“So, a cow did this, then?” she asked, and I shook my head.
“I’m fine, Dakota. Don’t even need stitches.”
“And because you’re a vet, you can tell that?” she asked.
“Yes, I guess that’s a good reason for me to know,” I said, knowing I sounded like an asshole.
She shook her head, her glasses falling down her nose. I wanted to reach out and move them back. I didn’t.
“What the hell, Macon? Who did this to you?”
“Nobody. I said I’m fine. Let’s not talk about it.”
She studied my face for a long moment before shaking her head, disappointment plain. “Why are you fighting?” she asked, and I wanted to curse.
“Dakota.”
“No, I see your knuckles. You’ve clearly hit someone. And you want to hang out with Joshua?” she asked, her voice sharp even as she kept it quiet so nobody else could hear.
“Dakota.” I needed to fix this. Somehow, I had to remedy this.
“No. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but you better stay away from my son. And me.” Then she turned on her heel and went back to the office, leaving me sitting there, wondering what the fuck was wrong with me.
Nate came back with two to-go cups, a sad expression on his face.
“I honestly didn’t know she would be here.”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not.”
“It is. Come on, let’s just go.” I took the coffee from Nate, nodded at him, and then left the building. The bell over the door echoed in my head, sounding like a fucking gunshot. I tripped over my feet, the coffee sloshing out of the cup, and cursed, not even feeling the heat.
“Fuck, are you okay?” Nate asked from behind me.
“I’m fine. Let’s just go. I’ll take you home.”
“We still need to talk.”
“You know, I think I’ve had enough talking for the night.”
“Macon.”
“No, you got what you wanted. Everyone’s going to know that I’m a fucking asshole, and that’s fine.”
“That is not what I wanted. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m fine. As you can see, everything is just dandy. I’m scaring women and children, to the point where she’s never going to talk to me again. But it doesn’t matter, does it? Because it’s not like she ever wanted to before.”
“Macon.”
Sweat covered my body as my hands went clammy, and I did my best to catch my breath, the sound of the gun cocking filled my ears again, the taste of blood in my mouth as if it just happened, the scream echoing in my head as Hazel shouted my name.
“I need to get home.”
“Okay, I’ll get you there.”
“I need to go home,” I repeated.
“I’ve got you. I’m driving. We’re going.”
He led me to the truck, and I got in, making sure the coffee was in its holder before covering my face with my hands and trying to catch my breath.
“I’m sorry,” my little brother whispered.
“Not your fault. I’m the asshole.”
“You’re not.”
“Then why does it feel like I am?”
“You’re not,” he repeated. “She’ll talk to you again. She’s just had a tough couple of days.”
“Why?” I asked, giving him a sharp look. “What happened?” I hated that I was so protective of Dakota. She didn’t want me in her life. She’d made that perfectly clear. Only I needed to help her fix things despite that she hated it when I tried. That was on me, and I was usually better at giving her space.
“It’s just busy with the café, I think. I don’t know for sure. It’s just what I overhear from the girls. We’re all one big group. We’ll make it work. She’s not going to take Joshua from you.”
I snorted, ignoring the pain in my heart at my brother’s words. “He’s not my kid, Nate.”
“That kid worships the ground you walk on.”
“He shouldn’t. Look where I am.”
“You’re with your brother, and you’re going home. And you’re going to stop making stupid decisions. I think that’s a pretty good place to be.”
I didn’t say anything else, knowing there was nothing to say.
I deserved the looks she gave me, any ounce of hatred she threw my way. I was doing things that weren’t good for me, even though I was supposed to be the nice guy.
There was nothing nice about me. Part of me had died the day I was shot, the day I had thought would be my last. There was nothing left of me for Dakota or her kid. And she saw that better than anybody. It didn’t matter that the others thought there could be something more between us.
There couldn’t be.
And tonight’s meeting had been the final nail in the coffin of who we were. Too bad it’d taken my blood and her fear to make it happen. I might want Dakota more than my next breath, but wanting was good for nothing. She would never be mine. And the only people that didn’t seem to understand that were those outside the two of us.
Because Dakota sure as hell didn’t want me.
There wasn’t much of me left to want.
Chapter 2
Dakota
“Mom, I can’t find my backpack.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and looked over the kitchen island to where my son was on his hands and knees, looking under the couch. Apparently, for a backpack that I knew full well could not fit underneath.
“Joshua Bristol. You know that backpack is not there. It’s in your room. The same space I told you to clean.”
“But, Mom. I did clean it.”
I finished packing up his lunch and then reviewed the rest of my to-do list.
“You put away one toy and got distracted yesterday. But it was Sunday, and we both said we were allowed to be lazy if we wanted to.” After I got home from a ten-hour day at work and he was with his babysitter—I ignored the pang in my heart at that. “However, Joshua, you were supposed to pick up the rest of your toys at least and find your backpack before bed.”
If I hadn’t been exhausted,
