Herd That (The Valentine Boys 1)

I sighed. “She doesn’t think highly of herself.” I paused. “But she’s put me on this pedestal that she’s written ‘off limits’ on. It’s going to be tough to get past her walls.”

“But you will,” Callum said suddenly. “I’ve seen the way she looks at you when you’re not paying attention. She’s enamored, that’s for sure.”

I found myself grinning. “I like that.”

He rolled his eyes and then turned forward just in time to see us pull into the gym lot.

“It doesn’t hurt that you have her all to yourself for this race. I’m sure that if you wanted to help her train, she’d let you,” he murmured. “Do you think Desi will kill me if I offer her the same?”

I thought about that for a long second. “I think she’s very insecure about her weight. I also think that Mal did a number on her and she’s not quite over what happened. You might want to tread carefully there, but I have no doubt in my mind that if you wanted to help her get over that fear and work with her to get her through that, she’d take the offer.”

He sighed and bailed out of the truck, but stopped and turned to look at me.

“I’m not sure what attracts us to the broken ones seeing as we’re broken ourselves, but I’m going to do my best to make sure I at least fix her since I can’t fix myself,” he muttered.

When he slammed the door, I sat in the truck for a few long minutes thinking about what he’d said.

And he was right.

Maybe I should take a step back and think about what I was getting myself into.

I mean, she was trouble.

Hell, I had enough trouble on my plate to last me a lifetime.

I’d just recently heard back from the attorney confirming that we had, indeed, gotten a large life insurance policy payout.

Granted, the money we would’ve gotten from my dad might or might not pay out—they were trying to dispute it—but the money we got from my mother definitely would since her death wasn’t a suicide.

I’d had confirmation that morning that the policy was for a million dollars. That meant two hundred thousand dollars of that was to go out to each remaining sibling.

Two hundred thousand dollars would pay for everything that I wanted to do—including putting a sizable down payment on the property that I’d wanted to buy.

Needless to say, I really didn’t need any complications in my life right now.

I was finally heading in the right direction for once.

But, as I saw Codie walking in with a sweatshirt tied around her waist and a permanent scowl on her face with Desi at her side, I knew that despite my being busy, I wouldn’t be giving up.

I didn’t want to give up.

For once in my life, I wasn’t doing something for the greater good of my family. I wasn’t doing something that would affect my brothers or my sister.

I was doing it for me.

And I wanted her.

I wanted her to give us a chance.

Leaning over the console into the back seat, I tugged my bag out from behind Callum’s seat that was almost leaning all the way back into the back seat, then settled it over my shoulder before bailing out of the truck altogether.

I jogged lightly toward the front door of the gym, nodding my head at a young woman who came out and stopped halfway in the door and continued to push past her.

I barely missed whacking her with my bag when she didn’t move.

“’Scuse me,” I muttered, pissed now that she was taking up so much space and keeping me from getting inside.

“Hey, aren’t you Ace Valentine?” she asked as I moved past her.

I ignored her, hoping that she wouldn’t ask again, but she halted my forward progress with a tug on my bag’s strap.

I reluctantly turned and stared at her.

“Aren’t you Ace Valentine?” she repeated.

I nodded once.

“Oh, hey!” She smiled. “I used to go to school with you.”

I knew that.

I also knew that she was one of those popular girls that used to get on my nerves, hence the reason I’d passed her without any niceties on my part.

Though, that wasn’t fair.

She might’ve changed over the last couple of years.

“That’s nice,” I said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me?”

I tugged on my bag, but she held on tight.

“Would you like to go get a drink sometime?” she asked sweetly.

I felt my stomach tighten.

“Uhhh.” I tugged on my bag again. “No, but thank you.”

Her eyes went a little narrow as she spied something that I didn’t, and then moved closer to me just as I felt a presence near me.

Then I felt the hand on my arm and looked over to find Codie standing there looking all protective and slightly jealous.

“Sorry, Manda,” Codie said. “But Ace is here to help me. Have a good one.”