Page 23

A fter pulling on my boots, I check my phone to see I still have a few minutes before I need to head and pick up Bellamy. The notifications that I ignored when I first woke up hang over my head like a heavy weight, so I decide to get it over with.

I scroll to the first message of five that Tori sent sometime through the night.

Tori

As always, why do I put up with your shit?

I’m honestly not sure.

Tori

Fuck you, Cash.

Tori

I swear one day, you’ll regret not appreciating me.

I regret a lot of things when it comes to Tori, but that isn’t one.

And, of course, the last nail in my coffin, the insult she always likes to throw at me. And the only one that actually bothers me.

Tori

She’ll never want you.

Tori

Just ask Connor from the baseball team, since she’s left the last two parties with him.

My blood runs cold at the vision of them together.

I know Tori likes to put thoughts in my head about Bellamy, but last night, I saw the way she swayed her hips as she walked toward the pitcher from the baseball team who came with Hudson.

Just like I noticed the dumbass from the basketball team twirl her around, hurting her wrist.

When I begged her not to hook up with any of my teammates, I wish I could have included all athletes, since that seems to be her type. And to add to my annoyance, they all thrive for her attention. Why wouldn’t they? She's easily the prettiest girl in every room.

Anger and hopelessness take over my body every time I see her with someone else. I know in her eyes, she thinks I’ve moved on with Tori, but she really has no clue.

Over the past few months, Bellamy and I have developed some sort of friendship. Nothing compared to what we used to have, not even close, because both of us continue to hide behind our pain and feelings for each other. Our relationship went from the deepest depths to surface level overnight.

Therefore, I let her believe what she wants to about me and Tori. While I sit back and watch her with other guys, slowly dying inside and envisioning breaking every bone in their body.

I make the two-minute drive to Bellamy’s apartment complex, trying my best to push the image of her and whatever-his-name is out of my mind.

When I pull in, I’m still a few minutes early, so I park and pull my phone out to text Bellamy, when someone walking out of her building draws my attention.

The baseball player.

Pain slices through me. There’s no doubt in my mind where he’s coming from.

My hand flies to my door handle, and I consider jumping out and beating him to a pulp. One she’d have to step over in order to get in my truck, but the anger is quickly replaced with hurt again.

Pure agony, more like. And some days, it feels like there’s no end in sight. The only time it doesn’t feel like that is during our Sunday rides.

For the past six weeks, I’ve gotten a piece of Bellamy that reminds me of the seventeen-year-old girl who, in one summer, became my everything.

Now, this fuckboy has to taint today… Our day .

By the time Bellamy reaches my truck, anger has taken over again.

“Morning, cowboy,” she greets, taking her own hat off and sitting it in her lap.

Scared of what I’ll say, I just give her a nod and put the truck in reverse.

She rolls her eyes. “Oookay.”

Then she’s texting on her phone, and the second I see her smile, I can’t take it anymore.

“Did he make it home safely?”

Her eyebrows pinch together. “Who?”

“Don’t play dumb, Bellamy. The little fuckboy who spent the night with you?”

Her eyes go wide before she recovers and shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know. I’m texting Gigi because she made food for The Wolves Den tonight, so no one has to cook, thank you very fucking much. It’s none of your business anyway.”

No denial in sight of her overnight guest.

“You’ll always be my business… stepsister .” I sneer the last part.

I feel her eyes bore into the side of my face. “From what I hear, you have your hands full enough with your girlfriend. I’d say, put your energy into that dumpster fire.”

“Whatever,” I growl.

“Yep, I knew you’d shut down at the mention of Tori, like you always do,” she huffs, crossing her arms over her chest. “Just take me home. Obviously, you don’t want to be around me today.”

As pissed as I am, the thought of losing Sundays with her terrifies me.

Suck it the fuck up, Cash. Or lose this time with her.

“No, we’re going to ride,” I say matter of factly and shut my mouth until we get to the ranch.

All it took was one wince from Bellamy to have the anger I was feeling earlier toward her completely dissipate.

“That dumbass last night tweaked it more than you led on,” I say, reaching up to where she sits on the saddle and taking her wrist in my hand. “Why aren’t you wearing your brace?”

Bellamy shrugs, not looking at me. “It’s been doing so much better. I haven’t worn it at all this week.”

