Page 34 of Spurred On
“Sorry man, got to agree with the dumbass today.” Rhett crosses his arms and leans against the metal wall.
“Fuck you,” Weston says to Rhett before turning back to me. “How’s yourwife?” His eyebrows wag at the last word.
I drop my head back, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. Awe fuck, that means people for sure heard if Weston did. “So you heard that, huh?”
“The whole arena heard. I thought you were supposed to be lying low about that.”
“Oh, I was. Doug has already left me three voicemails ripping my ass.” Have I responded? Absolutely not. Doug is getting on my last nerve quicker and quicker these days.
“Well, you gonna tell us or do we have to beat it out of you?” When Rhett joins in, I know I’m not getting away with it. He’s usually the more reserved one of our bunch, so if he’s invested, I ain’t getting out of here scot-free.
“There is nothing to tell.” Turning my head, I walk over to the pile of supplies.
“Rhett, is it just me, or is someone avoiding the conversation?” I hear from behind me. Fuck, I’m not getting out of this. When Weston is on a mission, there’s nothing that will stop him.
Rhett’s deep chuckle doesn’t help me feel better. “Oh, someone for sure has some information to share.”
“There is nothing to tell because we haven't really even talked about it.”
“Well, do you like her, or is this just a phase you’re going to go through?” I stretch my neck to the side, unsure exactly how much I want to tell them because this can quickly turn into ammunition for the rest of my damn life.
“It’s not a fling.” I grab a rake. Apparently, I am the only one who’s planning on getting any work done today. “At least I hope not.”
Weston probes further. “Is she not interested? That’s a first for you, Ryder.” Oh, he is going to love watching my wife humble my ass.
“I don’t know.” She’s at least physically attracted to me, I know that.
“How can you not know?” Weston walks over to grab another rake, closing the distance I am trying to put between us.
“She hasn’t been around to talk about it. I don't know?”
“You live together in the world's smallest cabin. Where has she been hiding? Better yet, what did you do?” Rhett joins in on the questioning.
“Fuck if I know, man.” Women are complicated, and I am quickly learning I may be way in over my head in this marriage.
“You gonna tell us what happened after you went all caveman and claimed her as your woman in front of everyone?” Weston asks, but I’m pretty sure he knows exactly what happened.
I put on a nice, tight smile and look at him. “Sure, we went to our hotel and had a nice quiet night.”
“If she was quiet, that tells me everything I need to know.” They can make jokes at my leisure, but over my dead body am I going to air out what goes on between us when the lights are off.
“Can we get to work now? I have some shit I need to do this afternoon. Unless you dumb fucks want to do all of it by yourself.”
“Fine,” Weston rumbles out, “but your silence speaks volumes.”
“Real original, dipshits.” I shake my head and get to work.
The lights are on at the cabin when I come through the line of trees and pull up to the side of the house. Maybe she isn’t avoiding me and has just been busy all day.
The house is filled with the scent of mahogany and vanilla, her favorite candle. I stomp my feet on the rug, trying to get the leftover dirt from the barn off my boots.
Ava leans over the kitchen counter, wiping it down. Looking around, I see the whole place is clean. Like really clean.
“You go on a cleaning kick today?” I ask.
She practically jumps out of her skin, whirling around with her hand on her chest. Her sweatpants sit low on her hips, exposing a bit of skin below her belly button. I’ve seen that skin, touched that skin. My eyes stay glued on it, no matter how hard I try to drag them up.
“Uhm, yeah, I guess.” The tone in her voice has my hackles rising; something is wrong.
