Free Lone Star Burn: Broncos & Bouquets (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Stephanie Haefner Page B

bucks. All I had to do was meet this guy at the park and give him a paper bag. For ten minutes of work I had food for a week. I started doing it more and eventually he gave me stuff to sell on my own. OxyContin, Hydrocodone, Percocet. I had them all. Out here, there’s enough broken bull riders and ranch hands to keep a thousand dealers in business. It was easy money. I could finally buy a decent pair of sneakers and jeans without holes in them.”
    Laney didn’t want to hear anymore.
    “When I was nineteen I got caught selling to an undercover cop. They searched my trailer and found enough to convict me. Seven to ten, but I got out after eight. It would have been less but I refused to narc on people. I would’ve been dead if I had.”
    She sat up and faced him. “Why are you telling me this now?”
    “I want you to know the whole story.” He stepped toward her. “I want to get past this. All I’ve wanted for the last three years is to build a new life and forget about it. I met you, and for the first time ever, I actually had hope that I might have a normal life. And I want it with you, Laney.” He paused, his gaze locked on hers. “I love you.”
    She wished her heart hadn’t skipped a beat when he’d said it. It would be so easy to give in, to ignore the warning bells clanging in her ears. To chase the happily-ever-after she’d envisioned only hours earlier. But she knew from experience that life didn’t work that way. She couldn’t ignore her cautious brain. But it would be so much easier if she didn’t have feelings for him.
    “Would you have even told me if I hadn’t found out from Michelle?” she asked.
    He breathed deep and exhaled. “What would you have said if I did?”
    “I don’t know. You didn’t give me the chance. Instead I was ambushed.”
    “I’m ashamed of that part of my life. I want to forget it happened. You of all people should understand that.”
    “Don’t go comparing the two situations. They’re completely different. I didn’t do anything illegal.”
    “My crime was worse, but I paid for it. I was locked up for eight years. I was just a kid. Do you have any clue what it’s like to be in prison?”
    “No, but if you expect sympathy from me, you’re not going to get it. You broke the law. You deserved to go to jail.”
    “We all pay for our sins eventually, one way or another. For what you did, you lost your job, and you deserved that.”
    Laney’s jaw dropped. How dare he? “We’re done. You can go now.”
    “No one’s perfect. I fucked up, but I’m trying to make up for it. You’re doing the same. Why can’t we do it together? I love you. You can’t tell me you don’t feel it, too. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t.”
    Laney’s heart drummed in her chest. “It doesn’t matter what I felt, because it’s gone. You’re nothing but a distraction that’s going to wreck my life for a second time if I let you. Now will you please leave?” She didn’t know how much more of this she could take before breaking into a million pieces.
    He shook his head. “I’m not giving up.”
    “You have to. We’re over.”
    “I don’t believe that. I can’t walk away from you.”
    “Get out!” she screamed as tears spilled from her eyes.
    That did it. Sawyer backed away, and turned around. Laney watched him leave, the click of the door like a gunshot a foot away from her ear. She flopped onto the bed, sobs consuming her body. But she’d get over it. She’d be fine. Once she cried her eyes out, she’d pick herself up and go on like he’d never been a part her life. That’s what she had to do.
     

Chapter 12
     
    Sawyer lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. When he’d been at Laney’s apartment earlier, he’d been determined to make it right, determined to make her understand. Make her forgive him. But now, after the day’s events had sunk in, he realized she was better off without him. He had nothing to offer her but a lifetime of worry. He