Page 30 of Wildest Dreams

“This is going to be an outright war with the Attaway’s.”

“It's going to kick off Friday,” I toe the floor.

“Hundred percent, but we will still go and show our respect. Is Austin going?”

I shake my head from side to side.

“Good, I think that's the right move.”

“Do you think? Him hiding is just proving to people that maybe he is guilty. Where if he shows up, sure, he will probably be kicked into the dirt, but it shows that he is innocent?”

“I don't know brother...” Riggs pauses for a moment.

“Think about it for a while.”

He nods.

“What you doing now?” he asks just as Ace bolts over to us from the house.

“I was going to find Dixie...”

“Come with me, grab yourself a horse and come out with me to find the boys, they're down the bottom field with the cows.”

“You sure?” A small smile tugs at my lips.

“Yeah, be good to get you back out with the cowboys, I want to see just how good you are,” he winks, and I laugh, slapping him on the back as we walk towards the stables.

The horses are tacked and ready and I place my foot in my stirrups, pulling myself up onto my dark bay horse and kick him on, leaving Riggs to eat my kicked-up dust.

But we both know he will be hot on my tail. Riggs never loses.

Ever.

CHAPTER NINE

DIXIE

My insides knot.

I shouldn't have heard that conversation and I definitely shouldn't have told Tripp. I don't even know why I reacted the way I did. Clay was just a hook up or two. I never felt anything for him. I am sad that he died, I am sad that my daughter will never remember her dad. He was good to her. Every kid deserves to have a dad that loves them unconditionally.

Clay helped with my music, but only when it suited him. He reminded me that he could quickly pull it away from me with a click of his fingers. He was in with some nasty guys from the city, I only met a few of them but they always made me feel uneasy.

My agent is a piece of shit, he will come looking for me but there is no way in hell I am going back to him.

Too many broken promises. He keeps eighty percent of my royalties, and I am broke.

Lainey pulls me from my thoughts when she pushes her bowl of pureed fruit onto the floor, the noise making me jump.

“Oh, Lainey,” I sigh, pushing from my chair and grabbing a cloth from the sink. I clean up the mess when I hear Orla.

“Leave it darlin', I’ll do it,” she ushers me from the floor but I shake my head, not moving.

“No honestly, I've done it now, please,” my voice breaks as I look up at her, my eyes are all glassy with unshed tears and I don't even know why.

“Dixie,” she whispers as she bends and lifts me from the floor, hands either side of my face. “What's happened?”

I pull my bottom lip between my lips, the words on the tip of my tongue, but Lainey interrupts our moment when she starts a tantrum to get out of her highchair.

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