Page 105 of Tough Love

He chases his tail before faltering and tumbling with a whelp. His leg is probably still sore. Looks like he gets to pay his doctor a visit. Hope fills my heart, and I suck in a breath.

After a rushed packing job, one quick shower, and closing up the house, I pull out of my driveway and settle in for the long haul. This cowboy is going to New York City.

Chapter Thirty

ADDY

“Fuck, shit. Stay here, Adds. Be right back.” Ruby springs from her seat and rushes from the Italian restaurant like it’s caught fire, and the firemen are standing outside shirtless. Never seen the girl move so fast. Her phone buzzes. Reed. Those two are always talking. It’s sweet.

I draw mindless patterns on the red tablecloth. I might not be hungry, but she insists we eat out. Something about getting back on the horse. That phrase will never be the same or stop haunting me. I check my phone. A message from Mom. Nothing else.

When Ruby walks back in, she mouthssorry. And when Adam slips around her and leans down to kiss my cheek, I freeze, eyes wide and on my best friend.

“Who wants drinks?” Adam asks, upbeat, as if he’s welcome and this is simply a happy coincidence.

“No thanks,” I utter.

“Gin and tonic, Hervey. Take your time.”

Ruby sits down, stare burning into Adam’s back as he weaves through the crowd near the bar before tracking her wide eyes to mine. “Sorry, Adds. I had no idea he would be on this side of town, I swear.”

“It’s fine.” I force a smile.

She shakes her head and taps her phone. Muttering, “Reed is going to kill me.”

“You two get along well, still.”

“Who, Adam?”

I huff a laugh. “No,Reedsy.”

“Oh, yeah, we kind of clicked, I guess. He’s a goof. Like a big brother or something.”

When I raise an eyebrow, she stares out the window and I mutter, “Or something.”

Adam appears with three drinks, and I roll my eyes as he sets down my favorite drink and takes the seat beside me. I shuffle a little way away. And Ruby suppresses a smile. “If I wasn’t starving, Hervey, we would have abandoned you.” Ruby nods to the drink I didn’t ask for.

“Drama isn’t your color, sweetheart,” he coos at her before turning to me. “So, Addy girl, I bet you’re happy to be back in civilization?”

“Sure,” I drawl but don’t meet his gaze. Civilization is the last place this girl wants to be. Our food arrives and Adam plucks a strand of spaghetti from my plate like we have gone backward twelve months and he and I are still sharing food, a bed, and whatever else. I slap his hand the way Louisa would.

“Oi!” he snaps.

“Get your own, Hervey.”

“Oh, I see how it is. You go off getting all wild in the middle of nowhere and now I am just Hervey?”

Ruby’s phone vibrates, wiggling across the table.

Reed.

My stomach plummets.

Then it pings.

Again.

And again.

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