Page 72 of Ace of Spades
“What did you do to get sent there?” she asks, her face rapt with fascination.
“Fighting,” I tell her with a wicked grin.
“Wes! I didn’t know you were such a little delinquent,” she giggles.
“To my defense, it was for good reason,” I tell her, grabbing our empty plates and putting them in the sink.
“Well, let’s hear it then,” she says, resting her elbows on the table as she rests her chin in her hands, as if waiting for a bedtime story.
“One of the little pricks in Dakota’s grade followed her into the bathroom and groped her as a dare from one of his shithead friends. I knew something was wrong when I drove her home from school that day, and when I wouldn’t stop begging for her to talk to me, she finally told me everything and even gave me the kid’s name. The next day, I hunted him down at school, walked right into his class, and dragged him by his hair to Dakota’s classroom to make him apologize. He cried the entire time, and even after he had apologized, I still beat the shit out of the punk. He ended up in the hospital for two days and his parents tried to sue, but they dropped it once the school agreed to send me to the juvenile detention center instead. Completely worth it, if you ask me. Nobody ever messed with her again after that.”
“Oh my gosh,” she says. “I don’t blame you one bit, I would have done the same thing if I had a little sister, especiallyone as sweet as Dakota.”
“Don’t let Kota fool you, she can be quite the little troublemaker when she wants to be,” I tell her, grabbing my truck keys from where they hang on the wall. “Come on, let’s go feed. I’ll drive.”
“Dakota, a troublemaker? I’ll believe that when I see it,” she laughs, following behind as she shoves her bare feet into her boots.
I whistle for the dogs, the duo following us out the door and running right to my truck, Hailey letting them into the back seat. Something about seeing her in nothing but my t-shirt and cowboy boots, no makeup, and her black hair in a messy bun on the top of her head, has me feeling some type of way.
I’ve always found Hailey to be beautiful—with the long glossy hair that I constantly think about wrapping my fist around when she’s giving me that little attitude of hers, her long dark lashes, and the pillowy lips that I think about more than I care to admit.
She wears the glitz and glam at rodeos like a true cowgirl, but this, the sleepy Hailey that needs her coffee, the carefree version of her that I only see here at the ranch—I think that’s becoming my favorite.
“You gonna drive, cowboy?”
Shit, I hadn’t realized that I’d zoned out in the driver’s seat. I start the truck, driving us down the dirt road to the stables, the sun ascending into the sky as the ranch hands mill about.
“So, what about you? What was it like growing up without any siblings?”
She’s pensive for a moment.
“Lonely,” she admits, a far-off look in her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her truthfully.
“Don’t be. I had my friends, the horses, and two parents who loved me. I can hardly complain, I always had it fairly easy. I think it just made it hard for me to connect with people on a deeper level sometimes, you know? I never really knew what it was like to be that close with someone, to have somebody that I felt blind loyalty to. I guess I still don’t really know what that’s like.”
I look over at her—reallylook at her. I’d never really thought about it that way, but it made sense. From what I’d gathered, she wasn’t necessarily very close with her parents. And she had friends, but considering she hadn’t really talked about any of them or even asked to invite them to the ranch in the couple of weeks since moving here, I doubted she was really close with them either.
A part of me wondered if that was why she was the way she was. A bit closed off, and not easily trusting, she didn’t seem to open up easily.
We step out of the truck, running into Beau on his way out of the stables.
“Hey,” he says, looking between me and Hailey. “Hailey, can I talk to you for a second?”
“Whatever it is you have to say to her, you can say it in front of me, too,” I say, taking a defensive stance at her back.
He looks at her remorsefully, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“I just wanted to apologize. I was out of line. I was taken by surprise and I took it out on you, and I truly am sorry. You didn’t deserve that.”
“It’s okay,” she says. “I shouldn’t have kept it from you guys for so long. I’m sorry too.”
“Please, don’t be.I shouldn’t have reacted like that. I just love this town and the people in it more than anything. I didn’t have much growing up, but I had the memories made at the trailer park. That place, and the people that live there—they’re important to me. I know that doesn’t excuse anything, I just figured I would explain. But I hope you know you’re welcome to stay here as long as you want.”
“Thank you,” Hailey tells him, pulling him in for a hug. Beau has always been like a brother to me, but watching Sorrels wrap her arms around him at this very moment has me wanting to slam him up against a wall.
“We good?” he asks me, the two of them finally stepping away from each other.
