Kiss Me Cowboy (Cowboys of Crested Butte Book 3)

by Heather Slade

  “We gotta get you to an emergency room.”

  “Is there another hospital, other than the one Blythe is in?”

  “I think so, but why? Wait, you know what? Never mind, forget I asked. Get in the truck, and I’ll see if I can figure out the next closest.”

  Jace wanted to thank her, but it hurt so much to talk. “Thanks,” he managed anyway.

  “You got it. I tell ya, someday I am gonna write a book about you crazy Rice boys, might even throw Patterson into the story.”

  “Not funny.”

  “Wasn’t tryin’ to be. I am gonna write a book. You guys are too good of characters to pass up. Mark my words, it’ll be a runaway best seller.”

  “Where do you want me to take you?” Lyric asked Jace when he came back through the door to where she sat in the waiting room. He didn’t feel much better than he had when he’d gone in. In fact, he felt worse.

  “Back to my truck.”

  “Sure you can drive?”

  “No. Probably not.”

  “Are Billy and Renie at the ranch, or are they in Crested Butte?”

  “They’re in Crested Butte. Liv had the baby yesterday, or was it the day before. I have no idea, days are kinda runnin’ together on me.”

  “You have a key?”

  “Nope, but I know where they keep it.”

  “Think they’d mind if you crashed there?”

  They already thought he was staying there, but last night he’d fallen asleep on the couch with Bree. He wished now he hadn’t left her this morning. But Tuck had needed him, and he had to go to him, even if it meant his secret was now exposed.

  He may have severed his relationship with his brother forever, but by doing so, he may have finally given Tucker what he needed to move on with his life. If he did that, he’d be able to be with Blythe and his baby, like he should be.

  “You wanna talk about it?”

  Did he? No, he didn’t want to, but he needed to.

  “Guess I better.”

  Lyric pulled out the bottle of Jack from where Renie and Billy kept it, and set it on the kitchen counter in front of Jace.

  “How you feelin’?”

  “Been better. Although it’s been a long time since I have.”

  “Let’s hear it.”

  Jace took a deep breath. He’d never told a living soul the story he was about to tell Lyric. He’d buried the words so deep, he wondered if he could pull them out of where he kept them hidden.

  “When Tuck and I were in high school…” he began.

  “We’re going to let you go home, Blythe, but understand, you’ll be on bed rest. If you don’t take it seriously, we’ll see you back here.”

  “I understand.”

  The doctor looked at Tucker. “Will you be the one taking care of her?”

  Would he? He assumed so, but where? He had a lot to figure out, and he needed to do it in a hurry.

  “We can stay with my parents,” Blythe reassured him.

  “For now.”

  “You should call them, Tucker, and let them know.”

  “Right, right. I’ll call them.”

  Blythe wanted to giggle at how flustered Tucker was. She’d never seen him this way. And it didn’t have anything to do with what had happened earlier. He was flustered about her, and their baby. She watched him until he finally looked at her.

  “Nervous?” she smiled.

  “Terrified might be a better word,” he smiled back, but then his expression turned serious. “I don’t want anything to happen to you, Blythe. I couldn’t stand it if something did.”

  “Nothing will.” She took his hand. “I promise.”

  19

  “Are you sure this is okay?” he asked Blythe when they pulled in the driveway of her parents’ house.

  “It’ll be fine, Tucker.”

  “I could try to rent a place, but we’d have to furnish it, and—”

  “Tucker, relax. We don’t have to figure everything out today. My mom and dad have plenty of room. It’ll help, too, having my mom close by.”

  “You’ll stay downstairs,” Paige told them. “You’ll have it to yourselves, unless you need us.”

  Her parents’ house had three floors, as many of the homes in that part of Colorado did. Upstairs, there were four bedrooms and a loft that Paige used as an office. On the main floor, there was a large kitchen with an eat-in area. It was big enough to seat fourteen people at a long table made of reclaimed barn wood. There was also a formal dining room, a living room, music room, and a guest room.

