Good. Fuck him. “What did you do?” He runs to Marissa. “Are you okay, dear?”
Stone takes my arm and drags me away.
“Get her out of here!” Lance screams at him. Rissa whimpers behind us, and I peek over my shoulder to find her glaring at me through mascara-stained eyes.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Stone glowers as we get to the Audi. He drops my arm like I’m made of hot coal.
“What the fuck were we thinking?” Lucas retorts. “What the fuck are you thinking? You’re just going to have an engagement party and not say anything to us? We called you, dude. Over and over and over again. We were fucking worried. Of course we would show up here.”
“I told Cole to tell you not to come.” Stone’s furious gaze moves to mine. “Did he tell you that?”
I shrug because he kind of did, but he also didn’t stop us either.
“I hate that fucker,” he seethes, shoulders rising and falling with his big, gulping breaths as he tries to get himself under control. “You guys can’t be here. How did you even get through the front gates?”
“Cole’s guys,” I say, glaring at him.
His gray-blue eyes turn cold. “In case it isn’t clear, I don’t want you here. It’s hard enough, Dakota.” Regret flickers but is quickly wiped away with the same pointed looks of hate that we used to share. “I said goodbye to you already.”
His words nearly topple me over. I make a fist. “Wow. I kind of want to give you a matching broken nose for your wedding just like your precious bride. She’s a little spoiled, by the way. Have fun with that.”
“Dakota....”
I shake my head. “No. See, when one person says goodbye, maybe the other person should listen.”
“I’m doing what’s best. For both of us.”
His eyes sear into mine, and I understand his thought process. He thinks his dad is going to hurt me. He knows his dad will hurt his mom. The thing is, we should be working together to fix all of this.
“I don’t really know much about how families or relationships work,” I admit. “I might be naïve, but....” I shake my head. “No, I can’t get behind this. We should be coming up with plans together. At the very least, we still have a contract that the four of us signed.”
“I don’t give a fuck about the contract,” Stone snarls.
“So, I take it you’re not coming into the mountains with us tomorrow?”
He shakes his head slowly. Glimmers of anger and regret shine brightly for several moments before disappearing entirely. I’ve never known someone who can mask what he’s truly feeling as well as Stone Jacobs. It’s a gift, really. “I’m busy,” he declares.
Lucas’ arm wraps around me. “Come on. Let’s get you in the car before they call the cops on you.”
He opens the passenger side and helps me in. Wyatt stays there, and I watch for a moment as they talk, but once the door is closed, I turn to face the front window. The phone in my pocket vibrates. I’m told you punched her. Wish I could’ve seen it.
Several seconds later, another comes through. Hope you’re okay.
I put my phone away without responding. It’s hard for me to put trust in someone, and I’d done that with these guys. I’m in wholeheartedly, so that’s why this sucks so fucking much. Stone is being taken away from me, and I hate it.
Two minutes later, Wyatt gets in the car. He makes me lift up so he can squeeze underneath to hold me again. He throws his cowboy hat in the backseat as I curl up on his lap.
“Everything’s going to be fine,” Lucas assures me. He’s white knuckling the steering wheel again, and I wonder if he knew what Stone was planning when he left me and him in his room?
“Wrong time to say this, but I can’t wait to tell Finn the damage your right cross did.”
I smile. I can’t help myself. At least this trip wasn’t a complete bust. “That was fun.”
“Hot as fuck, too,” Lucas admits.
I’m happy with these two. Wyatt makes me smile. Lucas makes me feel. But I need the trifecta to be completely whole. So, even though we drive away, and I have two really awesome pieces of my heart right next to me, a hole opens up inside my chest. Pain lashes at me, and if it weren’t for Wyatt holding me, tethering me to the two of them, I might crawl inside