Wright Rival

by K. A. Linde

  Hollin dropped the shirt and smiled at my boyfriend. “Had to fix my shirt. Looks good on her, doesn’t it?”

  Bradley looked between me and Hollin, as if he couldn’t figure out whether or not he should punch him. Of course, that would be a real problem. Since Hollin probably had a hundred pounds of muscle on Bradley. Frankly, it was obscene.

  “Shut up, Hollin,” I growled and turned back to my boyfriend. “Come on. Let’s congratulate the happy couple.”

  Bradley followed me away. “Is…something happening with y’all?”

  I blinked at him. “With Hollin?”

  He laughed softly at my incredulity. “I know you say you hate him, but…”

  “But I’m wearing his shirt?”

  “Yeah. And he riles you so easily.”

  “You know why that is.”

  Bradley nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I know what you told me. It just felt different.”

  It had, hadn’t it? Fuck.

  “Don’t worry about it. He’s the same Hollin.”

  I glanced back at Hollin Abbey. A flash of possessiveness came into Hollin’s eyes, and my cheeks heated from the one look. It didn’t matter how attractive he was or that he looked at me like every book boyfriend I’d ever read about. He was still Hollin Abbey, and I wouldn’t ever go there.

  4

  Hollin

  My new life mission was to see how often I could make Piper blush. I’d never seen her do it until that look back. Now, it was something I absolutely had to see more often. Mostly, she scowled at me and told me to fuck off. This was a whole new look.

  And sure, I’d been a dick to say that shit to Bradley. I’d never been able to hide my feelings about the guy. But taunting him was a new low. I’d thought he might swing on me. Would have been a waste of energy anyway. Piper looked like she was long over him.

  Finally, I tore my gaze from her to return to the moment. My friends were engaged.

  “We have to celebrate,” I cheered. “Let’s open a bottle of the new vintage.”

  Julian nodded eagerly. “Yes, bro. Let’s do it.”

  Jordan shot us both a stern look. “Before we find out about the award?”

  “It’s not like we’re opening it up to the entire party. Just us.”

  Annie nudged her new fiancé. “Come on. I haven’t even tried it! And we used to taste-test all the wine.”

  She winked at him, and I had a feeling she was talking about something else entirely.

  Jordan’s face softened at her words. She had that effect on him. “All right. We are celebrating.”

  Julian and I clapped hands and then barreled through the party and out the side door. We didn’t keep the newest wine in the barn yet. We’d bring it out as a special-edition vintage after we found out about the award. But we had a few cases in the cellar, and we trekked across the lawn to grab the bottles.

  Julian shot me a look. “What’s going on with you and Piper?”

  “Nothing more than normal.”

  “So, you’re antagonizing her for no reason?”

  “Not for no reason,” I said with a laugh.

  Julian punched in the code to open the cellar, and we entered the long line of wooden wine barrels. The machinery was on one end of the cellar with offices on the other end, and a storage unit was in the middle for processed wine to sell. For the last year, it had been predominantly empty since for our first harvest, we had been using the slightly neglected grapes from when the place was West Texas Winery. Now that we had our own operation, from harvest to bottling, it was running much smoother. And the wine was exponentially better as a result.

  “I have a case in my office,” I told Julian. We passed the barrels and headed into my office. I grabbed two bottles, handing them to my cousin. “Should be enough?”

  “Probably.”

  I grabbed another bottle for safe measure. “Just in case.”

  He laughed. “You mean, more for you?”

  “This red is the shit. If I do say so myself.”

  “It’s your baby.”

  I winked. “Obviously.”

  I took great pride in looking down at the first bottle that had been all my doing. The label was cream in color with Wright Vineyard written in a fancy blood-red script and a red wax seal with the WV inside it. Under that, it said the vintage—Abbey. My wine. We’d decided a year ago to give the wines names and then describe them under the label. So, the red was Abbey, and the first white, we’d named Annie. Guess that should have been my first clue about the pending engagement.

