Page 3 of Never Fear (Whiskey Ridge)
“They left it on her driver’s seat,” Brynne interrupted.
“So you left your car unlocked,” Austin surmised.
My hands slid from my pockets to cross my arms defensively. “I’m not a fucking idiot.”
Austin straightened, adjusting his grip on the reins. “It’s okay to be forgetful, kitten, just don’t act dumb about it.”
My mouth popped open right before Booker interrupted, “Would you two stop behaving like teenagers?”
Brynne looked up at him, her hand on his thigh. “Letthem have their moment, baby. We had ours plenty of times.”
“This isnota moment,” I snapped. I stepped forward, snatching the note from Booker with a little too much force. “If none of you have any advice, I’m leaving.”
“McKenna—” Brynne started.
I turned on her, frustrated and wanting to get the fuck out of here. I knew this was a bad idea. “No, Brynne. Coming here was probably the dumbest thing I could have done. Austin clearly can’t show an ounce of respect, and you and Booker are here playing domesticated ranch lives or whatever the fuck you call this fairytale life, so this is pointless.”
Hurt flashed across her eyes before she quickly covered it up.
“This doesn’t only involve you,” Austin stated, looking down at me from his bay horse.
I tilted my chin up. “No? Where’s your love note?”
“Stop calling it a fucking love note,” he gritted out.
I forced a smirk. “Jealous, cowboy?”
His nostrils flared the slightest bit before he was holding Nightmare in one arm and hopping down. His boots kicked up dust as he stomped toward me, one rein in hand as his horse followed. He set the puppy down, then closed the distance until our chests nearly touched. “You like your life being threatened, McKenna?”
“Guys,” Brynne spoke up, but we both ignored her.
“I wish whoever it was would’ve left a phone number.” I cocked my head to the side. “Then I could have looked death in the face and known what it truly felt like to be turned on before I died.”
His jaw ticked, the muscle in his cheek jumping. But whatever he saw in my eyes, whatever he noticed on my face, made him back off. “It’d be my pleasure to end their life solely to rob you of the opportunity.”
“Too bad I’ll find them first.” I pouted out my bottom lip, patting his chest. “I’ll take a video just for you.”
He sneered, turning away with his horse and heading toward the barn. “I’m sure you would.”
I watched the retreating horse—because I wasnotwatching Austin walk away—when Brynne’s voice filtered in. “Well, that went well.”
My teeth dug into my gum, the sticky substance likely rooting itself in my molars as we spoke, and I turned to face her. “You said something about Thanksgiving?”
She patted Booker’s leg before coming over to me and looping her arm through mine. He took that as his signal to leave, and Brynne led me back to the porch.
“Yeah,” she started hesitantly. “We have to get a few things from the store, and Booker and Au—” I shot her a look. “The others will go hunting for the turkey. I thought we could make a day out of shopping while they do their thing. We don’t need anything for a few weeks, though. So really, we just have to pick what day we want to go.”
I nodded. Hell, I’d agree to getting our toe hair waxed right now if she asked. I wanted to do anything other than deal with this stupid note and that fucking cowboy.
“That sounds great.”
Chapter 2
Austin
For three hours, McKenna and Brynne talked about everything besides what was important. Besides the fact that someone had her on their radar. The woman’s life was just threatened, and she was sitting around like it was a letter from an estranged cousin or something.
I didn’t miss the way her mouth smacked on that gum, or how she kept twiddling the end of her high ponytail around her manicured finger. There were signs that she was unnerved, but she tried to hide them. From where I sat in the kitchen, with a full view of the two of them as they chatted away on the living room sofa, I saw each and every tick of hers, which meant Brynne had to as well. Once McKenna left, there was no doubt that Brynne would stomp over to Booker and demand he do something. We were likely the reason she received the note in the first place, anyway. After having killed the man in charge of some twisted gambling scheme, I figured we’d have people on our asses. I just didn’t expect them to target the blonde.
