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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.”Advertisement

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.”

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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. pqdm.com