Perfect Night (Mason Creek #4) - Terri E. Laine Page 0,34

talk to me.

“I heard you were back in town.”

That couldn’t be it, so I stayed silent knowing he’d end up telling me the real reason.

“I thought maybe you could put in a good word for me.”

“With who?” I asked, raising a brow.

“Your sister for one. If she forgives me maybe I could come back without being chased out of town with pitchforks.”

Of course, he was joking but it wasn’t far from the truth. I shook my head. “Can’t help you there. Alana doesn’t want me in her business. Besides, if I talk to her, you’ll have to confess everything you did. And we both know I’ll have to kick your ass. It’s better if I only hear rumors and not the truth.”

Cory had been a decent guy with a lot of ambition. His foray into the rodeo had buckle bunnies chasing him. Hard on a man not to fall when you’re out on the road for weeks. That didn’t give him a pass for breaking my sister’s heart. It did, however, give a reason.

“I still love her,” he said, like that would create sway in his favor.

“Maybe you do, maybe you don’t. But I’m not the one you need to convince.”

His shoulders slumped. “Come on Aiden. You’re my closest friend. Who else can I talk to?”

“A therapist,” I joked.

He drank the rest of his beer and waved a hand to the waitress for another. She came over and gave me all her attention. “Hey sugar, what can I get you?”

She was cute, but she wasn’t Emma. “A beer and a burger.”

She nodded and would have walked away, but Cory said, “Another beer, please.”

I don’t know what he’d done to her, but she scowled before taking his empty bottle and leaving.

“Women,” Cory said. “Speaking of, what’s up with Emma Hawkins. I heard she’s engaged.”

“That’s what they say.”

He eyed me suspiciously. “They also say she was seen wearing your shirt early one morning.”

Fire burned in my gut. “You shouldn’t listen to rumors. Besides, where are you getting your information if you can’t come to town?”

“My parents still talk to me,” he said, defensively. I didn’t think that was his source. “So, is it true?”

“We’re friends.”

“That’s all?” he asked with a sly smile like he’d won the lottery of information. “Because Emma is hot. I would have tried to hook up with her before but she’s friends with Alana. I think enough time has passed where I could date her friend, don’t you think?”

What I thought in the saloon style pub was drawing my gun and shooting him between the eyes for suggesting such a thing. But it wasn’t the eighteen hundreds, and that action would get me the death penalty in Montana.

“I think if you ever think about Emma that way again, I’ll kill you.”

He rocked back on his chair and pointed at me. “I knew it. You still have it bad for sweet Emma Hawkins. How does Darcy feel about that? She’s a sweet piece of ass I haven’t had the pleasure of tasting.”

“Darcy doesn’t need your kind of trouble.”

He sat back up, front chair legs hitting the floor.

“Darcy needs someone who will settle down and take care of her. You, on the other hand, don’t seem ready for that.”

“Come on, Aiden. I’m just yanking your chain. You wouldn’t tell me shit otherwise. I still want Alana,” he said sheepishly. “I really fucked that up.”

“You did.”

My beer and burger arrived, and I let him tell me about life on the rodeo. As much as I believed he still cared about my sister, he wasn’t right for her.

When I got home, I called her. “I know you want me to stay out of your life, but I just saw Cory.” I told her about our conversation. The parts that had to do with her. She listened and didn’t comment.

“Is that all?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Thanks.”

And that was it. I hadn’t seen much of her since I’d been back in town. She was true to her word of doing her own thing and I had to let her.

Later that night, I couldn’t sleep. I sat on my bed with my laptop reviewing the security footage frame by frame to see just where the rental car had gone when my phone rang.

“Emma,” I said.

She sniffed. “They’re doing it now. I thought I could be here by myself—”

“You don’t have to. I’ll be there.”

I took off the shorts I’d been wearing, threw on some jeans, and grabbed my keys. I drove the long way avoiding a drive