  “So, what is this reason you’re being a dick to Piper?” Julian asked.

  “Oh, because it’s fun.”

  Julian laughed. “Wow.”

  “Yeah. I’m really mature for my age.”

  “Sure. Mature. That’s the word I’d use to describe you.”

  “Thanks. I try.”

  We both laughed as we walked back to the barn. I filched a corkscrew from the bar on our way and had a bottle uncorked when we arrived. One of our bartenders for the night followed us over with a set of new glasses.

  I poured tasting portions in each glass and passed them out to our friends. Piper held her hand out for a glass, and Julian offered one out to her. I had no idea what came over me, but I put myself between her and the wine. Julian fumbled the glass with a curse.

  “Piper doesn’t get any,” I said with a devilish grin.

  “What?” she asked in obvious shock.

  “Hollin,” Julian grumbled.

  “She’s the enemy.”

  “The enemy?” Piper all but growled. Her eyes narrowed in annoyance. “What the hell?”

  “We’re competitors now. I can’t let you sample the goods.”

  “As if that’s going to change anything about the competition. We’ve already submitted the wine for sampling.”

  I shrugged, unperturbed by the facts of the situation. “So?”

  She blinked at me. “You’re really not going to let me have any?”

  I crossed my arms over my chest, my biceps bulging against the confines of my white T-shirt. “Nope.”

  “You’re unbelievable.”

  “Not the first time I’ve heard that before, babe.”

  Her displeasure turned straight primal. She looked half-ready to claw my eyes out at the insinuation in my voice. And there was insinuation in my voice. I couldn’t help it around her. I’d told Julian it was fun. It was. But there was something about poking at Piper. She reacted the best. The soft heave of her chest at the indignation. The dilation of her eyes when she realized I was fucking serious. The clench of her hand for the moment when she was deciding whether or not it was worth dealing with me. There was always a point where she’d tell me to fuck off and walk away, but it was like threading a needle to wait to get there with her.

  Today, she chose sass.

  “Like I want your shit wine anyway. I’ll stick to French champagne. Since they know what they’re actually doing.”

  She rolled her eyes at me and walked back to her awaiting boyfriend and the Veuve we’d been using to celebrate. She thought that she’d won that round. But the look on her face had been success enough.

  “Leave her alone,” Julian hissed.

  I turned back to my cousin with pure innocence on my face. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Must you antagonize her?” Jordan drawled, hefting a bottle of Abbey to examine it.

  “I must,” I said with a grin.

  “Oh. My. God,” a voice squealed. “Hollin?”

  I glanced up at the unfamiliar voice. A petite blonde stared up at me with bright blue eyes and a sizable rack spilling out of some frilly pink dress. She looked vaguely familiar. Emily? Emma? Emmie? Fuck.

  “Hey,” I said with a charming smile. “Can I help you?”

  She strode forward two steps in white booties that Julian had claimed were in right now. Whatever that meant. He was the fashion guy.

  “It’s Emily.”

  Ha! I’d be
en right the first time.

  She waited for a response to that, but I didn’t give one. “Remember, we went on a few dates in January? You said you’d call…”

  “Right,” I said, rubbing my hand on the back of my head. I didn’t always remember the girls I had gone on dates with two months prior. “Sorry about that.”

  “It’s totally okay. It’s good to see you. I came with a few girlfriends who love the winery.”

  “Glad they like it.”

  “So…” She bit her lip and looked down, trying to be suggestive.

  I remembered that about her now. That she’d been really into biting her lip. As if it was the only seduction tactic she’d picked up. Her big tits and blonde hair and heart-shaped face usually got her whatever she wanted.

  We’d gone on three dates, hooked up, and then I’d given up. As I so often did. Most girls like Emily couldn’t keep my attention for that long. I’d given her the benefit of the doubt for a third date based on her rack alone.

  “So?” I prompted.

  “Well, do you want to meet up again?”

