Shiver Read Free Page B

low-commitment option when you’re moving around a lot with your horses and don’t have a lot of money. I’d done it a couple of different times with varying degrees of success. The best-case scenario was that you’d hole yourself up in a ten-by-ten room and no one bothered you. But with Ethan, we were more like roommates; actually hanging out and being… friends. However, when I moved out to rent my own place, we’d slowly lost touch as we got busy with our own lives. It might have been a bit of self-protection on my part. I’d always harbored a crush on Ethan, but he never seemed to reciprocate. I didn’t really want to be that girl, so I made myself move on from even the idea. We hadn’t seen or spoken to each other in several months.
    I stepped away and turned to look at both men, immediately feeling the loss of heat. Ethan stood well over six feet tall, with short dark brown hair and dark eyes. His scruff-covered jaw was strong but not too chiseled. Swirls of tattoos in muted tones ran down both his arms, but it wasn’t easy to make out the distinctions. His dark-wash jeans were slung low on his hips, and his gray T-shirt clung lightly to his abs, which I’d had the pleasure of accidentally seeing and could attest to their perfection. Next to all that maleness and sin, Brett looked a bit less than manly. And short. I wondered why on earth I’d ever been involved with him, and it occurred to me I needed to work on my self-esteem.
    I blinked to bring myself back from my musings to realize the two men were glaring at each other.
    “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I turned toward Brett. Speaking would have been so much easier if I could have made hand gestures. “You, go back to your wife. We are so beyond done, and there is nothing left to say.” I turned my back on Brett, facing Ethan. “Ethan, thank you for intervening, but I’m good. Brett just accidentally knocked my arm, which happens all the time. No damage done.”
    Ethan nodded and took step back, but Brett leaned into me again.
    “We are not done, Lissa. I need to talk to you. I don’t want to lose you,” Brett whispered harshly.
    I moved away, shaking my head. “You’ve already lost me. And it won’t matter soon anyway. I’m moving,” I added impulsively. “You and your family won’t have to worry about me at all.”
    “What do you mean? Where are you going?”
    “It’s really just none of your business anymore.” I looked at him expectantly and nodded in the direction of the bar. He gave me one more long look before he turned around and walked away with a shake of his head.
    Ethan had been silently watching the exchange and now stepped up to me. “Are you really moving?”
    I nodded slowly. “I think so. I don’t know where. What I do know is that I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t want to turn into one of those old townie horse ladies who are all bitter and haggard. Look at me: burned out, broken, and busted at twenty years old. By the time I’m back riding, I don’t even know how well my arm will work! The surgeon said I’ll never have full range of motion again and it’ll always bother me. I don’t know how well I’ll be able to hold on to a racehorse, and where’s that going anyway? Am I going to be an exercise rider for the rest of my life? I need… I need to grow up, I guess… Shit, that sucks.”
    He chuckled a little at the word vomit coming out of my mouth. I couldn’t help it. He was one of those people who just drew everything out of me. He would stay quiet until everything I was thinking and feeling came spewing out.
    “Don’t go.”
    “I’m sorry, what?” I asked. He’d spoken so quietly I wasn’t sure if I’d heard correctly.
    “I don’t think you should go. Why should that douche bag run you out of town?”
    That got a smile out of me. And he was right. Brett was a douche bag.
    I shrugged. “I have nothing to stay for. Maybe a fresh start would be good.”
    “What if you did have something to