My father lifted his brows. “Is that a challenge, Tripp Parker?”
With a grin, I stated, “If you want it to be. Sure.”
When he leaned back and steepled his fingers under his chin, I knew I was fucked.
“I accept,” he replied.
“If y’all are finished with your tea party, we have a lot to talk about,” Steed said.
They were soon lost in the planning of the spring branding. I usually skipped the planning meeting and showed up ready to work…and eat. In high school I used to love this time of year. It meant a day off on Friday to get everything set up. Saturday was spent working our asses off, only for the kids to head out to one of our pastures and have our own party. My folks always pretended like they didn’t know, but they did.
I smiled thinking back to those days. We used to pitch tents and camp out. Mostly because we had paid one of our older siblings to buy beer and our parents would kill us if they knew we were drinking and driving. But then there was the fun in the tents. My body felt warm thinking about Harley crawling into a sleeping bag with me butt ass naked. We never had sex, it felt too awkward with other peoples’ tents near us, but man, did we make each other feel good more times than I could count. I could practically feel the stroke of her warm hand on my cock now.
“Tripp?”
Something hit my boot, drawing me out of the memory.
“You wanted to talk, son?”
I looked around, noticing the rest of the room had emptied out. “Hell, where did everyone go?”
He chuckled. “You seemed to be withdrawn into your own world. Steed said goodbye, but you were staring out the window.”
I forced a grin. “Yeah, I was thinking about all the past brandings.”
The way he looked at me, I could tell he knew I was a damn liar.
“Let’s go to my office. Steed will be back soon and will want his office.”
The chair pushed back as I stood. Following my father out, I reached into my pocket and checked my phone. My shoulders dropped when I didn’t see any missed calls or messages.
“Expecting a call?”
“More like hoping for one.”
He opened the door to his office and motioned for me to walk in. “Mallory?”
I let out a gruff laugh. “No.”
At the bar in his office, he poured each of us a glass of scotch. He handed it to me and gave me a questioning look. “Trouble with you two?”
“No, not really.” I half shrugged.
“Mallory is the first real girlfriend you’ve had since Harley. It’s got to be an adjustment.”
“I dated Corina,” I added.
He chuckled. “Yeah, okay. Keep telling yourself that, son. You know the only reason you were ‘dating’ Corina was to make your brother jealous.”
Smiling, I sat down in one of the two large, leather armchairs facing my father’s large oak desk. He sank into the chair opposite and took a drink while staring me down. “What’s on your mind, son?”
I blew out a breath. “Women.”
He laughed. “That’s usually the answer. That, or politics, with you.”
I let out a slight chuckle, then frowned. “Dad, I’m so confused right now… I don’t know whether I’m coming or going.”
“Well, take it from me, son. Women will do that to you.”
I finished off my drink and set it on his desk. Leaning forward, I let out a frustrated groan. “Yesterday Harley told me she lied about there being another guy. There never was one. She claimed she told me that because she knew I would have left Oak Springs and ended up resenting her for it. She said she heard us talking at the hospital and she panicked.”
My father’s eyes widened. “Wow. That’s a bombshell.”
“Sure is.”
“And she never thought to tell you the truth?”
I looked down at the floor. Guilt had been tearing me apart since yesterday when I was in Harley’s office.
“Tripp?”
Clearing my throat, I sat back and lifted my brown cowboy boot over my leg to rest it on my knee.
“She said the first time she came back into town after graduation, she was going to tell me the truth. But I’ve avoided her completely…for years.”
He waited for me to continue, but I knew he already knew what story I was going to tell. The moment I found out she was in town, I convinced Cord and Mitchell to go camping with me. We packed up and left town and I turned off my phone the entire weekend.
“She must have called my cell over a hundred times. Begging me to meet so we could talk.”
“You went camping, if I remember right.”
“Yeah, I did. I went with Cord and Mitchell and then deleted every one of her messages without listening to them or reading them. I was still hurt, thinking she’d left me for another guy.”