Ride Me Cowboy #5 (The Cowboy Romance Series - Book #5)

RIDE
ME COWBOY #5

BOOK
5

By
Alycia Taylor

Copyright
2015. All rights reserved.

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CHAPTER
ONE

LEXI

The drive home after I spoke to my mother was
excruciating. Mark was quiet and as much as I wondered what he was thinking, I
didn’t ask him. I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts anyways to worry about
it. Did we do the wrong thing? Is what we did really, morally wrong? He’s not
my brother. We’re not related by blood in any way. We didn’t grow up together.
We’ve only shared parents for a short time and we’ve never lived together… Am I
rationalizing? I suppose the only thing that really matters, the only question
an adult needs to ask before getting into a sexual relationship is this: Are we
hurting anyone?

In this case, Mark’s dad feels hurt because he’ll be
shamed in front of the community. Is that a legitimate wound? I don’t really
think so, but I guess to him it feels that way. His standing in the community
is important to him, but is it okay that it’s more important than his own son’s
happiness? I looked over at Mark. Deep worry lines creased his brow. His father
made him a nervous wreck no matter how hard he tried not to show it. With me
and Mom it’s different. I don’t want to make her unhappy, and I don’t want to
ruin her marriage – even if she is married to a jerk. But the one thing I know
about my mother is that no matter what I do, she’ll still love me and our
relationship will weather any storm. I know this for a fact because I’ve tested
her more than once.

A lot of my life has been spent feeling sorry for
myself. I couldn’t understand why my real mother didn’t love me the way mothers
are supposed to love their daughters. My aunt took me in, no questions asked,
no qualms about all of the things she would have to give up to do that and
instead of being grateful and trusting her, I had tried my damnedest to push
her away. It took me a long time to figure out that no matter how hard I
pushed, she wasn’t going anywhere. I looked at Mark. I knew that he knew
differently about his father. Their relationship was so tenuous that it seemed
the smallest thing could cause it to snap. This was going to be no small thing
to Rob.

When we turned onto the long dirt road that led up to
the ranch, Mark looked at me and said, “My dad’s going to be an ass. So far, I
think you’ve been spared seeing him at his worst. I’m apologizing in advance
for what you’re going to see tonight. But no matter what he says, I’m not
ashamed of being with you.”

His words sent a rush of warmth through my body. It
was amazing to me that an ass like Rob could produce such an amazing man as
Mark. “Thanks, but you don’t have to apologize for your father. You’re right. I
haven’t seen him at his worst, but just from what I know about the way he
treats you, I also know that you’re ten times the man he is. I’m not ashamed to
be with you, either. I count myself as one of the lucky ones.”

I melted when he smiled at me. We drove into the
driveway, and he parked. I saw him take a deep breath. He smiled at me again
before we both got out of the truck. He came around and grabbed my hand. He
gave it a squeeze and said, “Lexi…”

I waited and when he hadn’t said anything after a few
minutes I prompted, “Yes?”

“I love you.” He just spit that out and then moved on
to say, “No matter what, we’ll get through this, as long as we stick together.”
I was shocked. “I love you,” was the last thing I had expected him to say. My
heart was racing, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. He was looking at me
strangely now…nervous…I was taking too long to respond. I tried to swallow, but
my mouth was completely devoid of saliva. Finally, with a lump in my throat,
but a warm feeling in my chest, I realized that I felt it, too I just wasn’t
sure what it was until he’d said it.

“You know what?” I said.

“What?”

“I love you, too.” He smiled broadly. I felt all
tingly inside. I smiled back. He was right. All we had to do was stick together
and we’d get through this. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. I’m
not giving him up without a fight. I shouldn’t have to. Who was Rob anyways
that he could tell us who we should or shouldn’t love?

When we walked into the house, it was eerily quiet.
Mark looked at me, and I wondered if he wanted to just turn around and leave as
badly as I did. He squeezed my hand again as I called out,

“Mom!”

I heard footsteps, and she stuck her head out of the
parlor. Her eyes went straight to our hands and although she didn’t look mad,
she didn’t look pleased. Mostly, I think she looked anxious. We both gripped
onto each other tighter in spite of it.

“We’re in here,” she said. We followed her in, and
Rob’s look was less anxious than Mom’s – it was angrier. He was sitting on the
sofa, smoldering.

“What’s going on, Dad?” Mark asked.

He looked at our joined hands again and in an
incredulous voice he said, “Are you kidding? You’re standing there holding
hands with your stepsister and you want to know what’s going on? Taylor has
gone all over town and told everyone that the two of you are sleeping together.
At first, I didn’t believe her, but then I saw the two of you together when you
had your broken wrist. It’s disgusting! Shameless!” He popped up off the couch.
Mark immediately stepped in front of me. It was sweet and it made me feel safe.

“Lexi, is this true?” Mom asked.

