Page 5 of Kept By The Mountain Man

“He told me that there’s a rumor going around town.”

“There always is,” she says, finishing off her cookie.

“This one is about me… about us.”

“Us?” she asks, her pale blue eyes snapping to mine, and I nod.

“Yeah. Us.”

There’s a beat of silence and then I just blurt it out.

“I know, Evie,” I tell her, and I watch her whole body tense up.

Well, that can’t be a good sign.

THREE

Evie

Yeah,of course, he knows about what I said.

I was hoping he wouldn’t find out, that maybe the whole thing would blow over and be forgotten. But nope, it’s just my luck that the very next day, he knows. Of course, he knows.

My face heats up with a blush, and I bury it in my hands before he can catch a glimpse of the redness. God, I’m never going to live this down.

“Evie?” Hendrix’s voice breaks through my embarrassment, low and gravelly, carrying that hint of impatience he’s never been good at hiding.

I guess there’s no getting out of this now. I might as well rip off the bandage.

“I told Claire and her friends that we were dating,” I blurt out, peeking at him from between my fingers, bracing for impact.

“Okay.”

I pause, confused.That’s it? Just ‘okay’?

“They kind of cornered me yesterday at the bookstore after work. Claire’s the worst. She and her friends are just... mean girls.”

“Okay.”

I want to scream. Could he give meanythinghere? Some reaction, any hint of what he’s thinking?

“They were making fun of me.”

That does it. His whole demeanor shifts. His blue eyes darken, his jaw sets, and his mouth thins into a hard, angry line. For a second, I forget my own embarrassment because Hendrix looks like he’s about to throw something or someone. I take a small step back, unsure.

“What were they saying?” he snaps, his voice sharp, demanding.

I swallow hard.

“It’s not important. Just the usual stuff.” I mumble, hoping to gloss over it, but the look on his face says he’s not going to let it go.

“They said I was fat, and that’s why I’ve never had a boyfriend.” My voice is barely above a whisper, the sting of their words still fresh, but I push through. “Something in me snapped, and before I could stop myself, I blurted out that I was seeing someone. That someone was... you.”

“Damn right, it’s me.”

I stop short, blinking up at him.

“What?”

---