Dakota Storm Page 14

  Lust? A little with Brandon, maybe. She'd never wanted to rip his clothes off or anything like that. With David? Off the charts. When she stood face-to-face with David, even if she was angry, she wanted him. Seeing Caroline with her hands on him that night on Main? She'd never been the fighting type, but had she laid into Caroline like she’d imagined, the woman would have been on a gurney.

  And now this.

  Her problems were small beans compared to what happened to others today. Some lost their homes and part of their livestock. But as selfish as it seemed, that Dakota storm had put things into perspective for her. What the hell was she doing with her life? With Brandon's life? She was dragging him around like her own little security blanket. Just because he made her feel safe didn't mean she should string him along. And that's exactly what she'd been doing for over a year.

  And now she was going to leave her family and her town when they'd nearly been destroyed? Was she just going to pack up and start a new life when most everyone she knew needed help?

  “What are you thinking about? You're quiet.”

  She could tell by the tone of Brandon's voice that something was bothering him. He had come running up the driveway earlier that day and saw her wrapped around an ex-lover. She doubted the scene had put him in a good mood, but he hadn't brought it up, and she sure as hell wasn't going to initiate that conversation. She'd talk to him tomorrow when her nerves weren't taut as a guitar string. There were a few things she had to come clean about.

  “Just looking at all the damage.”

  Brandon tapped his thumb against the steering wheel. Seconds passed in silence, and then he said tightly, “When we get home I'll cook you something for dinner. I’m guessing you haven’t had anything since breakfast.”

  Yeah, he was mad.

  She shouldn't lie to Brandon. Not telling him about the kiss was lying by omission. She shouldn’t wait until tomorrow. But how could she bring up a conversation like that? The last few weeks had been challenging, today had been life-changing, and that kiss had been an awakening. Even if nothing happened between her and David ever again, she owed the truth to Brandon.

  “I uh...” Her throat closed up. She didn't know exactly what to say, or if this was even the right time to talk about it. Still, she didn't feel right about any of this. “I kissed David. Back at the house. I didn't plan it. It just kinda happened. But...it didn't mean anything. It just...happened.” She'd already said that. And she'd lied again. It had meant something. David plowing toward a tornado for her meant something. Him putting his life at risk meant everything. What he’d done today said more and proved more than he could ever convey in words.

  Not to mention that the feeling of being in David's arms for less than a minute had been more exhilarating than spending the last year with Brandon.

  And she’d been a horrible bitch when she’d unloaded on David just before she’d left his house. But what she’d said was everything she’d wanted to say these past four years. All those words she’d spoken had felt like poison being drained from her system. It had felt good to get it out, even if the tears in David’s eyes had cut her to the core.

  She looked at Brandon's profile in time to catch his smirk. A look that said, I'm not stupid. And stupid was one thing Brandon never was. Another thing he wasn't was unpredictable, so when he pulled the car over, she sat straighter in her seat. “Brandon?”

  He put the car in Park and slapped the hazards on. When he turned to face her, she squirmed. She'd never seen that look on his face. It was something between pity and irritation.

  “You think I can't see it?”

  She didn't pretend she didn't know what he was referring to. She looked down at her clasped hands. Brandon had been the life preserver in the tempest David had created, but that was it. She was surprised it had taken her this long to see that.

  Brandon deserves better than me...

  He put a hand on the steering wheel and sat back against his seat. He looked up at the roof. When he laughed softly to himself as though he understood something she didn’t, she got a little nervous.

  “I'm sorry,” she whispered.

  “Misty, you went through a lot today. David has been doing everything in his power to get you back. He flirts with you even when I'm standing right next to you. Do you honestly want a man like that in your life?”

  She shook her head, but her thoughts were still stuck on the image of David running around the truck to get to her, with the rain and the wind doing everything to stop him. His body shielding hers in the bathtub. Hell, he could have died just trying to reach her.

  When she didn't say anything, Brandon said, “Open the center console.”