  On the lower level, there were three more bedrooms, a family room, another smaller kitchen, and Mark’s recording studio. There were sliding glass doors off the family room that led directly outside where there was a hot tub. She and Tucker would have plenty of privacy downstairs as long as they wanted to stay.

  “Tucker, where’s Jace?” she asked once they were settled.

  “I have no idea.”

  “What was the fight about.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it, Blythe. I’m sorry, but I just can’t yet.”

  “Was it about me?”

  Tucker leaned over and kissed her forehead. “No, sweetheart, it wasn’t about you.”

  Blythe couldn’t imagine what it could have been about if not her. She’d let it go for now, but she wouldn’t be able to stand the two of them being at odds if she could do anything about it. Jace had been her rock over the last couple of months.

  “Can I get either one of you something to eat?” Paige called down from upstairs.

  “I’m starving, Mom.”

  Paige walked halfway down the staircase. “How about you, Tucker?”

  Tucker’s stomach rumbled at the mention of food. “I am pretty hungry, now that you mention it.”

  “You got a bag or something?” Mark asked, standing on the step above Paige.

  “What?” Tucker asked.

  “You know, clothes, that kind of stuff?”

  “I left where I was in a big hurry, so…”

  “Jace got some stuff you could borrow?”

  “Nah,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ll go out later and pick up some stuff of my own.”

  “I’ll go see if I can find something you can change into in the meantime,” Mark offered. “You’re kinda starting to smell.”

  Her mom and dad left, each on a different mission.

  “Come here,” Blythe patted the bed next to her.

  “I’m more nervous now than I was at the hospital, Blythe. I don’t want to do anything to hurt you.”

  “Then get over here and hold me. If you don’t, you’ll hurt me more.”

  “Wow,” Lyric rested her elbows on the counter in front of her and put her head in her hands.

  Maybe he’d been wrong to tell her. Maybe she was judging him. He wished she’d say something other than wow.

  She stood up and put her hands on his shoulders. “I gotta tell ya, as bad as this seems to you, and as bad as it seems to Tucker, it’s something you have to talk about, and get it over with. Rosa wasn’t who Tucker thought she was, and he needs to know that.”

  “I’m not who he thought I was either.”

  “Gotta say, you were a shit, but come on, you were what? Seventeen, eighteen?

  Jace let out a huge breath. He hadn’t realized how long he’d been holding it.

  “I’m not sure he’ll ever forgive me.”

  “He will, Jace. Maybe not as quickly as you want him to, but he will.”

  “They’re at Paige and Mark’s. Paige said they both fell asleep about a half hour after they got there.” Lyric told Jace after she got off the phone.

  “How’s Blythe?”

  “Good. She’ll be on bed rest for a while.”

  “Did she say anything else?”

  “She said the two of them seemed happy. Peaceful. Oh, and she told us to stop over later if we wanted to. I didn’t say one way or another.”

  “She knows we’re together?”

>   “Jace, it isn’t that unusual. We’ve all been spending time together lately. It might not be a good idea for you to see Tucker until he’s ready, but everything isn’t a conspiracy, ya know.”

  “Was Bree there?”

  “Ya know, she didn’t say and I didn’t ask.”

  “Someone should call her.”

  “I will.”

  She was on the phone for a minute and then disconnected the call. “It went straight to voicemail,” she told him.

  Jace wanted to tell Bree the story about Rosa himself. He didn’t want her to hear it from Tucker or from Blythe. He didn’t know why it was important that he be the one to tell her, but it was. After he did, he’d leave. There was no reason for him to stick around.

  Billy was expecting him to start training in Crested Butte before rodeo season heated up. If he planned to make any progress as a competitive saddle bronc rider, he had to get out on the circuit.

  “I’m starving,” Lyric said.

  “Me, too. What time is it anyway?”

  “After two. Mind if I go and get somethin’?”