  Julian barely suppressed a laugh next to me. I shot him a look. He already knew my motto with things. It wasn’t that I had a three date rule exactly. I just got bored so easily, and I wasn’t interested in anything serious. I hadn’t been interested in that in a long fucking time. Most girls weren’t relationship material anyway. They weren’t for me at least. I was down with fucking around for longer than that. But I wasn’t a feelings guy.

  My dipshit friends called it my three-date rule. But that made it seem like I was looking for a relationship. Like I was giving up on girls because I hadn’t found the one. When the opposite was true. I had no interest in finding the one, and I was pretty sure that person didn’t even exist.

  Yeah, Jordan and Julian had each found their person, but they’d gone through a whole hell of a lot of shit to get there. I wasn’t willing to invest that much into anyone but myself. Sure, it made me look like a dick, but I wasn’t leading anyone on. People knew who I was upfront. Was it my fault if they wanted to change me?

  “Thanks for the offer, Emily, but I’m going to pass.”

  Her cheeks reddened. “Oh. You’re going to pass?”

  “Yeah.”

  She gulped and her head swiveled to her friends. They waved her back over, and she bit her fucking lip again. “Are you sure?”

  “Pretty sure.”

  “I, um…okay.”

  “Could you have an ounce of sympathy?” Annie said with an eye roll as the poor girl scurried back to her friends.

  “What? She knew when we tried that in January that I wasn’t Mr. Relationship,” I said to Annie.

  “Yeah, but do you know how hard it is for a girl to ask a guy out?”

  “And so I’m obligated to say yes when she asks?”

  “No,” Annie said, smacking my arm. “But you could let her down easy.”

  Jordan held his hand out to his fiancée, and she stepped into his embrace. “Listen to the doctor. She knows what she’s talking about.”

  “I said thanks for the offer,” I said with a shrug.

  “It’s a waste of time,” Piper chimed in.

  My gaze found her. “And why is that?”

  “Because you’re tactless. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

  I grinned, taking a step forward, ready to lay back into her, but Julian smacked me in the chest. “Do not say whatever just came to your mind.”

  I shot my friend a look and laughed. “What was I going to say?”

  “Something obscene,” he guessed.

  True. I was about to tell her that I could teach her new tricks. If she’d just let me instead of always mouthing off. Who the fuck was I kidding? I’d teach her new tricks while she mouthed off, and I’d enjoy all of it.

  She must have seen all of that cross my face in a split second because she suddenly stood. Her chair knocked backward, scraping against the hardwood. “It’s time for me to head out. As much fun as it is to watch Hollin three-date-rule some poor girl and not get to drink at a winery, I have to work in the morning.”

  Bradley rose to his feet as well. He hadn’t touched his wine out of solidarity, apparently. He set it down on the table we were all sitting around and dusted his hands off on his cargo pants. “Y’all have a good night.”

  The girls all pulled Piper in for a hug before she headed out. Blaire whispered something in her ear, and they plotted for a minute before Piper waved at everyone and then left with her boyfriend. I watched her walk away, enjoying the sway of her ass, clothed in her tight jeans.

  Julian shook his head. “Never going to happen, bro.”

  I laughed and tilted my head for a better view. “It might.”

  “No way. She’s way out of your league.”

  That, at least, was true. “Maybe.”

  Didn’t stop me from wondering if a few orgasms would loosen her up.

  5

  Piper

  “You can’t drive,” I said, snatching the keys out of Bradley’s hand.

  “Come on. I’m fine.”

  I ignored him. He’d spilled a glass of wine on me. He wasn’t fine. And sure, he’d sobered up some since then, but I wasn’t going to risk it. I’d drive him home. I opened the driver’s side, grasped the oh-shit bar, and towed myself into his truck. It was a lifted F-250 that he used on construction sites, where he worked for Wright Construction. He’d been promoted to a site manager, but it was still day-to-day construction work. It wore on him, which was why he always drank so much. I almost always drove us home.

