I look next to me to see Maverick completely passed out, his long arms still somehow wrapped around me.
“What’s that?” he moans, his voice this morning somehow even deeper than normal.
“My thoughts exactly.”
I roll to my side and finally realize it’s my phone. It must have fallen out during our…well, everything last night that lead to deep into this morning.
I dig in the straw for it, pulling it out, only to see the time.
10:43 a.m.
Oh. My. God.
There are over a dozen missed calls and messages, and the current one is from my brother…which I don’t answer in time.
“Hank’s been trying to reach me,” I panic.
“He probably wants in,” Maverick casually replies. “Oh shit!” He jumps up out of the hay. “We left him outside all night.”
“Apparently he slept at a friend’s house when we didn’t answer.”
“How do you know?” Maverick says, dusting himself off.
“I’m scrolling through his messages from last night right now. They start off with, ‘Hey, I’m on my way,’ and quickly escalate to, ‘open the damn gate.’”
Maverick digs for his phone and quickly scrolls through his messages. “Yeah, I got a ‘fuck you guys’ on mine.”
“I got the same.”
I don’t know why but we both burst out laughing all of a sudden.
Maverick sits back down with me in the hay and kisses me hard. “Good morning, by the way.”
“Good morning,” I say, grabbing his cock which hardens immediately to my touch.
My phone buzzes again, but I ignore it.
“We can check our phones in a minute.”
“Only a minute?” I shoot him a sad puppy face.
“Time flies when you’re having fun so by a minute I mean a couple hours.”
I wink. He smirks. And we pick up right where we left off.
CHAPTER 14
Harmony
“Cowboys aren’t stable, Harmony,” Hank says as he shovels in another bite of eggs at the pancake breakfast where we’re meeting.
It may well be after noon, but that's never stopped Hank from ordering breakfast.
He smells like a saloon and practically fell into the booth when he arrived. Thank god he’s not driving, although I know I’d never have to worry about him drinking and driving.
“So you’re saying you’re not stable then?” It’s clear he knows something went down between Maverick and I last night and he’s not liking it.
Maverick didn’t join us this morning as he had to prepare everything for tomorrow’s final. Hank should be there too, but right now we need to get him some food and sobered up or he’s liable to be drunk even tomorrow.
The question I really have is did he get shitfaced because he wanted to, because his fiancée’s been out of town for two months already, or because he’s so stressed out over what’s happening between his best friend and his little sister?
Probably a perfect cocktail, a trifecta of all those events at once.
“Maverick’s a loose cannon,” he continues.
“Did you come here to put food in your mouth or just badmouth your best friend?”
“He is my best friend. He’s a guy, just like me. You’re not. You’re a woman, and more importantly my sister. What Maverick does doesn’t bother me, until it involves you.”
“And what, exactly, does Maverick do?” My eyes burn holes through Hank as he stops chewing for a second.
“He’s got a reputation.”
“Maybe it’s not even true?”
“So you are sleeping with him?”
“Oh my, god!” I pound the table, causing an elderly couple to look over our way and then slide to the side of their booth that’s furthest from ours. “You’re how many years older than me? Fourteen. And who’s acting immature right now and who’s acting like an adult?”
“That’s right,” he shoots back with no remorse or guilt in his voice. “I’m fourteen years older than you, just like Maverick. He’s thirty-two and you’re eighteen, so if you take that fourteen year age difference and divide it by your ‘oh so wise’ eighteen years,” he says using air quotes, “you’d see he’s seventy-seven point seven seven percent older than you.”
“No wonder why they call it lucky sevens.”
“Well, your luck may have run out.”
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” I grit my teeth and lean forward across the booth. I really want to slap him and walk out right now, but before I do I have to know what he’s up to, and that starts by finding out what he means by that last sentence.
“Clint is fit to ride tomorrow. All we have to do is call him and you’re replaced.”
“Nice try, but I’m calling bullshit.”
“He’s cleared. I swear.”
“He may be cleared to ride, but he wasn’t with us when we qualified, and no way will our competitors allow me, with a zero ranking, be replaced by someone with a four ranking. Of course they want the absolute beginner girl with no real experience out there tomorrow so they have a better shot to win.”
“They’re cowboys. They’ve got honor and I already spoke with them. They’re all gonna agree to let him back on the team. They know we just hit a bad bit of luck and that you were just filling in.”
“Filling in?”
