow?” Mason asks.
“Tomorrow you’ll be here, but in a different capacity,” Sal smirks.
“Care to elaborate,” Jimmy chimes in.
“In due time, fellas,” Sal says. “Don’t worry about the horses, we’ll get them home. There are vans waiting.” And with that, Sal walks off.
“That guy is so weird,” Jimmy whistles.
“My uncle is eccentric in a sense,” Ever giggles.
“That’s your uncle?” Mallory asks.
“He is,” Ever nods.
“I’m beat, shall we all go home?” Mason makes his way to the waiting van, and others follow. I turn to see if Skye is around, and I find the horses gone and she’s gone as well.
I sigh, because I hate myself right now.
“Linc, I think you two have a lot to talk about. I know it isn’t manly to talk about feelings, but I think you should. I know you love her, even if you don’t want to admit it,” Ever says softly. I don’t love Skye. I can’t love her. She hurt me too much.
But do I need to be an asshole to her? Probably not. Am I going to talk about my feelings with her? Nope. Will I at least apologize? Yes, I will.
I just nod at Ever and climb in the van for the short ride back to the little cabins.
Chapter Thirteen
Skye
He called me stupid. I am stupid. I have done stupid things in my life. But hearing him say it hurt . . . a lot.