  He climbed into the passenger seat with a grumble. “I could have driven.”

  “Whatever. We’re out in the middle of nowhere.”

  “You’re staying at my place tonight?” he asked, dropping his hand onto my thigh.

  “Yeah. We’re going to your place.”

  I never said I was staying there because I wouldn’t. But I wasn’t having that conversation while we drove to his house in Tech Terrace. I lived on the other side of the popular neighborhood right off of the Texas Tech campus. Though my house was slightly nicer and a lot bigger. Close enough that I could walk, far enough away that I usually didn’t.

  Bradley put on the country station, and I let the heartbreak tunes serenade us on the drive home. I remained silent as I parked the truck in his driveway. The garage was too packed with all of his construction tools that he couldn’t get anything else in there.

  He hopped out, and I followed him out of the truck. He strode right up to the front door but only stopped when he realized I wasn’t beside him.

  “Piper?” he asked.

  I took a deep breath. I’d prepared myself for this. I knew what was coming. It didn’t make it any easier to do. “This is over, Bradley.”

  His eyes widened, and he stumbled back down the steps. “What are you talking about?”

  “This isn’t working.”

  “Why not?”

  I didn’t even know where to begin. “It just isn’t.”

  “Is this because of Hollin? Is that why you’re wearing his shirt?”

  My face was a mask of disbelief. “What? No, of course not. I’m not interested in Hollin Abbey. I’d never do that to you. It’s about you and me.”

  “It’s awfully suspicious that you’re wearing his shirt and you were flirting with him all night, and now, you’re breaking up with me.”

  “For one, you poured wine all over my shirt. Two, we weren’t flirting.”

  He laughed hoarsely. “You were flirting.”

  “This isn’t about Hollin,” I insisted. “This isn’t working for me anymore. We said when we started dating again that this was the now or never. This was our chance. We’d been dating like this—on-again, off-again—for five years, Bradley. If it’s not working yet, when is it going to start working?”

  “I thought it was working,” he said miserably.

  “Not for me.”

  “What can I do to change y
our mind?”

  I closed my eyes and breathed out heavily in exasperation. “There’s nothing you can do. This is my decision.”

  “Let’s decide together, Piper. Come on. You’re going to throw away all of this time?”

  “I’m not throwing it away. I’ve thought about it, and I’m making a decision. This is what’s right for me.”

  “Please,” he said, reaching for my hand and pulling me toward him. “Please. I’m nothing without you, Piper. Nothing.”

  “Bradley,” I said on a sigh. “No, I can’t keep doing this.”

  “Sweetheart, we can work this out.”

  I wrenched my hand back from him. My heart should have been rending in two, but I felt…done. I was already done with this. “I can’t. We can’t.”

  “Why not? Please…”

  “I found more than your shirt in your gym bag,” I blurted out.

  Bradley went deathly still. He knew exactly what I’d found when I rummaged around in there. The ring that he’d purchased. I’d just admonished Hollin for not having any tact, and then I’d thrown that in Bradley’s face. I had to be blunt. I had to make it perfectly clear where I stood. And if that meant telling him about the ring, then I’d do it. Was that how Hollin justified things too?

  “You did?” Bradley said softly, warily.

  “I did. And…I don’t want that.”

  He winced at my words. “I see.”

  “I’m sorry. I…I’m just done.”

  He nodded, speechless. As if I’d put the nail in the coffin. There was no coming back from saying that I didn’t ever want to marry him. Jesus.

  I handed him the keys to his truck. I considered hugging him one last time, but I couldn’t make myself do it. I didn’t want him to think it was encouragement. So, I swallowed hard and walked away.

  Blaire pulled up beside me on the road. She rolled the window down. “That was faster than I thought it would be.”

  I got into the passenger seat. “Longer than I wanted it to take.”

  “He didn’t take it well?”

  I shook my head and stared out the window. “I found an engagement ring.”