She fucking ruined me.
I sit in my truck outside her house and let my head fall back. What the hell am I going to do now? She clearly doesn’t feel the same way. No, Presley still hates me.
“Fuck!” I slam my hand on the steering wheel. “Dammit, Zach,” I say to myself. “You can’t go there. You can’t think of that woman, because you don’t have a chance. You blew it.” I say the words I need to remember. “I’m so fucking screwed.”
“Yeah, you sure are.”
I jump at the sound of my brother outside my window. “How much did you hear?”
“All of it. You must like talking to yourself.” Wyatt opens the passenger side door and climbs in. “Next time try words of encouragement. I hear that makes people smarter.”
“By all means,” I grumble. “And fuck off. You’re the one who keeps making these situations happen.”
“Dude, what the hell did you think? It’s why I told you that she was here weeks ago. It’s why I keep telling you to make things right. Presley has always been your biggest regret.”
I shake my head, wishing he were wrong. “I regret leaving her, not lovin’ her.”
“Brother,” he says as he runs his hand down his face, “I warned you years ago that you need to stop this shit. You pining away, thinking that one day she’d show back up and love you again. You blew that chance a long time ago.”
“I know.”
“Do you?” He pauses, and I could punch his smug face. “She was married and has twins. Did you know that?”
“Yeah,” I inform Wyatt. “I saw him.”
“Who?” he says confused.
“Her son, Logan.”
That name. Of all the fucking names she picks. And then for her not to remember . . . crushed me. She ripped my heart out, and she doesn’t even know it.
“They’re good boys. Been through hell,” he says pointedly. “They lost their father and everything they’ve known, so you can’t be fucking with their mama’s heart.”
Wyatt is usually pretty quiet about other people’s business, but he has no issue when it comes to mine. He loves Presley. He always has, but he’s protective of her too. She’s family to all of us. I wanted her to be a different family member for me.
“She slapped me!” I yell.
“Well, from the look on her face you deserved it.”
I hate my brother. “I kissed her.”
He laughs and rolls his eyes. “Of course you did. She’s Presley, and you damn well can’t help yourself. You want to be with her.”
“I’m with Felicia,” I remind him.
“Sure, you are.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
He shakes his head and sighs. “You’re going to sit here and tell me you love her? The way you love Presley?” He pauses, and I don’t say a word. “I didn’t think so.” I open my mouth to argue, but he goes right back into his monologue. “You never stopped hoping she’d come back. Hoping she’d give you a second chance. But so help me God, Zach. If you hurt her, I’ll fuck you up. I don’t care if we’re brothers, I’ll beat the ever loving shit out of you.”
“I’m not going there again,” I state. There are some things people can come back from, but not sixteen years of anger. That’s a lot of forgiveness, and there are things I’m still pissed off about too.
“Right.”
“Get out of my truck,” I demand. “Why aren’t you in there telling her all this shit?”
Wyatt throws his feet on the dash. “What makes you think I haven’t?”
“I need to get home.” I’m done with this conversation. “Leave.”
“I’m telling you to be careful, Zach. Not just because of her, but because you were a miserable son of a bitch too. I’d be willing to bet a lot of your injuries, and the reason you came back home, was for her.”
“What?” He’s way off. I came home because of our parents. I got hurt because that’s what fucking happens in baseball.
“You heard me.”
“I swear to God if you don’t get out of this fucking truck right now . . .” I let him figure out the rest.
“Tell Felicia I said hello.” He climbs out of the truck. There’s no love lost between those two. She hates him as much as he despises her. It’s why my brother is the foreman here and not at our own ranch.
I flip him off and get the hell off Townsend property. I decide my head is too jumbled to go back home. Felicia isn’t dumb. She’s been watching me since Presley returned. Her timing though, who the hell could’ve planned it? The day I’m going to propose to Felicia, she returns to Bell Buckle.