Stay with Me (Cowboys of Crested Butte Book 4)

by Heather Slade

  “Kaleb Akerman,” he said, extending his hand to Jace.

  Jace didn’t respond.

  “And you are?” Kaleb asked.

  “Jace Rice,” he spat out between clenched teeth. “How the hell do you know Bree?”

  Kaleb turned and looked back at Bree, his smile broadening. “I had to arrest Bree, earlier this evening, for speeding. And here, in Crested Butte, we take beautiful women to dinner rather than to jail.”

  Jace looked confused. And pissed. Bree couldn’t stop herself from giggling.

  “He’s kidding. Well, sort of. I mean, he did pull me over for speeding.” Bree giggled more.

  “Jace, did you find her?” she heard someone say. The blonde from earlier came out from behind him.

  “Bree? I’m going to ask one more time. What the hell is going on?”

  She shrugged and closed her eyes. When she did, her body weaved a little, landing her up against Kaleb.

  A man who also looked familiar stood next to the blonde. “I think she’s drunk,” he said to Jace.

  Who were all these people, and why did they care whether she was drunk or not?

  Bree’s head started to feel too heavy to hold up, and she was overly warm. Maybe if she moved away from the fire a little bit. No, that wasn’t helping any. Fresh air—that might help. When she stood, she was glad Kaleb was still as close as he’d been. She gripped his shoulder in an effort to get the room to stop spinning. It didn’t work. She weaved again, and Kaleb pulled her back down onto the cushions. Except, instead of landing on a cushion, she landed on his lap. He held her tight, and it felt so good. She rested her head against his shoulder.

  “How the hell much did you give her to drink?” she heard Jace growl through her haze of temporary happiness.

  “Go away, Jace,” she heard herself say. “Go back to Blondie over there, and jus’ leave me alone.”

  “Did you hear that? She’s slurring her words.”

  She opened her eyes and saw Jace moving closer to her.

  “I’m taking her home,” he said, trying to push Kaleb away.

  “Uh, no. You’re not.” Kaleb put one arm under her knees and the one around her shoulders tightened. He picked her up as though she didn’t weigh a thing.

  The room was spinning again, just a little, so she closed her eyes and rested her head on Kaleb’s shoulder.

  “Give her to me,” she heard Jace demand.

  “Jace—” That must have been the blonde, thought Bree. Serves the bitch right. That made her giggle again.

  “Bree, are you okay?” That was Jace’s voice.

  No, she wasn’t okay. At least not with him. Kaleb? He was another story. She was perfectly okay with Kaleb. Maybe if Jace went away, Kaleb would kiss her again. She’d like that. She moved her head just enough that her lips could brush against Kaleb’s neck. She kissed him there and heard him take a deep breath. Instead of moving from where they were standing, Kaleb sat back down. That was unexpected, but Bree didn’t care.

  He turned his head and kissed her again. Yes, that was what she wanted. She kissed him back. When she thought he might pull away, she put her hands on each side of his face to hold him where he was.

  “Jace, what do you want to do?”

  That sounded like the blonde again. Maybe she’d be able to get Jace to leave. And if he left, Kaleb might keep kissing her. In the meantime, she’d rest her head on his shoulder again. Maybe close her eyes and take a little nap while they waited for Jace to leave.

  “Look at her,” Jace shouted. “She’s passed out. What did you do, drug her?” He was fighting mad now. He’d never seen Bree have more than a drink or two. Now here she was, passed out in the arms of a stranger. What had happened in the last couple of hours?

  “Hey, bro,” a woman pushed passed Jace. “What ya got goin’ on here?”

  “Nothing, Kalie. I think the altitude and alcohol hit her a little hard.”

  “See it every day, don’t we? Cab is out front. Do you know where she’s staying?”

  “She’s staying with me,” Jace stepped forward. “I’ll get her home.”

  “The hell, you will,” answered Kaleb. “You’re welcome to follow, but I’ll be taking Bree home, and I’ll be the one to make sure she gets there safe and sound.”