“Just like you are with Maverick until someone his own age comes along, someone more mature who matches him better, and then you’ll be let loose just like a stray dog.”
I stand up, my hands on my hips and my nostrils flaring.
“Did you just call your sister a stray dog?”
“It’s just a figure of speech.”
I cock my hand back and slap him across the face.
“Well you’re the one who’s acting like a little bitch, and that’s not a figure of speech. That’s the damn truth!”
I turn my back on him and storm out of the restaurant.
I guess Maverick isn’t the only loose cannon now, huh?
The only question is, is this whole situation about to backfire and explode in my face?
CHAPTER 15
Harmony
I purse my lips as I stand under the shade of an old pine tree at Saddleback Ranch. I knew Clint liked to ride here, and from my vantage point it’s clear to see he’s very capable of doing just that right now, despite his arm being in a cast.
I take a deep breath and set off to the edge of the pen where he’s practicing.
“Clint,” I holler but he doesn’t hear me.
Maybe it’s a sign that I should just turn around and go, but I doubt it.
“Clint!” I yell louder and he pulls back on the reins.
“Whoa, girl,” he says to his beautiful brown horse before turning to look at me.
“Can I help ya, miss?”
“You’re Clint Westville?”
“I am.”
“I’m Harmony…Hank’s younger sister.”
He says nothing, just staring at me letting me know that everything makes sense to him all at once.
“I just came to let you know I was only keeping your place on the team warm. I know Hank was able to get you back on the team in time for the finals tomorrow.”
“But I wasn’t there when the team qualified. You were.”
“Like I said, just keeping your spot warm.”
I try and keep a stiff upper lip but I feel it starting to tremble.
“Hank said you might drop out on account of you not feeling like yourself lately, but are you sure?”
Not feeling like myself lately? That prick, but that’s between him and I, not his friends. And that’s exactly why I’m here in the first place.
Winning the cattle penning competition tomorrow is a dream they’ve all shared for years. Who am I to come in at the last second and try and steal some of the glory, or worse yet blow it and their chances of winning along with it.
“Yeah, ya know. It’s a long way
from New Zealand. Probably just jet lag or something.”
“You sure? You earned the right to compete tomorrow. I didn’t.”
“Beginner’s luck.” And now my luck’s run out. Hank is right. Clint is much more skilled than I am. They’re way better off with him tomorrow than with me.
I think about all the broken bones Maverick has had in his life, and I’m sure any cowboy for that matter. Heck, Clint’s still injured right now, even though he’s been cleared to compete tomorrow. Do I really want to break my leg, literally, when all the boys get serious tomorrow? And the worst question is the one I really have to answer sooner rather than later. What about Maverick and I?
Cattle penning is about the safest thing Maverick does. He also rides bulls, broncs, sleeps outside with bloodthirsty packs of wolves in the area, and that’s just for starters.
He’s also completely used to the bachelor lifestyle. Am I really going to domesticate him, not that I want to at all. Maverick deserves to be free, just like his name. It’s not a coincidence he has that name, and probably not a coincidence I have mine.
Let the boys be boys, right? All I have to do is keep the harmony…and I can do that best by stepping aside.
I’m glad to have helped them qualify, but now it’s time for these cowboys to reach the top, tomorrow, without me.
“You sure this is what you want?” Clint asks. I guess he can see it in my expression at this point.
“It is, and as a matter of fact I have to run or I’m going to miss my plane back to New Zealand. Just do me one favor, okay?”
“Are you kidding me? I’ll do anything after the solid you’re doing me right now.”
I knew it. He wants to ride more than anything, and I’m doing the right thing.
“Don’t tell Hank and Mav. Just show up tomorrow and surprise them.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea. They should know so we can prepare.”
“The bolt of energy they’ll get will be like a shot of lightning. It will get them so fired up you’ll probably set the record tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I guess you might be right.”
I nod.
Clint reaches up, grabs the brim of his hat and takes it off, scratching his forehead with the back of his hand. “Thank ya, ma’am. I won’t ever forget this.” He tips his hat to me.
I won’t ever forget this either, and that includes Maverick. But it’s clear my time in Canada is done. I need to make a stampede of my own and high-tail it back into town so I can find a coffee shop with good Wi-Fi…so I can book my flight to where I belong…anywhere but here.
CHAPTER 16
Maverick
“I’m sorry, Mav. I thought you knew,” Buck says.
