Tangled Up in You Know Who

Keegan

The early morning sun is lighting up my room when I open my eyes.

The fire has died, but the smoldering smell reaches me. It’s comforting, somehow.

Deep, regular breaths touch my shoulder. A leg is thrown over mine, and a pair of strong arms have me wrapped in a warm embrace.

I am tangled up in Blue.

I want to imprint on my memory the wonderfully heavy feel of his body coiled around mine. I want to spend the day right here.

But I’ve got an 8 a.m. meeting with Virginia Cooke.

I stretch my hand to the nightstand to check the time on my phone. It’s 7:35; I’ve got just enough time to clean up a little before I walk into the lion’s den.

I’d half-heartedly tried to talk to my grandmother about Megz when we first got here Wednesday night.

She gave me a sharp, assessing look when I said my friend’s name and suggested it was a conversation better left until after Thanksgiving Day.

I didn’t have the nerve to argue.

Then she said she could see me at 8 sharp Friday morning, penciling me into one of the leather-bound planners she’s used forever.

I slip out of Blue’s embrace, careful not to wake him.

He looks so peaceful in his sleep, so untroubled. That’s not always the case.

I sigh as I head for the shower.

A few minutes later, my wet hair slicked back and wearing yoga pants and a wrinkled hoodie, I head downstairs.

The light under her office door tells me Virginia is already there.

I knock, and as I enter at her summons, I wonder what it’s like to have a more normal grandma: a pillowy soft one who fills the house with the smell of baking cookies and makes you feel like you’re the center of the universe.

I can tell by the slight curl of her lip as I slouch into the office that my grandmother does not approve of my attire.

Even at home, even on a holiday, Virginia Cooke is dressed immaculately, her only concession to informality being a pair of tailored wool slacks and what could almost be described as comfortable shoes.

Uncharacteristically, she doesn’t mention how I look.

She does, of course, let out a resigned sigh to signal her displeasure as I slip into one of the elaborately carved chairs in front of her desk.

Even more surprisingly, Virginia doesn’t bring up Blue. I’d expected her to start yelling about me dating—and, as she quickly figured out, living with—Bill Daniels’ son.

Yesterday, I thought I was going to have to lunge across the Thanksgiving table to keep her from tearing Blue’s eyes out.

But now, she’s just sitting there wearily, waiting for me to go on.

“So...um...Megz has a problem.”

I swallow, my mouth suddenly dry. “See, well, she was arrested.”

My grandmother’s lips compress into a tight line, and her gaze hardens to stone as I tell her the whole story, ending with Megz’s request for help getting the charges dropped.

Virginia doesn’t say anything for several moments, just lets her eyes stab into me, her veiny hands clasped together on the desk.

She’s wearing her grandmother’s wedding ring on her right hand, where she moved it the day her divorce was finalized.

As far as I know, she never takes it off.

The rose-cut diamond flashes as her fingers tense.

“Keegan,” she finally sighs with a disparaging shake of her head, glancing out the window toward the river that meanders past the ranch’s main house.

I can feel the lecture that’s coming, and already, I’m pissed and defensive.

“Meghan has always used you. Always been able to manipulate you.”

“You know what, just forget it,” I snarl, throwing up my hands just as Virginia’s Siamese cat jumps into my lap.

One of my hands knocks into the side of his head.

“Oh, sorry, Boots,” I murmur, holding the cat as he lets out a couple of cranky meows.

I hadn’t even noticed Boots before. He must have been curled up in the chair in the corner.

He gives me an arch look that’s remarkably like the one his owner is directing at me as I take a deep breath.

Virginia and I start speaking at the same time.

“I really don’t need—”

“You should grow up and see things—”

We both fall silent. Now it’s my grandmother’s turn to inhale a calming breath.

“I’m not going to save Meghan from the consequences of her own actions,” she says firmly. “I’m sorry if that upsets you.”

I lick my dry lips and then start speaking slowly, trying to keep my words measured.

“She’ll lose her scholarship. She...you know what her life has been like.”

Virginia gives me a disgusted look.

“Keegan. Stop making excuses for her. She earned a full scholarship to OU. She did that on her own. She had a bright future in front of her.”

Boots jumps off my lap and disappears behind the desk.

“And then she threw it all away.”

“She made a mistake,” I plead, hating the whine in my voice. “Like we all have. But unlike us, Megz can’t just buy her way out of her mistakes. Or have someone powerful pull strings to get her out of it. People like us always get second chances. Why shouldn’t she?”

We’re glaring at each other.

“Megz is my friend,” I go on. “You could easily make the charges go away. You could easily help if you wanted to.”

The weariness in Virginia’s eyes is gone, replaced by a spark of anger.

“Yes,” she says evenly. “Most likely I could. But I won’t.”

I roll my eyes and let out a frustrated sigh.

“And for the record, Keegan,” she continues, “if it was you in this situation, I wouldn’t save you from the consequences of your actions either.”

I flounce out of the room, barely resisting the urge to slam the door like a petulant teenager.

Blue is building a fire when I walk back into my bedroom.

