“What? Oh my God! Okay…well, listen, sweetheart, everything will be fine here! Enjoy your honeymoon.”
“Wait! What? You can’t just end a call like that, Courtney.”
After running and catching up, I stood in front of the ranch truck. “Yeah, I can. I’ve got to go. Reed seems really pissed.”
I hung up the phone and ran around to the passenger side of the truck. I jumped in, and Reed hit the gas, throwing me back into the seat.
“Jesus, Reed. Where in the hell are you going?” I asked as I desperately tried to get the seat belt on.
I glanced at Reed while he was mumbling something about killing Mitch for hurting me.
“Uh…Reed, can you put on your seat belt?” I asked.
He snapped his head over to me. “What?” He shook his head and pushed down on the gas.
I sat back and closed my eyes. Shit, shit, shit! I shouldn’t have said anything. How stupid of me to think that Layton wouldn’t tell Reed.
Layton had been looking for an excuse to get rid of Mitch ever since he found out that Mitch had been in contact with Layton’s father all those years and never told him.
By the time we pulled up to Mitch’s place, my heart was beating a mile a minute. There was a Nissan parked next to Mitch’s truck.
That must be her car.
“Fucking son of a bitch,” Reed said.
I grabbed his arm. “Reed, please don’t do this.”
He turned to look at me, and his eyes were filled with tears. I sucked in a breath of air and let go of his arm.
“He hurt you, Courtney. I really wish you had told me last night. Now, stay in the truck, Court.”
He jumped out and took off. Before he made it onto the porch, Mitch came out.
“Oh shit,” I whispered.
Mitch smiled at Reed and then looked at me in the truck. “You get what you wished for last night?” Mitch asked.
Wait, what in the hell does he mean by that?
“You motherfucker,” Reed said as he walked up to Mitch and punched the hell out of him.
I screamed and jumped out of the truck. By the time I made it to the porch, Reed was on top of Mitch, beating the shit out of him. Karen came running out, yelling for Reed to stop. She came to a halt when she saw me. She put her hand up to her mouth and then looked back at Reed on top of Mitch. I couldn’t move. A part of me wanted Reed to beat the hell out of Mitch, and the other part wanted him to stop.
“For Christ’s sake, Courtney, stop your crazy-ass friend!” Karen screamed.
I slowly looked at Reed and finally snapped out of my daze. I ran over and started pulling on him. “Reed! Please just stop. He’s not even worth it. Please, for me, stop!” I yelled out.
Reed instantly stopped and looked at me. The look in his eyes gave me a chill, and I quickly stepped back.
Reed stood up and looked at Mitch. “Pack up your shit, and get off the ranch. You have an hour to leave before I call the cops and have you removed.”
“What?” Mitch, Karen, and I all said at the same time.
Mitch stood up and wiped the blood away from his mouth and nose. “Fuck you, Reed. You can’t tell me what to do,” Mitch said. Then, he looked over at me. “Did you fuck him last night, Court? I know how much you’ve been wanting to.”
I sucked in a breath of air. Who is this person standing in front of me? He wasn’t the same person I had been dating for the last year. Men are all the same. They’re all lying, deceiving fakes.
“You better shut the hell up, Mitch. So help me God, I’ll kill you if you say another word to her,” Reed said as he took a step closer to Mitch.
I stepped in between them and put my hands up to stop Reed. I turned around and faced Mitch. “I heard you.”
He looked confused and shook his head. “What in the hell are you talking about, Courtney? You heard me what?”
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes before opening them again. I looked straight into his eyes. “You accidentally called me last night. I heard everything you said to her, and then I heard y’all…I heard…” I couldn’t even get it out.
Mitch closed his eyes and dropped his head. “Damn it, Courtney. I didn’t want you to find out like that. It’s just…”
I felt the anger building up inside of me, but when Reed put his hands on my shoulders, I instantly calmed down just from his touch.
“How long, Mitch? How long have you been cheating on me?” I asked as I tried to hold back the tears.
