Wild Cowboy Nights (Foolproof Love 1-3)

All he knew was the hour he’d spent at the table was an hour wasted because he hadn’t been with Aubry. She never asked him to change, not really. She never manipulated or played games. She was exactly what she presented herself to be, and it was so fucking refreshing he could barely wrap his mind around it. Being around his family and their peers only brought home the differences even more clearly.

Maybe this time they’ll actually listen.

He smiled at the thought, mostly because it didn’t matter if they did or not. They had no control over him. He was only here because of Jenny. The smile died, though, when he walked into the room and saw Aubry glaring at her computer screen. “Hey, peaches.”

“Hey.”

A red flag rose at her tone. He crossed the room to stand next to her, searching her face even though she still hadn’t looked at him. “What happened in the last hour that has you looking like you want to go a few rounds in that game of yours? Because when I left you here, you were looking particularly sated and all aglow from the amazing sex.” The pieces clicked together with a snap. He rubbed a hand over his face. “You went down to the restaurant.”

“I thought you might need saving.”

That was a sweet gesture…or it would have been if she hadn’t witnessed the poison his parents were spitting. “How much did you hear?” Because she obviously hadn’t stayed to the end if she was up here, stewing.

She sighed, her shoulder drooping. “Just the part about my very presence being an insult to them and how they can’t believe you’d bring a trashy girl like me to a nice place like this.”

So pretty much all the key parts of his parents’ speech. He sighed. “I’m sorry. If I’d known they were going to spring that on me where you could potentially hear it, I would have warned you. As you discovered last night, my parents are horrible people.”

“It’s okay. I promised I could handle it, and I can.” She took a deep breath and met his gaze. “But what if they’re right?”

He went still. “Explain what the fuck you mean by asking me that.”

“Don’t take that tone with me. It’s a valid question. I don’t fit in here.” She waved her hand to encompass everything around them. “I’m not polished or poised, and I never say the right thing or know which fork to use in one of those fancy setups. I mean, I’m not shit on the bottom of their shoe like they think, but this isn’t my place and these aren’t my people.” She hesitated, her expression melting into something vulnerable. “They could be yours, though.”

“No.” He took her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Don’t you dare put me on a pedestal or whatever the fuck you’re trying to do. I hate this shit as much as you do.”

“Maybe, but even though you’ve been gone the last twelve years, you’re still the golden boy. You could come back to this at any time and they’d all welcome you with open arms, no questions asked.”

She was right, but that didn’t mean he liked hearing it. “My life is in Devil’s Falls. That was my choice, and that’s all that matters.”

For a second, he thought she might keep arguing, but she ran her hands through her hair and sighed. “Right. I know that. I’m sorry. I’m being crazy—crazier than normal. Apparently you can take the girl away from the trailer, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to feel any less like trailer trash. It’s okay. I’m okay. It was a momentary lapse.”

He got the feeling he hadn’t convinced her of anything, but there was nothing he could say that he hadn’t already said. And, fuck, Quinn was so goddamn tired of trying to convince everyone around him that he knew his own mind better than they did. He’d gone into this wedding knowing his parents would pull some shit—he just hadn’t expected to get it from Aubry, too. But she’d let it go. He could do the same.

For now.

He took a deep breath. “We’ll talk about this after the wedding.”

“Yeah. Sure. That sounds good.”

There was nothing overtly wrong. Not really. They’d had worse arguments since they’d known each other—worse arguments in the last two days. There was no reason for him to feel the sense of impending doom that currently hung over his head. Quinn hesitated, and then let it go. He wasn’t going to solve anything in the next half hour, but he would cause more problems if he was late for the pictures and other hoops he was required to jump through today. “It’s a date.”

…

Aubry almost panicked when the elevator doors opened up and she was faced with so many people. They blocked every avenue of escape and made it impossible to draw a full breath. I can barely take two steps out of this deathtrap without bumping into someone. She closed her eyes, but that only made it worse because she was assaulted by what sounded like a roar of mixed voices and too many conflicting perfumes.