  “Oh, Jesus,” Kalie groaned. “Just get out of here before this turns into something more than it needs to. And you,” she said to Jace, “I want to talk to you for a minute.”

  Jace didn’t have much choice other than to follow her, since she had a death grip on his arm.

  “I don’t know who you are, but I don’t put up with people causing trouble in my bar.”

  Ben walked up behind Jace. “Hey, Kalie, what’s goin’ on?”

  “Do you know this guy?”

  “Sure do. This is my cousin, Jace.” Ben turned to Jace. “Jace, meet Kalie Akerman. She bought this place from Matt.”

  Jace didn’t care who bought what from anyone. He turned to look for Bree, and didn’t see her or the guy who’d said he was a cop. He bolted for the door, trying to catch them, but when he got to the top of the stairs, he saw the cab driving away. His truck wasn’t very far, so he ran toward it. Right before he jumped in, he turned and looked back across the street.

  “Go,” shouted Ty. “Ben will give us a ride back to the ranch.”

  “Thanks, Ty, and sorry about this.” Jace closed the door and sped off in the direction he’d seen the cab go in.

  Bree’s head was throbbing. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room. It took her a minute to figure out where she was, until she saw the framed photos of Ben’s son Jake, sitting next to his baseball trophies.

  The room was mostly dark, but even the small amount of light shining through the slats of the blinds hurt her eyes. She’d get up to close them, but she was afraid she’d get sick to her stomach if she tried to stand.

  She closed her eyes tightly and tried to recall what had happened the night before. She remembered bits and pieces…getting pulled over…Kaleb asking her to have dinner with him.

  Kaleb. Oh, he was handsome. She wondered what had happened to him. She had a vague recollection of him carrying her inside, whispering to her the whole time.

  “I got you, baby,” he’d said.

  Had she dreamed it? She hoped not. If she had, it might mean she dreamed kissing him, and that part, she wanted to be real. He was a good kisser. She’d like to kiss him again.

  She heard a knock at the door and opened her eyes again. “Go away,” she answered.

  The door opened and Blythe walked in. “Oh no, it’s worse than we thought.” When Blythe laughed, whoever was behind her, laughed too.

  Bree put her hands over her ears. “Do you mind? First you bang on the door, now you’re screeching at me. Can’t you just go away?”

  Lyric came around Blythe. “You’re bad off, ain’t you, Bree? Bangin’? We hardly even tapped on the door.”

  “Stop your cackling,” Bree implored.

  “Here,” a voice said. Bree opened her eyes and saw her mother standing over her.

  She looked at the glass her mom was trying to hand her. “What is that?”

  “Dad’s secret recipe hangover cure.”

  “What’s in it?”

  “Oh, baby,” her mother laughed. “You don’t want to know. Drink it down, and give it a half hour or so. Try to rest, and I’ll come back to check on you later. Now drink.”

  Paige pushed the glass in Bree’s direction. If she drank that, she’d throw up for sure. She shook her head.

  “Trust me, baby,” her mother pushed. “If you can get it down, you’ll feel a thousand times better than you will otherwise.”

  Her mom was almost always right, and considering she felt as though she was going to die, a thousand times better than dying sounded pretty good. She plugged her nose and guzzled the drink without taking a breath. Her stomach churned and growled, but after a minute or two, she didn’t feel as though she needed to throw up
.

  “We’ll leave you now.” Her mom was shooing Blythe and Lyric out of the room. “Get some rest, baby.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” Bree whispered just before she drifted back to sleep.

  When she woke, her mother was sitting on the side of the bed.

  “Hi,” she said when Bree opened her eyes.

  “Hi. What time is it?”

  “A little after two. You slept longer than I thought you would.”

  Bree sat up. Too quickly. And then lay back down.

  “Two? Isn’t dinner in a half hour? I need to get up. But, oh, God, I don’t think I can.”

  “No one expects you to, sweetheart. We’ve all missed a Thanksgiving or two in our lifetime. This year is your turn.”

  “Oh no, I can’t believe it. I’m mortified.” Bree rolled over and put her head in the pillow.

