Ride Fast

Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Shit.

Shit. s**t. s**t.

Jax stared at the text, silently cursing.

Robbie: Pick you up in 5?

Tonight, the men from the surrounding ranches were gathering at the Grace's to dig a pit and smoke a pig. It was tradition. Every night before a wedding in Prairie, the men gathered to drink, smoke cigars, and roast a pig. How could he have forgotten? He'd been put in charge of procuring the cigars, which meant there was no way he could bail out.

One word. Okay, five words. Isabella Capizzi's sparkling brown eyes.

Lately, he'd noticed a lot more about her than her eyes, and it was becoming harder and harder to honor the agreement they'd made years ago to stay friends, no matter what. Maybe the accidental double-booking was a good thing. He needed to take a hot second and cool off. Get his mind firmly back in the friend-zone. She'd been mesmerizing on horseback this afternoon, poetry in motion with her hair flying out from underneath her straw Stetson, instinctively knowing which direction a calf would bolt and moving as one with Junior to block it. Hell, she was mesmerizing most of the time, and that was the problem.

Guilt flashed through him. He was a class-a d-bag for the less than savory thoughts about Izzie that spun through his head like a movie reel. His phone buzzed again with a follow-up text from Izzie's older brother.

Robbie: ???

Jax cursed aloud. He hated to bail on Izzie after the day she'd had, but his absence would raise more than a few eyebrows. She'd understand. Izzie always understood - that was part of what made her the world's best friend. And he'd make it up to her. He tapped out a response.

Jax: I'll be ready.

Then he messaged Izzie.

Jax: Hey, I have to raincheck. Forgot we're putting the pig in the ground tonight.

He winced as he hit send. "Sorry, Iz." He was sorrier than would be safe to tell her. A moment later she replied.

Izzie: Sure. No prob. Have fun!

Just like her. His thumbs flew over the digital keys.

Jax: I'll make it up to you.

Izzie: No worries. I wouldn't have been good company anyway.

He hesitated, thumbs hovering over the keys. f**k it. He didn't want her thinking that.

Jax: You're always good company.

Izzie: :) lol you're sweet

He hesitated again, but only for a second. It wasn't like he'd never asked her...

Jax: Be my P1 tomorrow?

Izzie: ...

Izzie:

Izzie: ...

Izzie:

What the f**k? Jax stared at the screen. The dots appeared and disappeared two more times before her answer materialized.

Izzie: Sorry, I have a date.

Jax blinked, double checking the text to make sure he'd read it right. She had a date? With who? A green-eyed monster reared its ugly head, snapping and snarling at the thought of Izzie bringing a date to Lexi Grace and Jarrod O'Neill's wedding. She'd been his plus-one to every wedding in Prairie in the three years he'd been back, and plenty in other places. He started to type. Then erased his words. It wasn't any of his business who she brought to Lexi's wedding. They couldn't be more than friends anyways. Still... he started typing again. She should at least know that he'd be looking out for her. He looked down at what he'd typed.

Jax: Who's the lucky asshole?

Yeah. That wouldn't do. He erased his words again. Envy stewed in his belly. Finally, he typed out the only thing he could say.

Jax: Cool. See you there

With another string of profanity, he stowed his phone in his back pocket, pulled the box of cigars from the cabinet above his refrigerator, and gave a longing glance at the bottle of red wine standing at the center of his kitchen table. He'd rather be hanging out with Izzie on her front porch. Years ago, her parents had built her a sweet cottage behind the family compound in a grove of old cottonwoods. His converted bunkhouse behind his family's stables paled in comparison. He had more than enough savings from his years in the PBR to build something new, but he had big plans for his earnings, and no plans of settling down.

Robbie pulled up with a screech of tires as Jax stepped onto the porch. "Let's get this show on the road," he hollered, leaning out the driver's side window.

"I know that tone of voice," Jax answered with a ready grin. "Does that mean I'm DD tonight?"

Robbie nodded when Jax slid into the passenger seat. "I have a twenty-four morning after next."

"Sucks to be you."

Robbie shrugged. "Nah, I don't mind. I want to put in as much time as I can this month. It was a dry winter out west, fire season is going to come early this year."

Robbie was one of a handful of local firefighters that made up the Prairie Hotshot crew. Every summer they got called out to work on the most dangerous wildfires. People might think he was the crazy one for climbing on the back of a bull and hanging on for eight seconds, but Jax knew better. People like Robbie were a different kind of crazy.

