Page 78 of Stick Around,
The silence that followed felt electric, and I rushed to fill it before I lost my nerve.
“I know it makes no sense. I know I came here as some chick who won some ridiculous contest. And then somehow, I started helping with the camp, and making stick horses with the kids, and falling into bed with all of you, which wasn’t exactly on the brochure.” I inhaled shakily. “And then that woman tonight called me ‘the hobby horse lady’ like that’s all I am, and maybe that’s all I am to everyone else, this joke on the internet, but here... with you three... I feel like me. The real me. Not a woman cheated on by her fiancé or the viral stick horse woman or even a teacher.”
I stared straight ahead at the dark outlines of the stables, too afraid to look at any of them as I continued.
“I don’t know what that means or how it could possibly work.” My voice grew smaller. “I’m terrified I’m assuming things. That this was just fun for all of you, and here I am making it into something bigger because I’m... because I think I’m falling for you. All of you.”
I started to move to get off the tailgate but Enzo moved in front of me, his hands landing on my thighs. “Then stay.”
“Just like that?” My voice wavered. That had been too easy.
“We have a spare bedroom you could make your own, or we could share.” Enzo brought a hand up to cup my cheek, his eyes softer than I’d ever seen them. “We can figure out the rest.”
Reid’s hand slid around my waist. “We want you here.”
Kellan bumped his shoulder against mine. “Even your stick horse.”
I laughed, feeling the knot in my chest begin to loosen. “I have no idea what I’m doing.”
Enzo’s thumb ran along my bottom lip. “None of us do. That’s what makes it an adventure.”
“An adventure with really good benefits.” Kellan waggled his eyebrows, and Reid reached around me to swat him.
Enzo rolled his eyes. “Besides the benefits, you could get a teaching job here or we can discuss some other options here at the ranch.”
“You’ve thought about what me staying would look like?” I swear there was dirt in my eye and I wasn’t about to start crying.
I’d been so worried that they would think I was ridiculous for wanting to stay and explore what was developing between us. It wasn’t everyday you fell for three guys at once and they all wanted us to be together.
The corner of Enzo’s mouth lifted. “Maybe.”
“We all have.” Reid’s voice was rough with honesty. “But we didn’t want to pressure you.”
My heart swelled, so full I thought it might burst. The quiet certainty in their voices, the simple way they created space for me without any grand declarations felt real. I hadn’t come to the ranch looking for this, hadn’t even known I could want something like this. Yet here they were, three men looking at me like I belonged, not as an outsider, a contest winner, or a temporary guest, but as someone essential to whatever this was becoming between us.
I opened my mouth to respond, but was cut off by a deafening boom that echoed across the ranch. We all jumped, the truck bed rattling beneath us as the dark sky over the ranch lit up with a firework.
“Fuck!” Kellan was already sliding off the tailgate, his face the most serious I’d ever seen it.
Another firework went off directly above the stables, showering colorful sparks down toward the buildings. Someone on the property was setting them off and it wasn’t even the Fourth of July. Even if it had been, fireworks that went off in the air were illegal in the state.
“The horses!” Reid’s voice was sharp with alarm as he leapt down.
Kellan was already running toward the source, his silhouette briefly illuminated by another burst of light.
I scrambled off the truck, nearly twisting my ankle in my haste. I sprinted after Enzo and Reid, my mind already conjuring terrible images of panicked horses unable to escape their stalls as sparks rained down. The peaceful moment we’d shared seconds ago shattered like glass as another burst of light illuminated the night sky.
Chapter 25
One of the Good Ones
Kellan
Iran toward the cabins, my boots pounding against the packed dirt path. Another explosion ripped through the night sky, illuminating the rooftops in pink and green. My heart hammered against my ribs not from exertion, but from white-hot anger that was quickly overtaking my usual easygoing personality.
The horses were probably terrified. And Debra? She was most definitely losing her mind. She failed on all fronts when it came to our desensitization training.
I rounded the corner to cabin three in time to see a man lighting what looked like a Roman candle. Two kids watched with wide smiles while a woman filmed on her phone. They looked like they thought this was good, clean family fun rather than a potential disaster in the making.
