“We’re just fucking,” I say with a scoff.
“You lost your virginity and you didn’ttell me?” she hisses, playfully affronted.
I snicker and check my doorway one more time. “I’m telling you now. You can have all the dirty details you want.” We both know she wants to know everything.
“Spill!”
“He’s fucking huge. Like,everywhere.” She’s probably sitting on the edge of her bed, rapt and drinking down every word. “He choked me. And spanked me with a set of reins, all macho and in charge and shit. He calls me sweet Magnolia and tells me I’m pretty and then treats me like he fucking owns me and it’s sohot.”
Penny squeals on the other line, excitement and jealousy threading through her tone.
“I knew you were a closet freak!” she teases. “You actually let him call you Magnolia? How did any of this even happen?”
As if I couldletBennett do anything. He’s the one in charge, even if I’m the one who’s had to start everything.
“I told him not to, but he thinks it’s cute to piss me off. As for how, well, I wasn’t just about to let him walk off after kissing me in the barn like that.” I told Penny all about that, but we haven’t had a chance to talk privately since then. “His trailer door was unlocked, and I just walked in. He was still asleep, so I stripped and got on top of him, and he just couldn’t resist me.”
My mounting arrogance drains with a snap when I hear the door creak. I shoot up from my lazy sprawl to come face to face with Oakley standing just outside my bedroom, her hair longer than I remember even if her grin is still the same.
Fuck.
“Fuck. Penny, I’ll call you back.” I hang up without waiting for her answer, anxiety swirling viciously in my gut. “Oakley! Didn’t hear you come up.”
Maybe she didn’t hear anything. Or maybe I can play it off as a joke. Anything would be better than her telling Mom and Dad.
I’ll be grounded until Idieif they find out.
“Yeah, I figured,” she says, glancing between me and my phone, hazel eyes crinkling in amusement. “You didn’t have to hang up because of me.”
I hop out of bed and bound over to her, wrapping her in a tight hug. “And miss out on spending time with my favorite sister?”
Hopefully, she can’t feel the racing of my heart in my chest. She hugs me back, rubbing her hand down my back, and I cross my fingers that she didn’t hear anything too incriminating.
“I’m your only sister,” she says with a chuckle. “And this whole act isn’t distracting me. Who the hell were you talking about?”
Shit.
So much for hoping.
At least she’s keeping her voice down.
“What do you mean?” I ask, pulling away. It’s impossible to hide the panic on my face, so I turn my back to her and make myself busy smoothing the wrinkles out of my blanket.
“Maggie.” My whole body goes stiff when Oakley steps into my room and closes the door behind her. “Are you seriously sleeping with the new ranch hand?”
Fuck. She heardeverything.
I’m so screwed it’s not even funny, dug my own damn grave and everything. I can’t believe I was careless enough to let her overhear.
“Who said anything about some ranch hand?”
I can’t hide the fear in my voice, but I try fruitlessly to mask it with anger anyway as I turn to glare at her. Oakley doesn’t understand what’s been going on. She’s been off living her dream life. All she sees is me refusing to listen to Dad and getting myself in trouble.
All anyone ever sees is what they want to.
“Don’t act like I’m stupid,” Oakley says with a roll of her eyes. “New guy who’s totally your type shows up, and all of a sudden you’re sneaking around at night and talking to Penny about hooking up with someone? Tell me I’m wrong.”
It sounds like both a dare and a plea, and Oakley searches my face for any crack in the indifference there. Annoyance flares in me again at the realization that she and Mom have been gossiping about me.
