Done and Dusted (Rebel Blue Ranch, #1)

by Lyla Sage

I was lucky to have a friend like her, the type of friend most people could only dream about.

I tripped over my boots and ran into something hard. A chest. A man’s chest. The man chest. I looked up at its owner, who had a shit-eating smirk on his face. It was him. Luke Brooks.

where one went, the other was sure to follow. It drove Gus bat-shit crazy. He always thought Teddy was too much—too loud, too vulgar, and too much trouble.

Sure...

I got his grimy little hands off of her. That’s the only reason I did it. For Gus and Wes. Not for me. Not because I was jealous. I wasn’t fucking jealous.

I spent the first seven years of my life wondering what was wrong with me. I still wonder about that, but everything changed when I met Gus.

But when Gus saw me getting tossed around by some fifth graders one day, he stepped in and basically told them to shove it–in the best way a fourth grader could. Afterward, I ate lunch with him. Well, he had to give me some of his lunch because I didn’t have any, and after school, he told Wes I was their new friend. That was it. When I found the Ryder boys, they treated me like I was worth something. Before I met them, I didn’t even know what a friend was. I’d never had one, but that day, I ended up with two.

“Relax, big brother. I’m in Teddy’s bed.” I heard Gus sigh on the other side of the phone. But it wasn’t a sigh of relief—it was a sigh of annoyance, probably at Teddy.

I ship

I could not believe Luke Brooks was an instructor of children. And that all of them were still breathing.

“I mean, I don’t blame you,” she finally said. “He’s got that whole bad boy cowboy thing going for him, and you did just break up with someone, so it makes sense.” “It does?” “No, but let’s pretend it does. It’ll make you feel better.”

“Sorry, Gussy,” Teddy called. “That was me.” Gus’s steps immediately halted as he shot daggers at Teddy.

“What’s that?” She pointed at his shirt, and like an idiot, he looked down. She flicked her finger back up and hit him in the nose. Gus growled. Literally growled. I heard Teddy’s laugh until she shut her truck door.

“Why do you care?” “Because I care about you,” I said. That had always been true, but it sounded different now.

When it came to Emmy, I was playing with fire, but I would happily walk into the flames for her. And I’d have a smile on my face the whole damn time.

He put his hands on my waist first, which was not how you helped someone get on a horse. We both knew that, but I didn’t care.

Teddy was one of the last people on the planet I’d want to piss off. Her and Gus were probably tied in that regard. Yesterday, when Emmy told me the story of her first kiss and mentioned Teddy “took care of it,” my first thought was that she probably cut off that guy’s dick and fed it to him.

“Nothing. I get it now.” A small smile stretched her mouth. “Get what?” “I just get it.” Teddy’s smile was getting bigger. “Thanks for clearing everything up for me.” “Teddy, what the hell are you talking about?” “Nothing.”

“If you hurt my best friend, I’ll cut your dick off and feed it to you.”

I love her

Being alone with Emmy was like taking a quick trip away from reality. It was just the two of us, Luke and Emmy. Not Brooks, the Meadowlark screw-up, and Emmy, the Meadowlark sweetheart. What I felt when I was with her was quickly becoming the best thing I’d ever felt.

It was like I had spent my life getting pieces of her, and now I was finally putting the pieces together. Guess what? There wasn’t any piece of Emmy I didn’t like.

His eyes were still where my ass would’ve been when I was putting my boots on. His gaze met mine. I raised my eyebrows at him, and Luke Brooks did something I didn’t even know he could do—he blushed.

“I didn’t know if your coffee order changed, so I just got what I remembered. Drip, lots of cream, no sugar.” “It’s perfect,” I said. I couldn’t even think of a time when Brooks was around to hear how I took my coffee, but here he was, remembering it like it was nothing.

“This place is mine. You’re the first person I’ve brought here.” “Oh,” I said dumbly. “Yeah, oh,” he said with a smile. “Not even Gus?” “Not even Gus.”

I thought about the way being diagnosed had changed things for me. All of the sudden, I could explain why I did things the way I did. It was a revelation for me. It had made things different, but not in the way I expected.

“So, do you regret coming home?” That was a damn good question. I thought about it. Honestly, I thought I would regret coming home, but I didn’t. “No, I don’t. No matter how I came to that decision, it was the right one.” I saw his shoulders relax the slightest bit at my answer. I didn’t realize they were tense until then.

“Emmy, I want you to know I’m happy you’re here.” He was looking at me that way again. Like I was the only person on the planet like I was the only thing that mattered. I could get drunk off that look.

Brooks laced his fingers through mine. At that moment, I made my decision. I was going to kiss this man. Today.

Honestly, I didn’t think I’d be able to stay away from her, no matter how hard I tried. Emmy Ryder was just…more. She was more than anyone was, or than anyone would ever be.

Emmy pulled away too soon, but she pressed her forehead against mine. “You’ve chickened out on kissing me twice, so I did it myself,” she said. Her voice was breathy and perfect. The way she sounded made me overlook the fact that she’d just insulted me.

When I pulled my eyes away from her, I noticed Teddy staring at me with a smug look on her face. This was the second time she’d caught me staring where I shouldn’t be staring: right at Emmy.

“You look nice,” she remarked. “Any particular reason you’ve chosen to forego the ratty-ass t-shirt and hat you’re so fond of?” Ruthless. Teddy was ruthless. “Any particular reason you keep breaking your lifetime Rebel Blue ban?” Gus chimed in before Teddy could hurl another missile my way.

“None directly related to the ranch, sir,” Teddy said with a smile. I saw Emmy hit Teddy’s leg under the table. Amos looked at both of them for a minute, obviously confused, but brushed it off.

I looked back at Emmy, who had her arms folded and was staring at me in the same less-than-friendly way. Instead of giving her a chance to yell at me in front of everyone, who had more or less gone back to what they were doing before the punch, I swooped her up off her chair and threw her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes, taking extra care to hold her dress down so no one got a free show. Now it was Teddy who was cheering.

gnarly.

Boba tea? Gnarly. Tesla? Gnarly. Fried Chicken? Gnarly.

I thought back to the first night I saw her at The Devil’s Boot. I didn’t know it then, but my girl was struggling. Back then, she was the shell of the woman who I now loved more than anything. All she’d needed was a little fire.