Broken Trouble (Broken Storm #1) (21 page)

              Finally, Landon sighed,” "Thank you."

              The man's face brightened, obviously happy Landon was letting them help out. It was weird to see people willing to help others, though I guess after seeing Polly, Chili, and the guys’ kindness towards me, I shouldn't be so surprised that some of the people around here were the same way. It must be a country thing.

              Landon turned towards me, taking in the amount of paint I gathered and the colors. His eyes shone with excitement, telling me that I’d made the right choice. "Did you get everything?"

              I nodded, brushing a strand of my hair aside. I avoided their eyes, knowing that if it wasn't for me, they wouldn't need charity, let alone lumber or paint.

              "Great, let's go," he said, gathering up the paint that wasn't in my arms, and heading out the door. I followed, but hesitated at the door. The fact that I was leaving the store with things I hadn't paid for reminded me of my past thefts. For what felt like the first time, it felt wrong. Which was weird considering the guy was giving us the stuff. Plus, I’d stole plenty in the past without second thought.

              I felt stupid. My feet felt like they had been glued to the floor, and my lungs were tight. I distracted myself by watching Landon walking towards the truck. His hips moved side to side with a swagger that only guys have. His butt pressing against his jeans as he moved caught my attention and I tilted my head slightly, like that could possibly make the view any better than it already was.

              Maybe Jayden was rubbing off on me a little.

              Landon glanced back at me, looking confused as to why I was still standing in the doorway of the store.

              My cheeks flamed pink and I hoped he didn't notice me checking him out while he walked. The embarrassment of being caught by him was enough to knock me from whatever spell I had been under, and I took a step out the door. Hurrying over to the truck, I reached it and worked on putting the paint in the back. When we were done, Landon moved a bag of feed over the paint to keep it out of the sun.

              He stretched his arms over his head, his eyes appraising me. When his arms dropped to his sides, he seemed relaxed and happy. "Come on, a lady can't come to town and not shop for clothes," he declared, leading me down a sidewalk and into another store.

              "I don't need anything,” I admitted.

It was true. I had so many clothes already that I was going to have a hard time paying them back. I could make do with what I had.

              Landon glanced back at me, laughing and rolling his eyes like he thought I was joking, "Good one."

              "No, I'm serious. I have enough clothes," and enough debt to last me awhile, I added to myself.

              He glanced back at me, before nodding,” "You're right, you do have enough clothes, but I do know one thing that you need," he said, leading me deeper into the store. When he came to a stop, he spread out his arms,” "Boots!" The aisle was filled with cowboy boots of different sizes and kinds, from extravagant to plain. "I missed your birthday, so I'm going to buy you a pair of boots,” Landon stated, placing his hands on my shoulders and guiding me down the aisle.

              "My birthday isn't until November."

              "Good to know, but I still missed the one last year, didn't I? So choose. Don't deprive a man of buying a pretty lady something she needs," he said and I knew I wasn't going to win. When a guy had his mind set on something, there was no changing it. I didn't bother to mention that he hadn't known me on my last birthday, and considering what had happened on it, I was glad he hadn't been around to see me like that.

              "You don't have to."

              "I want to," Landon said, coming to stand in front of me, his eyes bright with excitement
.
, "Now pick one."

              "Fine," I relented, about to add that I would pay for it, but, hey, orphan delinquent here, I had no money. So, I decided to find the cheapest pair of boots and go with them. They were on sale. A horribly ugly pair of cheap, chrome colored boots that someone must have ordered in by mistake.

              I could always paint them black.

              I grabbed the five-dollar pair of cowboy boots and turned around. Landon's head snapped back at the sight of them, his face twisting in horror. "No."

              "What do you mean no? They're cheap and they're boots."

              "You are not getting a fucking ugly pair of boots just because they're cheap," Landon said, grabbing the shoes and chucking them back on the shelf like they would bite him.

              "Maybe I liked them."

              "Did you?"

              I fell silent, my sigh was answer enough for him. They were really ugly shoes. "Fine, what's the second cheapest?" I started inspecting price tags, almost choking on air from some of the prices.

              Landon frowned, then grabbed my shoulders and moved me away from the shoes. "Just pick a pair, don't worry about the price."

              "Would you even tell me if it was too much?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

              His eyes narrowed, his eyes searching mine for a moment, before finally settling on an answer, "Yes."

              "Good," I said, hoping he wasn't lying. Browsing over the aisle of boots and decided their selection of black cowboy boots was pitiful and small. I spotted a brown pair that looked decent, it didn't have any carvings on it, so I figured it would be cheaper. "How about those?" I asked, pointing to them.

              Landon moved around me and got them, pulling off the price tag and stuffing it in his pocket. He handed them to me and I took off my boots to try them on. They were surprisingly comfortable, the brown leather creaking like a saddle as I walked. They had double straps across the front, and different shades of brown leather covering it. It had decorative leather stitching on parts, making it look like the boot had been repaired several times. One boot had a small pouch on the outside, which would be perfect for my knife.

              "How much?" I asked, tensing up and waiting for him to say it was too much. Maybe one of the other, simpler pairs of boots would be better.

              "It's a good price for them. Do you like them?" Landon asked, his eyes darting from the boots to my face.

              I ran my hands over my shorts, pondering if I really wanted to go with brown boots. I finally nodded, taking a step out of my comfort zone and heading into a color outside of black and white.

