Page 28 of Ace of Spades (Hidden Creek Ranch #1)

“Don’t let him lie to you,” Dakota says as we swim closer to the group, my arms latching around Weston’s shoulders like a spider monkey. “He’s terrified of snakes. Works on a ranch, and yet he’ll scream like a girl if he sees one.”

“Okay, it is completely rational of me to not want to come across a snake, that doesn’t mean I’m scared of them,” Weston argues.

“Sure,” she rolls her eyes.

“Dakota’s scared of clowns,” he tells the group.

“Who isn’t!” she yells back.

“Yeah, I’m with her on that one,” Chance says, Chelsea clinking her beer with his in agreement.

“That would have been good to know before I hired a clown entertainer for Weston’s birthday party next weekend,” Rafe says, taking a sip of his beer.

“What?” the three of them exclaim, all turning towards him. A sly grin creeps across his lips, a rare sight coming from the usually broody cowboy.

“He’s fucking with you guys,” Beau tells them, turning to give his girlfriend a kiss as she hangs onto his back.

“I still can’t believe we got a booking on the first day. How wild is that? Hailey, you’re amazing,” Chelsea tells me.

“Yeah, there’s no way we’re letting you leave us any time soon,” Beau adds. “Best social media manager ever. And you’re pretty cool, I guess,” he throws in a wink .

“Cheers to Hailey,” Chance says, lifting his bottle in the air as the group follows suit.

Weston’s arm tightens around me, his thumb brushing up and down my back as if in agreement with the group. I force a smile, a pang of guilt hitting me in the chest.

“Thank you,” I say, my heart thumping loudly. “But there’s something I need to tell you guys.”

“What’s up?” Dakota asks, her voice still cheerful as always as if the news I’m about to share with them couldn’t possibly be bad. I feel Weston’s attention on me, his eyes studying me as I face the group.

“So… um,” I start. “My dad… I told y’all that I didn’t want to talk about why I left.

Well, I found out that he doesn’t just want to run the trailer park as a side project.

He bought it because he plans to tear it down.

Actually, it sounds like he has plans for a lot of the businesses around here…

I don’t think he’s going to stop until he’s basically torn the town apart.

And it sounds like he might be coming for the ranch, especially since he sees you guys as competition. ”

The group is silent, the atmosphere shifting. I nearly regret saying anything, but I know it would have come out sooner or later, and I couldn’t sit around and let them be caught off guard when it was too late.

“How long have you known about this?” Beau finally asks, an edge to his tone.

“It’s the reason I left, because we got in a fight over it. I’m really sorry for not bringing it up sooner. ”

I can feel Weston tensing beneath me, but I can’t bring myself to chance a look at his face right now, afraid of what I might find.

“And you didn’t think to tell us sooner?”

“Knock it off,” Weston tells him before I have the chance to respond. “She told us now, didn’t she?”

“That’s great and all, but what are we supposed to do now?

We gave you a place to stay, a spot on our team—you committed to helping us, and yet you kept this from us for what, almost two weeks now?

” Beau continues. “That trailer park is home to some of us. Weston and I grew up there, our parents still live there. This town is our home, Hailey.”

“Beau—” Chelsea tries to no avail, releasing him as she swims around to face him.

“I said knock it off,” Weston snarls, his voice commanding.

“Well of course you’re going to defend her. I mean, look at you two. Weren’t you calling her a spoiled brat just a few months ago?”

I flinch at his words, a ball of lead forming in my throat.

“I should probably go,” I manage to choke out, attempting to pull away from Weston as his arm only tightens around me.

“No,” he tells me, leaving no room for argument in his tone. “You’re staying. Beau—you need to go cool off. See what happens if you talk to her like that again.”

“Okay, I think everybody needs to calm down,” Dakota intervenes, swimming to get between the two of them, turning to face Beau. “She told us now, didn’t she? She didn’t have to do that, she's already in a tough enough position as it is between us and her dad.”

“Stay out of this, Dakota,” Beau warns her.

Weston moves to go after him, but Chance manages to get there first.

“You’d better check yourself right the fuck now,” he tells him, shoving him backwards.

“Hey, hey, hey—enough!” Rafe calls out, swimming to the center of the group. “Everybody calm the fuck down. Beau—go cool off.”

Beau doesn’t say anything as he exits the water, grabbing a towel out of his backpack to dry off before throwing his clothes on and grabbing his horse, riding off into the woods.

