Holding You (32 page)

Alex’s lower lips trembled. “Will. I have to talk to you.”

“Now, Lex? I mean, can it wait?”

Luke leaned over Will’s shoulder. “Alex, if this is about the fart thing, really, you’ve got to move on.”

Will and I turned and looked at Luke. “Shut the hell up, Luke,” Will said.

“Will, it’s important. I need to talk to you.”

Will shook his head. “Have you changed your mind, Lex?”

Sucking in a breath, Alex frantically shook her head. “No. My gosh no, Will. I want to marry you more than anything but . . . but I need to tell you something before we do this. You
have
to know something. It will take like three minutes.”

Looking back to my father he shrugged his shoulders.

Turning back to Will and Alex, I walked up and said, “Um, excuse me ladies and gentleman, we’re gonna take a five-minute, um, intermission. Just stay in your seats and the bride and groom will be right back.” Turning to Alex and Will, I motioned for them to step away. “Go, you’ve got five minutes.”

Alex grabbed Will’s hand and walked through the girls as she made her way away from everyone. All eyes were on them, watching as Alex talked and Will listened. The moment I saw Will’s smile, I knew. Looking at Lauren, she was smiling at me.
Baby?
I mouthed. Lauren wiped a tear away and nodded.

“My father is going to kill, Will,” I whispered.

Leaning in closer, Luke spoke to Pastor Roberts. “Pastor, you may want to say a quick prayer for William there, his life could very well be over.” Turning to me, he said, “Damn, he was so close. So close to being safe.”

Laughing, I watched as Will scooped Alex up in his arms. They were both crying as Will stood there and held my sister.

My father stood up and asked me, “Do you have any idea what is going on?”

Shaking my head slowly I said, “Nerves. I think she needed to talk to him.” My father smiled, then looked back at my mother.

“I totally get it.” Turning, he went and sat back down. Peeking at Luke, we both let out the breath we were holding.

Will and Alex walked back up and things moved along perfectly after that.

Once Will had about three bottles of beer in him, Alex and Will took my father and mother, and Josh and Heather, and led them into the house where they told them that Alex was about two months pregnant. Luke and I had been watching through the window. My father didn’t even flinch, he stood up and walked up to Alex and took her in his arms, with my mother following my father.

“Well damn. That sucks.” Luke pulled out his wallet and handed me five twenty-dollar bills.

Taking them from his hand, I said, “Thank you very much. I could have told you he was going to be okay. They’re married. There isn’t anything he can do. Now, had he found out last night? Will might have two broken legs right now.”

Luke chortled and slapped me on the back. “Our little group is growing. You’re next.”

Feeling the blood drain from my face, I shook my head. “Ah, no I am not. I’ve got two more years of football to play.”

Luke pinched his eyebrows together. “And college. Two more years of college.”

Rolling my eyes, I looked away. “Yeah, that too.”

The rest of the night was spent, dancing, eating, drinking, dancing some more and sneaking Lauren up to my room where I had my wicked way with her. Nothing was more amazing than holding the love of my life in my arms.

Before Lauren drifted off to sleep she whispered, “Love me forever, Colt.”

Kissing her forehead, I held her tighter as my stomach did that crazy flip. “I promise, Lauren. Forever.”

PULLING THE FENCE
tight, Luke wrapped the wire around the post. “So have you thought about trying to plan another surprise birthday party for Lauren?”

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head. “No. I still can’t believe she got the flu and we had to cancel the party.”

Laughing, Luke shook his head. “You ready to head back to College Station? Get your football on?”

Just the mention of football had me all kinds of excited. “I sure as shit am.”

Wrapping another wire around a post as I pulled the fence tighter, Luke grunted. “What about, Lauren?”

Letting the fence go after he got the wire to stay on, I felt my heart slam against my chest. Taking my gloves off, I mumbled, “I need a drink of water.”

Luke looked at me. “Ahh hell. That can’t be good.”

Pushing past him, I made my way over to my father’s old truck. We used it for the ranch now, but he still insisted she be taken care of. The damn thing was ancient and needed to be sold for scrap metal.

Opening the cooler, I saw Luke had packed a few beers. Reaching in, I grabbed one. Walking up to the truck, Luke leaned against it. “Talk to me, Colt. I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard about the two of you fighting since you got together.”

Taking a long drink I closed my eyes and shook my head. “She doesn’t want to go back to A&M.”

“What?”

Nodding my head, I took another drink. “Yep, she wants to stay in Mason, work on her daddy’s ranch helping horses fuck.”

“Hey, Colt don’t let your anger put words into your mouth.”

Pushing off the truck, I turned to face Luke. “I’m not. The plain simple matter is she’d rather be on the fucking ranch than be with me. She says she hates school, she struggles with it which makes her stress out because she feels like she has to get good grades for her parents. She has a damn perfect grade point average.” Pushing my hand through my hair, I let out a sigh. “She just doesn’t want to go back early. There is nothing I can do about it, so I’ll leave tomorrow and she’ll stay behind for a few extra weeks.” Tipping the beer against my lips, I finished it off. Crushing it with my hand, I threw it in the back of the truck.

