Without You

I looked around and saw him over on the rope swing with his hands all over that bitch, Claire.

Ugh. What a slut.

“Grace, why do you even bother with him? He’s such an ass. He flirts with everyone and treats you like—”

“Alex, please, not again.” Grace looked at me with pleading eyes.

I knew she didn’t want Will to know how Mike had been treating her.

“Treats you like what? Has that jerk ever laid his hands on you, Grace? I’ll kick his damn ass.”

Grace laughed. “No, Will. He has never touched me. Alex and Libby just don’t like Mike, that’s all.”

Grace looked around. She must have found the bastard because when she turned back around, I swore I saw her eyes filling with tears.

We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming, playing horseshoes, potato-sack races, and tug of war. You named it, and we did it. I was exhausted by the time the sun went down. I looked over and saw Lauren leaning against a tree. She was talking to some guy I’d never seen before. Colt was standing nearby, and I noticed he kept looking over.

I nudged Will. “You need to go tell Colt that he’d better make his move if he’s interested in Lauren. I have no clue who the new guy is.”

Will looked up and nodded. “That’s Claire’s cousin, Brax. He just moved here from Montana or something like that.”

“Huh. Well, Brax sure seems to have his eyes on Lauren.”

“Yeah, he does.” Will leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “I’ll be right back.”

He got up and walked over to Colt. He leaned in and said something to him. Colt nodded and pushed off the tree, and then they started making their way over to Lauren and Brax.

“Oh shit,” I whispered.

Libby sat down across from me and asked, “Oh shit what?”

I didn’t look at her as I kept watching Will and Colt. “Colt…I think he likes Lauren. The new guy, Brax, is giving Lauren a lot of one-on-one attention. I told Will to tell Colt that he’d better make his move now if he was interested before this Brax guy gets too much into her head.”

“Oh shit. They’re walking over there, Alex!”

I looked at Libby. “I know, Lib! That’s why I said, oh shit. The overprotective big-brother syndrome is playing out before our eyes.”

“What’s going on?”

Libby closed her eyes at the sound of Luke’s voice. I turned and looked up at Luke staring down at Libby and me.

I smiled at my handsome cousin. “Oh, um…nothing. I think Colt likes Lauren, and some new guy named Brax has been talking to her. Will and Colt are walking up to them. You know how y’all get with each of us, all protective and stuff.”

Luke smiled weakly and then looked over at Lauren. “Yeah, Colt likes Lauren.”

Libby snapped her head to look up at Luke.

Speaking at the same time, we both said, “He does?”

Luke took a drink of his beer and sat down next to me. He was sitting directly across from Libby and staring right at her. “Yep. He got drunk and told us how much he liked her.”

Libby looked away, but Luke kept staring at her.

Libby was watching what was happening with Colt and Lauren as she said, “Why doesn’t he just tell her he likes her instead of playing games?”

Somehow, I didn’t think Libby was talking about Colt and Lauren anymore.

“I don’t know. Maybe he’s afraid.”

Libby turned her head and looked at Luke. “Of what?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t know. Maybe he’s never felt the way he feels when Lauren’s around him. Maybe it freaks him out.”

Libby just stared at him before she smiled slightly. “Maybe he should stop being such a pussy about it then. Seems to me that Lauren isn’t going to wait around for him, is she?”

I saw the muscles in Luke’s neck tighten, and I knew neither one of them were talking about Colt and Lauren.

“Colt, knock it off!” Lauren shouted.

I looked back at Lauren, and Colt had Brax pushed up against a tree while Will was trying to get him to stop.

“Great,” I said. I jumped up and walked over there. “Colt Mathews, stop it right now.”

Colt looked at me and then gave Brax a good push that caused him to stumble.

Lauren ran over to Brax. “Are you okay?” She looked at Colt with a confused look. “What is wrong with you?”

Just by looking at Colt, I could tell he’d had too much to drink. “Colt, why don’t you go lie down in the back of your truck for a bit?” I tried to pull him away.