Bittersweet

Bittersweet: Chapter Fourteen

My heart dropped for him, and I couldn't help but frown. "That's awful. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

He glanced up to me through hooded eyes and shook his head, "It's been so long ago. I was a dumb kid." He chuckled, "No longer a kid anymore but still dumb. I'm sorry about yesterday, Hart. I just heard nasty things about that guy, and it got me...Worried. I know I'm only here for a brief time, but I have a responsibility to your father therefore I have a responsibility to you. So, whether you like it or not, I'm going to watch out for you while I'm here. Don't get me wrong, I still very much mean what I said but after a while, I realized that my approach to the situation wasn't ideal."

I understood, I really did. But I already had two emotionally unavailable men in my life and there wasn't a part of me that wanted to add a third to the mix. While Tucker Wells might have been devilishly handsome with his blonde hair and deep brown eyes, I knew that his closest friend got away with stringing my best friend along for almost six months before she found out that he'd been engaged to another woman the whole time. I wasn't stupid enough to believe that they weren't alike in some ways. Besides, I remembered back to when J.T. told me that he liked the inexperienced ones. That told me one thing-he wanted my virginity and well, that obviously wasn't going to happen.

"Hart?" Austin's deep voice pulled me from my thoughts. When I looked up to him, he was watching me expectantly.

"I understand, Austin. I'm not interested in Tucker Wells, but my best friend is with his best friend. That might mean we'll be thrown together at some point and I'm not goin to stop hangin out with my friend because of that possibility. You may not believe it, but I can take care of myself, you know."

He nodded in silence and continued lathering Jaycee's coat. "Just be careful around that guy, you hear me?"

I nodded once, hoping the subject would change. I went back to lathering and he did as well. We worked in silence for a long while but once we were finished with the underside, I began speaking. "Can you pull the hose over this way?"

Austin walked over to the hose attached to the barn and began yanking it towards me. Once there was enough slack, he handed it over and I began lightly spraying off Jacey until she was clean. After that, we both grabbed some towels and began drying her off. Working like this with him was actually kind of relaxing. It was silence, but it wasn't an awkward silence. It was more than peaceful.

Once we were done, I walked Jaycee back into the barn and walked her to her stall. When I came back outside, Austin was still there cleaning up the mess I made-picking up the brush and the sponges from the ground. I quietly grabbed the hose from the ground and before I could even ask myself what I was doing, I was pointing it at him. It was when he was fully leaned over that I turned the sprayer to medium and covered his backside with the cold water. He jumped straight up, and I couldn't help but giggle.

When he turned towards me, he was grinning. "You're gonna regret that, Hart."

I backed away with the hose pointed at him, "Next time you'll think twice about being an asshole to me."

Before I could blink, he was charging towards me. I screamed and moved back but as he came my way, he grabbed the large bucket of sudsy water and flung it towards me-drenching me from head to toe. Unfortunately, the ground was still wet from the rain yesterday, and adding soapy water to the mix when he doused me didn't help, water began accumulating under my boots. When I took a step back, I slipped and fell straight onto my ass in the mud. The wetness was coating the backs of my legs and beginning to soak through my jean shorts.