“Does it matter, Court? I mean, it doesn’t really matter. You’ve been in love with Reed ever since we’ve been together. Don’t deny it. You have a very bad habit of talking in your sleep, sweetheart,” Mitch said. He glanced at Reed and then back at me.
“What?” I whispered.
Shit…what have I been saying about Reed in my sleep? I shook my head to clear my thoughts.
“So, you’re blaming this on me? I’ve never been unfaithful to you, and you…” I took another breath. “Just tell me, how long have you been screwing your ex?”
“I think you should just leave now,” Karen said as she smirked at me.
I wasn’t sure what came over me, but I walked over to her, reached back, and punched the shit out of her.
“Courtney! Holy shit!” Mitch yelled as he grabbed Karen and looked at her mouth. “Baby, are you all right?”
Mitch looked at me and screamed, “Six months, Courtney! I’ve been with Karen for six months now. I thought for sure you’d find your way to the asshole behind you, but you just wouldn’t leave. Even when we stopped having sex so many months ago, you still held on to a fucking dream that was never going to happen. I don’t love you, and you don’t love me. I never loved you, Courtney.”
I took a step back and shook my head. “But all those things you said. You told me…”
Mitch helped Karen up and looked back at me. “I told you what you wanted to hear, Courtney. The only reason I went after you is because I knew Reed wanted you.”
“Motherfucker,” Reed said as he lunged at Mitch again.
Reed got two or maybe three good punches in before I pulled him back and away from Mitch.
“Leave. Now!” Reed shouted.
“Fuck off, Reed. You can’t tell me what to do,” Mitch said as he helped Karen into his house.
Reed grabbed Mitch and pushed him up against the house before getting right into his face. This time, I took a few steps back. I didn’t even care if Reed killed Mitch at this point.
“I can, asshole. I’m fifty percent in partnership with Layton now, so I’m your boss, motherfucker, and I just fired your ass. Layton also told me to deliver a message to you as soon as possible.”
Mitch smirked and was about to say something, but Reed hit him in the stomach. Mitch doubled over.
“That’s from Layton. You have an hour to get the hell out of here and off this ranch.”
Reed turned around, grabbed my hand, and practically pulled me back to the ranch truck. He opened the door for me, and when I jumped in, he leaned in and smiled.
“That was some punch, Rocky.” He winked and shut the door.
My face got hot, and I couldn’t help but smile. I’d never in my life hit anyone.
Reed jumped in the truck, started it and began driving. “Let’s go into town and get some breakfast.”
I glanced over at him and let out a gasp. “Oh my God! You’re bleeding. You have blood all over you!”
Reed looked down at his shirt and smiled. Then, he glanced at me before turning back to the road. “That’s his blood, not mine.”
I shook my head. “No! You’re bleeding above your eye, Reed.”
He looked in the rearview mirror. “It’s just a small cut. I’ll wash it up, and then we’ll head into town.”
We drove back to Layton and Whitley’s house in silence.
I kept replaying the whole thing in my head. Mitch was only with me to keep Reed away from me? Mitch never loved me. He never really wanted to be with me. Six
months…
When we pulled up, I just sat there, frozen. Reed opened the passenger door and held out his hand, but I couldn’t move.
“He never even wanted to be with me. He never…” I slowly turned, and the moment my eyes met Reed’s, I began crying.
He reached in and picked me up. He carried me into the house as I buried my face into his shoulder, and I just cried. I felt like such a fool. In Layton and Whitley’s room, Reed gently put me down onto the bed. He reached down and began taking off my sneakers. The feel of his hands just touching my body was driving me insane.
I’d given up a year of searching for something that didn’t exist with someone who I’d thought could possibly be my Prince Charming. I should have listened to my initial instincts. From the first time he’d kissed me, I’d known that he wasn’t the one. My heart had screamed it, but my head had denied it.
Reed pulled the covers over me, and I never took my eyes off of him as he looked into my eyes and smiled. He pushed a piece of my hair away from my eyes as he bent over and then kissed me on the forehead.
