I retreated to my room, the adrenaline of the win finally curdling into a dull ache. I hid my jackpot cash—Axel didn't need to know exactly how much I'd taken from the pockets of his peers.
My phone started vibrating against the nightstand. I didn't even have to look to know who it was. The Sheriff's son—a guy who couldn't take 'no' for an answer and had been trying to charm my Grandpa into "giving me away" for a year. He was the kind of person who used his father's badge as a shield for his own arrogance.
By the tenth call, my patience snapped. I didn't silence it. Instead, I walked to the door and slid the vibrating phone under the crack into the hallway, right in front of Axel's room. If he wanted to be the man of the house, he could deal with the pests.
I crawled back onto my bed, picking up my book, but I wasn't reading. I was waiting.
"What the fuck do you mean? You never had permission to date her!" Axel's voice boomed through the walls, vibrating with a familiar, dangerous edge. I held my breath.
"You call this number again or come by the ranch, you won't be leaving in your car. You'll be leaving in an ambulance with a written statement from me that you were trespassing on private property." A moment later, my phone slid back under my door. It lit up with a text.
Axel: You owe me. Me: Thanks for still caring about my love life.
He didn't reply. Typical.
I moved to the window seat, peering through the drapes. Below, the guys were gathered in a half-circle on the lawn. The twins, Cash and Colt, were there. Colt looked up, catching my eye before I could retreat. He nudged his brother, and Cash also glanced up, a small, unreadable smile on his face.
"You don't need my sister's number," Axel's voice rose from the grass below, directed at them. "You and your brother are not messing with my sister."
I became curious now.
"Why not?" Cash stood up, meeting Axel toe-to-toe. "You're never around to deal with any of the possible ex-boyfriends that won't leave her alone. If things didn't work out between us, we'd leave her alone and never come back to this ranch unless she says we can still be friends with her and come here to help your grandfather out."
I groaned, leaning my forehead against the glass. I pulled up Axel's contact and hit call. He answered on the first ring, sounding like he wanted to bite someone's head off.
"What?"
"Get over yourself, Axel," I snapped. "You know those guys from my high school class. You obviously can't keep them away from me. Michael and Blake have been doing a better job at it than you. Get over the fact that you can't get a girlfriend, and maybe help your little sister out when ten other boys are trying to get into her pants because her brother lets them. I doubt Grandpa would allow that. You used to be the one who would beat up on guys and threaten them to stay away from me. I want that brother back. Oh, wait, I need that brother."
I hung up before he could argue. Through the glass, I watched him hurl his phone into the grass and storm toward the house.
I sat at my desk, looking at the stack of papers I'd written over the years—letters I'd never sent, filled with the things I'd been too proud or too angry to say while he was away chasing buckles. When I heard his heavy, rhythmic pounding on the door, I didn't open it. I just slid the entire stack of papers under the door.
I heard the rustling of him picking them up. Then, silence. His footsteps faded, and a door closed down the hall.
The sun began to dip, casting long, bruised shadows over the ranch. I waited, my heart thudding against my ribs, until a soft, hesitant knock sounded.
I unlocked the door and pulled it open slowly. Axel stood there, the papers clutched in his hand, his eyes red-rimmed and tired.
"Do you honestly feel this way?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.
I just nodded.
Axel took a step back, opening his arms. I didn't hesitate. I stepped out of my fortress and let him pull me into a hug. It wasn't the rough, competitive grab from earlier; it was a silent apology, a promise to be the anchor I'd been missing.
I let my arms wrap around him, burying my face in his shoulder. For the first time in four years, the "battlefield" of the ranch felt like it finally had a truce.