Without You

Page 11

“No,” Will, Libby, and Colt all said at the same time.
I began laughing. Luke was always coming up with these crazy plans. He had gotten us all in trouble more times than I could even remember.
“Come on, y’all. Let’s all meet at the river first. We can hang out a bit before we go to the party. Are Lauren and Taylor going?”
“Yep,” Libby said.
“Shit. No alcohol if they’re going to be there,” Luke said.
Since Lauren and Taylor were the youngest, Luke would insist on no alcohol anytime they were with us. It would drive Lauren mad, but Taylor couldn’t care less. She’d never had the desire to even try a beer.
“How can you say that? Colt isn’t that much older than them, and you don’t care if he is there,” Libby said.
Luke shrugged his shoulders. “Colt’s a guy. He’s different.”
Libby stopped walking.
Will moaned, “Great. Here we go.”
I giggled as I hit him lightly on the side.
“Luke Drew Johnson,” Libby said.
Luke smiled that big ole smile of his that could melt all the girls’ hearts. He stepped up to Libby and lifted his hand to her hair. “You have a piece of hay in your hair, Isabella Gemma Hayes. Don’t call me by my full name, sweetheart. Only my mama can do that.”
“You’re such an ass,” Libby said as she pushed him away.
Luke lost his balance and began falling back but not before he grabbed Libby and took her down with him. He fell right onto his back, and she landed right on top of him. The way Luke was looking at Libby had me blushing for her. He looked like he wanted to…kiss her.
Will must have noticed it, too, because he quickly picked Libby up. “Are you okay?”
She said, “Yes,” and then she looked at me.
The flush on her cheeks caused me to smile at her. She quickly walked off and headed to the Jeep. I turned back, only to find Will had Luke by the shirt.
“Don’t ever look at my sister like that again, Johnson. I’ll fucking beat your ass, you hear me?”
“Will!” I walked up and pulled his hands from Luke’s T-shirt. “Libby pushed Luke. It was just an accident. Will, stop it.”
Luke seemed stunned, and I wasn’t sure if it was because of what Will had said to him or if it was because it had finally hit him that he had feelings for Libby.
“This is going to be one interesting summer.” Colt started laughing as he walked toward his truck.
I couldn’t help but watch every move Lex made. The way she smiled drove me crazy. The sound of her voice warmed my body. I closed my eyes and tried not to think about how we would be going our separate ways in less than two months.
“Open your eyes, dude. It creeps me out.”
I opened my eyes and saw Colt standing there. I smiled and laughed. “What are you gonna do when we all go to college?”
Colt let out a sigh. “Not sure. I guess I’ll get bigger and stronger since I’ll be working on the ranch more.”
I glanced over toward Lauren and then back at Colt. “What’s going on with you and Rachel?”
He rolled his eyes. “Hell if I know. She told me yesterday that I was too romantic and that she needs to be more independent. I don’t even know why I’m dating her.”
I smiled slightly. Colt had gotten trashed a few weeks back, and Luke and I had kept him in my barn until he sobered up. If Gunner had seen Colt like that, he would have killed his own son. Colt never really drank, but when he’d seen Lauren out on a date, he’d lost it. He’d admitted to Luke and me how much he liked her.
“Colt, can I ask you something?”
He nodded his head. “Always, Will.”
“Why are you trying to avoid how you feel about Lauren?”
His face dropped. He quickly looked at Lauren and then turned back to me. “What are you talking about?”
“Colt, when you got shitfaced a few weeks ago, you told Luke and me that you had feelings for Lauren.”
He dropped his head back and let out a sigh. “Fuck. You didn’t tell Alex, did you?”
“No.”
Colt ran his hand down his face. “Good.”
“Why don’t you want her to know?”
“Want who to know what?” Lauren asked as she came up.
She kissed Colt on the cheek, and his face instantly turned red.
“Um…” Colt looked at me as he struggled for something to say.
I smiled. “Colt likes a girl, and he won’t tell her.”