Page 38 of Ace of Spades
I run inside, flipping the light switch, but the lightbulb remains out.
“Shit,” I mutter, pulling out my phone and turning on the flashlight. I look around, no people or other animals in sight, though all three of my horses pace around their stalls with a wild look in their eyes, something clearly having spooked them.
“Shhh, it’s okay,” I tell them, reaching Vegas’s stall and running a hand over her forehead in a soothing motion. “You guys are okay, I’m here. I know you aren’t used to this place, but it’s going to be just fine.”
I muster up some courage, deciding to check the area for any signs of what could have spooked them. A wild animal, maybe? A person? Other than the path leading back through the woods to the trailer park, there wasn’t anything else out here.
A chill runs through my body as I look out into the woods, the sound of the wind blowing through the branches causing the hair at the back of my nape to stand on end. Whatever it was that spooked them, I just hoped it was gone now.
Chapter 14
WESTON
“Damn, who’s got you smiling like that?” I ask Chance, his attention glued to his phone from where he sits next to me in the passenger seat of his truck. It was my turn to take the wheel for a bit on our long drive down to New Mexico for the rodeo this weekend.
“Nobody,” he says, a smile on his face as he tucks the phone back into the pocket of his jeans.
“Don’t lie to me, Chance Crowley. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile at your phone like that. So who is it? Is it Ava? I haven’t seen her around much lately.”
“No, it’s not Ava,” he says, rolling his eyes.
“Well then who?”
“It’s nobody, okay? Just some girl I matched with on a dating app, it’s no big deal.”
“If you say so,” I tell him. Chance wasn’t the type to be texting a girl all day, let alone smiling at his phone like he had some schoolyard crush. He was every bit a player, always bouncing around from one girl to another before any of us even had the chance to learn their names.
He’d tell me sooner or later, I knew it.
“So you think Easton will be at this one?” he asks, changing the subject. I can feel my blood heating at the thought of Bradley Easton. I hadn’t seen him since I found out about what he did to Hailey, and I was fully prepared to make him pay for it the next time I saw him. I hadn’t seen her in nearly a month either, especially since there hadn’t been many bigger rodeos over the last few weeks.
“He’d better not show his face if he wants to keep it intact,” I mutter.
“Is Hailey doing okay, though? You know—after everything?”
“How should I know? You and Rafe talk to her more than I do lately,” I say, trying to hide the bitterness in my voice.
“She hasn’t been speaking with us much these last few weeks. I’ve tried to reach out a few times but I think she’s giving all of us some distance for your sake. You could always try to reach out and talk to her, right?”
“You know I’m not going to do that.”
“And why not? Because you’re both too stubborn for your own good? You’re just going to keep dancing circles around each other until one of you grows a pair and does something about it.”
“Just drop it, Chance.”
“Oh, so now you want me to drop it? How about you just admit that you have feelings for her.”
“Idon’thave feelings for her,” I growl.
“Yeah, 'cause that sounded convincing.”
“I don’t,” I state, not sure if I was trying to convince him or myself. “She’s infuriating, and sassy, and stubborn, and she gets on my last nerve. Every time I talk to her it’s like throwing gasoline on the fire, and one of us is going to end up getting burnt.”
“Do you hear yourself? I think you’ve finally found the only person in this world who’s as hard-headed as you. You two are meant for each other, you’re just not ready to admit it yet.”
“You keep toeing the line of my shit list, Crowley,” I tell him.
He rolls his eyes, leaning his seat back and kicking his boots onto the dash.