Jax drummed his fingers on the edge of the windowsill, still irked about his texts with Izzie. No sense in brooding about it now, not when there was a pig to roast and a groom to razz. But even after sharing drinks and cigars with the other guys, his thoughts kept returning to Izzie. It didn't help that he kept sizing up all the other single guys present. Who could she be bringing? Jax immediately ruled out Tony Cruz. Robbie and Tony were best friends, and Tony'd never jeopardize their friendship by making a play for Izzie.

He supposed it could be the new guy who'd started learning how to ride roughstock a little more than a month ago - Trace Walker. Izzie had seen plenty of him, hanging out at the roughstock riding school, same as Tony. But Trace had kept to himself, only just recently joining the guys at the Trading Post for an occasional round of pool.

Was she bringing another teacher? Jax cringed. She couldn't be bringing Jason Fletcher, could she? He tried hard to imagine Izzie with a man who'd never been on a horse, and he just couldn't. A firm hand on his shoulder brought Jax back to the present.

"You look like a man who's got lady troubles," said Colton Kincaid, one of the owners of the roughstock riding school and married to the bride's sister, Lydia.

Robbie waved a hand. "Don't worry about him. He's been in a mood since I picked him up. He's DD tonight."

Colton shook his head. "Nope. Whenever a man looks like he's gonna eat someone for breakfast, there's always a lady involved. Whoever she is, you better marry her." His comment drew a round of laughter and nods from some of the other married men.

"Just remember," chimed in Cody Hansen, Colton's partner, who was also married to a Grace sister. "She's always right." He patted his future brother-in-law on the back. "You'd best remember that too, Jarrod."

Colton lowered his voice. "Seriously. Everything okay?"

"Izzie mentioned she's bringing a date to the wedding."

"And it's not you?" Colton teased. "No wonder you look fit to be tied."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Only that everyone's been waiting for that shoe to drop for a long, long time."

"Wait, what's this?" Robbie growled from across the fire. "If you're not bringing her, whose knees do I need to break?"

"No one's," Jax said firmly. "That s**t might have worked when I was a teenager, but she's almost thirty now. Give her some space."

"Someone's got to look out for her."

"Your sister does plenty fine looking out for herself," returned Jax. "In case you haven't noticed she's one of the best teachers at the high school. She didn't earn everyone's respect by being a doormat."

"And she's hot." Tony Cruz added.

Tony was right. Izzie was hot. She was bold and voluptuous, with hips that begged to be caressed and an a*s perfectly made for squeezing while he pounded into her. A shot of heat ripped straight through Jax at the vivid thought. Just as quickly, he pushed it away. He had no business fantasizing about his best friend, and definitely not at a stag party. But his thoughts kept drifting to her dancing eyes which always looked like they were cooking up something this side of naughty.

Robbie spun with a glare. "Shut it, Tony."

Jax snickered.

Tony lifted up his hands. "Well, it's true, man. But that doesn't mean I'm going to act on it."

Good. Tony wasn't her type anyways. "Calm down, Robbie," Jax called softly. "Izzie's too smart to date a douchebag. Whoever she dates is going to treat her right." The green monster in Jax's belly grumbled. Jax would personally see to it that the lucky son of a g*n treated her right.

"Fine. You date her then," Robbie tossed back.

If only it were that easy. Jax chuckled and studied his boots. Until it became clear that the men were waiting for him to respond. "I'm not the dating kind. Not anymore, at least," Jax protested.

Robbie eyed him steadily. "So you're saying one bad marriage when you were barely legal and that's it? You're done?"

There was a weight behind Robbie's words, an unspoken accusation that arrowed right into Jax's center. Robbie couldn't know anything about the real reason his marriage had dissolved eight years ago, but that didn't stop the shame from flooding through him. He smiled tightly. "I'm saying the whole thing - marriage, kids... it's not for me. And I like your sister too much to marry her."

"Famous last words," Colton said with a laugh. "I'm calling it here. You'll be married to the right woman inside of a year. I guarandamntee it."

The other married men added their agreement. "Wait and see." "It's in the water." "You'll be next."

Their sentiment was admirable, and Jax could see they were happy. But no one knew better than he that he was horribly, utterly, unsuited for marriage, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.