Page 121 of Burn the Wild

“I let all my shit with Savannah wind me up and I pushed her away. I was an idiot.”

Charlie and Davis stare at me with sympathy.

Wyatt shrugs. “No arguments here.”

I open my mouth ready to remind him about the time he pissed his pants in third grade, but the vibration of Davis’s phone fills the room.

He takes the call. From the soft, low tone he uses, I can tell it’s Dakota.

Hanging up, he says, “Girls are at Nowhere.”

Charlie scowls.

The thought of Reese being out at a bar without me has my hands pulling to fists.

The corner of Davis’s mouth kicks up. “Need someone to pick them up. Drunk as skunks.”

I shove out of my chair before anyone can beat me to it. “I’ll go.”

“Damn, man,” Wyatt says, looking embarrassed for me. “Show a little restraint.”

Fuck restraint.

When it comes to Reese, I’m a man on my knees.

The women are tightrope walking on parking blocks when I pull up to Nowhere. Wobbly and giggly, they’re adorably drunk.

“Get in the truck,” I call out, taking inventory of them. No one looks manhandled, near tears, or drunk enough to puke.

“We called Davis,” Fallon argues.

“Yeah, well, you got me. You wanna walk, there’s the road.”

“Ford!” Ruby cheers, throwing her arms around my neck. Her blue eyes are bright, her smile a beam. “You’re here.”

I chuckle. “Hey, Fairy Tale.”

“A rider to our rescue,” she announces drunkenly.

“Charlie’s gonna love you,” I tell her, grabbing her elbow before she can face-plant.

I glance over to where Dakota and Reese stand. Dakota hops off a parking block with a gymnast’s flourish. Reese, looking hotter than she has any right to, avoids eye contact and steps around me. The scorch of her cold shoulder, the sight of those high heels and short little skirt, sends a shock of need through my veins.

I deserve it, but damn, her distance pisses me off. I want to drag her against me and tell her to drop the fucking attitude.

But that’ll have to wait.

“Okay, focus,” I blast and all eyes whip to me “We have two objectives tonight. One is get in the truck.”

“What’s the second?” Fallon asks.

“Two is shut the hell up.”

I yank open the passenger side door, watching as Reese, Ruby, and Fallon take the backseat. Dakota climbs up front. I join them and accelerate out of the parking lot. The sooner I get back to the ranch, the sooner I can get Reese speaking to me again.

Radio up, windows down, I take the windy county road back to the ranch. “Seatbelts on?” I ask.

Fallon salutes. Snickers. “Yes, Dad.”

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