“Where is it?” As I turn her wrist over, I can tell it’s visibly more swollen today.

She rolls her eyes but answers, “In my little cubby in the barn.”

Thirty seconds later, I’m back in the arena with the brace in hand.

I motion for her to give me her wrist again, and she does without hesitation.

“It’s really fine,” she says as I slide the black material on.

“I saw you wince when you grabbed the horn. You and I both know the wrist is one of the main body parts you use when guiding a horse, hence why we started these rides again together. So why are you being so stubborn all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know, Cash,” she huffs out. “Just saddle up so we can ride.”

Her comment takes me back to the first time I found her in the barn after her fall.

That day started off rocky, but it ended with an agreement between us.

She saw it as a way to ride safely; I saw it as an opportunity to be around her.

And just like I knew it would, each week, things have changed between us.

Each week, we feel a little more like those seventeen-year-old’s again.

Each week, the hope in my chest only grows.

But now, there’s even more in our way, which is why I don’t ever let my guard all the way down.

Bellamy’s voice as we slowly trot back in pulls me from my thoughts. “Mia felt a little off today when I was trying to go faster across the fields. Did you notice that?”

“You mean, did I notice me and Dom whooping y’all’s asses,” I playfully throw back.

With the biggest eye roll she can muster, she says, “Good, that means you did notice, because you know Mia wouldn’t let him beat her if she wasn’t off.”

Her face scrunches with concern. “Maybe I need to get Mom to look at her shoes.”

I shake my head. “Nah, Dad said your mom just did all the horses, like, two weeks ago.”

“Oh, really?” Her lips twist in consideration.

“Uh huh. I think she can tell your wrist is bothering you more today, so she doesn’t want you to overdo it.”

She bites her lip, then releases a heavy breath. “Ugh, as much as I hate to admit it, you’re probably right.”

The way we’re sitting on the horses, it gives me time to count her freckles on the left side. I started on the right earlier. She has thirty-six now across her cheeks and nose. She used to have thirty-three.

A new one for every year I’ve gone without kissing them.

“Cash…did you not hear me?”

I recover quickly with a smirk. “Sorry, I was basking in the fact you said I was right.”

Bellamy grins, shaking her head. “You sound like your twin.”

I chuckle. Yeah, that was definitely a cocky Mav comment.

We walk the horses into the barn and start putting everything away so we can get back to the pool party at Bellamy’s apartment.

“Gosh, there are a lot more creepy-crawlies out here than normal.” Bellamy shivers at the sight of the huge spider web in the corner.

“Yeah, I really think Dad is going to have to hire a ranch hand without me and Mav here. I know your mom takes care of all the horses’ shoes and she helps as much as she can, but they are going to need at least one extra set of hands. This place isn’t in tip-top shape like it normally would be.”

My dad is stubborn, so I’m not sure how he would feel about this suggestion. However, over the past three years, I’ve grown close enough to Andrea that I may make the recommendation to her first, as he is more likely to listen to her.

I glance around, searching for a shovel to knock the spider web down. But when I walk over to it, I’m hit with a memory that makes me chuckle.

“What?” Bellamy asks, closer than I realized.

“I just remembered something Jules did when we were younger. A memory I haven’t thought about since then.”

I smile at the spider web, deciding to wait to knock it down.

Bellamy gives me a real smile. Fuck, I miss those smiles.

“What did she do?” she asks softly.

“Well, they were reading Charlotte’s Web at school; however, Mav and I didn’t know that important detail.

And there was this big spider web down here that she had begged Dad not to knock down.

So, the next day when we came out to the barn, there was a message written in the dirt on the ground under the web.

” I laugh again, remembering how na?ve I was back then, that I believed this elaborate story.

“What did it say?” Bellamy’s green eyes shine with curiosity.

“Please buy a pig. I need a friend.”

Now Bellamy is the one laughing.

“So naturally, Maverick and I went running to our parents, telling them we had an extra special spider in our barn who would make us a ton of money if we bought it a pig. Even though she didn’t write it in her web, but in the dirt floor instead.

I remember the look on my parents’ faces.

Now I know it was their amusement. Basically, long story short, our eight-year-old sister made this elaborate plan just to try and get the pig she’d been begging for. ”

“That’s epic. Honestly, what a freaking genius,” Bellamy says, impressed.

I shake my head, the smile still etched on my face at the memory.