Page 1 of Break the Barrier

1

thea

There wassomething oddly calming about a loud bar late into the night. People love Fridays in our small town, and Bottle Grounds has quickly become the hotspot for everyone, from the merchants on Main Street to the people they call friends or family to the hard-working farmers who worked all day and sometimes all night, and even beyond that.

It was what I’ve always wanted it to be.

When my sisters and I moved to Acton, Colorado, it was this tiny town way off the map. No one from the bigger cities knew of its existence, and I was perfectly happy with that.

I just wanted to get away from the life that came before our time here.

It was a sudden move.

I saw my chance to make it and took that chance without looking back.

When I was a young twenty-two, my parents tragically diedin a plane crash. My father had his own plane that they used for business trips, and Mom always tagged along when she could.

But freak weather from out of nowhere had taken that plane down and taken our loving parents with it.

I had no idea that the last time I would ever see my parents would be at our usual Sunday brunch, chatting about tennis and the newest Chanel bag, about my sister Tori’s newest boyfriend, about Annmarie and Juniper begging for tickets to the latest trendy boy band, about my littlest sister, Ophelia, having her first crush.

It all seems so silly now, knowing that’s what our primary discussion was when we could have said and done so much more in their final moments with us.

Then, after they were gone, I was suddenly responsible for all four of my little sisters. It was a daunting task that I didn’t want to do alone, but I was willing to make it work, for them. For my parents.

Thankfully, my parents had the house and expenses covered, leaving a good amount for each of us girls to use for our futures.

Unfortunately…I didn’t make the best use of it at first.

“Thea! There’s someone here to talk to you.” My sister Annmarie’s voice cuts through the fog in my brain. It’s been yet another long day, and at the end of the night, my mind drifts and focuses on every wrong and stressful thing happening in my life.

“Just a second!” I call over the loud laughter, the music, and the chatter. The constant noise was like a balm to my soul.

The thing that bothered me the most? Silence.

Because in that silence, I could hear everything.

Every creak, every whisper, every breath, every branch of atree shifting in the night. Every heavy-booted step coming my way…

Someone bumps into me from behind, and I turn to see Jason, a high school student who helps out a lot on the weekend, shoot me a shy and apologetic smile. “Sorry, Thea.”

“No problem.”

The thing I love about this small town is that everyone knows each other, and most of the time, that means they treat each other like family. It was a heartwarming place, and we’d been welcomed in with open arms.

I peek down to the end of the bar, and sure enough, my heart falls into the pit of my stomach, and my hands start to itch with nerves.

It’s exactly who I’ve been avoiding.

Logan Cash.

The tall, ridiculously handsome, broad-shouldered, brown-haired cowboy.

I was avoiding him like the plague.

A few months ago, I’d been…dumb and offered him a deal.

He could have him and his friends come in and start up a darts league in the bar, but he had to do me a favor first.