Prologue
Jensen
PAST
The wind liftedmy hair off my neck, swirling it around my face. It carried with it the calls of birds overhead and the scent of the surrounding pine trees. I stared out at the fields around me. They dipped and rolled, meeting up with forests that ran into snow-capped mountains.
My palms pressed into the rock beneath me. This was usually one of my two favorite places in the world. My boulder on the five hundred or so acres that my parents had gifted me on their ranch in the hopes that I would make my home here. This was the place I came to when I needed to think. To get away. To daydream. To feel peace.
Now, I felt nothing. Just a radiating numbness that seemed to make my fingers and toes tingle, the same way they would if they’d fallen asleep after sitting in the same position for too long. God, I wished I were sleeping. That the past three months had been nothing but a nightmare.
Tears tracked down my cheeks. I did nothing to try and staunch the flow. I kept hoping that, eventually, I’d be all cried out. That there would be no more tears left to cry. And when that happened, I’d miraculously know what I was going to do.
“Little J, I didn’t know you were back from college.”
The rough voice jolted me out of my thoughts, and I quickly did my best to wipe my face. I stretched my mouth into a bright smile—the same expression I’d been forcing so often lately, it felt as though my face might crack in two. “Hey, Tuck. Surprise trip.”
Tuck’s gaze traced over my face, and his angular jaw, dusted with dark blond stubble, went hard. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. Just getting a little peace away from the crowd at the ranch house.”
Tuck rounded the boulder, his broad frame crowding me, dominating the seemingly infinite space. “Little J…”
I gave him my best mock scowl. “Stop calling me that. I’m not exactly little anymore.”
He ran a hand through his hair, tugging on the strands. “I’m well aware. Now, stop trying to change the subject. You’ve been crying.” He glanced in the direction of the ranch house. “Do you want me to go get Walker?”
“No!” Of course, he would offer to get Walker. My brother had been Tuck’s best friend since before the two could talk. And the three of us had practically grown up together. But the last thing I wanted in this moment was my brother.
Tuck settled himself next to me on the rock. “Jensen.” His use of my full name had tears pooling in my eyes again. He pulled me into his side and wrapped his arm around me, giving my shoulder three quick squeezes. “What’s going on?”
“I’m in trouble.” The words came out in a hiccupped staccato beat as I tried to hold in the sobs.
“Whatever it is, we can fix it.”
I shook my head. “I’m pregnant.”
Tuck’s body went as rigid and still as the stone we sat on. “What?”
“I’m pregnant,” I whispered.
Tuck shot up. “I’m going to kill that fucker.”
The sobs came in earnest then, wracking my body.
“Shit, I’m sorry, Little J. Come on, don’t cry.” Tuck wrapped both of his arms around me this time, holding me tight to his chest. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Cody left me.” I sucked in a breath. “He doesn’t want me or the baby.” I curled myself into a ball against his chest. Tuck’s warmth enveloped me. He was comfort. Home. I never wanted to leave this spot. Because here, there was no judgement about the fact that I hadn’t even completed my freshman year of college, and I was pregnant and alone. No judgment that I’d fallen prey to the pretty words of a handsome senior boy. That I’d thought he loved me.
Tuck’s lips brushed my hair. “That makes him one seriously dumb fuck.” He kept his voice quiet, but I could hear the rage simmering beneath the surface.
I burrowed deeper into Tuck’s hold. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
He pulled back, tipping my face up to his with a single finger. “What do you want to do?”
I looked into his pale blue eyes, having no answers. Our gazes held, the seconds ticking by. “I want to go see the herd.”
Surprise flickered across Tuck’s expression before a gentle smile pulled at his mouth. “You got it.” He stood, offering me a hand. “Come on.”
