Page 65 of Parading the Cowboy Billionaire (Bluegrass Ranch 4)

He froze, realizing he’d been thinking about her, and he cleared his throat and tried to push her out of his head.

She refused to go, though, and while he could get ten or fifteen seconds of Ginny-free thoughts, she kept showing up.

He finally leaned away from his computer, a growl for himself in the back of his throat.

When he flipped over his phone, he saw half a dozen notifications, from calls to texts to social media icons.

Spur had called three times, and the voicemail notification winked up at Cayden.

“I don’t want to talk,” he said. “Isn’t that obvious?”

Sometimes he really hated being a Chappell. Like a bolt of lightning, he realized now why Blaine had simply loaded up in his truck and crossed state lines. The urge for Cayden to do the same had him standing up and tucking his phone in his pocket like he’d go right now.

As his brain caught up to reality, he sat back down. He had more responsibilities here than Blaine had had at the time. The Summer Smash was in just three weeks, and Cayden couldn’t just skip town because he’d broken up with his girlfriend.

None of the owners he’d booked would care. None of the twelve thousand people who’d bought tickets for the race would care. Heck, when it came right down to it, Spur wouldn’t care. The Smash was meant to bring awareness to Bluegrass Ranch, produce profit—a healthy six-figure profit, though Cayden wanted seven-figure profit—and get more people onto the ranch for future events.

He’d been working toward the Smash for six months; he didn’t get to stop because he’d fallen in love with Ginny Winters and had an extremely hard decision to make.

“You made it,” he said, getting up from his chair. He just needed a break, and he moved over to the couch and stretched out on it, holding his phone up above his head as he read the texts.

Spur wanted to know where he’d gone. He’d invited everyone over to Olli’s for games and pizza that night on the brother’s group text, and then he’d invited Cayden specifically.

The words,Ginny won’t be there, stood out to Cayden, and he pressed his eyes closed. They burned with his exhaustion, and he put his phone against his chest and just focused on breathing in and out. If he could just do that over and over, maybe the complete agony streaming through him would eventually go away.

* * *

Cayden woke all at once,something loud bringing him out of unconsciousness. His neck ached, and a pinch of pain radiated through his back.

Pounding on his door told him that was what had awakened him, and he sat up slowly so as to not further aggravate his back. He leaned over his knees, trying to get the ache out and his heartbeat to calm down.

“Cayden,” Lawrence called, but Cayden didn’t get up to open the door. Darkness drenched the whole office, and if he didn’t make any noise, Lawrence would have no reason to think he was there.

He wasn’t sure why he wanted to be alone, only that he did.

More than one voice came through the door, muted and low so Cayden didn’t know what his brothers were saying.

Doesn’t matter, he thought, and he decided to adopt it as his new life motto. He’d said it enough that day alone to make it one.

He’d have to face everyone soon enough, but it didn’t have to be today.

No one knocked again, and the voices retreated. He knew they’d be worried about him, and he should appreciate that. He didn’t need one of them calling the cops, so he quickly navigated back to Spur’s individual text string and started typing a response.

After he’d sent the apology and excuse that he’d fallen asleep, he watched the text pop up with the time above it.

He pulled in a breath. It was almost midnight. No wonder his brothers were worried about him. Spur wasn’t one to stay up late, and Cayden put the same message in the brothers’ string, knowing at least Lawrence was awake.

Messages started pouring in through that group text, from Lawrence, Conrad, Duke, and Blaine. Spur said nothing, which meant the man had gone to bed.

“Guess not everyone is all that worried,” Cayden said. As soon as he said it, the phone rang, and Spur’s name sat there.

Cayden couldn’t ignore it; he’d literally just texted. With a sigh, he swiped on the call. “Hey.”

“Where are you? Are you okay?”

“I’m perfectly fine,” Cayden said. “I just fell asleep, that’s all.”

“He’s fine,” Spur said, clearly not to him. “I mean, I’m sure he’s not fine. I’m sure he’s absolutely devastated, but he’s alive.”

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