Luke looked away for a second before he turned back to me and looked me in the eyes. “Do you want to hear what I think about all this?”

Letting out a gruff laugh, I held out my hands and said, “Sure. Why not.”

“All right, I think you go back to A&M, do what you have to do for football.”

Raising my eyebrow, I asked, “And Lauren?”

Luke shrugged. “Let her stay. I mean, you knew getting into this how much she loved being with the horses. It’s no different than you loving football.”

Looking away I let Luke’s words soak in. “Fine, I guess I’m being a selfish prick about this.”

Luke pushed off the tailgate. “Ya think?” Walking up to me he put his arm on my shoulder. “Come on, let’s go sit by the river for a few hours with a six-pack and just kick back. We can call Will since we haven’t heard all the details about the honeymoon. You leave tomorrow and I’d much rather spend my time with you doing that, than here putting up a fence.

Smiling, I said, “That sounds like a solid plan.”

Luke and I began cleaning up. Luke had sent a text to Will telling him to meet us at the riverbank where we had our pasture parties and for him to bring the beer.

Climbing into the truck, I pulled out my phone.

Me:
Hey. I’m sorry I was a dick early. You don’t have to come back with me

I stared at my phone the entire drive to the riverbank. Then once we were there, I kept checking it but never heard back from Lauren. By the time I got home it was almost nine and I had to leave in the morning for A&M. Checking my phone one last time, I tossed it onto the bed and cursed. Closing up my suitcase, I dropped it to the floor.

“You ready to head back?”

Spinning around, I smiled when I saw my mother. “Yeah, I’m thinking of heading back tonight though.” Taking a step into my room, she narrowed her eyes as she looked at me.

“This late, Colt? You wouldn’t get into College Station until after midnight.”

Giving her a weak smile, I nodded my head. “Yeah, that’s crazy of me to even think it.”

Grinning she placed her hand on the side of my face. “Did you and Lauren have a fight?”

Closing my eyes, I sighed. How did my mother always know what was wrong. “I was being a jerk and she won’t answer my text messages or my phone calls.”

Giving me a reassuring smile, she tilted her head and said, “I’m sure she will. She wouldn’t let you leave without saying good-bye to you.”

Nodding my head I smiled. I wasn’t feeling so optimistic about it like my mother was. “Don’t stay up too late, sweetheart. You have a long day ahead of you.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna head to bed now. I’m exhausted.”

Reaching up and kissing me on the cheek, my mother smiled tenderly at me. I could feel the love moving from her body into mine and I instantly felt better. “Get some sleep, Colt.”

I watched as my mother softly shut my bedroom door. Not feeling like doing a damn thing, I stripped out of my clothes and made my way to the bathroom where I took a hot shower. The water felt amazing as it moved down my body, relaxing muscles that I had been working the hell out of the last three days while helping Luke with a fence.

Drying off, I walked into my room and crawled into bed naked. Exhaustion soon took over as I felt my eyelids growing heavier and heavier.

DAMN IT ALL
to hell. I couldn’t believe I had lost my phone. I’d spent all day combing through my house, the barn, and the pasture I road in earlier today until I found it in my car. The second I saw all of Colt’s text messages, I panicked. We had a fight the night before so he probably thought I was ignoring him.

Running into the house, I stopped the moment I saw my mother. “Mom, did Colt text you back on your phone?”

Turning and motioning with a head pop she said, “It’s on the table. My hands are full of dough, can you check it? I haven’t heard it go off.”

Pulling up her text messages, my mouth dropped open when I saw the message. “Oh my glitter! Mom! You didn’t even send the message!”

Turning, she looked at me like I was insane. “What? Are you sure?”

Facing the phone to her, I showed her the typed up message that she never sent. “Mom! Now Colt is going to think I’m mad at him.”

“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry. I must have thought I hit send or maybe I got interrupted. Just send him a text and let him know what happened.”

Feeling the tears building in my eyes, I closed them and pursed my lips together in an attempt to not start crying. “I did. He’s not responding back.”

Glancing at the clock my mother said, “Go see him. I’m sure he’ll be leaving early in the morning.”

My heart felt like it was ripping in two. I wanted to stay here for as long as I could before I had to go back to school, but I wanted to be with Colt also. Worrying my lower lip, I took off upstairs. “Lauren? What are you doing?”

Calling over my shoulder I said, “I’m packing. I’m going back early with Colt.”

STANDING IN THE
doorway to Colt’s room, I couldn’t help but smile. He was sleeping like a baby as his mother and I stood there. “Sleep in the guest room tonight, Lauren. That way the two of you can take off tomorrow first thing.”

“Yes, ma’am. Do you mind if I wake him up? Let him know I’m here.”

Ellie smiled and shook her head. “Of course not. He was rather upset when he came home. I’m sure he’d love to know you are here and decided to go back with him tomorrow. Don’t stay up too late.”