“I’m sorry too,” I say, turning my head to the side and running the tip of my boot through the dirt, although it feels like I was just kicked in the head with said boot.
“Guess I best be going then.”
“Guess so.” I’m at a loss for words right now.
“Just don’t shoot the messenger, okay buddy?”
“Nope. I appreciate you telling me, Buck.”
I extend my hand, we shake, and off Buck goes.
I breath out hard, my cheeks puffing out as I process his words.
So Harmony met up with Clint and the scuttlebutt is that either they’re planning something, she’s seeing him behind my back, or any other number of things that people gossip about these days…the days of cell phones and constant chatter.
And that’s exactly why I need to take a step back and get it straight from the horse’s mouth. I dial her number…nothing.
I can’t believe Buck said people are even saying they met on Tinder. The only Tinder Harmony or I know is the kind you throw into a campfire. A phone app for meeting other people when you’re horny and want to get your rocks off? No wonder people are lonely and unfulfilled these days.
Not me, despite of this ‘news’ that’s circulating. I refuse to believe she’s cheating. If anything I wonder if Hank is behind this.
Why would Harmony drop from the team when she’s the only reason we qualified in the first place?
I don’t think Clint would have approached her, asking her to give him her spot. None of this makes sense and the whole thing stinks.
I hit the one on my phone which speed dials her number. Nothing.
I’m going to get everything here at the Stampede sorted for our team tomorrow and then hustle home and remind Harmony that she’s on it…always…not just tomorrow, but for life.
She’s mine and that means forever.
CHAPTER 17
Harmony
Hank texts me telling me Maverick is pissed because I met up with Clint. I see there was a missed call from Maverick, but I haven’t had time to answer him back.
I was so lost in focus when he called that I didn’t even hear it ring. Booking a flight is hard work, especially when you’re not even sure where your life is going.
But I do know where I’m not going…back to his place.
I managed to quickly swing by and grab the few things I had there before booking a bus ticket back to my brother’s place, where I’ll soon be at as soon as this bus crosses the border and I can get out. The quickest flight out of Cheyenne was in the morning, so I need to grab my stuff from Hank’s place and then take another bus to Cheyenne before finally being on my way back to New Zealand…unfortunately where I belong.
My lower lip quivers but I manage to hold my resolve. “This is for the best,” I say softly as the Canadian immigration official stamps my passport with the exit stamp.
Yeah, I’m outta here all right…and outta Maverick’s life forever. It was childish of me to even come here…to think something could exist between Maverick and I.
I’m only eighteen and I have my whole life in front of me. I’ll find another guy…no matter how many times I tell myself that I know it’s a lie. You can’t convince yourself of a lie when you know there’s absolutely no way it could ever be true.
The only thing that’s true for me is my feelings for Maverick, but I need to turn the page on that.
There are a lot of career women these days that are very satisfied. I’ll go back to New Zealand, get my degree, and then bury myself in my career. Heck, maybe I’ll even be famous. I could be a veterinarian and help animals. I smile. That would be pretty cool…if only I had Maverick there to share my joy with.
“Passport,” the American immigration official says as if he’s the most bored human on the planet. When did we even pull forward to the U.S. Border?
I hand him the document and he gives me the stink eye.
“What are you doing in the States?” he asks.
“Leaving.”
“When?”
“As soon as I can.”
“Let me see your ticket?”
A staccato exhale escapes me as my shoulders pop up before falling back into place. If only he knew how badly I didn’t even want to be here in the first place.
I pull out my phone and pull up the reservation which was sent to my Gmail account, and of course they automatically added it to my calendar and who knows what else. I’m surprised he doesn’t know with the amount of prying all those three letter government organizations do on their own citizens.
“So you’re flying out in the morning?”
I nod.
“Don’t miss your flight.” Could this guy be any more of a dick?
“Believe me…I won’t. That’s the one thing in this world you can count on.”
He looks at me funny before he finally turns to leave, still glaring at me over his shoulder as if he’s waiting for me to say something he considers arrogant.
But arrogant is the last thing I feel right now. If anything, this is the worst failure of my life…and I’m completely responsible for it. All of it.
CHAPTER 18
Harmony
Sunday, July 7th, 2019
I sit in the boarding area, staring up at the screen waiting for
my departure from Cheyenne Regional Airport to Dallas Fort Worth…and then Los Angeles and Sydney and finally Auckland.
Brother's Canadian Cowboy Friend (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 107) Page 7