  “How bad do I look?”

  Lyric motioned for Jace to move his hand away from his face. “The swelling’s gone down a lot, but you’re still black and blue. You look good enough to go with me, if you want.”

  Jace couldn’t sit still, and he didn’t feel like drinking anymore. If Tucker wanted to talk to him, he didn’t want his brother thinking he had gotten drunk because he was feeling sorry for himself.

  “Yeah, I’ll go with you.”

  Jace saw Bree sitting alone at a table when he and Lyric walked into the restaurant. He touched Lyric’s arm and motioned in Bree’s direction.

  “Hey, there, can we join you?” Lyric asked in her typical upbeat way.

  “Uh, sure.”

  “Hey,” said Jace.

  “Hi.”

  Lyric excused herself after they ordered a beer. “Be right back,” she winked.

  “Where does she always go?” Bree asked.

  “I don’t know. Listen, I wanted to talk to you. This isn’t easy.” He ran his hand over his face.

  Bree stood and threw a twenty-dollar bill on the table. “Look, I know you’re in love with my sister. You don’t need to confess it to me. We can go back to not wanting to be in each other’s company, starting now.”

  “Wait, where is this coming from?”

  The pain meds, combined with the alcohol he’d consumed at Billy’s impaired his reflexes. Bree was gone before Jace realized what was happening.

  “What happened?” Lyric asked when she came back to the table. “I saw Bree pulling out of the parking lot. Is Blythe okay?”

  Jace’s head was still spinning. “I’m not sure what happened.”

  “Why’d she leave?”

  “I don’t know. She said something about me bein’ in love with her sister and not wanting to be around me.”

  “She’s got it bad.”

  “Who’s got it bad?”

  “Bree.”

  “What the hell are you talkin’ about?”

  “C’mon now, Jace. She’s crazy about you. Open your damn eyes.”

  “How’s your mom?” Blythe asked Renie when she called.

  “Better than Ben,” she laughed. “He’s a nervous wreck. Keeps saying he doesn’t know how to raise girls.”

  “I can’t wait until this baby is born.” Blythe hated being on bed rest. The next few months would be mind-numbingly boring if she had to stay in bed the whole time. After she hung up with Renie, she planned to call Lyric and see if there was anything she could be working on for RodeoChat.

  “Do you need me to come back?” Renie asked.

  “No, your mom needs you now. I’ve got plenty of people looking out for me here.”

  “So, how is it?”

  “It’s great, but something happened between Tucker and Jace.”

  “What?”

  “He wouldn’t elaborate.”

  “Weird.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I think.”

  “When you find out, call and tell me, okay? I feel so out of it over here, on the other side of the mountains.”

  When they hung up, Blythe called Lyric.

  “How ya doin’, little mama?”

  Blythe laughed. “I’m good, thanks. I’m home, well, home at my mom and dad’s house. We’ll be staying here for a while.”

  “I was gonna come and see ya later. I talked to your mom earlier. She told me you left the hospital.”

  “About that, I’m going to be on bed rest for a few weeks, maybe longer. I wondered if your offer to help with RodeoChat was still good.”

  “Of course, it is. Oh my ’lanta, I can’t tell you how much I could use some help. I’m runnin’ too fast, chasin’ all these dreams. I can’t keep ’em all straight I got so much goin’ on.”

  “Good, because I’m going to have a lot of time on my hands.”

  “I can come by later, if you’re not too tired. We can talk about gettin’ you up and runnin’.”

  “That would be perfect. Hey, by the way, have you seen Bree? I’ve been tryin’ to get in touch with her. I think her phone’s off.”

  “Nope. How ’bout you? You seen Jace?”

  “No…”

  “No, what?”

  “I asked Tucker about him, and he growled at me. Then he wouldn’t tell me why. He’s sleeping now,” she whispered.

  “Why’d you ask her if she’d seen me?”

  “Figured it was the best way to find out what Tucker told her.”

