And there it is.
That familiar flash of rage.
“Keep pushing me, Piper.”
“Oh, I’m begging you, Travis.” I step right up to him, tilting my head with a smile that doesn’t quite reach my eyes. “Go ahead. Hit me again. I fucking dare you. Because next time, I won’t just break your pretty little face. I’ll leave you bleeding on the floor, wondering how the hell your daddy’s girl took you apart without breaking a goddamn sweat.”
His jaw clenches, a muscle ticking beneath the shadow of day-old stubble. “You might hate me, Piper, and, hell, maybe I deserve it.” Travis runs a hand through his disheveled hair, pain and anger warring in his eyes. “I used you to punish him. I know I did. I paraded you around like a trophy just to watch it kill him inside. And then I—” He swallows hard. “Well, you made me cross lines I’m not proud of. But what you did? That’s so much worse.”
“Oh, please, I’m sure Mommy can get your nose fixed.”
“That’s not fucking it.” His voice cracks like thunder in the small space between us.
I arch a brow, folding my arms across my chest. “Okay, what terrible thing have I done now?”
“You’ve made damn sure my father will never look at me the same again. Yeah, I made it hard—fuck, I made it impossible for years. But maybe one day, I might’ve been able to find it in me to forgive him. I might’ve been able to let go of the hate long enough to build something real with him. But that choice was mine. It wasalwaysmine. And now it’s gone because of you… because ofhim. You two burned the last bridge I had before I ever got the chance to walk it. He could’ve died an old man thinking his son didn’t completely hate him, but after this? Afteryou? There’s not a fucking chance in hell.”
All of his bravado and rage splinters, and what’s left standing in front of me isn’t a threat. It’s a man crumbling under the weight of alifetime of bitterness. One he thought he could outrun untilIbecame the thing that finally made it permanent.
“I’d understand this being unforgivable if you actually gave a damn about me, but you don’t. This is about your ego. It’s about you not getting to say you won.”
“I felt something real for you once, Piper.”
“Bullshit.” I spit the word like venom. “I was your golden ticket to being the world’s biggest asshole, and it blew up in your face because you were never even close to what I wanted.”
“That’s not true.” He half reaches for me, then thinks better of it, his hand falling uselessly to his side. “We had something. Maybe it wasn’t love, or anything close to that, but it was real.”
The worst part is that he’s not completely wrong. There was a tiny flicker of a connection that once felt like friendship and attraction, but it was built on lies and manipulation.
“Well, it died a long time ago.” I wrap my arms around my middle, fighting against the winter chill that seeps through my thin sweater. “Just go, Travis. There’s nothing left to say that’ll change any of it.”
“Fine, but let me make something crystal clear, Piper. If you keep this thing going with my dad, you’ll destroy everything. His life. His future. The legacy of this piece-of-shit farm you’ve somehow fallen in love with. He can’t have us both, and at the end of the day, I’m his flesh and blood. You’re just a warm body helping him pretend he’s not past his prime. If I force him to choose, and trust me, I will, it’ll never be you. Do you really want to make him do that? Force his hand and break someone’s heart, including his own?”
I say nothing. I can’t because somewhere deep down, I know this asshole has a point.
“You don’t sleep with your son’s girlfriend and walk away untouched,” he says, his voice softer now, but still just as cruel. “You come out scarred. And if you go all in with him, you’ll be the one holding the match when everything burns.”
I stand there, mute, because he’s right, and we both know it.
Chapter 20
Christian
After the waythat wild beauty in my bed woke me up this morning, I’ve been climbing the walls, itching to get back to her. And knowing she’s leaving tomorrow? Yeah, that thought’s been chewing a hole straight through my chest all day.
She’s not ready for anything permanent. At least, I don’t think she is. Christ, I can’t even be sure, and that’s what’s killing me.
But still… there’s this restless ache inside me. This need to figure out how the hell we find a way forward that doesn’t end with me losing the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
All I’ve done is love her behind closed doors—stolen moments snatched between endless farm work and her late-night bar shifts. Secret touches that say everything we can’t. Those heated glances across a crowded room that make everyone else disappear. Passionate nights that leave me wanting so much more than just temporary.
I want her in my arms, in my bed, in every part of my life. I want to mark her, claim her, and let every damn person in this town know she’s mine, whether we’re ready to say it out loud or not. But what’s been gnawing at me, and digging in deeper the longer the hours have passed without having her close to me, is why the hell would she wantto stay with me? I can’t give her the world or anything close to what she deserves.
Once she’s gone, is that it? Do I just have to let her walk away and pretend like what’s been building between us hasn’t set fire to everything I thought I knew about love?
I don’t have the answers.
God, I wish I did.