He’s wearing only a pair of sweatpants, and the sight of his muscular, scarred back sends a flood of conflicting emotions through me: the lust I always feel at the sight of him; pain, at the thought of all he has gone through; and fear of what the guilt that I sometimes see etched on his face might do to him.

What it might do to us.

“Hey.”

He smiles as he straightens and slides the poker into the brass bin next to the fireplace.

“You disappeared on me.”

I swallow the lump in my throat.

“I wanted you to sleep. I had a meeting with my grandmother.”

A quizzical look crosses his face. “A meeting?”

I nod, wondering why I didn’t tell Blue about the whole Megz thing earlier.

“Aw,” I say, turning toward the bed, glad for the distraction, “you even made the bed. What a good boyfriend you are.”

I raise a seductive eyebrow at him as I flip back the covers and crawl in.

“How about we mess it up again?”

I don’t have to ask twice. Blue is across the room in a second and sliding in next to me.

He threads his fingers through mine and raises my arms above my head. Then he kisses me: long and slow and delicious.

“Maybe we should be a little quieter than we were last night,” he quips. “I’m kinda surprised your grandma didn’t send Buick and some of the ranch hands up here to drag me out to the barn for some country justice.”

We laugh together for a minute and then fall silent. Blue drags a finger over my lips and down my neck.

I feel his erection against my hip.

But then he pulls back and studies my face. “You okay?” he asks.

I nod, brushing his mouth with mine before pulling myself into a sitting position. I can’t put off telling him any longer.

“I need to talk to you.”

The way his face freezes in dread has me rushing to explain.

“No. It’s nothing like that. It’s about Megz.”

For the second time this morning, I spell out the whole shoplifting story, adding a little rant about my grandmother’s refusal to help.

Unlike Virginia, though, Blue doesn’t start lecturing me.

Instead, he stares at the ceiling for a few moments without saying anything.

“Did not see that coming,” he finally mutters, playing with a strand of my still-damp hair.

“You mean Megz shoplifting or Virginia refusing to help?”

“Megz. I’m not at all surprised Madame Ball Breaker wouldn’t bail her out.”

He grins as he sits up next to me. The old wooden headboard groans under our combined weight.

“Sorry. That’s what my dad used to call her. He meant it as an insult. But I don’t. She’s a tough old bird. She’s gotten to the top in an old boys’ club. I admire that, even if she does hate my guts.”

He sighs and runs his fingers through my hair.

“And the thing is,” he adds, “I think she’s right on this, Keegan. She shouldn’t make the charges go away. And Megz shouldn’t have asked you to fix it for her.”

My phone buzzes from the nightstand while I’m still processing Blue’s response. I stretch my hand out to check it.

A text from Megz.

Well??????????

“Shit,” I say, showing the phone to Blue. “I don’t know what to tell her.”

“Tell her the truth. She’s going to have to live with the consequences.”

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I type out a response.

She said no. I’m sorry. I’m still at the ranch, but let’s talk on Sunday ok? We’ll figure something out. It’ll be ok.

I add several kissy face emojis. Then I erase them.

Then I let my thumbs hover over the lines for several seconds, but before finally pressing Send.

Megz doesn’t respond.

Blue and I sit there in silence a while, holding hands and staring at the crackling fire.

After a few moments, I hear voices out in the hallway.

“Probably Buick and Kendra,” I scoff, pushing Blue down on his back and curling into his body, my head on his chest.

“He was planning to take her on a drive around the ranch this morning. I can’t get my head around it. My brother and Kendra? They have absolutely nothing in common.”

Blue’s chest vibrates with laughter.

“Yeah. That’s another thing I did not see coming,” he says. “But hey, to each his own.”

He tilts my chin up and grins at me.

“Told you not to bring her.”

He shuts off my protest by kissing me.

That quickly leads to more kissing and before I know it, Blue is tugging my hoodie and yoga pants off, and I’m helping him shuck his sweatpants.

I straddle him, enjoying the way his face goes slack with desire.

He’s focused entirely on me as I slide on to him, both of us gasping at the same moment.

And then I take it slow, rocking back and forth, smiling as Blue’s mouth forms an O and he says my name like I’ve just performed a miracle.

I could listen to him say it like that forever.

“Pretty sure this is my favorite position,” I coo.

We go on like that for a few more moments, until Blue suddenly flips me over on my back and drives into me as I shriek, not even caring who hears us.

“This position is very nice, too, you have to admit,” he whispers, grinning wickedly.

Later, sated, he tightens his arms around me, inhaling the scent of my hair.

“I’m starving,” he says. “How about we raid the kitchen for leftovers?”

I raise up on an elbow, suddenly seized by a desire to share something with Blue that I’ve always kept private.

“Do you know how to ride?” I ask.

“You mean, a horse?” he responds, surprised at my abrupt change of topic. “Yeah, I took lessons in middle school. My dad seemed to think it was necessary.”

“Will you come riding with me after we eat?” I continue, getting out of bed and reaching for my hoodie. “There’s something I want to show you.”