“You can play too,” Landry said as if she was supposed to be flattered by that.
But then Hunter walked slowly over to where they stood, and that just made her even more infuriated. Because he came over when Lachlan called, but apparently had no time for her.
“Yeah, I’ll play.”
And she was immediately overwhelmed by her desire to lash out at him. For sitting over there ignoring her so damned easily and for coming over here and ignoring her just as simply. It was like she was invisible. And she hated it.
In the moment, she thought she might hate him.
“Is that your poker face, Hunter? Or do you always look that dumb?” she asked.
“Wow,” Lachlan said. “Elsie came to play. Looks like she might be out for blood.”
“I prefer my bloodlettings to be a little bit more exciting. I could beat Hunter with one hand tied behind my back. Strategy isn’t really his strong point.”
“What did you do?” Landry asked, grinning.
“I didn’t do a damned thing,” Hunter said. “Elsie’s just got a burr under her saddle as per usual.”
“You’re the burr, Hunter McCloud.”
“Guess that makes you the moody mare, Elsie Garrett.”
“Did we step into the middle of a fight?” Lachlan asked.
“No,” Hunter said, his gaze so cool it made goose bumps break out on her arms. “There’s no fight. Let’s play. You got a card table?”
“Over here,” Landry said.
There was a foldout table with red canvas chairs, and one in Realtree camo, set around it.
Elsie sat down, and so did Hunter. Far away from her.
And that was like a splinter right under the fingernail.
“We should play for chores,” Landry said.
“I have enough chores,” Lachlan said. “I don’t want to play for any more.”
“Yeah,” Elsie said, running right over Lachlan. “Let’s play for chores.”
It would be sweet to make Hunter McCloud do her more menial tasks around Garrett’s Watch. She’d enjoy the hell out of it, in fact.
“Only because you think you’ll win. You’ve got a lot of misplaced confidence,” Hunter said.
“Do I?” she asked. “Or does everybody underestimate me.”
“I think everyone doesn’t think about you half as much as you seem to think.”
That shut her up, but her mouth continued to open and closed in rage, and she could feel it, and knew how stupid it looked, but she couldn’t stop it.
“Five card stud,” Lachlan said. “Aces and jacks are wild.”
“Deal us in,” Landry said.
Arizona grinned and leaned back in the chair, her expression as hard and unreadable as ever, even with a smile on her face.
The card game was fast and furious with promised chores being thrown into the pot. Everyone went around once. Except Elsie and Hunter.
It went on and on. And Elsie couldn’t bring herself to fold. Even though her hand wasn’t that great. She kept on putting more in. Knowing that if she lost she had an endless list of chores to do at his place.
She could not lose.
“This is getting pretty rich,” Hunter said.
“I’m about to get rich,” Elsie said. “Rich in free labor.”
“That’s a lot of confidence,” he said.
“I’m very confident.”
“You’re a child, is what you are.”
“Better than being a horse’s ass,” she shot back.
And it was like no one else was sitting there. It was just her and him and all of her fury. The rage that she had felt over how he had ignored her.
“You know who has too much confidence, is you. How the hell you think you know everything, when you’re just a country boy who’s never really been off the ranch, I don’t know. You drive the same road to work every day. Working the same land your daddy did. Hell. You practically are your dad.”
She wished she could stuff the words right back in her mouth the second she said them. Because they were just out there, and ugly, and about the worst thing she could have ever said.
“I call,” he said, his tone flat.
She could feel the ripple around her. She knew she’d gone too far. It was the last thing she ever should’ve said. Hunter’s dad had been the meanest man in creation, and saying that he was his dad was unforgivable, not to mention untrue. There was no call for it. She had... Well, she had definitely overstepped. But she couldn’t let everyone see that. Couldn’t let on that she knew. Or that she was sorry.
“Straight.”
He rolled his eyes, practically in his head. “Royal flush.” He had beat her so soundly it was humiliating. He shook his head. “Elsie, you’re going to come at me with nothing more than a straight and a bad attitude? That’s not good enough.”
“Another round?” Arizona asked, and when even she was uncomfortable with the intensity of something, it was bad.
“I’m out,” Elsie said, flinging her cards down and getting up from the table, reality setting in. She had just said that to Hunter in front of Arizona, Lachlan and Landry. And not only that, she now owed him well over a week’s worth of chores.
She felt awful. Angry and mean and absolutely crispy.
It was just so damned awful. And so was she. She’d been so horrible and spiteful to him. And after the way they’d shared things on the trip.
But he was acting like the trip hadn’t happened, so should she even feel guilty about that?
If they’d never danced and if they’d never...
Then maybe all the sharing didn’t count either.
She walked past the bonfire and into the woods, standing beneath the trees, breathing in and out quickly. Trying to rationalize what the hell had just happened. Because that was...inexcusable. It just was. She heard a twig crack behind her, and she whirled around, and she knew it was Hunter, even though all she could see was his silhouette in the firelight.
“What the hell was that?”
And so she did what any reasonable girl would do in her situation. Where she knew she was clearly wrong, and had been in front of absolutely everybody.
She doubled down.
“You are being... You’re being a dick,” she said.
“What did I do?”
He didn’t know? He really didn’t know?