This constitutes an emergency.
Waking up naked in Savannah Ward’s bed has historically been good for literally no one. I don’t know a single one of her exes that didn’t get run straight out of town, and everyone knows she’s batshit insane since everything with her cousin and Oakley came out a few months ago. It’s still plenty fresh in everyone’s minds, especially in a town like this.
“I—yeah, I guess,” I say, frowning as I pull out onto the main road. “Sorry to bug you at work, but I need you to tell me what happened last night.”
“What do you mean?” Evan asks, confusion clear in his voice. “We went to Jesse’s for a party.”
That sense of dread creeps closer.
“Yeah, I know that,” I say, putting effort into keeping my voice even. “Just, like, what happened there? Was it a normal night?”
Silence stretches out for too long to be comfortable, and I hear Evan’s footsteps on the other end of the line as he walks away from his work site. That doesn’t bode well.
“Bo, what’s going on?” The confusion in his voice has bled straight into concern, and it makes my hands shake on the wheel. “We were with Harry and Ian. Y’all had a couple drinks. Did something happen?”
I clench my jaw against the wave of terror that washes over me. What the fuck turned a perfectly normal night into such a trainwreck?
“Nah, nothing happened.” The lie slips through my teeth like broken glass, but I can’t tell anyone about this until it’s clearwhat actually happened. “I just don’t remember most of the night. I didn’t think I got that fucked up.”
The laugh I force out sounds unnatural even to me, but Evan lets it slide with nothing more than a concerned click of his tongue.
“I mean, I only saw you have a beer and a cup of that punch that was on the table,” he says. “You were really out of it by the end of the night, though.”
My stomach sinks instantly. There’s no way two drinks would send me into a blackout. And Irememberhaving both of those. I didn’t even chug them. Hell, it took me almost half an hour to finish that punch because it was gross and weirdly salty.
“Maybe I just didn’t eat enough before,” I say, attempting to ease my friend’s worries.
I ate my usual three square meals yesterday. There’s absolutely no reason I should have gotten that drunk.
“I figured you and Harry just pre-gamed,” Evan says.
That would make sense. Harry and I do that occasionally. It’s usually just a shot or two, never enough to get really sloshed. The only problem with that is I went to the party straight from work. I met my friends there, and there wasn’t a drop of alcohol in my system. Maybe the heat just got to me? That doesn’t explain why I can’t remember anything, though. Evan’s voice cuts through my whirling thoughts before I have a chance to really start spiralling.
“That Ward chick was trying to get everyone to go out to the lake when you were heading out to catch a cab home, but that’s the last time I saw you,” he says. “I have to get back to work, but I’ll check in on my lunch if you need anything, alright?”
Hearing Savannah’s name makes me flinch, and I have to huff out a laugh at the urge to glance behind me. She can’t be summoned by her name like some fairy tale witch.
“I’ll be good, man,” I say, not believing myself in the slightest. “Sorry for bugging you.”
We say our goodbyes as I turn onto the road that leads to the ranch, the familiar stretch of trees and dirt road. I’ve never been so anxious about going back home.
My thoughts are still too jumbled up, and I don’t remember enough for anything else to make more sense. I’m all turned around, and now that the threat of having to deal with Savannah is dealt with, my head is fuckingkillingme. I’ve never had a hangover this bad in my whole life; my mouth cottony and dry, my stomach roiling with nausea. My whole body feels about ten seconds behind.
This may be the first time I’ve done anything to get my ass handed to me so seriously, and I don’t know where to start fixing it. For one, I’m late—and I’mneverlate unless I’m in a hospital bed. There’s also the pressure of being the responsible one of my siblings, even if I’m the middle child. I’m the one who will take over the ranch when our parents retire, so I don’t get the same leniency about breaking rules that my sisters do.
And this?
This is a lot deeper than trying to figure out an excuse for being late and making it up to my dad.
Sleeping with Savannah would be a mistake I can never go back from. The consequences are something I never want to face.
Chapter Two
KENZIE
There’ssomething to be said about coming back to a place you spent a lot of time at as a kid when you’re an adult.
I used to watch my mom scratch items off her grocery list and compare the ingredients on different boxes in these aisles. Now it’s my turn to push a cart with squeaky wheels over the worn linoleum as the fluorescents buzz overhead. The store is set up the same way it has been my whole life, packages with familiar branding stacked neatly on the shelves.
