glad, Ly. I’m also pretty happy he pulled his head out of his butt. I don’t ever want to see you hurt like that again.”
I slid the saddle off Asher, and Eves and I carried them into the barn to put away. “He was trying to protect me.”
“I can see that.” She smirked and nudged me with her elbow. “Now that you’re with a big, bad biker, we’ll have to go shopping. You’ll need appropriate biker-babe attire.”
I laughed. “I’m not sure I make a good biker babe, though I do love riding with him.” I more than loved it. Unfortunately, we wouldn’t be riding again for a while, not until after winter.
“Yeah, I love it, too,” Eves said wistfully. “Bring on summer.”
After brushing down the horses, we headed up to the main house. Eves loved working on Cassy and Cal’s ranch and had lived here for a while before she and Dane finally got together.
Cassy was excited to see us, she’d been stuck at home struggling with morning sickness, though really it was all-day sickness. She was more than happy for our company. We chatted for a couple of hours, and I helped Eves chop veggies since she was making a family dinner for her and Dane, Cassy and Cal and their little boy, Jack.
“Why don’t you stay for dinner?” Eves asked as she poured the marinade she’d just made over chicken thighs.
“Maybe another time. I’m meeting Jesse at Rocktown Ink, then we’re getting takeout.”
Eves gave me a knowing smile, and we both burst out laughing.
Cassy walked in scowling. “Hey, no laughing without me. What am I missing?”
Eves filled her in, embellishing the details of the night Jesse and I had planned until we were laughing so hard I had tears rolling down my face.
Half an hour later, I was in my car, heading back up Cassy’s long, winding driveway toward the main road.
My parents’ ranch was right beside Cal and Cassy’s, which was how I’d met Eves. My belly gripped tight. I hadn’t been home in months. I missed my horse, Molly, so bad it hurt. I hadn’t seen her or Mavis the family cat—or my parents in all that time, either.
And weirdly, I wasn’t at all surprised when I spotted a familiar blue Ford pickup parked at the top of the driveway. My mother sat behind the wheel, waiting for me. I’d expected it, hadn’t I? People talked out here. Someone would have seen me drive through town and reported back to her.
My heart kicked behind my ribs. I wanted to keep on driving. I wanted to pretend I hadn’t seen her and speed all the way home to Jesse. But I couldn’t do that. She was still my mother. If we could find a way to work through this, I had to try.
I parked behind the truck, bracing for what would come next, and climbed out.
She was walking toward me, face twisted in anger before I’d even shut my door.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Don’t you dare ‘hi mom’ me. I spoke to Jarod, he told me everything,” she said, vibrating with rage.
My heart hurt looking at the disdain in her eyes. “And what exactly did Jarod tell you?”
“That you’re spending time with a biker. A thug. That he saw you kissing on the street like a common whore.”
I jerked back like she’d struck me. Another shot to the heart. Though, why was I surprised? It wasn’t the first time she’d called me that.
Why was I letting her do this? I couldn’t let this go on anymore. In the past, I would have shrunk under her rage, I would have apologized and made excuses. No more. I had nothing to apologize for.
Pain and anger fired through me so fiercely my hands shook. I curled my fingers into fists to hide it from her. “The information your spy gathered is correct. Yes, my boyfriend, Jesse, is a biker. He’s also a tattoo artist, an extremely talented one. He’s one of the best men I’ve ever known, and he cares a great deal about me. We care about each other.”
“He’s using you, you stupid girl.”
“No, he’s not.”
“He only wants one thing from you, and I bet you’ve given it to him, haven’t you?” The abhorrence on her face made me feel about two feet tall.
I didn’t answer.
Her face darkened. “You’re just like your sister.”
The vehement way she said it made me flinch.
“I tried, I really tried, but you defied me at every turn, wanted to be like her…a damned slut.”
“Her name is Kate.”
“We