“Ford.”
Letting out a sigh, I slouch down in the seat, my gaze focused on the window in front of me. Louis merges on to the highway with ease, and without cursing, which I don’t know how it’s possible to drive in Austin without cussing up a storm, let alone merging on to the highway.
“Her ex is mixed up with the Russian mafia. She met with them to bail him out of his troubles, because he has a sex tape of them, and of us, he was threatening to release them both.”
“That’s a lot of information in just two sentences,” Louis rumbles.
Nodding, I let out another sigh. “It is. I didn’t want to leave her there. She claims the Russian leader she talked to didn’t hold her responsible for anything, but the fact that she put herself in that situation pisses me off and for what? Some dirtbag?”
“And her reputation.”
“Claims she wants to quit acting, come and live on the ranch, so what the fuck does the reputation matter if that’s the case?”
“So, you’re mad because she doesn’t want a sex tape out for the world to see? If she’s yours, you want everyone to see her fuckin’ some other guy? I know I don’t even want to think about another man, let alone see Tulip with one. You want the world to see you fuckin’ her, too?”
Shaking my head, I clear my throat. “I don’t care about that, I just want her. That’s all. Then, I started looking around her place in Malibu and it really sunk in. Our lives are too different. She won’t be happy living on the ranch forever. For a while, yeah, but when the novelty wears off, what happens?”
“You’re getting too far ahead of yourself,” Louis points out.
“Am I? Not eighteen anymore, brother.”
He chuckles as he continues to drive. “Yeah, I know. But, Ford, you gotta give it a chance.”
“I’m tired,” I admit.
He nods. “I get that. Still, y’all are going through a lot and you have to consider her situation.”
“Instead of talking to me, she ran, again. I don’t know if I can live a life where I’m waiting for her to run at every obstacle.”
Louis clears his throat. “Maybe it’s for the best then.”
“Why does it feel so goddamn shitty?” I ask.
“Because that’s what love fucking does sometimes. It feels like shit. Then it gets better before it becomes fucking amazing. Not necessarily with the same woman. Maybe Stephanie isn’t who you end up with, maybe she’s who you learn from so that you know how to be with the next woman?”
Thankfully, he doesn’t say anything else. Instead, I’m lost in my thoughts. I can’t help but think about this mafia thing. I shouldn’t have left. Taking my phone out of my pocket, I find Beaumont’s number.
“You make it home?” he asks, picking up on the second ring.
Laughing, I nod as if he can see me. “Louis picked me up,” I murmur. “Wanted to talk to you.”
“She’s on my radar, brother, you don’t even have to ask.”
“I shouldn’t have left. I should have stayed.”
“Maybe. Doesn’t matter now. I got her, you just take care of you. I’ll update you.”
I end the call, unsure of what else to say. I want to go back to LA, but I can’t. Leaving was the right thing to do. She knows that she can come to me and honest to fuck, I hope that she does.
But I don’t even know if I could protect her from the mafia, Sebastian, or anything else that comes at her in Malibu. That’s all her shit and I think she needs to decide what she wants and if it’s me and this life that I can give her or the life she has created for herself there.
I wouldn’t even be upset if she stayed in LA. She worked hard for the life that she has built there. It’s a good one, filled with parties, expensive shit, nice houses, and luxury that I just can’t even fathom let alone give her.
Louis pulls up to my house and I thank him for the ride before I jump out of his truck and grab my bag from the back. Without another word, or look back, I make my way toward my front porch.
Jimmy and Erica are gone, and I’m glad for it. There’s a note on my kitchen counter explaining that they had to go, one of their children came down with something. Opening up my fridge, I chuckle at all the new additions.
Erica apparently didn’t like the state of my fridge, freezer, or pantry, because they are all full to bursting now. It feels good, seeing a woman’s touch in the old farmhouse again, even if it is small. I don’t think that the kitchen has been this full since my mother passed away.
I hear the crack of thunder and my body jolts. Running out to the barn, I check to see if Starlight is tucked away. Arriving at the barn, I hear her neigh, but notice that she’s safe and sound.
Unable to go back into the empty house, I sit down in the old chair next to her stall. That’s where I spend the rest of the evening, with my horse. The only fucking female on this earth that seems to want me around.
STEPHANIE
Kirill sits across from me, the same restaurant as a few days ago, another vodka in his hand to my water. He smirks, tilting his head to the side and jerking his chin toward my glass.
“Water?” he asks. “Would you like wine, champagne?”
Shaking my head, I try not to fidget, but find that this handsome man makes it extremely hard to stay calm in front of him. He is unnerving and not just because he’s dangerously good looking, but simply because of who he is and what he stands for.
“No thank you,” I whisper.
He hums. “You have not left. He was here, was he not?”
“Who?”
His lips turn up into a smirk. “Your cowboy.”
“How did you know?”
I don’t know why I ask. I probably shouldn’t, because I’m not sure if I truly want to know the answer. And I was always taught not to ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to.
“I have a man on you, just to be safe.”
“Safe?” I breathe.
“You know how these things go. You go to the paparazzi, the police? Things could get bad.”
Fuck. Ford was right. This is trouble, serious fucking trouble. I try to stay calm, though my heart is pounding a million miles a minute and the blood is roaring through my entire body.
“I also know that Sebastian tried to get into your house, but the cowboy was there, talked to him and ran him off.”
Frowning, I lift my head and tilt it to the side. Shocked by his words. Not once did Ford mention that Sebastian had been at my place. I don’t know what the fuck is going on and how this man knows more about my own life than I do, but I’m already over it.
“I don’t want to be indebted to you, to anyone. What can I do?”
He grins. “Asking me that, indebts you to me, krasavitsa.”
“I’m in over my head,” I whisper.
Kirill lets out a loud bark of laughter, his head thrown backward before he straightens himself, his smile still wide on his face. He shakes his head a couple of times, shaking the laughter away before he composes himself.
“You are. I thought you were leaving town, no?”
“It didn’t work out.”
He tsks. “But it could. Love always finds a way, but you must put yourself in its path at times. Trust me on that.”