Page 46 of Unruly

“Hal—Halle?”

I’m the same color as my hair right now—I know without looking in a mirror. I can feel it.

Halle, for her part, does something I did not anticipate.

She moves around me, holds her phone up, and says with complete composure, “Thank God. I’ve been so worried. I’ve been watching your location all day.”

I stare at her.

She doesn’t look at me.

I have no idea what she’s doing. I have no idea what the right move is. I open my mouth to say something, and she cuts her eyes to me for exactly half a second and something in that look says, shut up and follow my lead, so I shut up.

“Thanks for the warning, guys. Rowdy Randy was not what I expected her to be at all,” Rhett says.

Halle wraps her arms around Colt, says something quietly in his ear that I can’t catch, and then she’s pulling back and smiling at all three of us before saying her goodbyes and heading for her bike.

Then I make some shit excuse about something that needs doing on the south end of the property, and I get out of there before Rhett can look at me for one more second.

I pull out my phone before I’m even out of earshot.

Me:

So you ran from me...again

I lean against the fence rail at the south end of the property and look out at nothing and wait. She’ll be back at her house by now. She’ll see it in a minute.

Three dots.

Darlin’:

I didn’t run. I left because our brothers showed up. They can’t see us together. There’s a difference.

Me:

Sure there is.

Darlin’:

Don’t.

Me:

Don’t what?

Darlin’:

You know what. Don’t.

Me:

Darlin’?

Darlin’:

Cash, I swear to god.

I grin at my phone as I reach into my back pocket, then unbutton my jeans. I wrap my hand around myself, slow, not trying to get anywhere yet, just taking the edge off while I wait for her to say something I can work with.