              "You look good in them," he remarked, his eyes lingering on my legs a few seconds too long. When I went to take the boots off, he stopped me. "Leave them on, you'll need to break them in for the rodeo tomorrow."

              "Okay," I agreed, picking up my used boots and following him to the register. He handed her the price tag and I leaned forward, trying to nonchalantly see the price to see if he had been honest about it being a good price or not.

              Unfortunately, the new shoes threw me off balance, causing me to fall against Landon. Instead of pushing me away, he wrapped an arm around me and tightened his hold, pressing me against his chest.

              His cinnamon scent filled my nose and I struggled to get loose, the beeping sound of the shoes being rung up muffled. "Let me see the price," I demanded, placing my hands against his stomach and pushing.

              His hold didn't loosen, his abs just tightening and becoming more pronounced under my palms. "No."

              I grunted and wiggled, contemplating getting my knife and stabbing him. He wasn't hurting me though and I didn't want to hurt him, so I left the knife in my pocket.

              When he finally released me, I shoved him, but was surprised when his hand snapped out and shoved me right back.

              I ran a hand through my hair, getting it away from my face as I narrowed my eyes on him. When I took a step forward, he burst into giggles like a child, and ran out the door. I rolled my eyes and followed him, Landon speeding up occasionally to keep a few feet ahead of me.

              "You're so immature," I said, even as a smile spread across my lips.

              Landon turned, his eyes glowing with happiness that seemed to be contagious. He slowed though, letting me catch up to him before throwing an arm over my shoulder.

              "Let's eat. Are you hungry?" Landon asked, leaning his head on mine as we walked along.

              "Yeah,” my stomach grumbled at the word food and I leapt at the chance to eat. A girl always had a hard time passing up food.

              Landon led me into a diner and we took a seat in a booth, ordering hamburgers and soda. I picked up my straw, pushing it slightly through the paper wrapper, pulling it off and plopping it into the drink.

              It was only then that I realized I just disarmed myself.

              Landon smiled, tapping the wrapped straw on his chin in thought before pulling the end of the straw wrapper off and putting the straw up to his mouth, ready to blow the wrapper at me.

              So I grabbed the bottle of mustard and sat it pointedly in front of me.

              Landon froze, eyes darting between me and the mustard, trying to decide if I would actually squirt him with it. In the end, he made the right choice by disarming his straw and laying the wrapper on the table, like someone would take out the cartridge in a gun.

              I smiled and he grinned, then we sat back and enjoyed our lunch, like any normal couple on a date.

              Except we weren't a couple and we weren't on a date.

              Or at least that's what I thought.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

              I stepped out of the truck and eyed the veterinary truck parked in the ranch yard. Did we take too long in town, or was the vet just early?

              I followed the sound of voices over to the tool shed, finding Jayden sitting on a crate with his leg stretched out in front of him. A large man stood staring down at him. I assumed he was the vet. Polly, Chili, and the other guys watched him.

              "Now why would you go and do a dim-witted thing like that?" the vet asked, shaking his head at Jayden.

              Jayden didn't answer him, only gritted his teeth with annoyance, until his eyes caught mine. His eyes perused slowly down my body, lingering on my legs and the new cowboy boots on my feet.

              The vet followed his gaze to me, understanding flooding his face, "It's always over a girl, isn't it?"

              I knelt as I came up to them, trying to hide my blush by picking up Mutt, who was running around my boots excitedly. He looked at my boots the same way he would look at two new chew toys. I scratched behind his ears and held him in my arms, purposefully ignoring what he had said.              

"Am I too late?" I asked, wondering if the vet had already examined Jayden's leg.

              "Just in time actually. You can help by holding his hand,” the vet joked, obviously trying to rile Jayden up.

              "I don't need her to hold my hand," Jayden defended, even as he pulled me down to sit beside him, adding in my ear, "but I do have something else you can hold onto."

              I frowned at him as he grinned and winked, then winced as the vet started inspecting his leg. "I'm Dr. Krisp."

              "Nova," I introduced myself, exchanging a friendly smile with him before he went back to his examination. He rolled up Jayden's pant leg to get a better look, revealing a heavily bruised and swollen knee.

              I was used to seeing bruises on my own skin, but not on others, it made me want to wrap my arms around him to comfort him, but I resisted the urge. It was his own fault his leg was hurt, so I kept my hands on Mutt, who stayed surprisingly well-behaved in my lap.

              I glanced at Gavin, who was watching me pet Mutt while he squirmed around in my lap. When his eyes met mine however, they hardened like he was angry I’d caught him watching.

              Maybe I’d hung out with Landon too much today, but for whatever reason, I stuck out my tongue at him. I turned my attention immediately to the vet, trying to ignore Gavin's gaze burning into the side of my face. I could sense him watching me for several minutes, until Dr. Krisp stepped back and his gaze went to the vet instead.

Dr. Krisp put his hands on his hips, frowning down at Jayden as he gave his diagnosis, "It looks like you just pulled a muscle. Stay off of bulls for awhile and go easy on it. I don't have any drugs to give you, but I don't think you'd want them anyway, even if I did have them."

              Jayden's eyes changed instantly at the mention of drugs, a flicker of fear in his eyes before he could mask it. I watched his face closely, trying to figure out what his expression meant. He refused to go to a hospital, and now there was fear in his eyes at even the mention of drugs. I felt like I had found a trail to a small, broken part of him, but was missing way too many pieces to put it together. What could have happened in his past to make him react the way he did?