“I’ll make us something to eat in a bit, but I have to take care of something first, okay?”
I nodded my head and closed my eyes. I couldn’t look at him another second longer, or I would beg him to kiss me, and that was the last thing I wanted.
Why does my Prince Charming keep turning out to be nothing but a monster?
I felt myself drifting off into sleep. I prayed that the nightmares wouldn’t return, and I fought like hell not to fall asleep.
The last thing I heard was a voice whispering next to my ear, “Sleep for a bit, angel. I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again.”
Reed…
“I promise, Whitley, she’s fine. Yes, I kicked his ass and fired him like Layton said. Yes, I promise I won’t argue with her or instigate anything. Whitley! Will you just go on your honeymoon and stop stressing? Courtney will be fine. I swear to you, I won’t do anything to hurt her any more, and I will spoil the hell out of her. I’m even making her lunch.”
I rolled my eyes as I listened to Whitley give me another one of her cute little threats.
“I swear to you, Reed Moore, if you do anything to cause her stress, I will kick your ass.”
“Whitley, can I talk to Layton now?”
“Fine. Love you, Reed!” she said in a chipper voice.
I heard her say something to Layton as she handed the phone to him.
“Is he gone?” Layton asked.
“Yeah, he stopped at the house and gave me all his keys and a few other items. Fucker even had the nerve to ask to talk to Courtney, and I told him to go jump off a bridge.”
Layton let out a long sigh. “Shit, Reed, you’re going to have your hands full for three weeks.”
I laughed. “Nah, I already called Kevin. Now that he’s home for good, he’s looking for a job, so he said he could help out around here.”
“Damn, I owe him one. Tell him thanks for me. And, Reed?”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t know what’s going on with Courtney, but I think something pretty big happened to her when she was younger. That night you, uh…well, when you were drunk and said all that shit, she got drunk and mumbled something to me that has bothered me ever since.”
My heart started pounding. “What was it?”
Layton took a deep breath and said in a whispered voice, “She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said that she’d begged him to stop, but he wouldn’t. At first, I thought she was talking about you until I really thought about it. I think she was talking about someone from her past.”
I felt my heart drop to my stomach. “Who did she beg to stop? And what did he do?” I whispered back.
“I don’t know. I’ve wanted to ask Whit so many times, but I don’t think she really knows either. She has mentioned that something happened to Court in high school and that she changed. For a few years, she hated all guys and wouldn’t date.”
I shook my head, thinking back to the conversation Whitley and I’d had in the hotel. “Yeah, Whitley said the same thing to me once.”
“Reed, just don’t do anything to push Courtney, or you know, piss her off.”
I let out a laugh. “I already promised Whit. I’ll take care of everything, Layton. Just enjoy your honeymoon.”
“Thanks, dude. Listen, they are announcing our flight. Have a fun three weeks,” Layton said with a laugh.
Bastard. I still couldn’t believe he and Whitley had set up Courtney and me like that. I hit End on my phone and put my head in my hands. I tried to figure out what in the hell I was going to do for the next three weeks. I was going to be alone with the only girl I’d ever loved, the only girl I’d ever wanted to be with, and the only girl who scared the fuck out of me.
I sat back in the chair and ran my hands down my face as I let out a long, drawn-out sigh. I flashed back to my mother sitting at the kitchen table, crying. I had begged her to stop crying, and she wouldn’t.
She’d just kept rocking back and forth, saying, He left us. He left us. He never loved us.
I’d vowed right then at the age of ten that I would never fall in love and risk hurting anyone like my father had hurt my mother.
Love sucks and does nothing but bring heartache.
Then, I’d met Courtney. She’d changed everything, and all I’d found myself doing was fighting the urge not to fall in love with her. The more I’d fought it, the more I’d fallen deeper in love with her. Now, all I wanted to do was take away the pain that everyone else had caused her. I prayed to God that I would never, ever be the cause of any of her pain.