“Guys, I’m so sorry,” I croak. “I know I should have told all of you sooner, I was just scared that something like this might happen or that you would all blame me. I didn’t mean to cause any issues.”

“Stop,” Weston cuts me off. “Stop apologizing.”

“Yeah,” Dakota adds, swimming up to the both of us and grabbing my arm comfortingly. “You told us, and that’s all that matters. Beau will get over it, I promise. He was just caught off guard.”

I force a smile.

“I’m so sorry about him, he just gets like this sometimes when it comes to things he’s passionate about. Don’t let him get to you,” Chelsea tells me before going off after him.

“Why don’t we head back?” Chance says. “It looks like storm clouds are rolling in anyways. ”

I look up to find that grey clouds now obscure the stars, casting us further into darkness as we swim back to the shore. We’re almost at the river bank when Weston pulls me back, turning me around to face him.

“Hey,” he says, quiet enough so the others can’t hear. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I lie. “I’m fine.”

His eyes search mine, his hand lifting to brush his thumb over my cheek, wiping at a tear that I hadn’t realized had slipped free.

“You’re not your dad. You don’t have any control over his actions, and none of us blame you. And I don’t think you’re a spoiled brat—at least, not anymore.”

“Careful, Langford—don’t go falling for me, now,” I joke, forcing a smile on my face.

“I wouldn’t dare,” he replies, quirking a grin.

My heart thrums in my chest as it hits me that I don’t know if I can make that same promise.

The storm hits just as we get back home, the rain loud against the tin roof of the trailer as I pull the leftovers that Rhonda made me out of the microwave. I take a few bites as I pace around the trailer, contemplating texting Weston.

Between the storm and everything from earlier, my anxiety was at an all-time high.

I couldn’t just text him out of the blue, though.

I needed an excuse, a reason to go over there.

Maybe he was already asleep? It had been almost an hour since we had gotten back, close to midnight now, and we were supposed to leave for the rodeo in South Dakota tomorrow morning.

“Do I text him?” I ask Gypsy, sitting by her on the couch as she gives me a head tilt.

I hadn’t showered yet, still in my damp bikini. Maybe I could say my hot water wasn’t working?

Thunder booms, shaking the entire camper as I squeal, tucking my legs into myself.

“That’s it, I’m doing it,” I tell Gypsy, walking to the kitchenette counter and picking up my phone to find that I already had a text waiting for me.

WESTON: How are you holding up out there?

My heart races as I try to think of a reply, typing up a few and deleting them before finally settling on one.

ME: Not too bad. Gypsy’s not loving the storm, though.

WESTON: Is that right?

ME: Yeah, she won’t stop pawing at the door. I think she wants to come see Maverick.

I look over at my dog who’s sitting on the couch next to me, not a care in the world as she chows down on her bone .

“You’d better play along, you owe me from earlier,” I tell her.

My phone dings, my heart racing as I read Weston’s reply.

WESTON: Well why don’t you two come over here?

I squeal like a schoolgirl with a crush, forcing myself to take a breath before replying so I don’t sound too eager.

HAILEY: I guess I could bless you with my company. Give us a minute and we’ll be over.

I throw my phone on the couch, walking over the tiny bathroom to check my appearance in the mirror.

My face had gained some sun since I’d moved to the ranch, a sun-kissed glow now spreading over my cheeks and nose.

My hair was disheveled from the river water, my dark waves frizzy and flying in every direction as I did my best to smooth them out.

My hair nearly reached my navel now, longer than I’d ever had it.

My regular appointment would have been coming up any day now, but I hadn’t wanted to spend any of the little money I had left on a haircut, so I’d have to figure out a way to cut it myself.

I made a mental note to ask one of the girls if they had haircutting scissors I could use.

I let out a sigh, giving up on fixing my appearance and deciding to walk over to Weston’s before he fell asleep waiting on me .

I pick up Gypsy in my arms, tucking her into me as I open the camper door to find Weston standing already at the foot of the steps, an umbrella in hand as rain pounds down around us.

“Weston, what are you doing here?”

“Figured I could give you guys an escort over. I wouldn’t want Gypsy to get wet, the little princess that she is.”

“Right,” I grin. “Gypsy.”

He leads us inside the cabin, Gypsy squirming out of my arms to greet Maverick, the two of them running off into the bedroom.

“You’re still in your bathing suit?” he asks.

“Yeah, my—uh,” I cough. “My hot water wasn’t working for some reason.”

“Really? I’ll check it out in the morning.”

“It’s fine, really—it should be an easy fix, it happens all the time. No biggie.”