  She looked at him in question, but eventually she opened the console that sat between them. Brandon was meticulous with his house and his car, so inside the console was only one thing: A tiny black box. She glanced back at him, tears blurring her vision once again.

  “I was going to propose to you the day after graduation when we were all at your parents’ house for the graduation party. I figured everyone would be there. My parents, your parents, all your friends and your brother. But my dad talked me out of it. Said I should wait until I was finished with school. He was adamant that I not propose that day. As always, I did what my father told me, and now I'm left to wonder… Was that a mistake?” He laughed again and tightened his hold on the steering wheel. “My father never did approve of you. I never told you because I knew it would crush you. You're the only thing I've ever gone against him on. He just doesn't know you like I do. We share the same interests. You never minded staying in the dorm and studying when I had an exam. You didn't go out and party like the rest of the girls.”

  Because she'd been mourning David, the boy who'd been by her side since they were born. His leaving her behind had devastated her. Matt was right. Abby and David were right. She'd loved working the ranch, getting dirty, and fishing at the first light of dawn on a lazy Sunday morning. She'd loved barrel racing and the dusty, crowded arenas at the rodeos. Loved the fried food there.

  Brandon didn’t know her at all because she'd tried to kill that girl. Misty had believed if she did, then the hurt of David's leaving would go away. She and David had done all those things she’d once loved together, and to forget him, she had to leave those things behind.

  Brandon had helped her do just that.

  Brandon turned to her, and for the first time since she'd met him in kindergarten, he had tears in his eyes. “Take a few days before you make your decision. So much has happened today. I'm sure David suddenly comes off as a knight in shining armor because of what he did today, but that's to be expected. Just...take a few days to think things over.”

  He was right. A lot had happened today. There was a chance she wasn't thinking clearly. After hugging her mom while her mother had cried her eyes out...after seeing her dad with tear tracks on his cheeks while he looked at the site where their house used to stand. Yeah. Today had been an emotional rollercoaster. She was exhausted.

  “I will,” she said. “I’m sorry.” Her voice dropped to a whisper when she referred back to the kiss. And she really was. She was more sorry than he’d ever know. Because that kiss had broken her open. Shaken her to the core.

  That kiss was going to be the end of her and Brandon, and she had a feeling Brandon could already feel her pulling away.

  Brandon said nothing. He put the car in Drive and got back on the road.

  Forty head of cattle, both cows and calves, were now buried and covered on the side of a grazing field. David's eyes burned from the light of the morning sun. Unable to sleep, he’d worked through the night. Sitting in the backhoe, the thing shut off, he'd been staring at the disturbed dirt for at least twenty minutes now. An old saying had crept into his mind a hundred times throughout the long night.

  Bury the past or the past will bury you.

  Considering the job at hand, the reflection was more than appropriate. Exactly what had he been doing the past mo
nth? What the hell kind of man takes a woman's virginity in the back of a truck, leaves, and then comes back four years later expecting to pick up where they'd left off? What kind of douche bag hits on a woman who was in a relationship?

  Like Misty, he'd often thought of them getting married while he was growing up. Having kids. Staying on the ranch. But those dreams were the sweet fantasies of a teenager. Things were different now, and he had to let it go.

  He ran a hand down his face and thought about heading back to the house. If bloodshot eyes and sore muscles were what his dad expected of him, he'd finally got it in spades. Not that Big Mike was paying any attention. He was still in the ICU in Pierre. If Big Mike hadn't been in the hospital, he'd likely been working this mess himself. He’d be seated in the backhoe and digging until the sun came up, because David would have probably been long gone.

  Now nearing eleven in the morning, David was ready to crash and crash hard. He'd made his decision where he and Misty was concerned. He was going to let it go and back off. Like she'd said, she was in love with the sixteen-year-old boy he’d once been, not the man he was now. And why would she be? He wasn't even acting like a man.

  Decision made and exhausted to the bone, he was going to head back to the house and crash.