I stood up and walked over to the elk stew heating up on the stove when I heard something. Both dogs jumped up and ran out of the kitchen. I turned and walked into the living room. The next thing I knew, Courtney let out a bloodcurdling scream. I quickly ran down the hall with the dogs leading the way. I threw the bedroom door open to see Courtney thrashing around on the bed.
Courtney was crying out, “Stop! Please stop! No…please, God, no. Please don’t do this again, Noah. Please stop!”
I ran over to her and tried waking her up. “Court…baby, wake up! Courtney…”
I gently started shaking her. Her eyes flew open, and she screamed.
“Courtney, it’s me! It’s Reed, angel. It’s just me. You were having a bad dream.”
She looked around, confused, and then looked back at me. The moment I saw the first tear fall, my whole world stopped. She began shaking her head and threw herself into my arms.
“No! They started again! The dreams started again,” she said in between sobs.
My heart was breaking, and I wanted so badly to ask her who in the fuck Noah was.
“Shh…it’s okay, Courtney. It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.”
She began crying harder. “He wouldn’t stop, Reed. He never stopped, even when I begged him.”
What in the fuck is going on? What is she talking about? “It’s over now, Courtney. No one will ever hurt you again, baby, I promise you.” I tried to hold back the tears I was fighting to control.
“Reed…” she whispered.
I squeezed my eyes shut and just held her until her crying stopped and her breathing evened out. It was then that I realized she had fallen back asleep. I slowly moved her body down as I held her close to me. I laid her back down on the bed, and I removed her death grip from around my neck before placing her arms down along her sides.
I couldn’t pull my eyes away from her beautiful face. She looked so peaceful, but not more than ten minutes ago, I’d never seen such fear on a person’s face as I’d seen on her innocent face.
I sat up and watched her sleep for a few minutes. I was going to do everything in my power to figure out who in the hell this Noah was, and once I did, I would hunt his ass down and kill him.
I stood up and looked at the two dogs lying near the side of the bed. “Y’all stay with her and watch over her,” I whispered. I turned and
made my way out of the room. This time, I kept the door open.
By the time I got back to the kitchen, I was sweating, and my hands were shaking. “What in the hell is going on?” I leaned against the counter and tried to calm my beating heart. It felt like it was going to pound right out of my chest.
I stood there for a few minutes, trying to work it out in my head. What in the hell was Courtney talking about? I pushed away from the counter and turned the flame down on the stew. I stepped outside onto the back porch, and I pulled out my phone before hitting my mother’s name.
“Reed, darling! To what do I owe this honor? I just saw you last night at the wedding. Miss me already?” my mother said with a chuckle.
I smiled and let out a small laugh. Just the sound of my mother’s voice calmed me down, and my heart finally felt like it was starting to beat normally again.
“Just wanted to hear your voice.”
She let out a small sigh. “What’s wrong? I hear it in your voice. Is everyone okay?”
I slowly took in a deep breath and let it out. “Yeah, Mom, everyone is fine. Just been a long morning.”
“I ran into Anna this morning, and she was not very happy. I wasn’t really sure what to say when she told me my son was a son of a bitch who had led her on and wasted her time because he’d been in love with another woman the whole time. Care to explain?”
I sank down onto the wood chair and looked out over the west pasture. How in the fuck am I going to explain this? “Mom, can we maybe talk about that another time?” I asked, hoping she would just let it go.
“Reed Nickolas Moore, did you lead that girl on? She said you’d asked her to move in with you, and y’all had been talking marriage, and then you just broke up with her last night.”
I sat up straight, and I was pretty sure my mouth was hanging open. “What in the fuck?” I practically shouted.
“Excuse me? I don’t think so. I don’t care how old you are. You do not talk that way to me.”
I rolled my eyes and pushed my hand through my hair. “Mom, I didn’t ask her to move in. She was pressuring me to move in with her, and I had no intentions whatsoever to ask her to marry me. I mean, I really liked her, but I didn’t love her, and she was just jealous of—” I quickly stopped talking and held my breath, hoping that my mom had missed that last part.