“Any idea when she’ll be back?”
Jesse sighed and folded his arms over his chest. Van suspected it looked like Stella would soon be needing a restraining order.
“Look, I’m sure you’re a good enough guy. Everybody has problems, issues they need help getting a handle on, and I get that. So please don’t take offense to what I’m about say.”
Van raised his eyebrows. Whatever the man had to say had to be prefaced with a disclaimer, so he figured it would probably induce his knee-jerk punch-a-fucker-in-the-face reflex. He believed he’d grown up a bit since his last brawl, or maybe he’d just learned a little about what was worth fighting for and what wasn’t. He remained out of reaching distance just to be on the safe side.
“I’ll see what I can do.” Van had a strict policy about not making promises he couldn’t keep.
Jesse bravely stepped closer, squared his shoulders, and looked Van directly in the eye. The man was braced for whatever came. Van respected that he felt whatever he was about to say was worth an ass-kicking should that be the direction this conversation took.
“Stella isn’t like other women, like the ones you probably have to deal with on a regular basis. She isn’t just taking what she can get so she can go brag to her friends that she hooked up with you. And she doesn’t strike me as the type that’s into casual sex.”
Van’s nerves pinched at hearing another man say Stella’s name and sex together, but nothing Jesse Ramirez had said so far was untrue. So he just nodded.
“I’m aware of this.”
“Are you?” Dark brows dipped. “In that case, I have to ask. Where do you see this going? I mean, you just going to check out and move on when you’re done here? Because you may not know it, but she’s risking a hell of a lot being with you. My dad likes her. He respects her. But there’s already talk of…rumors, I guess you could say, about the two of you. He asked me to keep an eye out.”
Van struggled to swallow. He had no clue where this was going, no idea how things were going to work with Stella once he was out of rehab. And he’d sworn to himself he wouldn’t get her fired. She loved it here. He could still hear her begging, pleading for him to back off.
“This job is important to me. I’m happy here. I feel at home. Wanted. Needed. I never felt that way before. Not in my own home and not with college roommates. I belong here. I want to be here.”
He wanted to hit something. He’d pushed until he’d gotten his way. And now his beautiful cowgirl was the topic of rumors. Rumors that would hurt her in so many ways—taint and tarnish her like he’d known he would.
“So is this a warning?”
Disappointment laced the breath Jesse let out. “It’s whatever you think it is. It’s honesty. If you were in love with her, it’d be different. I’m sure my dad would give you two his blessing and you could transfer to a different facility.”
“What makes you think I’m not in love with her?” Was he? He wasn’t entirely sure. He was sure, however, that he wanted to be discussing this with her and not this guy.
“Missing riding crops, fucking her in secret, and your fiancée showing up repeatedly. People talk, Mr. Ransom. And this facility is a breeding ground for rumors and gossip. It’s one of the reasons I keep to myself and spend my time at the barn with the animals. They keep their mouths shut.”
“Lucky for me,” Van mumbled under his breath. He’d done some pretty unspeakable things with Stella in the presence of the horses.
“Look, I’m well aware that it’s none of my business. But she’s good for this place and I think it’s good for her. So I’d hate to see her jeopardize that over a fling with someone who’s just using her for a distraction from what he came here for.”
Van took two instinctual steps toward him.
Jesse’s hands came up in defense. “Not saying that’s what you’re doing. Let me be perfectly clear, I have no clue what you’re actually doing with her. I was just saying I’d hate to see her get hurt.”
“I don’t want that—to hurt her. To get her in trouble.”
Her. He just wanted her.
Not that he planned to tell this random dude that.
“Then you might want to ease up a little.” Jesse shrugged as if it were of no consequence to him. “Back it down on the watching her like a predator stalking prey at least. Because if I really was ‘keeping an eye out’ like my father asked me to, you would’ve just shown me plenty to get her fired.”
With that, the man got in his truck and left. Van watched his taillights disappear from view and placed his hands on his head.
Jesse Ramirez hadn’t told him anything. It was everything he already knew. She could do better, he was bad for her, and both of them would be decimated when this ended. She’d likely be jobless.
But hearing it from someone else, knowing people were talking about them— about her, really—in anything less than a positive light, gutted him.
He hoped that knowledge would be enough to keep him away from her, so he wouldn’t ruin her any further, whenever she returned.
Chapter Thirty-One
Pulling up in her parents’ driveway felt surreal. She’d never been homesick. Not really. There wasn’t much to miss. The heavy weight of failure and disappointment thickened the air.
Her tires kicked up dust in the driveway around her as she approached the sprawling ranch. Glancing over at the house, she parked her white SUV and got out.
Deep breaths, Stella Jo. You can do this.
Her internal self-assurance became a mantra as she made her way to the front door.
Her mother flung it open before she’d even had time to knock.
“Well it’s about time, Estella Josephine. You made it. I was beginning to wonder if you’d even remember the way,” her mother greeted her at the door with a tight smile. “Dr. Lesley is going to come by for dinner and take a look at your back.”
“Hi, Mama,” she said as she stepped inside. “Of course I do. No one forgets how to get home.” Not that she’d ever felt like this place was her home. The house was slightly warmer than she remembered. New floral curtains, different from the ones they’d had when she was a kid, draped the windows, framing the sunlight that entered.
She opened her mouth to compliment the new décor, but her mother rushed on.
“Your daddy had to help out with a cattle run. But he’ll be home for supper. Come on in and put your stuff in your old room. We’ll chat and catch up. I can’t wait to hear more about this young man that called me. And you’re riding again. I was so happy to hear that.”
Stella sighed, already feeling her energy being usurped by her mother’s demands. She was pretty certain her father’s excuse for being gone was just that—an excuse.
“The young man who called you is very likely gay. And I just rode around a pasture a few times. Not much to tell.”
Her words didn’t deflate her mother at all. She ushered Stella to the back of the house. “Get cleaned up. Shower and do something a little more impressive with your hair and put your face on please. Dr. Lesley will be here soon.”
Dress up pretty, Stella Jo. Smile pretty.
The memories of pageants past twisted her gut. “Yes, ma’am.”
After dumping her stuff on her old bed, Stella Jo tried to ignore all the creepy doll eyes as she undressed. Her mother’s collection had apparently been stored in her empty bedroom.
The scalding shower slaked off a little of her courage, and she stared at her image in the mirror as she put on the dress her mother had laid out.
You’re doing it again.
Dropping the mascara from her hand, she gaped at her reflection. At the fading reminders of just how deeply Van had impacted her. The thought of her mother’s face at hearing that a man had actually fucked sense into her made her giggle.