Page 77 of Ride a Cowboy

Sadie agreed. Maris High School’s current football team was undefeated, and everyone was already starting to talk about the state championship. The Titans hadn’t brought home that trophy since Joel’s class thirteen years earlier. The locals—Sadie’s dad included—were foaming at the mouths for another win.

Sadie would never understand how seemingly normal grown men could lose their ever-lovin’ minds over teenage boys tossing a football around. But the fact remained, Titan football was all anyone in town could talk about these days.

Since Coach’s heart attack, a lot of the older guys, players on that last state-winning team, had come back to help Lorelie and her dad keep the ranch going while her dad recuperated. It spoke volumes about what Coach Carr meant to the guys, how they’d dropped everything to come back.

To commemorate the winning season and Coach’s recovery, and with the old team in town, the school had decided to do something special this year for Homecoming. During halftime of the game, they planned to introduce the players from that first state championship team and then honor Coach for all his years of service to the school as football coach.

Lorelie had decided to throw a big-ass party after the game to celebrate, and as a way of thanking the guys for all they’d done by coming home to help them. Sadie had volunteered her expertise in setting up the open bar for the night. She and Lorelie hammered out the details on how many kegs to order, how many cases of wine, and whether or not to include liquor. Sadie was going to man the bar at the party, and Oakley and Joel had both promised to help her.

Sadie glanced out the window absentmindedly. “I’m looking forward to hearing Walt play. Always loved his music.” Walt had enjoyed a successful music career in Nashville before coming back home to help Coach out. Sadie couldn’t help but notice he was in no hurry to return to the big city, though she wasn’t sure what was keeping him in Maris.

Ty’s Collective, a local bluegrass band led up by Tyson Sparks, was going to play a couple of Coach’s favorite songs, “opening for Walt,” who had agreed to perform at the party.

Lorelie poured more iced tea in both of their glasses. “Yeah. Walt’s got some friend who used to play guitar in his band coming as well. An old times sake kind of thing since it looks like Walt isn’t planning to go back to Nashville for a while. So voila—now I have two bands playing at my party.”

Sadie took a sip of the sweet tea and sighed. Lorelie made the best tea in town. “Is the guitar-playing friend hot?”

“Lord, I hope so. I need some new eye candy. Not that having all the guys from school back hasn’t improved the view in Maris lately.”

Speaking of eye candy, Sadie glanced out the front window again, hoping to catch a glimpse of Oakley and Joel.

“Okay, what gives?” Lorelie asked.

Sadie twisted her head back to look at her friend. “What?”

“You’ve looked out that window no less than a hundred times in the last half hour. What the heck are you looking for?”

Sadie wasn’t sure how to reply. She and the guys definitely weren’t advertising their unorthodox relationship—for lack of a better description. In fact, they’d agreed to keep it on the down low.

She’d seen them three times since their first foray into the world of an explosive ménage, each meeting at the bar after closing and each encounter hotter than the one before. She was going to have to invite them to her apartment one of these days. It might be fun to actually have sex with them in a bed. That thought provoked a grin she couldn’t hide.

Lorelie’s eyes narrowed. “What the hell are you up to?”

“I’m not up to anything.”

Lorelie rolled her eyes. “Sell it to someone else, sister. You have that recently laid air about you. So which one of the guys finally convinced you to do the horizontal mambo? My money is on Oakley.”

Sadie laughed. Lorelie was four years younger than her, so they hadn’t been friends in school. Hell, they hadn’t even gone to school together. Lorelie had been in middle school when Sadie was a senior.

Sadie hadn’t had any super close girlfriends in school. She wasn’t a fan of drama or girlie shit, so she’d always hung out with the guys instead.

However, in the past year or so, she’d found herself in more and more social settings with Lorelie and her friends—Lela Whitacre and the Sparks girls, Paige, Lacy, and Gia. She had to admit she really liked them.

Though Lorelie was the one she had grown closest to. Probably because—like Sadie—Lorelie had been raised by a single father, spoke her mind, and didn’t put up with a lot of bullshit.

“Why do you think it’s Oakley?” she asked noncommittally.

Lorelie shrugged. “The guy is relentless. I’ve seen him flirt with you. And let’s face it, there’s just so long you can play hard to get before you start to wonder why the hell you’re turning him down. He’s not hard on the eyes and the man has a six-pack on top of a six-pack. So how was it?”

Sadie didn’t reply. In truth, she didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t supposed to say anything.

Luckily, Lorelie didn’t always need another person present to have a conversation. She continued speaking without giving Sadie a chance to answer. “Of course, if it was Oakley, it’s probably over, right? I mean, that guy’s never gone back for seconds that I’ve ever heard of.”

Sadie hadn’t considered that. Lorelie was right. While she’d heard some rumblings about Oakley’s flings, he’d never seriously dated anyone, and she had never heard of him taking a one-night stand and turning it into a weekend. For a second, she felt a twisted sense of pride. She’d kept Oakley interested enough to come back. Quite a few times, if she counted the failed attempt after the wedding.

However, Lorelie misinterpreted her continued silence, her brows rising. “Joel? You fucked Joel?”

Damn. Sadie really was going to have to join this conversation or Lorelie was going to keep guessing. God help her if her friend landed on the right answer. Then she considered Lorelie’s tone. “Why would that be so unheard of?”

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