Page 46 of Stay With Me

I blow out a breath and nod because yeah, he’s right about that too.

“So you really don’t have any feelings for her anymore?”

“Nope. As soon as she told me she wanted to ride your dick to pound town, all my feelings immediately vanished.”

“Dude.” I bark out a laugh and push away. “So wait, who’s Thor, then? It ain’t Travis, is it?”

He shakes his head at me as if I’m missing the punch line. “You are, dumbshit. It’s your secret code name. In the event you saw our messages”—he shoots me a glare—“or overheard a conversation, you wouldn’t know we were talkin’ about you. But hey, now that the cat’s outta the bag, you can finally go ask her out,Thor.”

I almost choke when I think back to what those messages said.

“So those texts about the lingerie and you teasin’ her about being too chicken shit to tell Thor were actually about me?”

“Yep.” He smacks my shoulder and squeezes. “Guess I was beingyourwingman all along.”

“And hers.”

“That’s true.” He brushes off his hands before he starts walking toward the tack room. “Y’all owe me. Landen Michael would make a great name for your firstborn considerin’ y’all already talkin’ about gettin’ her knocked up!”

“What?” Noah squeals from somewhere behind me.

“Thanks, asshole.” I wave my middle finger at him.

“What was that about?” She walks up and shoves me with her elbow.

“Nothin’. Landen being intolerable as usual.”

I’m not about to tell her a damn thing. She’s just as loud and gossipy as he is.

“You good to exercise some of the horses today? I’m dealin’ with a new boarder, who’s a handful and a half. Kinda like you.” She pats my arm with a smirk.

“Cute.”

“I know. Then tell Landen he can deal with the new mare. She’s a spitfire.”

“Oh, kinda likeyou?” I throw her words back in her face and she laughs.

She punches her fist in the air. “The one and only!”

Rudy, Ayden, and Trey are the ranch hands for the stables, so they’re in charge of mucking stalls and feeding. Luckily, Landen and I can swap and rotate if we’re needed elsewhere.

For the next hour, I lunge June in the corral and ride her to the training center and back, all while trying to ease the nerves settling into the pit of my stomach.

After she’s groomed and back in the barn, I decide it’s now or never to go visit Magnolia. The lunch rush will keep her too busy and the longer I wait, the more time for my anxiety and self-doubt to talk me out of going.

I freshen up in the bathroom so I don’t completely smell like a barn, but at least she’s used to it. Once I’m in my truck, I think of a memory that makes me happy. One of the coping mechanisms I found online when I feel anxious is to think back to a time when I wasn’t.

Most of those memories revolve around my family and friends, so it’s usually not hard to focus on one, but right now all I can think about is doing something I’ve wanted to do for years.

But I always made excuses.

Landen likes her.

Travis being in and out of her life.

Suffering from anxiety and the fear of not being good enough for her.

But not today.