58. Skyler

I should have followed her immediately. But like everyone else, I was kind of shellshocked. We don’t often get cinematic declarations of love in our little town.

And unlike everyone else, I wasn’t the hero of this declaration or even an innocent bystander.

I’m most likely the bad guy. The point on the love triangle that ends up upside down.

Insecurity rears its ugly head, creeping up over my shoulder as I furiously search for her.

I just need to find her, lay eyes on her, and know that she’s okay. But when I do locate her, she’s sitting like a sad little lump on a hay bale and that asshole is standing over her.

She’s crying.

Oh, hell no. “What’s going on here?”

Both of them look up at me with varying flavors of surprise on their faces. He looks offended at being interrupted. Reese looks sad and embarrassed.

Embarrassed, why? Because of that shit show back at the stage, or because of me?

“Who are you?”

Jonah asks, turning slightly to face me.

Reese pushes to her feet, coming to stand beside us. “This is Skyler. A friend from high school.”

I look down at her, half-tempted to tell Jonah that we’re more than friends.

More than half-tempted to tell him that he fucked up big time by letting her go. She meets my gaze, tears balancing on her eyelashes, silently imploring me to be quiet.

Jonah frowns at the interaction, suspicion tightening his features. “If you’d like an autograph, you can always find me later. I’m trying to have a private conversation with my girlfriend.”

Reese edges between us, as though she can sense the growing tension. “Don’t be a dick, Jonah.”

Jonah’s eyebrows fly up, obviously scandalized by her choice of words, or maybe just the fact that it’s coming out of sweet little Reese’s mouth.

“Ex-girlfriend.”

I growl. “And it looked to me like you were making her cry.”

“I’m fine.”

Reese says.

I scan her face, searching for the truth in those words. She looks exhausted. “You don’t look fine.”

She glares up at me. “I’m fine.”

“Look, Skyler, I can see you're protective of Reese and honestly? I really appreciate that.”

Jonah glances down at Reese with tenderness in his eyes that he has no right to. “It makes me feel better to know that Reese has had good friends around her these last few months.”

This asshole thinks I’m nothing more than a big brother figure to Reese. I’m about to set him straight when Reese puts a hand on my forearm. My fingers had tightened into a fist, and I force them to uncurl.

“I’m fine, Skyler.”

She looks up at Jonah. “He and I really should talk.”

I glare at him. “You don’t owe him that.”

She smiles, but it’s a sad expression. “I know, but he owes me that. I’ll see you later, okay?”

Tearing my gaze away from her face, I glance at Jonah. He won the showdown, but he doesn’t look like the kind of guy who just got his way. He looks worried.

I’m feeling cagey and worried, too. Possessiveness rages through me, and I’m sorely tempted to kiss her in front of him. I want to claim her before he can recover lost ground. But she’s not mine, either. That little bird has wings, and she’s going to use them.

I’d never put her in a cage.

I glance down at her. “Call if you need me.”

She nods, looking small and brave.

I stop just to the side of Jonah, our shoulders almost brush. “Make her cry again and I’ll break every bone in your hand.”

Frowning, he closes his eyes and nods once.

It’s physically painful to walk away from them.

Every instinct is screaming to go back, to haul her off.

But that’s what she grew up with. It’s how Jonah treated her, for that matter. Mistaking her small stature for weakness.

But she’s a force to reckon with. She can make up her own mind.

And as much as I want to tell her what to do, to make those decisions for her, I know it’s not my right.

But the hardest part about walking away is knowing that she has already made her mind up about me.

It’s my fault, really.

This land is my responsibility.

My curse.