Page 23 of Mustang Summer

His brow drew even higher.“Nice.”

“Right?”

“But you don’t feel good about it.”

Again, she shook her head.

Jesse straightened and glanced around the room.“Listen—don’t sell yourself out.You do it once, and it starts getting easier.The excuses flow and they all make a lot of fucking sense, like how you’re owed…everything.”He paused and a crease formed in his forehead.Did he see himself in his words?“You feel strongly about something, don’t let anyone push you around.”

And there endeth the lesson.

She gave him a small smile.When Gage and Bill had bombarded her with their crazy ideas about the business, Jesse had always been her level.Looked like he still was, his own bad decisions aside.

There was a tap on the door, their one minute warning.

“I’m warning you, Josie, Bill isn’t smart enough to dig himself out of his own holes.Find a way to get out on your own.”

No.No matter what, she was Bill’s little girl.Still, it didn’t mean Bill would make the best decisions regarding her.“I’ll watch out for myself, and you do the same.”

As the door opened, Jesse pinned her with a serious stare.“I’m really sorry, Josie.My shit isn’t something you should be stressing over when you have Bill’s mess.”

She nodded numbly.Her brother always played the part of protector.But even he had his snapping point and Bill cutting him off from all support had been it.

She wandered out to her car, deep in thought.What if the land had been handed down from Jesse’s grandma?Would they have grown up in Moore, or escaped here?She might’ve found herself in Moore, looking for a job and meeting up with a hot farmer/mechanic—

She had to concentrate on something else.No good came from that line of thinking.

Why was she here?

She approached Brock’s place, but instead of pulling into the copse of trees she’d hidden in before, she pulled into his yard.

As always, his property took her breath away.

The house was older but well-kept, and the various green shades of the trees and grass were perfectly highlighted by the cloudless blue sky.The beige garage was tucked back into the ring of trees protecting the acreage from the elements while the magnificent red barn commanded attention.

It was also gorgeous.She wondered how old the barn was and how often they painted it to keep it so red.When she’d been out here before Jesse got busted, she’d wanted to frolic with the chickens.Watching them dart all over the pen on their fat little legs made her smile.She wondered if they laid eggs and the whole chicken bit.

Did the Walkers butcher them?

Could she eat a meal knowing she’d played with it a few weeks prior?

She’d never had so much as a fish.Pets weren’t allowed and since she still lived at home, she had to follow the rules.

A cat raced into the barn.The doors were spread wide open.She parked by Brock’s large pickup and got out.

When she glanced back to the barn, Brock was lounging against the doorframe.

A grungy white rag hung out of the belt loop of his jeans.His standard Ford hat was back on.No wonder she’d had such a hard time concentrating with him in proximity the day before.Without the protection of his ball cap, she got the full effect of his piercing blue eyes and could hardly keep her mind off of running her hands through his mane.

He either had only one black T-shirt he wore all the time, or eighty of them.No complaints from her because the way it molded over his muscles was better than a muscle-head calendar.

The smell of wildflowers carried on the gentle breeze.For once, the weather wasn’t going to skyrocket into the nineties and the day would be more bearable than the previous couple of weeks.

“Come to look at my collection?”

Not just the cars.“I had a little time before I left town.”

“Did you hear back from Mr.Blackwood yet?”

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