COWBOY ROMANCE: Avery (Western Contemporary Alpha Male Bride Romance) (The Steele Brothers Book 3)

by Amanda Boone

  “What?” she asked, confused by the interruption. The tall blond man nodded toward Lexy, making his meaning apparent. “Oh, yeah.” Kendal couldn’t help but notice how attractive he was. He had a perfectly chiseled jawline and deep blue eyes that seemed to see only her.

  “Well, they seem to be hitting it off pretty well.” When she didn’t say anything else, he reached out his hand, hoping to break the awkward tension. “I’m Luke.”

  “Kendal.” She put her hand loosely in his and gave it a lazy shake. Luke flashed her a bright white smile. As he lifted his arm to run his hand casually through his curly blond hair, muscles rippled under his fitted white T-shirt, sending butterflies fluttering through her stomach. Although he was extremely cute, she lost all interest in talking to him when she saw his leather vest.

  “You come here often?” Luke asked, trying to create conversation.

  “Sometimes.” Kendal didn’t even allow herself to look at him.

  Disregarding how hard she was trying not to talk to him, Luke found her oddly alluring. “Our first time here, my friends and I,” he said, gesturing to the other bikers scattered around the bar. “We usually go into the city. We heard good things about this place, though. It’s a little low key, but the rumors about the beautiful women that hang out here are proving to be true.”

  “How nice.” The sarcasm dripped heavily from Kendal’s tongue with each word.

  “Can I buy you a drink?”

  She had to give it to him for being persistent. “No, thank you.”

  “You’re here with someone?” His voice was deep and smooth like velvet.

  “No. You’re just not my type.” Kendal tried to ignore the pang of guilt she felt as she saw the hurt in his eyes. She had to consciously remind herself that she was over constantly feeling bad for something she shouldn’t have to feel bad about. She wasn’t sure when it became a woman’s responsibility to stroke a man’s ego, but over the past year she had decided she no longer cared. She no longer cared to put someone else’s feelings above her own.

  So she didn’t play the dating games anymore. She would no longer put her feelings to the side to save someone else’s. For years she had put someone else ahead of herself, and look where it had gotten her: alone in a bar at twenty-nine years old. Tonight would not be the night that she changed that just for an attraction that would surely fade out before morning.

  “Not your type?” He let out a forced laugh. “You don’t even know me.”

  “I know your group, the ‘bikers’ who come into these bars. You’re all the same.” She spat the words like fire from her mouth, anger and resentment rising inside her.

  Luke’s brow furrowed as her words struck him. “That seems a little harsh, don’t you think?” Suddenly Kendal was filled with memories of a leather vest hanging over her as she was struck again and again by an angry fist. The vest that hung from the body of a man she had once loved and trusted. “To lump us all together like that?”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Well, I don’t know who you’ve dealt with in the past, but we’re not all the same. Some of us are nice guys.” Although he had every right to be defensive, Luke remained levelheaded and spoke calmly, which angered her even more. She wanted him to be angry. As irrational as she knew it was, she somehow thought it would affect the nightmare from her past each time she lashed out at someone like him.

  She hoped it would somehow hurt him each time she gained the courage to speak out against someone like him. Show him that she was stronger now. That he hadn’t broken her.

  “That’s what they all say.” Grabbing her purse, Kendal pushed past him and made her way toward the bar without looking back. As she marched up to her best friend, she couldn’t keep her emotions from boiling to a breaking point.

  *

  Luke

  Luke leaned against the bar and scanned the room as he took a sip of his beer. "Just go talk to her," his friend James said.

  "What?" He blinked hard as James’s voice snapped him back to reality.

  "The girl. The one you've been staring at for the past five minutes. Go talk to her, dude."

  "I haven't been staring at her."

  "Yes, you have. Just buck up and go over there."

  Luke rolled his eyes but swallowed the rest of his drink anyway. "Wish me luck." Taking a deep breath, Luke made his way to her table. She was watching her friend flirt with the bartender with the most beautiful smile on her face. He was instantly entranced with the spirit that radiated from her. Luke stood beside her for a moment, hoping she would notice him.

