Page 4 of Rival Heart
I turn to head inside the house, knowing that I’m about to find an even bigger mess. A shout spins me back around so fast that it takes me a moment to see my next visitor. When I finally figure it out, I grin ear to ear.
“Seb! Hey, man! How are you?”
Seb leaps from his horse and stalks towards me, slapping my hand and pulling me in for a one-armed hug. “So good to see you home where you belong, buddy!”
“Gimme a break, asshole. We both know I don’t belong here.”
Seb eyes me, his amber eyes somber. “I know that you don’t think you do but you do, man. I’ve missed you like hell while you were out there fighting the good fight. But it’s time to come home and face all those ghosts of the past and tell them to get fucked.”
I snort. “You always did have a way with words, Sebastian Rowe.” I pause, searching his eyes. “How’s that girl of yours?”
His smile is so bright that it could practically light up the whole wide world. “She’s amazing. But you know Misty. You know that.”
“I don’t know her very well. Only what I learned when I was down here before. I knew as soon as I saw you two together that she’s got your number, buddy.”
“She’s mine. She’s always been mine. Just like Rebel Hawthorne has always been yours.”
Shaking my head, I sigh and yank my gray cowboy hat off, dusting off my dirty jeans with it. “No. She’s not. I think she might have been at one point. But she’s too pissed right now to be anything but angry at me. There’s no love there anymore.” What I don’t say is that it’s all my fault. I’m the fuck-up in thissad, sad story. The other thing I don’t say is I hope I can manage to change her mind.
“Great. All we have to do is change her mind. That should be easy enough.” It’s like he can read my mind!
“How easy was it to change your Misty’s?”
He winces, his somber eyes telling me the truth. “Yeah. Not that easy. She hated me for years.”
“Exactly. And as stubborn as Misty is, that was all a misunderstanding. This… this is a lot more than a misunderstanding. I did something that I don’t know if she can ever forgive me for. I took away her choices and decided for her. Just like her fucking dad was always doing.”
“Damn! You think that’s why she’s so mad right now?”
Nodding I stomp over and drop down onto the porch swing, scuffing my boots along the worn wood of the porch.
“I don’t know. I just know that she’s pissed and she has every right to be. I fucked up.”
Seb shrugs his broad shoulders and glares at me. “You show her that you’re a changed man. And you make sure that you’re right there whenever she needs you now.”
Grinning, I slap him on the back when he flops into the rickety swing beside me. “I think you can still fix this.” He waves a hand all around us, encompassing the mess that is my family’s birthright. My birthright. “You two belong together. Like peanut butter and jelly.”
“Or bacon and eggs.”
“Swiss cheese and honey.” I shove at his shoulder and it’s like trying to move a rock. “You’re still eating that shit? There’s something wrong with you, man. You’re not right in the head.”
He snorts. “That’s what she said, man.”
I roll my eyes and sit back, laughing. “I’ve missed you.”
He turns back to me, serious for once in his life. “You’ve missed more than me. But you’re home now. And you’re gonna stay. I know it.”
Lifting a brow, I smirk at him. “How? How do you know that?” I hadn’t even begun to think about it until I saw Reb again.
My best friend in the whole world grins at me. “Because you don’t really have a choice. As soon as they see you two together… they’re gonna do everything in their power to make both of you happy. They’ll know that you’re soul mates with one look.”
Ice skitters down my spine. “You don’t mean…?”
“Oh… I do. The grannies are gonna be all over this and you’re not gonna have a choice in it. They’ll make sure that you both end up happy and together. As you always should have been.”
He tips his black cowboy hat at me and smirks before he stalks up to his horse and vaults up into the saddle. “Enjoy your little bit of peace, friend. As soon as they realize that you’re in town they’ll start a full-on assault, and you won’t be able to run from their craziness.” He turns his horse around, glancing over his broad shoulder and laughing. “I know that I couldn’t.”
And then he turns back around in the saddle and kicks his booted heels into his horse, his head thrown back and dark eyes sparkling.