  Paige rubbed her back. “Don’t be, everyone has been where you are at least once. Get some more rest, and tomorrow, you can have leftovers.”

  “Does everyone think I’m beyond pathetic?”

  “No, Bree. Everyone thinks you had too much to drink last night. And as soon as you’re ready, they all want to know about the mountain man who so gallantly delivered you home last night.”

  Bree peeked up at her mom. “Everyone?”

  “No, sweetheart, not everyone. If there is anyone more miserable than you are today, it’s Jace. His ailment doesn’t appear to be a hangover. His is more, uh, the effects of fury.”

  “Fury?” Bree gasped.

  “After the third person asked him if he knew the man who brought you home, yeah, it turned to fury.”

  As perverse as it felt, knowing Jace was furious, Bree was able to drift back to sleep with a smile on her face.

  “You didn’t see her,” Jace said to Blythe. “She was so drunk she passed out.”

  Blythe studied him, but didn’t answer.

  He leaned forward. “Did you hear me?”

  “I heard you, Jace, and you can lower your voice. I’m sitting right next to you.”

  “Okay, so, like I said, she was really drunk.”

  “You upset her, and she reacted.”

  “Wait. I upset her? I did? How did this become my fault?”

  “Telling her she was your hookup girl? Asking her if you could scratch her itch? Bet you didn’t think anyone heard you, but I did.”

  He put his elbows on the table and his head in his hands. “I don’t know what got into me. I was an asshole. I admit it.”

  Blythe got up so quickly, Jace had to grab her chair before it tipped all the way over and hit the floor.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Anywhere you aren’t.”

  “Blythe, c’mon. I’m trying to talk to you about Bree.”

  “I don’t feel like talking to you, Jace.”

  He followed Blythe into the other room. “Wait. Please, Blythe. I’m sorry.”

  When she sat down on the sofa in front of the fireplace, he sat next to her.

  “I knew this was going to be a rough weekend,” she said. “But I had no idea it would start out this badly.”

  Jace didn’t know what to say. He knew it would be awkward, but this was way beyond that.

  “When did you get here?” Jace kept his voice soft, hoping he’d be able to get Blythe to forgive him. He needed her to talk to him.

  “Yesterday morning.”

  “Do you know the guy she was with?”

  Blythe closed her eyes. “No, I don’t, but Ben does.”

  “Is he really a cop?”

  “Yep. Ben said he and his sister own property in Crested Butte, too. Something about a restaurant.”

  “Yeah, I met her last night too. I think she was about to threaten me within an inch of my life, but then Ben stepped in.”

  Blythe raised her eyebrows.

  “How is she?”

  “Really hungover. And embarrassed.”

  “She didn’t want to eat?”

  Bree hadn’t been at the table when the rest of the family had Thanksgiving dinner. No one had said anything about her absence. At the time, he thought maybe he should’ve skipped dinner too.

  “I don’t think she had much of an appetite.”

  Jace leaned forward and put his head in his hands. “What have I done?”

  Blythe patted his back. “I think she’s more embarrassed than anything else.”

  “She shouldn’t be. It’s my fault. You’re right.”

  “Wait a minute. I didn’t say it was your fault. I said you upset her and she reacted. She’s responsible for her own behavior, Jace.”

  “What’s the difference, Blythe? If I hadn’t said what I did, she wouldn’t have ended up shit-faced last night.”

  “And if you weren’t torn up about her, you wouldn’t have said it in the first place.”

  “Hi, sweetie. How are you feeling?”

  Bree was leaning against the wall by the fireplace. She had on a Crested Butte sweatshirt that was at least three sizes too big for her, and what looked like pajama bottoms. Her face was pale, which made the circles under her eyes look darker. He wanted to smooth her hair back from her face and help her back downstairs, to bed. She looked as though she could use several more hours of sleep.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize—”

  “Wait, don’t go.” Jace jumped up and followed her.

  She stopped in the kitchen. “I can’t do this now, Jace. Can we, please, talk tomorrow instead?”

  What could he say? She looked green, and her eyes filled with tears. He wanted to talk to her, but he couldn’t force her to do it now.