“Yes,” I squeaked out. Mom looked sad, and I felt
another pang of guilt in my chest. She kept glancing at her husband, and I had
to wonder how much of her anxiety was provoked by him. Rob made a disgusted
snorting sound. I moved my hand up to Mark’s arm and stepped out from behind
him. I held onto him as I said, “Neither of us meant for this to happen. We
tried to fight our attraction to each other, but sometimes, you just can’t. I
believe Mark and I were meant to be together. I love him, Mom. I’m sorry.” I
looked at Mark and I amended that. I didn’t want him thinking that I was sorry
about how I felt about him. “I’m sorry that it’s caused you stress or
embarrassment or whatever it’s caused you. But I’m not sorry that I love him.
He’s like the piece of the puzzle that’s been missing from my heart all this
time. I’m glad I met him and I’m glad I fell in love with him and I’m glad he
loves me back.”

Mark was smiling at me. Rob looked like his head was
about to explode, and Mom just looked like a nervous wreck. I felt bad for her,
but I was finished worrying about Rob. He took a step towards Mark and I felt
his body flinch under my hand. It made me wonder how much more had gone on
between them over the years that Mark hadn’t told me about. He was terrified of
his father.

“I want you out of my house. Tonight!” The arm I was
holding onto tensed even more, but Mark didn’t say anything. He looked like he
was just riding out the storm. Some people might think of him as being cowardly
towards his father, but I really think that he’s afraid of exploding on him if
he gets too angry and lets himself go. “You make me sick,” Rob continued.
“You’re worthless. You run around the country playing cowboy and with all of
that opportunity, you can’t find a woman to screw outside of your own family.
It makes me sick to even think that it may have happened under my roof. Never
again! When you leave you take all of your stuff with you because you’re not
coming back. And don’t take anything that’s not yours, either, or I’ll send the
sheriff out to collect it. I hope that you do marry her and the two of you have
a miserable, worthless son like I did, so that you will finally understand what
a disappointment you’ve been to me all of these years.”

 
Mark still
didn’t say anything. I was appalled. This man is the one who is disgusting. How
can he talk to his son like that? I tried to keep my mouth shut, too. My poor
mother looked like she was about to have a full-blown panic attack. I couldn’t
do it, though. I could feel the rage bubbling up in my chest and it was either
tell him how I feel or scream at the top of my lungs.

“Excuse me… You’re the one who is a disgusting
disappointment.” Mark and my mother both looked at me with wide eyes. Rob
practically had smoke coming out his ears now. I didn’t care; I was going to
have my say. “All your son has ever tried to do is follow his heart. As he was
following his heart, you were giving him a hard time. He aches in his heart
because he wants so badly for you to be proud of him. Instead, you want to
strip him of his self-confidence and make him feel guilty for doing what he
loves and being very successful at it. He’s amazing. He’s kind, generous,
loving, tolerant…all of the things you’re not. Maybe you’re jealous of him.
Maybe that’s the problem. You make me sick. A child shouldn’t have to wonder if
they’re loved. A man shouldn’t have to feel like an irresponsible child every
time he’s in the same room with his father – especially when he’s doing nothing
wrong! My mother abandoned me, and I’ve struggled with that my whole life. But
you know what? I don’t believe that I’ll be the one who dies regretting it. I
believe that she will be. I think you’ll regret this, too…when you’re old and
alone because you’ve driven everyone who loves you away!”

Rob stood there and waited for me to finish. I was so
passionate about it that I forgot to breathe throughout the whole speech. When
I finished talking I sucked in a lungful of air. I looked at Mom. Instead of
anxiety, there was something else on her face. It may have been wishful
thinking on my part, but it looked like pride. I loved her so much. I did
regret the chaos this was causing in her life. I regretted the chaos that my
very existence had caused in her life.

Addressing me then, Rob said, “I want you out with
him. You’re not welcome here again. I hope the two of you will be miserable
together. Get out, now!”

I looked at Mom one more time. She was looking at Rob
now with narrowed eyes. Mama Bear was emerging, and I had a feeling that once
we’re gone, Rob was going to get more than just a piece of her mind. I went
over to her and kissed her on the cheek. She looked at me with tears in her
eyes.

“Please don’t cry Mom,” I said. “It’s going to be
okay. I love you.” She squeezed my hand and nodded.

“I love you, too,” she
toldme
.
I believed strongly that no matter what happened, she and I were going to be
okay.

I went over and took Mark’s hand and we walked up the
stairs together to get our things. When we left, Mom and Rob were no longer in
the parlor. I briefly wondered where they were. I didn’t care about him, but I
prayed the night wouldn’t be too miserable for her.

CHAPTER
TWO

MARK

We drove into town in silence again. I was shaking. My
father was an even bigger ass than I ever thought he was. I couldn’t believe
Lexi stood up for me the way that she did. She was incredible…that was why I
loved her. It was one of the reasons, anyways – I had a mental list. As I
thought about how I felt about her, I felt the anger in my chest being quelled
slightly. I felt like a pussy just letting Dad run all over me the way he did,
but me losing my temper with him has always done me more harm than good in the
past. I didn’t want to lose it in front of Lexi and Lydia. Lexi was right when she
said there was some kind of connection between us. I couldn’t ignore the pull
if I wanted to…and I didn’t want to. I wanted to be with her. I didn’t care who
liked it or not. I pulled into a hotel and after parking and turning off the
ignition, I asked, “Is this okay?”