Page 36 of Taken, Not Spurred (Lone Star Burn 1)
Melanie’s voice carried clearly in the charged quiet moment that followed. “Sarah, he didn’t mean that.”
Tony’s head spun in time to see the two glasses of lemonade in Sarah’s hands fall and shatter on the wooden floor at her feet. Shaking her head slowly back and forth, she turned and ran out the front door.
Tony looked back at Charles just in time to receive a brain-rattling punch that set him back a step. The world beneath Tony tilted and he shook his head to clear it, preparing to deliver a crushing rebuttal.
Melanie was between them before he raised his fist. She was spitting angry. She threw her glasses of lemonade in their faces, which brought them both to a shocked, temporary cease-fire. “You two just broke that girl’s heart. If one of you doesn’t chase after her to apologize, I’m coming back with a frying pan.”
The real concern in Melanie’s voice focused Tony’s attention on Sarah’s vulnerability. This wasn’t about what her brother thought of him. He’d let the mention of his past cause him to say something he would always regret.
Melanie didn’t look like she needed any help defending her honor. She wasn’t joking about the frying pan. Tony set off in long strides to find Sarah.
She was holding on to the railing at the corner of the porch, her pale cheeks wet with tears. He went to stand beside her, searching for what to say to erase the hurt he’d caused.
She turned to him, folded her arms protectively across her chest, and said, “Is that what you think of me? What I am to you?”
He shook his head. “Of course not.”
Her tear-filled eyes searched his. “I want to believe you. I really do, but I need you to give me a reason to.”
“What do you want me to say?” he asked, his gut clenching painfully.
She wiped her cheeks with her hands and implored, “Tell me you love me. Tell me this is real and that this summer has meant as much to you as it has to me.”
He reached for her, but she pulled back, waiting.
He wanted to say what he knew she needed to hear. He wanted to so badly that he almost did, but he chose honesty at the last second. “I care about you.”
She released an audible, shaky breath and demanded, “But you don’t love me. Say it. Stop pretending to be someone I could spend the rest of my life with, and just say it.”
He rubbed his chin and shook his head sadly. “I want to love you.”
Her eyes filled with tears, but she straightened her shoulders and said, “Okay.”
He hadn’t wanted to hurt her. He’d never wanted to hurt her. He grabbed her arm. “I didn’t mean what I said back there to your brother. I let my temper choose my words and I’m sorry.”
She pulled her arm out of his grasp and said, “It’s fine. I understand. I shouldn’t have left the two of you alone. I knew my brother was being a bastard. I guess I hoped you’d put him in his place.” A lone tear ran down her face. “I just didn’t know you’d use me to do it.”
“Sarah, don’t . . .”
She met his eyes and he knew that no matter what he said, he’d already lost her. She held up a hand in a request for him to stop talking. “Please. Stop. I know you said it to hurt my brother and not me, but maybe I needed to hear it. I was imagining us living happily ever after, but you can’t do that, can you? Because you can’t let yourself be happy.”
He didn’t have to say anything. She knew him too well.
“I’m going to hook up my trailer and load Scooter. If you can ask Melanie to come see me, I’d appreciate it.”
She’s leaving. She’s really leaving.
“I can ready your trailer for you.”
Sarah shook her head sadly. “No, I’ll do it myself. Just get Melanie.”
Tony turned and walked back into the house. Charles was headed toward the front door when they met up. The two men stopped and glared at each other.
Tony said, “She’s packing up.”
“Good,” Charles said curtly. They both knew he’d gotten what he came for. There was nothing left for him to say.
The same couldn’t be said for Tony. He took a step closer and said, “Get your head out of your pinstriped ass and say something nice to her.”
“I don’t need someone like you to tell me how to deal with my sister,” Charles countered coldly.
Tony leaned closer and said, “From where I’m standing, it looks like you do—before you lose her, too.” Having spoken his mind, Tony walked away to find Melanie.
Sarah was loading the rest of Scooter’s tack into the front compartment of her horse trailer when Melanie joined her.
“The boys could have done all that for you,” she said.
Sarah closed the door of the trailer, leaning against it with one hand. “I wanted to. I needed to do something while I calmed down.”
“Did you talk to your brother yet?”
Glancing over at the limo she knew Charlie had returned to, Sarah shook her head. “No, I’m surprised he didn’t storm over here and gloat, but I’m grateful he didn’t. I don’t think I could handle him right now.”
“Where are you going?”
“I was hoping you’d have an idea of someplace that boards horses.”
“You heading back to Rhode Island?”
Sarah leaned her back against the trailer and closed her eyes. “I don’t know where I’m going, but I have some money saved so I have options.”
“What about that friend who owns a cattle ranch? You made up.”
Sarah opened her eyes and shook her head. “Lucy? She has her own problems. I need a peaceful place where I can finish my book. That’s the important thing to me now that I finished what I came down here to do.”
“You could stay with my parents. They have a place a few towns over. Very quiet. They’ve always had horses. They wouldn’t even notice Scooter. There’s an attached apartment they don’t use. I’m sure they’d let you stay for free.”
“I don’t mind paying rent. It sounds wonderful, but if it’s that great why don’t you live there?”
Melanie tried to make light of something she was clearly uncomfortable discussing. “Could you live with your parents?”
“Okay, good point.”
“I’ll call them now. They’re only about two hours away.”
“Is that enough notice?”
“I’m sure it is. I’ll run in and call them. Give me five minutes.”
Sarah nodded. “Mel, one other thing.”
“Anything.”
Sarah swallowed painfully. “Could you pack up my stuff and bring it down?” Just the thought of doing it herself made her stomach twist and threaten to hurl. She covered her mouth with one shaky hand. “I can’t go back in there.”
Melanie smiled sympathetically and hugged her. “Sure thing, hon.”
Sarah hugged her back and marveled that their friendship had blossomed despite its rocky start. “I’ll miss you, Mel.”
“You’re only going a couple of hours away, not dying. Jace and I will come visit you. With you there, my parents may actually behave long enough for me to survive a visit.”
After Melanie had gone back into the house, Sarah knew she couldn’t put the unpleasant conversation off any longer. The limo driver opened the rear passenger door for her as she approached, and she slid into the air-conditioned domain of her brother.
Charlie pocketed his cell phone and said, “I can’t wait to get back to civilization. My cell phone works everywhere but not here. Leave your vehicle for now. As soon as we’re on the highway, I’ll send a driver for it. I have a private plane waiting in an airfield just outside Dallas. You’ll be home by tonight.”
It was obvious that Charlie still considered Scooter no different than a vehicle. Just another item to be shipped up North and another part of her life that he didn’t understand.
Bracing with a hand on either side of herself, Sarah said, “I’m not going back to Rhode Island. Not today. Maybe not ever.”
Charlie gave her an impatient look. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course you are.”
