Page 47 of Rough Ride with the Grumpy Cowboy
Yeah, sure, keep lying through your teeth.
“Dad sent you in here, didn’t he?” I call him out on his bullshit.
At least he doesn’t bother denying it. “He did.”
“What does he want?” I grunt, picking up a towel to dry off some of my sweat.
His phone ringing interrupts our conversation. He retrieves it from his pocket, lifting his finger, asking me to give him a moment.
“It’s Ella,” he informs me as he picks up. “Hey, El, can I call you back? I’m in the middle of something,” he requests, eyeing me cautiously.
She says something in response that has his eyes widening in alarm as he pulls the phone from his ear and puts it on loudspeaker.
“What about Ava?” he asks, and my interest is immediately piqued.
“She’s missing,” Ella replies, her voice filled with terror.
How can she be missing? They left here less than an hour ago.
“What do you mean missing?” I ask before Jace can.
“We ran into her mom. They had a confrontation and Ava ran off. Now I can’t find her,” she explains, her voice clogged with terror.
I don’t need to hear anymore as I grab my shirt and hat off the hook by the door. “I’m on my way.”
“Zane, wait up!” Jace yells after me, but I’m already out the door, headed for the garage.
Somehow he manages to catch up to me and jumps into the passenger seat just as I’m driving out of the garage. I hate going into town with a passion, but Ava is in danger, so my issues are the least of my concern.
“Why would she run off?” I ask.
“She had a confrontation with her mother,” he answers as if I wasn’t there when Ella informed us of that.
“Yeah, so? She’s her mother,” I reason, trying to understand.
“Oh, you don’t know...” he trails off.
“Know what?”
I glance at him, and he’s looking at me with apprehensive eyes. “I don’t know if it’s my place to tell you.”
“Jace, don’t make me beat it out of you. What don’t I know?” I demand.
I hear him exhale when he realizes that I’m not going to stop until he coughs up the information that I need.
“Ava and her mother had a falling out,” he informs me.
Now that is new information to me. “When?”
“It’s been a while. I’m not sure when exactly—you’ll have to ask her or Ella that.”
“Why did I not know about this?” I mutter to myself.
I step on it, grateful that we’re on a rural road so there’s not much traffic.
When we get to the rec center, Ella is waiting for us outside, and I don’t hesitate to jump out of the car with Jace right behind me.
“Thank God you guys are here. I couldn’t leave Daisy behind.”
