Unbreak My Heart (Rough Riders Legacy #1)(10)
“What’s up, West?”
I set the picture down. “Nothing. Why?”
“I know you, man. You’re brooding. What gives?”
“Woman troubles.”
He laughed. “Right.”
When I didn’t share in his amusement, he stared at me. Hard.
“You’re serious.”
“Yep.”
“Woman troubles,” he repeated. “First time you’ve ever said that in all the years I’ve known you.”
“There’s a reason for that. And she lives in Phoenix.”
His eyes went comically wide. Then he said, “Start talking.”
Raj knew more about me than anyone in my life. But he didn’t know about Sierra. “It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got time and so do you.”
“It’s complicated.”
“You’re stalling. Now you know I ain’t gonna leave you alone until you tell me whatever it is that you should’ve told me a long damn time ago.”
I scrubbed my hands over my face. “You know about my f*cked-up childhood. So by my senior year of high school I was biding my time until graduation and I could start a real life.” I swallowed a mouthful of beer. “Then she showed up.”
“Who?”
“Sierra. The instant I saw her all those freakin’ clichés bombarded me—a bolt of lightning, the earth moved, time stood still, my soul recognized hers, my heart stopped, I wanted to f*ck her hot little body twice a day for the next hundred years…” I closed my eyes. “I’ve never told anyone any of that.”
“Not even her?”
“Especially not her.”
Raj sighed. “That’s f*cked, man, but keep goin’.”
“We became friends. At first because I needed to prove my initial reaction to her was a fluke. I mean, she was beautiful, so in my experience that meant she was either a spoiled brat or a snotty bitch. But she wasn’t. I found out it was worse. Way, way worse.”
“What was she?”
“Perfect.”
Raj said nothing.
I finished my beer and grabbed another. “I needed to stay away from her but I couldn’t. So we were friends. Fuck, man. She was my only goddamned friend. And the entire time we were friends I knew how she felt about me.”
“Please tell me you didn’t take advantage of that.”
I scowled at him. “I’m not that guy, *. I never touched her because it would’ve been all f*cking over for me if I did. So I left Wyoming just as planned. I just didn’t tell her that was my plan.”
“Did you have any contact with her at all?”
“Not until two weeks ago.” I told him everything that had happened when I’d seen her in Sundance and how things ended up with her today.
We’d each drained another beer by the time I’d finished.
Finally Raj said, “Sounds to me like you’ve made up your mind. She’s here; this is where you need to be.”
I shrugged.
“Don’t give me that fake ‘whatever’ attitude, man. You believe it’s a sign.”
“Or a second chance.”
“But that’s up to her, isn’t it? And from what you’ve told me, maybe she’s not interested in giving you a shot. Then you’re stuck here.”
I glanced up at him sharply. “I’m stuck here. I thought you ruled out Cheyenne?”
“I’m tired after driving fifteen hours and my brain is sluggish.” Raj sighed and rubbed the top of his shaved head. “But I recall that you weren’t giving Cheyenne serious consideration.” Then Raj’s gaze pierced me. “Something else you wanna tell me?”
“I indicated Phoenix as my preference today after I left her office.”
Raj’s eyebrows went up.
“There’s one other thing.”
“Of course there is.”
“Tomorrow I’m going back to Sierra’s office and asking her to show me possible rentals.” I flashed my teeth at him. “But it’s not for me. It’s for a friend.”
“Ah, f*ck, man. Seriously?”
“I need a place to live anyway.” My gaze rolled over pink, pink, and pinker. I wasn’t sure how long I could stand being here.
“Fine, do your thing with her. I don’t wanna do anything except sit by the pool and work on my tan.”
I choked on my beer.
Raj laughed. “Too easy.”
“Asshole.”
“Missed you, bro.”
“Same.”
By six p.m. I had rocked my to-do list; all twenty-seven items checked off. Which was a big screw you to Boone—his unexpected appearance hadn’t affected my productivity at all.
Traffic wasn’t horrendous. The snowbirds hadn’t arrived en masse yet.
When I pulled up to my house, I grinned at my roommate Lu’s dirt-caked pickup, which was parked sideways in the drive. My neighbors in this upscale and trendy housing development wrinkled their noses at her big rig as if she used it to cart pigs around—although it did smell like shit whenever she used it to haul manure. I skirted the garage and entered the backyard through the gated side of the house.