  "Friend of yours?" he asked, trying to break the ice. At the sound of his voice, she turned hastily in his direction with fear in her eyes.

  "What?"

  Luke was caught off guard by how gorgeous she was. She had long brown hair that laid in effortless curls across her shoulders, and which complimented her deep hazel eyes. Luke found himself speechless. The best he could do was nod in the direction of her friend.

  "Oh, yeah."

  Regaining his composure, he said, "Well, they seem to be hitting it off pretty well." Luke tried to break the awkward silence between them by extending his hand to her. "I'm Luke."

  "Kendal." She put her hand loosely in his and gave it a lazy shake. Luke nervously ran his hand through his curly hair and prayed he would think of something to say to her. As he lifted his arm, he saw Kendal see his leather vest. He could see something inside her close off. It was as if she built a wall right then and there between them.

  Luke wanted so badly to bring him back to her. He wanted to prove to her that he was worth her time. "You come here often?" The second the words left his mouth, he cursed himself for being so cliché.

  "Sometimes." She didn't even lift her eyes when she answered him.

  "Our first time here, my friends and I," Luke spat without thinking. “We usually go into the city. We heard good things about this place, though. It’s a little low key, but the rumors about the beautiful women that hang out here are proving to be true.” He couldn't stop the nervous words from sliding off his tongue.

  "How nice." Kendal's words were full of sarcasm in response to his lame attempt at a pick-up line. He couldn’t even blame her, but he wasn't ready to give up quite yet.

  "Can I buy you a drink?"

  "No, thank you." Even as she was turning him down, he couldn't focus on anything but how beautiful she was.

  "You're here with someone?" Luke felt his stomach drop at the thought that he would never have a chance with her.

  "No. You're just not my type."

  "Not your type?" He let out a forced laugh. "You don't even know me." Luke had been shut down by more women than he could count in his past, but for some reason this one hit him harder than most. He had no idea why he was letting this bother him so much. For all he knew she could be an awful person. Oh, but those eyes.

  “I know your group, the ‘bikers’ who come into these bars. You’re all the same.” She spat the words like fire from her mouth.

  Luke’s brow furrowed as her words struck him hard. “That seems a little harsh, don’t you think?" Luke felt a sadness in him that he had been unaware could be accessed so easily. He didn't know why he felt the need to prove himself to her, but he did. “To lump us all together like that?”

  "No, I don't." Luke could hear the hurt in her voice. Kendal's eyes carried a sadness that he wanted desperately to take from her.

  “Well, I don’t know who you’ve dealt with in the past, but we’re not all the same. Some of us are nice guys.” Luke wanted to convince her that he was different. He wasn’t just any other guy.

  "That's what they all say." Grabbing her purse, Kendal hastily made her way to the bar, leaving him behind her without as much as a second glance. Luke stood in confusion as he stared at the place where Kendal had previously stood. He vowed to himself in that moment that he would take another chance to talk to her, no matter what it took.

  *

  Kendal
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  “You okay?” Lexy asked, concern filling her face as her best friend made her way quickly toward the bar. Her eyes darted to their previous table and the man who stood beside it, still looking confused. “What’s that all about?”

  “Nothing. I think I’m going to go.”

  “K. I’ll go with you.”

  “You don’t have to do that. I’ll be okay.” Not hearing a word of her protest, Lexy scavenged around inside her purse until she found her credit card and slid it to the bartender.

  “I’m going with you. No arguing it.” No matter what else was going on in her life, she always knew that Lexy would drop everything for her. She knew she could never explain to her how much that meant.

  Signing the receipt to close her tab, Lexy scribbled her number at the bottom and winked at the bartender as she placed it in his hand. “Let’s go.” As they made their way to the door, Kendal locked eyes with Luke. He gave her a hesitant smile and a friendly wave before ducking his head to focus on the beer in his hand. She fought the urge that grew inside her to smile back.

