Page 124 of Ten Mountain Men

“It’s not what you think,” I start, but Ranger cuts me off with a bitter laugh.

“Not what I think? I heard her, Ash. She said she loves you.”

Even in the dimness of the night, I can see Goldie’s face flush crimson. “Ranger, I—”

“Don’t,” he says. He shakes his head. The moonlight illuminates the betrayal etched across his face. My heart plummets as I realize the magnitude of what he thinks he’s just witnessed. “Please just don’t.”

“Ranger,” I start, but my voice catches in my throat. Goldie’s still trembling beneath me, coming down from her high.

He takes a step back, shaking his head again. “I heard what she said, Ash. Don’t try to explain it away.”

“Ranger, I…” she tries, but her voice trails off too, clearly at a loss for words.

I hastily tug on my jeans, my heart pounding. This is exactly the kind of situation we all agreed to avoid. Our arrangement was supposed to be simple—friendship and sex, no strings attached. But the look on Ranger’s face tells me he’s feeling anything but detached right now.

“It’s not what you think,” I say, holding up my hands in a placating gesture. “She didn’t mean it, man. It was just heat of the moment stuff.”

Ranger’s eyes narrow. “Really? Because it sounded pretty damn sincere to me.”

I can feel Goldie trembling beside me, and I resist the urge to pull her close. That would only make things worse. I want to protect her. To shield her from any consequences, to take them all myself.

“Look,” I say, trying to keep my voice calm and reasonable. “This is about sex and friendship, nothing more. You can’t get jealous and mess this up for all of us.”

Ranger laughs, but it’s a harsh, bitter sound. “Jealousy? You think this is about jealousy? Jealousy would be gettin’ upset because she told me she would give me oral sex the night before last, like she gave you, and she didn’t, yet she’s back out here, giving you more. That would be jealousy. And I ain’t that petty. But I heard her say she loves you, Ash. That changes everything.”

I shake my head vehemently. Ranger can’t hold back the truth. He’ll be telling everyone what he’s heard. And this will all be over. “No, it doesn’t. It doesn’t change anything. It was just pillow talk, man. You know how it is—people say all kinds of crazy shit when they’re getting their rocks off.”

But even as the words leave my mouth, I can see Ranger isn’t buying it. His gaze shifts to Goldie, who’s been uncharacteristically quiet throughout this exchange.

“Is that true?” he asks her, his voice softer now. “Did you not mean it? Do you not love Ash? Because Goldie…”

Goldie opens her mouth, then closes it again. She looks from Ranger to me and back again, conflict clear in her eyes. And in that moment, I realize with a sinking feeling that maybe she did mean it. Maybe this has become more than just sex and friendship for her too.

“I…I don’t know,” she finally whispers, and I can see Ranger’s face crumple, an expression I’ve never seen on him, not since Pa died.

He turns to leave, but I call out, desperate to salvage the situation. “Ranger, wait! We can talk about this. We can figure it out.”

But Ranger just shakes his head and starts walking away, not even glancing back to look at us.

Chapter 39

Goldie

“You stay here, firecracker,” Ash says. “I’ll go talk to him. I’ll fix this.”

I shake my head. “No. It has to be me. But…come with me.”

I scramble to my feet, the blanket Ash loosely wrapped around me dropping to the ground. I don’t stop to retrieve it, my body still humming, my heart thrumming in my chest from what just happened, but the moment I see the raw pain on Ranger’s face, the heat of the moment with Ash turns cold.

“Ranger! Wait!” I shout, tripping over myself as I start to chase after him, panic lacing my voice. He hasn’t gotten far, but he’s moving fast.

I hear Ash’s footsteps behind me, but I’m running, not waiting on him to catch up, but knowing he will.

“Please, Ranger, stop!” I call again, stumbling over the uneven ground, my legs still shaky from having the living daylights fucked out of me by Ash. “Let me explain!”

He’s still within earshot, and I can tell he hears me, but he doesn’t stop. My feet pound the earth and I swear even the stars above have suddenly hidden behind clouds, not wanting to watch what’s happening down here, down below them. My breath comes in ragged gasps as I close the gap between us, and my thoughts whirl in a messy tangle. Did I mean it? Did I really mean it when I said I love Ash?

I think of all Mother’s hasty trips down the aisle, of how she didn’t just fall in love, she skydived into it, and how it always ended with a crash landing into a broken marriage, a broken home.

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