Southern Comfort - Natasha Madison Page 0,35

I hate myself for the look on her face. The look that she did something wrong when she did nothing wrong. “Come with me.” I hold out my hand, but I’m expecting her to tell me to fuck off. I would have told me to fuck off. “Please. I want to show you something.”

She walks back to me, and I see that her shield is up now as her eyes are a dark blue. “I didn’t mean to pry.” She straightens her shoulders. “You don’t owe me any explanations, cowboy.” I hate that she pretends with me. I hate that I made her feel like she has to pretend.

“Will you come with me?” I ask, pointing over at the golf cart that I keep beside the barn. “I want to show you something.” She shakes her head and looks down, so I step into her space and put my finger under her chin. “Please.” She blinks away the tears without saying anything, but she nods her head. I hold her hand as we walk to the golf cart. She gets in, and I drive it away from the barn. “All this was my father’s,” I say, pointing at the fence we are driving toward. “On that part,” I say as we go through a small opening to the other side of the fence. “This was his best friend’s land.”

“Is it okay that we are on the property?” she asks from beside me as the wind blows her hair back.

“It is now since I bought it.” She just looks at me. When we pull up to the barn that I just finished renovating, I turn the cart off, getting out, and she gets out with me. “I spent most of my childhood and teenage years in this barn,” I say. “Well, not this one, but …” I put my hands on my hips. “I trained for the rodeo over there.” I point at the same fence that is there now. “Seven days a week. My father’s best friend trained me. Then he signed me to be part of his team. I was on top of the world. If you wanted to be in the rodeo circuit, you had to be with him. He was the best of the best, and he also trained the best of the best.”

“Sounds just like you,” she says, and I look over at her. “To put your whole heart into it.”

“It’s also the same place I fell in love.” My stomach lifts when I think about it. “Lorelei was his daughter and my best friend. Two peas in a pod.” She doesn’t say anything, folding her hands in front of her. “I had my whole life planned out when I was eighteen. I was going to ride the rodeo and then take over my family farm.”

“Looks like you succeeded,” she says, and I look over at the barn.

“It was also the same place she tore my heart out.” I look over at her. “She didn’t do it on purpose, mind you. I caught her cozying up to someone else when she thought I was busy.”

“Oh, Casey.” Her voice goes soft. I know she means it out of genuine concern and not just sympathy.

“Yeah, let’s just say walking in and seeing her laughing at me was not something I expected. I quit the next day, but her father refused to let me walk away.” I think back on the conversation.

“You can’t quit. I own you,” he hissed. “You signed a contract.”

“Roger,” my father said from beside me, and Roger looked over at him.

“Don’t Roger me, Billy.” He spoke to my father.

“Double or nothing,” I said, knowing there was no way Roger would turn down a bet. That was his vice. Not knowing when to bet or when to walk away. “If I win the next one, you let me walk away.”

“There is no way you can win. It’s the biggest one, and you are sitting at fourth place,” he said. “If you lose, I own you for the next five years.” I agreed and shook on it, my father looking on the whole time.

“Why would he do that?” she asks, shocked. She comes closer to me and holds my hand now.

“Because he could. Needless to say, I bet him that I would win, and if I’m honest, I didn’t think I would, but when I went out there, it’s almost as if I saw black or whatever. The only thing I focused on was getting my freedom.”

“But