  “Are you okay? I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

  “I’m fine,” Kendal said, waving her hand as they made their way to the street. “Don’t be sorry.” Lexy gave her an understanding look and laced her arm through hers. Closing in on the last block between them and their apartment, Kendal saw a man standing at the edge of the dark alley across from their house, watching them.

  “Let’s cross here,” Kendal said calmly, trying to swallow her nerves that were begging to be heard. As they made it across the street, Kendal over-casually glanced over her shoulder to see if the man was still there, but the alley appeared to be empty. Once they made it to their apartment, Kendal dismissed her previous feelings as paranoia, and they changed into pajamas before settling into their second-hand couch.

  Lexy scurried into the kitchen to grab a bottle of wine in one hand and two large glasses in the other. Setting the glasses on the coffee table, she pulled the cork from the bottle with her teeth and poured each glass nearly half full. “Now, why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?” Handing her a glass, Lexy nodded her encouragement.

  “It’s nothing.”

  “You were clearly upset after you talked to that biker guy.” Sipping her drink, Kendal tried to look casual and avoid eye contact. “He was pretty cute though…” Lexy let the end of her sentence trail off as she gaged Kendal’s reaction. When she didn’t reply, Lexy pressed a little further. “Don’t you think?”

  “Yeah, he was cute, but I was more focused on the leather vest.”

  “Bring back old memories?” she said each word carefully so as to not upset Kendal.

  As the knots began to slowly form in her stomach, Kendal nodded silently in agreement. “I know it’s stupid.”

  “It’s not. You went through so much. It’s completely normal to have fears from it.”

  Kendal blinked hard to try to erase the memories that threatened to flood her weak mind. She was so tired of letting her past control her, but she couldn’t seem to help it. No matter what she tried, no matter what she did, the emotions from the past couple of years would affect the way she handled the situation.

  Anytime someone around her raised their hand she still found herself flinching with the assumption that it would be soon coming down on her. Anytime someone raised their voice she feared the consequences. Anytime she saw a leather vest she instantly associated it with him.

  Regardless of knowing how ridiculous that all was, she could never shake it. The girls talked for nearly an hour and drank two glasses of wine before they decided to head to bed, slightly tipsy. Kendal lay in bed and hoped that the alcohol in her system would allow her to finally fall into a deep sleep. She prayed the alcohol would finally numb her always fearful mind.

  *

  One Year Earlier

  “You fucking kidding me?” The anger in his voice woke her up with a start. “Kendal, where the hell are you?” She swallowed down the fear that began to rise inside her and slid her feet over the side of the bed. Looking at the clock, she was confused to see that it was 2:36 a.m.

  “Is everything okay?” She squinted into the light in the front room as her eyes tried to adjust.

  “What the hell have you been doing?” His words slurred as they slid from his drunken tongue. “Or should I say who have you been doing?”

  “What?”

  “I heard about you calling James the other night.”

  “Oh.” Kendal laughed at the confusion of the situation.

  “It’s not funny!” Trae yelled as he took a large step toward her. “You think it’s funny to make me look stupid by screwing around with one of my friends?!”

  “What? We weren’t screwing around. I called him to—” Before she could finish speaking, Trae reached back and slapped her hard across the face, causing her to fall into the wall. She looked at him with wide, fearful eyes as she tried to absorb what had just happened. They hadn’t had a perfect relationship, and Trae often came home from drinking upset with her, but she hadn’t ever seen him this angry.

  Lately something had been slowly changing in him. Each day he came home a little bit angrier and a little more aggressive with her. Although he had laid his hands on her several times before, she always made an excuse or ignored it entirely. In this moment she wished that she had not lied to herself about how bad things had been getting over the past few months. Maybe if she had let herself believe the warning signs, she wouldn’t be fearful of the man she loved when he came home at night.

