Page 26 of Holding The Reins

I sigh as Wade finishes his story, trying to push CeCe from my mind.

“You have my help if he ever comes to town,” I say, which makes Wade snicker.

A moment of silence passes.

“Sure is nice having both you and CeCe Rae home, though. After dad, it was too quiet here. Just funny you both end up back here the same summer. Between us, I’m so damn happy she got the guts to leave him.”

“She told me a little about him last night when I walked her home. I can’t see the CeCe I knew letting someone treat her like that.”

“Andrew is a sly dog. Charming, shiny and manipulative as fuck. Dad couldn’t stand him.”

I’m not surprised but still glad to hear it, Wyatt was always a very smart man.

“I remember one time, Dad said he’d pay good money for us to rough him up a little like we did Steven Connolly. Remember when he told the football team he got to second base with CeCe? You and Cole gave him a good knock. Almost made him piss his pants,” he says to me, chuckling at the memory.

Sure fucking do remember.

“She was in ninth grade and he was in twelfth! I remember sitting on your porch with her while she cried to us about it. She couldn’t understand why he broke up with her.”

“She always chose the wrong guys,” I say to him, probably a little more aggressively than I should.

“None of us has the greatest track record choosing our love interests,” Wade says under his breath.

Wade and his wife Janelle split up a year ago. She was a frigid bitch who only cared about appearances. I never understood what he saw in her, other than the fact that she was his college sweetheart. He was way too loyal and hung onto her, even when their relationship was one sided. Now she’s living in his house, using his alimony to get her boobs done and going through some sort of mid-thirties crisis, and hooking up with every available man in town.

“I’ve determined that we all just try to live up to the way Mom and Dad were, but that kind of love just doesn’t exist anymore. People are too selfish. Who knows, maybe we’re all just destined to be alone.”

“Nah, you just need to meet the right person,” I say, sounding a lot more wishy-washy than I normally do.

Wade’s laughter booms in the quiet barn. “Listen to you, all philosophical. A relationship hypocrite is what you are. I’ll tell you what, I’ll settle down when you do,” he laughs and so do I. We both know I have no desire to settle down or get attached to anyone, not when I know that in a single breath, you can lose it all.

“Well, hopefully CeCe can find someone better than her last choice. Everyone has to try to learn from their mistakes. But I’ll tell you one thing, it’s good to know you have her back, with the three of us around, he’ll never want to show his face around these parts,” Wade says.

“It’ll be a resurgence of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly,” I laugh as I say it, wiping my brow, remembering our trio’s famous name whenever we were shit-kicking or getting into trouble.

“We’d have to convince Mr. Law Daddy Sheriff to rejoin though, which may not be easy,” I add.

Wade thinks for a second.

“Nah… we’ve got Mabes now, she’d kick more shit than any of us.”

“You ain’t lying,” I say back as we finish the rest of our morning work in silence.

The big house kitchen is quiet and sunny as I pour myself a coffee to attempt to wake myself up two hours later. This morning is kicking my ass and I still have a full day of training and meetings at the Center ahead of me.

Jo has gone to take Mabel to school, while Cole works a double and Wade is already onto his next task—training with Sam.

I grab a freshly made scone and have a seat at the kitchen table, taking in the view of Sugarland Mountain behind the house with my steaming brew. I just need five minutes to get my head clear. But I don’t get it. The front door opens, and a groggy CeCe comes through it, rubbing her eyes, unaware yet that I’m here.

The ten seconds that I see her when she doesn’t see me, feels too intimate. I should say something, but I don’t. I can’t bring myself to. She is wearing pink silk pajama shorts that flow over her tanned, silky thighs like water. Just the thought of sliding my hands up under them makes my cock begin to swell in my jeans. Her matching silky tank trails over her perfect tits, stopping just at her waist, exposing the tiniest sliver of her skin. And just because the universe is testing me, she has no bra on so the outline of her pebbled nipples are on full display. Her hair is a mess and falling over her shoulders in long, wavy cascades. Morning CeCe is on a whole other level. She’s a goddamn experience. The only place she’d look better like this is wrapped up in my bedsheets under me while she screams my—

“Jesus Christ, Nash.” She jumps as she registers my presence. Normally, I’d stand but right now, I simply can’t so I just sip my coffee and try to act like I don’t have a semi-wood under the kitchen table.

“I didn’t realize it was you,” I say. “Thought you were Wade coming in after me.”

She yawns and covers her chest with her short little robe, but it’s too late—the image she just offered me is already burned into my brain for eternity.

“I don’t have a coffee maker yet, so you get me instead.”

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