Page 8 of Chasing the Wild
Especially not in front of this other man.
Kayce beams down at me with that blue-eyed charm turned up to megawatt status. Giving me a look that, for a brief moment in time, used to make me go all gooey inside, thinking that he was looking at me as if I was someone special. Only now, it does absolutely nothing for me.
“Dad, this is my girlfriend, Layla.”
My brain and body separate into different dimensions for a moment.
Dad?
I’m staring slack-jawed, taking in the bare-chested, muscled dream before me, who is glaring right back with darkness in his eyes and a tic in his jaw. My eyes keep drifting to the point where he’s still gripping his towel, and it’s like I’ve stumbled into some kind of cowboy Bermuda Triangle.Mayday. Mayday.All the dials are spinning, alarms are blaring, and a crash is imminent. When this wreckage is found, there will be no survivors.
Wait.No. “Not girlfriend.Ex.” I correct Kayce, strongly emphasizing the wordexa little louder than necessary. Unwinding myself from beneath his arm, I take a step to the side and put some breathing room between me and the younger Wilder man.
His father—holy shit, his father—stares at me with cold indifference. Gone is the charming cowboy from our brief interaction earlier. It’s like he murdered that version of the man I swooned over so easily, and dumped his corpse in the ravine I just drove past.
“We dated briefly.” I offer as a totally unnecessary added explanation. Words feel clumsy and acidic on my tongue.
“Come in. Man, this is so cool. I can’t believe you’re here. I’ll grab us a drink.” Kayce moves toward the kitchen and I feel his father’s eyes lasered on me. I can’t look at him. This is all too much. This day can go fuck itself. I’d like the ground to swallow me up whole, thank you very much.
“Horses need packing. There’s a group arriving in an hour.” The stony-faced man barks after his son, still glaring at me. He seems angry at Kayce, and isn’t moving from the doorway either, effectively barring me from entering his house.
I’m trapped right in the middle of something I don’t want to understand.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll get to it later.” Kayce shrugs him off and I cringe. He’s a dick to his father too, how predictable.
“Later won’t cut it. They should have been sorted out by now. Tonight’s group booked a twilight ride.”
“I got busy.” Kayce wanders back over and attempts to press a beer into my hands, but I shake my head and turn it down. All I want to do is leave his boxes out here on the porch, and get the hell off this mountain.
“Jesus, Kayce.” His father shakes his head and looks like he wants to chew him out but stops himself. I don’t blame the guy, I know the exact feeling.
Without another glance my way, he stalks off to the depths of the house, and I’m left alone with Kayce Wilder, who is double-fisting beers, looking like the cat who got the cream.
“You couldn’t have at least repliedto me? I’ve had to drive up a fucking mountain to track your ass down and bring your shit here, you know.” I growl, following behind his long strides across the wooden decking.
He shrugs and doesn’t offer an explanation, or an apology. But that’s Kayce for you. All effervescence and crooked smiles that have enabled him to coast through life without any consequences for any goddamn thing.
“So, now you’ve officially met my dad.” Kayce changes the subject and dumps himself into a chair on the front porch. He readjusts the trucker cap he’s wearing with one hand, resting one of the beers on his knee.
It’s inviting out here, the wooden porch is wide with a railing along the edge and there’s a handful of comfortable outdoor armchairs. From the look of the floor to ceiling ranch sliders further down the far end, the bedrooms must have access outhere too. I’m sure the mornings and evenings must be stunning, with the south-facing vantage point getting sun all day long.
But I will not be sitting down.
“He seems nice.” I offer. Shuffling on my feet.
Kayce snorts. “Colton Wilder? Nice? That man is the most miserable old bastard you’ll ever meet. He never leaves this shithole mountain, and it’s nothing but fucking work up here from dawn ‘til dusk.” He tips his beer back.
Ok, so maybe I am smarting more than a little at the way his father completely blanked me back there. He didn’t say a single word to me. Not even a polite acknowledgment that we’d only just met down in town? Maybe the guy is the exact kind of asshole Kayce says he is. It was kind of rude.
It would be typical, that someone so cold could have a place this stunning to call home.
“I dunno, it seems pretty up here, though.” I shade my eyes to look out over the late sun caressing the tall grass in a golden hue, and from here, not only does Devil’s Peak command the horizon, but I see the infamous Crimson Ridge that gives the town its name towering like a shard of reddish-colored rock beyond the dense pine trees.
“Don’t be sucked in. Summer is all soft and warm and flirty right now, but winter is an icy-hearted bitch who wants nothing more than to steal your soul.” Kayce rubs his hand over the back of his neck. “It’s months and months up here with no cell reception, Wi-Fi that drops out every five fucking minutes, and nothing to do but feel like you’re going to go insane in the dark before they reopen the roads in between storms.”
No cell reception, even up here in the clearing? I dig my phone out and see there are still no bars. Well, that at least explains why Kayce was even more useless than normal in replying to my messages.
“Yeah, and Dad’s piece of shit Wi-Fi hardly works. He doesn’t use technology because he’s such a grumpy dickhead, and can’t see the benefit in joining the real world. This place is like a fucking jail or some shit.”
