Page 56 of Promise You Forever

“I can’t believeyou,” he seethes. “I came all the way out here to help you out and this is how you repay me? By embarrassing me in front of a stranger?”

“I don’t need your help. I’m staying here, at the ranch, indefinitely.”

He scoffs. “You don’t know how to run a ranch. This place is a goldmine, we could sell it and set records for the entire region.”

“We?” She raises a brow. “There is nowe.We’re not together anymore.”

“Can we go somewhere private to speak?” He looks over his shoulder at me.

“No.” She crosses her arms and stands her ground, breath puffing out into the cold air like an adorably angry little dragon. “We are over. I ended our engagement.”

“Give me back the ring, then.” His eyes harden as he sneers at her.

“Fine.” She turns and begins walking toward the house.

He follows her, and I follow him. His energy has shifted big time, and if he puts a single finger on her, it’s over. It’ll be the last time he touches her.

We go into the kitchen, and she kicks her shoes off before storming up the stairs. He looks over at me and sneers. He gives me a dismissive once over and turns his attention back out to the living room.

“For someone so smart, you’re dumb as a bunch of rocks,” he says when she comes back into the room. “You don’t really think you can do this, do you?”

“I know I can.” She stands toe to toe with him, chin lifted and shoulders back. There’s no insecurity to be found.

“One last chance.” He lifts his palm to her cheek, and it takes all my restraint not to surge between them and snap his wrist. “We can have the life we’ve always wanted.”

For a second, I swear I see her eyes soften as she lifts her hand to his, pulling his away from her face and dropping the engagement ring in his palm. “It was never what I wanted; those were your dreams, you just inserted me into them.”

His eyes narrow as he closes his fist around the ring. “You know what? I can find a million better women than you. You’re nothing. The worst lay I’ve ever had, too. You just lay there like a corpse.”

Oh no, he didn’t just out himself.

“Actually, Bobby, you must be doing something wrong. From what I know, she’s very responsive.” I give him a fullfuck yousmile. “I’m sure there’s books or tutorial videos you can look up on the female orgasm.”

“You’ve been cheating on me?” His angry gaze slides to her accusingly.

“It’s not cheating when we’ve been broken up. Goodbye, Brandon.”

He stares down at her for another tense minute before walking away. He mumbles something under his breath, but I don’t catch it. We don’t say anything until we hear the crunch of gravel under his tires.

“Are you okay?” I cross the room to her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and drawing her close.

“Yeah.” She hugs me back. “I can’t believe he actually came this far just to do that. Acting like I didn’t break up with him is honestly a little scary.”

“It’s okay, you have me.”

She nestles against me. “Thank you.”

“It’s supposed to dump snow on us in the next few days. Colt and Sam probably won’t make it out for a few days. Should we run to the grocery store and stock up?”

“Probably. I’ll change clothes and meet you out front.”

The sky is a piercing, bright blue today. The type that stands in stark contrast to the snow-capped gray of the mountains. If I hadn’t lived here all my life, I’d think it was impossible for the weather to change so drastically in just a matter of hours.But without a doubt we’ll wake up tomorrow morning to poor visibility and blowing snow.

I look over at Eli, who is finally back to her usual perch, head resting against the window, soaking up the heat of the sun’s rays through the closed window. My chest tightens looking over at her relaxed and happy the way she used to be. Relief I didn’t think I’d ever feel flows through my veins.

“What are you smiling about over there?” she asks.

“I’m just happy you’re here.” I point to where her head was just resting. “And that you’re back to old habits. I’ve always loved seeing you so relaxed and content.”

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