  “What did she say about Bree?”

  “That she hadn’t been able to reach her. Said her phone was off.”

  “You told her you haven’t seen her.”

  “Little white lie never hurt nothin’.”

  Jace shrugged.

  “What was I supposed to say? That, yeah, I saw her thirty seconds before she ran out of a restaurant after seein’ you with a broken nose?”

  “I get your point.”

  “Yep, writin’ a book. That’s the only thing that’s keepin’ me sane dealin’ with all of you. I got enough trouble on my hands with my own twin.”

  “You have a twin?”

  “Yeah, and if any of you could pull your heads outta your asses long enough to pay attention to anybody else’s lives, you mighta remembered that.”

  “There’s been a lot goin’ on, but yeah, I remember now. I’m sorry, Lyric.”

  “There’s been a lot goin’ on with me, too. I’m ’bout smooth out done with it all.”

  “Smooth out what?”

  “Nothin’. It’s somethin’ Bullet says all the time.”

  “Bullet is your twin?”

  “At least you catch on faster than Bree.”

  He doubted it, because he had no idea what Lyric was talking about. He could tell she was mad though, and he’d never seen her mad. At least he didn’t think he had. Maybe he had seen her mad and wasn’t paying attention.

  Jace called Bree again, and for the second time, it went to voicemail. He’d left a message the first time, so he didn’t leave another.

  Bree drove straight to the cemetery at the Air Force Academy. She needed to be with Zack, to talk to him. She was so lost without him. Before he died, her life had been so full, she hadn’t had time to finish school.

  Now, her life had disintegrated into nothing. She had no reason to get up in the morning. She’d been telling herself that her sister needed her, but now that Tucker was back, Blythe wouldn’t need her anymore.

  She had left the hospital, and no one thought it was important to even let Bree know. She drove over to see her sister, and was humiliated when the nurse told her Blythe had left.

  What was she even doing here? Maybe it was time to start her life over, somewhere else. She didn’t know what answers she thought she’d find sitting next to Zack’s grave, but she wasn’t finding any.

  She pulled out her phone to check the time and realized she’d turned it off
earlier.

  When she turned it on, there were eight messages and more texts. By the time she listened to the last one that came in, she felt stupid that she’d been feeling so sorry for herself. Her mother sounded frantic with worry.

  The other message that struck her was from Jace. He called her a few minutes after she’d stormed out of the restaurant, and in his message, he told her he had to see her. There were things he needed to explain to her, and whether she believe him or not, they had nothing to do with her sister.

  As much as it shouldn’t be, that was the message that mattered the most to her.

  Bree called her mother and told her she’d be over later, and asked her to let Blythe know she was sorry they’d missed each other.

  “Are you okay?” her mother asked.

  “I’m lost, Mom, trying to find my way.”

  “We’re here if you need us, baby.”

  “I know. Thanks. I’ll see you soon. There’s another call I have to make first.”

  Bree ran her fingers over the lettering on Zack’s tombstone as she waited for Jace to answer his phone.

  “You’re ’bout drivin’ me crazy,” Lyric said to Jace. She’d taken him back to the house in Palmer Lake, where he’d hoped to find Bree. She wasn’t there, but Jace refused to leave until one of two things happened. Either she came home, or she called him. Otherwise, he was staying put.

  “You can leave if you want to.”

  “And then what? I live here, remember? Although lately, it hasn’t felt much like I do.”

  “I’m sorry. Do your thing. Pretend I’m not here. In fact, if you want me to wait somewhere else, say the word, and I’ll go wherever you point me.”

  “Nah, you’re fine. But would you please sit down?”

  Jace almost dropped his phone when it rang.

  “Hi,” he answered, knowing it was Bree.

  “Hi.” Her voice sounded remote.

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m with Zack. I needed somebody to talk to.”

  It took him a minute to figure out what she meant.

  “Bree, I need to talk to you, and it’s important. Can we please meet somewhere?”