Page 41 of Playing Dirty
A thick silence settled between us.
This wasn’t just lies and betrayal. This was architecture. A whole damn blueprint of deceit.
It hit like a hammer—Matt didn’t just screw up.
He engineered every bit of this.
We all settled around the kitchen island like it was a war table—Tessa brushing cracker crumbs from the granite with her forearm, Colt rocking one twin in his lap while the other clutched a juice pouch with both hands like it was a life source.Sawyer leaned forward, elbows braced like he couldn’t sit still another second. Me—I just gripped the edge of the counter like it might hold me together.
“Callie’s staying at the cabin,” Tessa said, eyes landing on mine. “She went back last night after the power was turned on, and she got her propane tank filled.”
My heart thumped once, sharp and hard.
“She was supposed to pick up Pixie today.” Tessa’s voice was soft as she reached down to scratch behind the cat’s ears. “She called—said she had to work late and asked if I could keep her another day or two. I told her not to worry, I’d hang onto Pixie as long as needed.”
God, that woman. Still trying to hold everything together, even when it’s falling apart beneath her. I exhaled through my nose. “Then I’ll invite her to my place for dinner tomorrow night.”
All three of them looked at me.
“It has to come from me,” I added. “She deserves to hear it from someone who?—”
I didn’t finish that sentence. But they heard it.
Tessa nodded. “I’ll cook. You figure out the time.”
Sawyer straightened. “I’ll be there too. Just in case she needs facts straight from the source.”
Colt passed the baby to Tessa and rubbed his temples. “Your mother can watch the twins. She is good at reading them a story before they go to bed. But Tessa…” He gave her a look, firm but tender. “You’re not cooking. I’ll call Ropers and have something delivered.”
I nodded. “Good idea, Colt, but I’ll do the ordering. You and Tessa have enough to handle. Now, back to the subject at hand.” I looked each of them in the eye. “Callie can’t feel ambushed if it gets too much, back off. Let me take it from there.”
Tessa reached for her mug. “What if she doesn’t want to hear it?”
That one landed like a stone.
I glanced at the window, at the wide stretch of Lucky Ranch out beyond it—the fences, the fields, the life we’d built on the backs of one lucky moment and a whole lot of grit.
“Then I’ll sit beside her in silence until she does.”
A quiet beat stretched between us.
Sawyer gave a slow nod, like maybe he understood. Colt didn’t say anything—just looked at me with something between warning and respect. Tessa… she studied me with that soft-eyed, sharp-sensed gaze she always saved for people she loved.
And I realized something, right then.
This wasn’t just about truth.
It wasn’t even just about protecting Callie.
It was love.
God help me, I loved her, and I wasn’t about to let the last man she trusted be the one who broke her.
I stepped out onto Colt and Tessa’s front porch just as the last of the sunlight melted behind the hills. The air had that early winter bite to it—sharp, clean, the kind that filled your lungs and made you feel alive whether you wanted to or not.
It should’ve calmed me.
It didn’t.