  His eyes were wild with anger, and she could smell the whiskey that hung on every word he spat. She had never seen him like this before. “You little bitch! I have given you everything, and this is how you repay me?” As he took an unsteady step toward her, she stepped away from him until her back was pressed against the wall. With glazed over eyes that seemed to stare right through her, he put his hand around her neck and pressed with all of his might, leaving Kendal gasping for air.

  Terrified for her life, Kendal kicked him as hard as she could between the legs in hopes that it would release her from his grasp. As Trae doubled over in pain, she took off running down the hall toward their room, but she could hear his footsteps close behind. Fumbling to close the door, she was met with significant force pushing against her.

  “Trae!” she yelled. “Stop!” Although she had her entire body weight pushed against the door, Trae shoved it open and threw her to the ground. “Please let me explain. You don’t understand.”

  Trae kicked her hard in the gut as she tried to explain that she had been calling James to plan a birthday party for him. Without thinking, Kendal pulled her arm back and hit him in the nose as hard as she could. “You bitch!” With him momentarily distracted, she rolled onto her hands and knees and began to crawl away, frantically trying to make it to the bathroom on the other side of the room. “You’re not getting off that easy!”

  Grabbing her foot, he dragged her back forcefully and crawled on top of her, pinning her to the ground with his body weight. “Trae, stop it! You’re drunk! This isn’t you.” Looking into his bloodshot eyes, she realized that it wasn’t just alcohol that was affecting his judgement. “Are you high?”

  “Shut the hell up!”

  “You’re being crazy! Get off me!” Wiggling underneath him, she tried her best to get away, but he tightened his grip on her shoulders and brought a fist down hard on her face. The force of the blow caught her off guard and left her staring up at him in bewilderment. Before she knew it, another fist was flying at her and she was raising her hands instinctively to cover her face.

  She looked up through her fingers to see his angry face glaring down at her. His leather vest with that awful skull embroidered on it was the last thing she remembered seeing before everything went dark.

  *

  Sitting upright, Kendal blinked hard to try to gather her surroundings. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw Lexy sitting in her bed in front
of her, her brow furrowed with concern. “Are you okay? Was it another nightmare?” Slowly Kendal nodded. Tears began streaming down her cheeks before she even realized she was upset. “Oh my God. You’re, like, shaking.”

  Lexy wrapped her tightly in a hug and rubbed her back comfortingly. “You’re okay. He can’t hurt you now.” She repeated it soothingly until Kendal’s sobs subsided. “I wish that asshole would have gotten arrested like he deserves.”

  “I really don’t want to talk about it. I’m okay.” Pulling back to look at her best friend, Kendal was yet again filled with gratitude for being so blessed to have her in her life. “Thank you.” Kendal let out a forced laugh as she tried to break the tension in the room. “I promise at some point I will stop waking you in the middle of the night with my own issues.”

  “To be fair, it is early morning this time,” Lexy teased. “I’m totally kidding. You know I don’t care. You know I’ll be here whenever you need me.”

  “Well, I feel bad making you deal with all my baggage.”

  “Oh, stop it!” Lexy punched her lightly in the shoulder and jumped to her feet as if lighting had struck her. “I have an awesome idea! Why don’t we have a girls’ day out?”

  “I don’t know. I’m not really feeling up to it.”

  “Of course you are! We’ll grab breakfast, do a little shopping, and grab a few drinks. A new outfit is exactly what you need!” Seeing how excited Lexy was, Kendal couldn’t bring herself to tell her no.

  “It would be nice to get some fresh air.”

  “Yay! Wear that dress you’ve been wanting to wear! That one that looks, like, perfect on you. It’s finally warm enough for it.” Once ready, the girls jumped in Lexy’s Jeep and took off down the interstate toward their favorite shopping district.

  “Lexy?” Kendal asked.

  “Yes?”

  “Do you think that we’re only supposed to love once in our lives? Like do you think there is only one person for everybody?”

  “No, I don’t.” Lexy looked at her friend from the corner of her eye and gave her a reassuring smile. “I think this world has billions of people in it and you can love as many of them as you would like to.”