  So of course, Matt chose that moment to drive up to the fence in his Gator and wave him over.

  David crawled out of the backhoe. His legs felt like spaghetti noodles that had been boiled twenty minutes too long. His back screamed as though it belonged to a ninety-year-old man instead of a twenty-three-year-old Marine. By the time he reached the fence, he was ready to ask Matt to bury him with the cattle.

  “Hey, how are your parents?” he asked Matt.

  Matt shrugged and walked up to the fence with his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. “Dad's on the phone with the insurance company. My mom's busy making a huge breakfast, even though no one is hungry and Misty ain’t even there. Mom’s trying her damnedest to act like everything is normal. Considering you saved my sister's life yesterday, I thought I'd come over here and see what I could help you with.”

  David stood on the other side of the barbed wire fence, wishing it was wood so he could lean against it and close his eyes. He didn't want to talk about Misty. He only wanted a couple of aspirin and a bed.

  “I'm heading to the guesthouse for a quick nap. Can't keep my eyes open any longer. The tarp on the roof is secured. Couldn't do much more there, so I came out here and started yesterday evening.”

  Matt glanced behind him, looking tired as well. “You work through the night?”

  David looked over his shoulder, his neck screaming in protest. “Buried all the dead cattle. Took forever. Nothing but mud in most places. Got stuck a million damn times. But I’m betting most people in Garner couldn’t sleep last night.”

  Matt nodded. “I can attest to that. You should have called me. I would have helped.”

  Without a doubt, David knew Matt would have helped, but David had needed some time alone. Time to think. Misty hadn't been the only person on his mind last night. Flashes of the argument with his dad had taken turns with the heartbreak he felt over Misty. Guilt had ridden him hard. “You know, right before my dad's heart attack, we got into a huge fight.”

  Matt shook his head. “Don't go blaming yourself. That man has been gunning for a heart attack for years. He's completely out of shape and gets himself riled up too often.”

  David pressed the pad of his thumb against one of the barbs on the fence, focusing on the tip of the barb and the indent it made in his skin. “Yeah,” was all he said, too tired to argue. The guilt had been sitting on him all day and night. From his fight with his dad and his argument with Misty, he felt like he was batting zero.

  Matt cleared his throat. He looked like he was fixin’ to ask for something. He was wearing the same sheepish expression on his face that he used whenever he was searching for a DD. “Say, you don’t mind if I stay with you, do you? My mom is going to drive me insane if I stay there with them. She has it in her mind she almost lost us. And since Misty isn't around, Mom's practically smothering me as though I'm going to disappear.”

  Because Misty was at Brandon's place. David had picked that up from what Matt had said earlier, but he didn’t want to think about it. She’d said she was going to stay with Brandon, and he hadn’t seen her truck at his parents’ house this morning. An image of her cuddled up beside Brandon, all tangled in the sheets, slapped his exhausted ass. Get used to it. “You know I wouldn't mind.”

  “Good, 'cause I already took my shit over there and dropped it off.”

  David laughed for the first time in at least two days. Maybe a week. He shook his head. Damn, he’d needed that. “How's Misty doing? You talk to her since yesterday?”

  Now why in the hell had he asked that? It was as though he couldn't help himself when it came to her. As if he didn't have enough shit on his plate.

  The last words his dad had spoken to him were “get out.” With his old man in the hospital, David couldn’t leave this place or this area no matter how badly he had wanted to. The ranch wasn’t going to run itself, and the guilt David felt over their fight was enough to keep his ass working until his father was better. He wasn't going to work the ranch by himself though. He'd already called Tucker and hired him on as part-time.

  David had called everyone yesterday to check in. Once the circuits eased up and the cells started to work again, texts had been flying in their little group. Shane's house and shop hadn't been hit, and neither had Tucker's place. Abby’s rented duplex hadn’t been hit, and she had three people currently staying with her. Caroline had said that her apartment had been damaged, but the owners were already working on fixing it. Power wasn't on yet, but he'd heard through the pipeline it would be back on by this evening for some people. He was running a generator at the guesthouse, so he should be good there. Most people in this area had generators.

