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Shae takes a sip of her coffee, studying me over the rim. “So, is this serious?”
“Is what serious?” I play dumb because I just want this conversation to be over.
“You and Addie, dumbass.”
I snort and take a drink of my own coffee, buying myself a second. “We’re having a good time.”
“Oh, bullshit,” she says.
“What do you want me to say, Barker? We fuck. A lot. You apparently have firsthand knowledge of that.” I gesture back toward the camper.
She rolls her eyes. “That’s not what I asked.”
I glance back toward the camper. Addie is probably already completely passed out again, wrapped in the blankets with her hair all over my pillow. She’ll sleep another hour or two if I let her, then wake up grumpy until I put coffee in her hand. I’ll take care of Dusty before then, get breakfast started, and make sure everything is packed except the things she needs for her run. “I don’t know,” I finally admit. “We haven’t exactly talked about what happens after we get home.”
Shae’s expression softens. “But you want there to be something after you get home?”
I rub the back of my neck and look anywhere but at her. “I just know tonight will be the first night in over a month I won’t sleep beside her, and I already fucking hate it.” That’s as much as she’s getting out of me.
“Oh, my God.” Her eyes light up. “Chace Walker.” Her coffee lowers slowly as the biggest grin spreads across her face. “You’re in love with her.”
“Shut the fuck up, Shae.”
She lets out a delighted little squeal and throws herself at me before I can get out of the way, wrapping both arms around my waist. “I’m so happy for you two!”
“There is no you two.” The denial comes out halfheartedly, even to my own ears.
She pulls back just enough to look at me. “Sure.”
“I mean it.”
“Of course you do.” She laughs and pats my chest before finally letting me go. “Relax. I said I wouldn’t tell Eli.”
I glance back toward the camper, lowering my voice even though there’s no chance Addie can hear us from here. “Don’t tell her either.”
Shae’s teasing disappears completely. She studies me for a second, then nods. “Okay.”
Because if anyone is going to find out how I feel about Addie, it’s going to be Addie first. I’ll be damned if Shae tells her I’m in love with her before I get the chance.
Chapter thirty-one
Addie
I’ve been with Chace every single day for the last two months, which is probably why the last twenty-four hours without him have felt so damn long.
Everything since yesterday morning has been a whirlwind. When I woke up for the second time, Chace was nowhere to be found. Instead, I was met with the sight of Eli, Hazel, and Shae packing up camp, and Shae had a suspicious grin plastered across her face.
“Where’s Chace?” was the first thing out of my mouth. For one horrible second, panic hit me. What if Eli knew? What if Chace had taken off?
“Relax,” Shae said, looking entirely too amused. “He went to get Dusty ready.” Then she gave me a sly little grin. “Said you were up late studying your competition.” And she actually rolled her eyes when she said it.
I found out later that Shae had caught Chace coming out of the camper that morning and agreed to keep her mouth shut. Apparently, Eli and Hazel had shown up not long after to surprise me for my run, completely oblivious to what they’d almost walked in on. Thank fuck for that.
The rest of the day flew by in a blur. I totally nailed my ride and left Anyton sitting in fifteenth, with an official invite to the finals in Billings next week.
Over the last few weeks, celebrating a good run had meant finding Chace the second I came out of the arena and letting him pull me into him with a warm hug and a searing kiss. Yesterday, with my entire family there watching, I barely got more than a grin from across the crowd.
What should have been an exciting ride home was dampened because Chace and I never got the mini celebration we’d planned. Milkshakes and cheeseburgers. Such a stupid thing to be disappointed about, because we could get them anywhere, anytime. But it’s kind of become our thing. And as I climbed into Hazel’s truck instead of his, I still couldn’t shake the sadness I felt at missing out on it.
