Page 62 of Claimed By the Cowboys

No one fucking wants you.

Ah. I do have some words. They’re just not the best.

Piper’s eyebrows wrinkle, and she bites her lips. I try to ignore how pretty they are. How I know what she tastes like. How I know the noises she makes when she comes…

“Dalton. Why the heck are you sleeping in the barn?”

I want to shrug her off. To lie to her. To do anything except tell her the truth.

We agree to tell the truth.

Goddam it, Tate.

I take a deep breath. “Because you and Tate and Brent don’t want me.”

Piper blinks. “What?”

“You. The three of you. You’ve got a thing going now. It’s okay, and I don’t mind, but still… don’t want to be in the middle of something that’s your thing.”

Piper stares at me. Then, understanding slowly dawns in her eyes.

“Dalton. I… shoot,” she whispers.

I look down at my hands. Here it comes. The conversation that will inevitably lead to the end of this.

It’s not you. It’s me. It’s just that Tate and Brent are so much more expressive. I don’t know what you’re thinking. You never talk. No one wants you, Dalton.

“Dalton. I had my period,” Piper whispers.

I freeze.

“I came out here to find you because I’ve been worried about you. I haven’t been, um… in the mood for anything, and I felt like you were taking that kind of hard. So I came out here to talk and see if something was wrong.”

Blinking, all I can do is stare at her.

Piper’s eyebrows are pinched together with worry. “I thought you were mad at me, and so I didn’t understand what I’d done wrong. I thought it might be that you heard us the other night, and I wanted to explain?—”

“Nothin’ to explain,” I say.

Piper shakes her head.

“I was afraid of this.” Her voice is thick with tears.

The sound of Piper on the verge of crying wakes up every nerve in my body. I stand, moving over to her side as fast as I can. When she looks up at me, her lashes are thick with moisture.

Fuck.Now I made her cry, too? “Piper…”

“I was afraid that you’d feel like I was picking one of you. Like I had a preference. I was working so hard to make sure things were equal, and then they weren’t, and now look at you,” shesniffles. She waves to the sleeping bag. “I literally drove you to sleep in a barn.”

I like sleeping in the barn.“Piper…”

“I’m sorry!” she sobs. She turns, flinging her arms around me. “I’m sorry, Dalton! I ruined this, and I can’t stand that I ruined it!”

I hug her close. Piper smells so fucking good. Like oranges, somehow. She’s always made my mouth water, every time I hold her.

Tugging her close, I breathe in the citrus smell of her.

“Dalton, I’m sorry. I really am. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

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