Page 77 of Not Mine to Rescue

“You forgot, taken care of. And you don’t have that. You wonder why none of ’em stay? It’s because you ain’t got shit to offer. Kittens with butt problems. That’s what you got.”

“Leave.”

“You don’t tell me what to do,” he fired back.

“I’m asking you. Leave my farm.”

“Your sister’s farm.”

I let my head dip slowly into a nod. “Leave my sister’s farm. Please.” It came out through gritted teeth the last word tacked on as gruesomely as possible. But I wouldn’t apologize.

“She’s got you twisted in knots, doesn’t she?”

“Leave.” I couldn’t do this.

Walt changed tactics. “Brother⁠—”

“For the love of fucking god, Walt, get your fat ass off my property!”

His nostrils flared. “You need to calm down.”

“I’ll be damned if I fucking listen to you.” I was a half-second away from doing something stupid.

Honor’s car rolled into the driveway. I gave it one glance and took off into the woods. I didn’t run. Nor did I look back.

Most importantly, Walt didn’t come after me. He probably saw who it was and stayed behind to betray me harder. Dick.

Two hours later, I’d repaired a broken barbed wire fence, cleaned up the chicken coop, relaid straw for the goats, and finally stopped fuming every time I remembered Walt’s words. I wasn’t calm by any means, which meant I wasn’t thinking straight when Lemon approached.

“You okay?”

I glared at her, unable to speak without screaming.

“Honor asked about you.”

That wasn’t good news. “Did Walt talk to her?”

Lemon’s eyes searched for answers. “I think he said hi. Do they know each other?”

“Through the firm.” I kept my reply short so I wouldn’t explode.

“Oh.” She stared at the ground. Her posture resembled a beaten dog’s.

“I’m not mad at you.”

She grunted and kicked a clump of mud. “You’re really angry though. I can see it in your aura. It’s so…dark that it’s painful.”

That was a good way to describe it. “Wha—” I cut myself off. I was going to ask her what she saw when she looked at Honor. But maybe I didn’t want to know. Or maybe I was trying to avoid the truth. Walt was right. I couldn’t offer Honor anything. I was such a dumbass to think there’d be more than just fucking between us.

Her eyes lifted to peek at me. “Are you going to be okay?”

Aw man, if it were anyone other than Lemon asking I’d have lied. “Remember when Mom and Dad left? When they took Hal and just left us?”

She nodded.

“This hurts almost as bad.”

A small sob leaked out of her, and she threw her body against mine to hug me. I couldn’t hug her back.