  Matt hooked his thumbs in the pocket of his jeans and gave David a good, long look. “Well, she and Brandon got into it last night.”

  He'd figured Matt was going to say she was fine, the standard answer a person used for a question on how someone was doing, but a fight? “About what?”

  Matt’s expression was something between curiosity and amusement. “I don't think he liked hearing that the two of you kissed,” Matt said, chuckling. “Seems like it put him in a bad mood.”

  Oh shit. David blew out a breath and ran a hand down his face. “How in the hell did he find out?”

  “Well, how in the hell did it happen?”

  Good question, but not one he could answer. David could only manage a shrug. “It just happened.” David didn't know how it had happened, so how could he explain it? One minute they’d been fighting and the next they’d been wrapped around each other. “The only way Brandon could have found out is if she told him.”

  Matt smiled. “The old Misty is coming back, little by little.”

  Had guilt made her tell Brandon? Or was she... “So they broke up?”

  “Naw,” Matt drawled, looking as though he were thoroughly enjoying this. The lazy smile on his face made David wanted to sock him. “From what she told me on the phone this morning, he proposed in a roundabout way.”

  The news just about swiped his legs out from under him. His back went rod-straight and he all but shouted, “You're kidding me. They're engaged?”

  “Do you know the definition of roundabout? No, they're not engaged. He didn't actually propose, but he showed her a ring he'd bought her awhile back. I think what happened was she felt guilty for kissing you, told him, and he got scared thinking he was going to lose her, so he dropped a bomb in the form of a ring.”

  Matt’s assumption painted a pretty clear picture of what could have possibly happened. But it still left him confused. “What are you trying to say exactly?”

  “Remember when I said you couldn't derail that train? You not only derailed it, but I think you blew it apart. It can only go do
wnhill from here. Mark my words: I know my sister.”

  David wanted to ask more questions but held them back. Didn’t want to get overly excited over what Matt was saying. What exactly had she said to Matt on the phone? Was she thinking about saying yes to the proposal? Was Brandon waiting for an answer? Or were they going to break up?

  David ran a palm over his right eye and glanced back at the backhoe. He had to get some sleep. He wasn't thinking clearly. “I'm gonna head back.”

  Misty was still at Brandon's, so that spoke volumes. He'd planned on letting her go, and he was going to stick to that, no matter what Matt thought. If David had blown the train apart, then she wouldn't still be at Brandon's place.

  He knew one thing for sure. He was sure as hell going to stop beating a horse that had been dead for years.

  Chapter 12

  Misty hadn't even unpacked what she'd brought to Brandon's last night, and the small amount of clothes she'd bought earlier that day in Aberdeen, along with toiletries and other necessities, were still stuffed into the small duffle bag at her feet. Brandon was going to be walking through the front door of his duplex any second. He'd taken the day to help his father at the law office in town. The text Brandon had sent only moments ago let her know that he was on his way home.

  Her heartbeat was out of control as she sat on Brandon’s couch to wait for him. As the seconds ticked by she started to feel sick to her stomach. She couldn't stay here any longer. Nothing felt right anymore. Looking back on their relationship, she'd come to the realization that it had never been right. Last night they'd slept in the same bed, both on opposite sides, and she'd tried to think of just one time her heart had sped up at the sight of him. Absolutely zero times. With David? Every time she saw him and even when she was spitting mad at the jerk.

  She’d thought about what she admired in Brandon, which was mostly his work ethic and the stability he’d brought to her life. The realization that, though she admired him, she just wasn’t in love with him, had finally sunk in. When she was—or had been—close with David, her heart and her soul had been happy. She’d felt more than safe and content with David, and technically, they hadn’t even dated. They’d just been the closest of friends who, apparently, had thought of taking their relationship to the next level, but just never had.