Saddle up

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Brant's POV

I heard someone pull into the gravel drive and I prayed that it was Jess. I walked out on the porch to see Chase exiting his truck, burying his hands in his pockets, looking pretty guilty.

"Chase, you're back kinda quick.", I said trying to hide my disappointment.

"Yeah..."

"What's wrong?"

"I really messed up, man."

"What do you mean, you messed up?", my heart began to race.

"I called her a slut..."

"You did what?!" I nearly shouted, fists tightening again.

"I know, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it, it just sorta slipped."

"Jesus, Chase. Is she ok??"

"I really don't think so, man. I really hurt her feelings...I feel awful."

"What did she say? Did she kick you out?? How did this happen?"

"She was telling me some shit about Cole's Pap dying and no one being able to find him, and she found him for his mom, and I really didn't listen to much else before it slipped. She said you must've walked in on her and Cole...ya know, a heads up would have been great. Probably would have prevented the name calling cuz I woulda had time to cool off before I went to see her..."

"That bastard."

"Huh...? Chase asked, confused.

"I knew he did something to manipulate her into letting him close again...he does this shit every time. He tugs at her heart strings, and then when she lets her guard down, he keeps working at her until she's so brainwashed and believing she's saving him from something. It's sickening and the worst part is that she can't see it!! She has no idea what he's truly capable of."

"Shit...I feel like such an asshole."

"It's not your fault. It's that piece of human garbage. You know he saw me in the house this afternoon??"

"What? Saw you?"

"He saw me walk in on them, and he smiled at me..."

"Oh hell no. Let's go get this asshole! We could have this problem sorted out in 10 minutes alone with him."

"I want to man, but every time this happens, it pushes her closer to him! It's all part of his game. The more I fly off the handle, the better it is for his game that he's playing."

"So what can we do??"

"I don't know. I wish he'd just go away and stay away, but since that's not happening, I have to try to make Jess see him for what he really is."

"Well, how do we do that?"

"It's gotta be me. I have to talk to him alone."

"What can I do?"

"Keep working on Jess. She doesn't hold a grudge, it's not her nature. She will forgive you, Chase."

"I really hope so. You should have seen the way she looked at me after..."

"We'll fix it. Tomorrow we divide and conquer."

Later that night in bed I was scrolling through my phone trying to waste time or get tired enough to go to sleep.

My screen lit up with Jess's name and I about jumped out of bed to answer it.

"Hello?? Jess? Hey."

"Hi..." hearing her voice made my heart nearly explode.