Page 50 of Alive and Wells

Austin

I’mhalfasleep,andfully hating myself for not ditching my plan to have the guys help watch her. If I weren’t such a coward, I would’ve asked if she wanted to stay here in the first place. Before getting the ranch hands involved. And maybe, if I had, she would be with me right now, instead of drinking at The Horseshoe with other men. I wouldn’t be alone in a bed that smells like her—feels like her—with an aching feeling and nobody to blame but myself.

The repeated ping of my cell phone makes me jump, and forms a pit in my stomach as I pick up the device.

Cecily:I wish you were here

Cecily:or I wish I was there. Either way. Why didn’t you make me stay?

Cecily:I don’t think you know the things I would’ve done to you if you’d made me stay with you tonight

Cecily:or you do know, but you’re a big baby.

So, she’s drunk. Very drunk, by the sounds of it. And possibly horny, which makes my stomach somersault. But she’s having fun and, regardless of the number of guys there she could be talking to, she’s texting me. This is all okay, right? It wasn’t a bad choice to let her go, right?

Austin:Somebody’s having fun, I see. You okay?

Cecily:I can think of something more fun I’d rather be doing

Cecily:*someone

My cock doesn’t waste any time figuring out the innuendo. Already pulsing against my thin, cotton boxers. Now I’mreallypissed off at myself for not asking—begging—her to stay here with me. When it comes to her, my mistakes know no bounds.

Austin:You’re saying that because you’ve had a few too many

Cecily:or because it’s the truth

Cecily:I want you

Austin:yeah?

I’m already pulling jeans on and heading out the door as I send the text.

Cecily:But you don’t care. guess I’ll have to touch myself tonight instead

Cecily:or maybe I’ll do it now… nobody else is in the bathroom

Cecily:promise I’ll think about you

Jesus fucking Christ.Never in my life have I wished I had gone out to the bar with the ranch hands before now. Envisioning her horny, and surrounded by guys that’ll be willing to do anything she asks, has me driving well over the speed limit down the dirt road to town. Praying to God I’ll make it there before she falls into somebody else’s arms. I thought not making a fuss about her going out was the right call—I’m trying to do everything the exact opposite way I imagine her ex would have. But clearly, this was the wrong call.

I should’ve made her stay with me.

Austin:hang tight, darling. I’m coming.

Cecily:that makes two of us

Cecily:I’m so wet thinking about you

Cecily:too bad you aren’t here to help me

Ain’t no fucking way.

I call her and it goes to voicemail; she calls back a minute later, just before my heart palpitations turn deadly. The dull thud of bass resonates in the background of her slightly slurred hello.

“You’re lying,” I blurt out with an exasperated sigh. My cock’s crushed uncomfortably against the zipper of my jeans, and my thumbs drum incessantly on the steering wheel, waiting for her response.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

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