Page 35 of Second Chances with my Billionaire Bosses

I couldn’t think of another time in my life when I’d felt more out of control. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like just sitting back and watching Maxie suffer. That wasn’t acceptable.

Bob hovered behind his human constantly, keeping his big body between Maxie and the rest of the world. He leaned down and nibbled at her every so often, reminding her that he was there. Not even Bob was able to pull her out of herself, though. I had the sinking feeling that if Bob couldn’t get to her, the rest of us didn’t have a chance in hell. Lucky for Maxie, though, I was a stubborn sonofabitch and I wasn’t going to give up on her.

We worked in silence while I thought about what to do. Eventually I gave up trying to come up with the perfect plan and just decided to go with what felt natural to me—being an idiot. Arlo looked at me as I approached Maxie and shook his head but it was too late. I was determined to get through to her.

Bob huffed at me when I got close but I just patted his side and stretched out of his way when he got bitey. I was just about to throw Maxie over my shoulder when a shout grabbed all of our attention.

Mills was back, his voice panicked as he shouted at us.

“Vera went into labor! She’s at the clinic!”

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Maxie after she’d announced she wanted nothing to do with her family for a while but Ishould’ve known she was too good and kind to not show up for her sister. Instead of letting us help her, though, of course she proved just how little she depended on anyone by grabbing Bob’s mane and jumping up on his back. With a subtle click of her tongue she set Bob off at a breakneck pace and I nearly shit myself when she leaned into his giant body and held on while he jumped the fence and kept going, faster than I would’ve been comfortable with, even if she wasn’t riding bareback.

“Jesus. Let’s go.” Rhett threw his tools down and took off towards the trucks. “She’s going to give me gray hair before I’m ready for it.”

Mills was already speeding away when we got to the driveway. Arlo jumped behind the wheel and we sped toward the clinic, chasing Mills and Maxie.

“Either of you have any ideas about what to do about Maxie?” Arlo slowed down to go through town and swore when a fucking cow crossed the street in front of us with a kid chasing it. “What the fuck?”

I leaned forward. “I don’t have a clue. About the cow or Maxie. I didn’t expect it to be so fucked up.”

When the cow and the kid finally got out of the way Arlo drove the rest of the way to the clinic in silence. We were all lost in the details of what Jenny Hellstone had done to her sweet, kind daughter. He parked next to all the other vehicles that I was betting belonged to the rest of the Hellstones and their partners, and we all froze as we watched the door to the clinic fly open. Maxie was a blur as she left the clinic and effortlessly climbed back on Bob. They were off again before any of us could react but we’d all seen the devastation on her face.

“What do we do?” I rubbed my chest as pain radiated through my body for Maxie.

“If she needs space, we give her space.” Rhett didn’t sound like he liked the plan anymore than I did. “It doesn’t feel fair to pushher right now when she’s just bared her wounds in front of us. I’m going to run in and check on Vera and then we go home.”

Arlo slowly nodded his head. “We’ll be there for her, no matter what. Maybe in a few days she’ll be ready to lean on us a little more.”

CHAPTER 25

Maxie

Vera’s baby was a week old when I climbed in the back of Arlo’s truck and left for Dallas. The cattle auction was outside of the city and it wasn’t going to wait on me to feel better. The fencing around the pastures we’d use for the next month or so were all fixed and the ranch wasn’t going to go anywhere else until we got cattle in. I told myself I wasn’t sad about not seeing the baby or talking to any of my siblings. I had work to do. I couldn’t stop what I was doing to check on them. It wasn’t like they needed me anyway. I mostly doubted they’d noticed my absence.

I wasn’t sure how a week of feeling so cold had also felt like hell somehow. I’d been miserable. Maybe even more miserable because the guys just let me exist however I showed up. They stopped trying to win me over or cheer me up and instead just worked beside me and were there. I didn’t know what it meant that they weren’t trying anything with me. None of them had tried to sleep in my bed and while they still touched me, it was how I imagined normal families touched each other. There was no heat behind the touches.

I’d shut them out so I knew it wasn’t fair for me to be upset with them but I was. I wanted them to demand I feel things again. I wanted them to make me feel better. I wanted to shed the ice that had taken over my heart. I mostly wanted to take it all back and go back to the morning I’d woken up in bed with Rhett. I’d gone from feeling on fire in bed with him to feeling so frigid after the confrontation with Mills that I shouldn’t have been surprised by the tornado of crap that kept cycling through my brain.

All through the auction I sat perfectly still while the guys bid on cattle. They looked to me for my opinion each time and it made a layer of ice crack. When they suggested we have dinner at a bar afterwards I made up my mind. We were in another city,no one knew me or who I was supposed to be. I needed to feel warmth again. If my guys no longer wanted me after seeing just how damaged I was, then I’d find someone else to burn me alive.

The bar was packed with ranchers from the auction and I knew that no matter what I looked like I wouldn’t be able to throw a rock without hitting at least one cowboy as desperate to feel something as I was. I sat at a table with Shep, Arlo, and Rhett and looked around, wondering who would make the cold go away, if not my roommates. Even as I saw men looking back at me, though, the cold just settled deeper in my bones.

“What can I get y’all tonight?” A pretty blonde woman with three-quarters of her boobs on display, smiled prettily at the guys. “All you cowboys coming in from the auction?”

“Can I get a shot of whiskey?” I couldn’t force my lips to turn up into a smile for the woman flirting with my guys. “Make it a double, please.”

Arlo stared at me with wide eyes for a moment before gathering himself and nodding to our waitress. “Same for me. Burgers all around, too.”

I held his gaze while Shep and Rhett ordered and I knew there were no other cowboys taking me home that night. Arlo’s gaze had turned hungry, the desire evident even to a sad virgin like me.Finally, I thought with a wave of relief.

As soon as the whiskey showed up at our table, I threw it back and fought to suppress a cough as it burned all the way to my stomach. Standing up, I pushed my curls out of my face and looked around the table.

“Who wants to dance?”

Arlo stood up first and his eyes darkened as I slipped out of my flannel. The tank top I had on under it was thin but it was hot in the bar. Gloriously hot and I wanted to feel it on my skin.

I didn’t wait for him. I made my way to the middle of the dancefloor and closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see anyone else.I just wanted to feel. I gasped when a thick arm wrapped around my waist and yanked me into a solid wall of muscle.

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