Page 32 of Spur of the Moment
“You’re going to pay for that,” he repeated my words.
I squealed as he came running at me, trying to get to my feet before he reached me. Before I had the chance to get up, he was scooping me up into his arms, holding me like a baby.
“Hold your breath, Huckleberry,” he instructed with a smile.
“What?” I squeaked.
He didn’t answer. Instead, he lifted me higher, then tossed me deeper in the water like I weighed nothing. My head went under, and when I came up to the surface and wiped the water from my eyes, he was standing there with his arms crossed, smiling down at me.
“That was so mean!” I yelped.
“You kind of deserved it,” Callan pointed out from the shore where he’d given up on getting the bay in the water with all the splashing.
“He’s got a point!” Beck yelled from behind me.
My feet found the bottom of the pond and I stood, the water coming up to my breasts. From where Bailey stood a few feet from me, he was a lot taller than he typically was with the angle of the ground below us. The sun was glistening off the water droplets clinging to his chest, and my eyes trailed one sliding down his stomach to his shorts.
He smirked, and I tore my eyes away. It was hard not to look at Bailey when he was standing there like that, all of his attention on me. But it wasn’t fair to myself to imagine him as anything other than my brother’s best friend.
Plus, I still wasn’t sure where I’d be going to college, and I only had a couple months to decide. There’d be no point in getting into anything with anyone here if I’d just be leaving, especially with Bailey.
I saw the way he looked at me sometimes, the hint of something more than friendship shining in his green eyes. He’d always cared about me, always made sure I was okay, but that was where I drew the line with us.
There couldn’t be a Bailey and Lettie without complicated feelings mixed in, and the last thing I wanted to do was complicate his life.
After a couple hours of basking in the sun in between swimming in the water, we led the horses back to my parents’ ranch. We were all starving and ready to dig into whatever dinner my mom had prepped.
I had already put Red away by the time Bailey was done hosing the sand off of Nova’s body. The horse had decided toroll on the shore, which in turn coated Bailey’s shorts in sand on the ride home.
I stood in the doorway to the barn, watching as Bailey walked down the aisle to Nova’s stall.
“Enjoying the view?” Callan popped up beside me.
I jumped, shoving at his shoulder. “There’s no view.”
He raised an eyebrow, the corners of his lips twitching. “Really? I swear I see some drool…” He reached out like he was going to wipe the drool away with his thumb.
I shoved his hand away, turning around and stomping off in the direction of the house. I couldn’t help the slight smile that pulled at the corner of my mouth.
There wasn’t a better view than Bailey Cooper, but I wouldn’t admit that out loud.
17
Lettie
Turning off the steaming water, I stepped out of the shower and toweled off. Despite the scorching water, I still felt cold. My skin wasn’t cold to the touch, but I felt it in my bones. I didn’t have to look in the mirror to know my complexion was dull and my lips were still drained of color. Usually, I could go a few days without my supplements and be fine, but with all of the excitement, I got ahead of myself.
I was embarrassed, even though I shouldn’t be. Bailey probably thought I was the same helpless little girl, not being able to take care of myself. Having lived with this condition for the better part of my life, you’d think I’d have this down pat, but I didn’t. I hated it, and sometimes, I let that hate get the best of me and would purposefully not take my prescription; just to see if it had magically gone away. I should know by now that itdidn’t. I should also know that it wasn’t the smartest way to go about being anemic, but like most things in life, I didn’t like to be bound by rules.
My family knew this about me. Reed even blamed my growing up around Brandy, as if that was the reason I rebelled against this diagnosis every so often.
Unlocking the bathroom door, I headed into our empty room. I heard Bailey when he left, but I was too humiliated to respond to him. He had to practically hold me up when the wave crashed into me as I was about to get in the truck. If that didn’t raise alarm bells, I didn’t know what did.
I left Bell Buckle to get out from underneath everyone’s overbearing umbrella. I was barely back a week and already showing that there was every reason for them to worry.
Bailey was never the overcrowding type, which I was thankful for, but I hoped he didn’t tell my brothers about what happened. I knew he cared about me, and if he did tell them, I knew it’d be coming from the kindest parts of his heart. How could I hold that against him if he did? My loathing of everyone close to me caring about me was a problem, but growing up, it got to the point that I couldn’t even muck a stall without someone around the corner listening for me. I rarely had alone time because of it. After so many years of dealing with it, I started to detest their worry for me. I should appreciate them looking out for me, but instead, I tried to push everyone away. For five years, it worked. But now that I was back, I could see how moving away wasn’t the best course of action.
I grabbed my shorts and oversized shirt from my duffel bag, slipping them on and crawling under the covers. Clicking on the TV, I flipped through the channels until I settled on a home renovation show.
