Page 52 of Hard to Hold
When we reached the truck, Amy stepped up to the back passenger door.
“No, you don’t,” I said, chuckling. “Lift the console. You get to ride in the middle.”
Amy peered up at me, and the look she gave me was more amused than anything. I opened the door and waited for her to hop in. When Rhys moved closer, I walked around to the driver’s side.
A few minutes later, I had the truck out on the main road heading toward my house. Or rather, toward the lake.
“Is this what you do out here in the country to pass the time?” Amy asked, her sweet voice a welcome sound in the silence.
Rhys shifted, resting his arm on the window. “Depends. When we were kids, we did all sorts of shit.”
“Is cow tipping a real thing?” Amy questioned, her attention divided between us.
I could hardly focus on driving with Amy’s thigh up against mine, so I didn’t answer.
“It’s a thing,” Rhys confirmed, chuckling. “So is paintin’ the water tower.”
“Did y’all ever do that? Cow tipping or painting the water tower?”
“Of course not,” I said, deadpan.
Rhys laughed. “Shit. Lynx and Wolfe got a spur up their ass… What was it? Two years ago? They climbed up the water tower and would’ve started painting if they hadn’t dropped the damn spray paint off the side.”
“Two years ago?” Amy giggled. “Aren’t you a little old to be raisin’ that kind of hell?”
“Never too old, darlin’,” I said softly. “Never too old.”
Rhys
The silence that descended in the truck was almost deafening. If it weren’t for the rumble of the engine, I figured you could’ve heard the crickets out in the fields and the cicadas in the trees.
“Okay.” Amy glanced over at me, then back to Wolfe. “What gives?”
“Huh?” The confused look on Wolfe’s face mirrored mine.
“Why are y’all acting weird?”
“Weird how?” I knew playing dumb probably wouldn’t work, but I was going to give it a shot.
Wolfe pulled the truck down by the lake, then turned it around so the bed faced the water.
I opened my door first, then helped Amy down to the ground. She was still staring at me, obviously waiting for me to do something more than answer a question with a question. I wasn’t sure what the hell I was supposed to say, so I was really buying time.
When Wolfe opened the tailgate, I picked Amy up and set her on it, not even thinking about what I was doing. Being that we were on a decline, it would’ve been difficult for her to do on her own.
When her hands wrapped around my biceps, I froze, standing directly in front of her, my hips between her thighs. She sucked in a breath at the same time I did.
“Is this weird? Or is it just me?” she whispered, her eyes wide.
I waited to see if Wolfe would say anything, but the man kept his mouth sealed shut as he leaned against the tailgate and crossed his arms over his chest, his gaze fixed out over the water. It was clear he was conflicted about what was going on.
I placed my hand on Amy’s thigh. Just set it there, my thumb brushing over her smooth skin. She continued to stare at me, her fingers still curled around my biceps. She hadn’t let go and I hadn’t moved. Not an inch.
Her eyes were locked with mine, and I was waiting. For what, I had no fucking idea, but I wanted her to make a move.
“I don’t understand what’s going on here,” she finally said, her gaze leaving me to move over to Wolfe. “Someone’s gonna have to tell me something.” She looked back at me. “I thought…”
“What?” I knew she was putting all the pieces of the puzzle together. As for how she was going to handle it once she saw the big picture, that was still to be seen.