  “Sure, darlin’,” he leaned in and kissed her forehead. “You go get some sleep.”

  When Jace came back in the other room, Blythe was studying him.

  “I’ve never seen her like this,” she sighed.

  “Losing someone is hard. I can’t imagine how hard when it’s someone you expected to spend your life with.”

  “I think this is more you than Zack.”

  “Please, don’t say that.”

  “She doesn’t know how to handle your relationship.”

  “What relationship? From where I sit, your sister doesn’t want much to do with me. It’s been true since the day we met. Every so often, the ice melts enough that she leans on me. And then she comes to her senses again.”

  “You make it sound as though she’s using you. She isn’t like that.”

  “You’ve watched it, Blythe. You even warned me. I’m a warm body when she needs one next to her. Otherwise, I don’t measure up to Bree’s standards.”

  “Why do you let yourself get into these situations?”

  “So you agree?”

  “Not completely, but watching what’s going on with the two of you breaks my heart.”

  Jace turned so he could look in Blythe’s eyes. “Who does your heart break for? Her or me?”

  “For both of you.”

  Jace nodded his head, stood, and walked out the front door. He didn’t know where he was going, he just knew he didn’t want to spend the night in the same house as Bree Fox.

  16

  She must have lost her mind. Here she was, at another Rice family night out. This time her mom and dad had forced her to go along. Given she missed Thanksgiving dinner, they insisted she join the family gathering Liv and Ben were hosting at the ski area.

  Since the weather was unseasonably warm, Liv made arrangements to close off Mountaineer Square, at the base of the mountain, for a private party. They’d set tables around the open fire pit, surrounded by heat lamps so they’d be warm when the sun set.

  The party wasn’t limited to family, Ben and Liv invited friends from town too. Bree was surprised to see Kaleb and his sister walk up and say hello to Ben.

  “How are you doing?” her dad asked.

  “Better. Not that I plan to drink anything other than water tonight.”

  “Good plan.” He put his arm around her shoulders. “I’m glad your mom
talked you into coming.”

  “That’s one way to put it. Some of the credit swings your way too.”

  “Haven’t seen the cowboy tonight. In fact, I haven’t seen him all day.”

  “The cowboy? As if there’s only one? We’re surrounded by cowboys.” Bree surveyed the crowd. Most of the men, her father included, wore cowboy hats and boots. It wasn’t just their attire either. They were cowboys by profession. Her father didn’t fit in that category, but most of the others did.

  “Jace.”

  “I know who you meant, Dad. I haven’t seen him either.” She hoped he wouldn’t be here tonight. It might be selfish of her, but the last time she and Jace were at the same place at the same time, it hadn’t ended well for her.

  So far she’d managed to avoid Kaleb. She didn’t plan to all night, she just didn’t want him to get the impression he was her date. Every so often their eyes would meet, and she’d smile, or wave, and then walk in the other direction, or join another conversation.

  As long as Jace Rice didn’t show up tonight, she might be able to get through the evening without embarrassing herself for the third time that weekend. She crossed her fingers and said a silent prayer. It wouldn’t hurt to cover both bases tonight—superstitious and otherwise.

  Minutes later, Jace’s truck pulled up, and he wasn’t alone. There, in the front seat of his truck, was the blonde. Maybe her plan to avoid alcohol hadn’t been such a good one.

  It was too soon for this scene to be playing out again. She found herself looking for another escape route. Would someone at the front desk of the lodge be able to call her a cab?

  When she turned back around, Jace was standing behind her.

  “Hi, uh, Jace.” She tried to walk around him.

  “Hey, wait,” he said and grabbed her arm. “Where are you runnin’ off to?”

  “I can’t do this, Jace. I can’t believe you brought a date.”

  “A date? What are you talking about?”

  “Please, don’t do this.”

  Jace looked out at the crowd on the square. “I’m here with my family, and your family. And you.”

  “What about—” Bree stopped herself. She didn’t want to ask who had been in the truck with him when he pulled up. She’d find out soon enough, and not give him the satisfaction of knowing she cared as much as she did.