Chapter 20

When they arrived at Luke’s, he answered the door, clearly puzzled as to why they were there. Once they explained their concerns, he laughed.

“What are the cops going to do if they don’t have the video?”

Austin looked at Maverick and Travis, and they didn’t have an answer.

“You also have to consider that Maverick and I are football heroes, and Maverick is a Houston. The cops would need hard evidence to even think about talking to us,” Luke said.

“That sounds about right,” Maverick said. “Billy and the boys didn’t even get taken in when that Thornton cheerleader’s dad made a fuss.”

Austin had heard about the wild party where a girl had been passed around. He didn’t know she was a cheerleader.

“Was she willing?” Austin asked.

“She started it. If she’d taken a shower before going home, she wouldn’t have smelled like sex and gotten caught,” Luke said.

“I heard her family moved,” Maverick said.

“Must have gotten pregnant,” Travis said.

Austin was shocked that they all acted like it had been no big deal. Then again, he’d filmed a porno and hadn’t thought too much about it until the cops showed up at Ed’s aunt and uncle’s place.

“The only way this goes south is if one of us fucks up and admits to anything,” Luke said. “You said Ed’s in the wind, and I’m sure he’s smart enough to destroy the pics and the video file. Plus, no one knows who the girls were. So go home and keep your damned mouths shut.”

Luke shut his front door on them. In his mind, the conversation was over.

“Do you think he’s right?” Austin asked.

“No,” Maverick said. “Someone will say something to our parents.”

Austin knocked on the door.

“Now what?” Luke asked, his eyes squinting at them.

“Someone will tell our parents,” Maverick said.

“For fuck’s sake,” Luke moaned. “Tell them we were teasing the cowboy and made it all up to torment him. That we feel awful about it now, but it was all done in fun.”

The way the lie rolled off Luke’s tongue suggested he’d used similar excuses when confronted with bullying others.

“That works,” Travis said. “It would be best if Austin told his dad so he doesn’t get the crap beat out of him.”

Austin was surprised Travis knew his dad had hit him. While he hadn’t gone out of his way to share that information, he had told some people. From the looks Maverick and Luke gave him, it was clear they’d heard about it.

“Okay, ladies. Are we done now?” Luke asked.

“Looks like it,” Maverick said.

“I’ll see you at school,” Luke said and shut the door again.

When the girls reached the ranch, they started to get cold feet.

“Are we crazy?” Carol asked as they pulled up to the barn.

“Yeah. Austin will be sure we’re some kind of sluts if we ask him to show us his penis,” Macey said.

Nora had been having her own doubts about the plan.

“So, what do you girls want to do?” Nora asked.

“Can we go horseback riding?” Macey asked.

“Of course,” Nora said with a nervous chuckle of relief.

They’d just gotten out of their car when Maverick pulled up in the truck with Austin and Travis.

“I’ll see you guys later,” Maverick said and walked off toward the house.

“What are you girls doing?” Travis asked.

“Nora was going to let us ride horses,” Macey said, adding a shy, “Hi, Austin.”

“Travis and I will help you get the horses ready,” Austin said as he entered the barn.

While Austin stepped into the tack room, Travis put leads on horses and brought them out of their stalls.

Nora saw the girls had their heads together, whispering, so she strolled to the tack room to help Austin.

“I didn’t know you hung out with them,” Austin said when she entered.

“I used to when I was younger,” Nora said as she helped pull down gear.

“But not now?” Austin asked.

“We sort of went different ways.”

Even she knew that sounded bad. The truth was, she’d become popular and had hung out with a different crowd.

“What changed? Why did you bring them home?” Austin asked.

Nora blushed.

Austin put it together.

“The rumors,” he said sadly.

Nora bit her bottom lip and nodded.

“I really do need a change of scenery,” Austin muttered as he pulled down saddles.

“What do you mean?” Nora asked.

“My dad moved me here because he thought I needed a change and to enroll me in school. He really didn’t want to try to homeschool me after my mom divorced him.”

“I understand why your dad moved you here, but you said you need a change. What does that mean?” she asked.

“Since the divorce, my mom has asked that I spend time with her. I’d said ‘no’ until recently when my dad...” Austin trailed off.

“You’re moving?” Nora asked.

“That’s the thing. It turns out my mom doesn’t really want me, so I’m going to stay with my grandma when school lets out.”

“For a vacation?”

“For the summer, maybe longer,” Austin said.

“Is it because your dad hit you?”

“That caused me to reconsider it. And he’s getting a new family, and now there are all these rumors. He’d be better off without me around,” Austin said, unable to look at her.

“What about me?” Nora asked.

Austin looked up in confusion.

“What about you?”

“I just thought ... never mind,” she said, grabbed a stack of blankets, and hurried into the barn.

Austin made several trips to get enough saddles and the like so they could go riding, then helped Travis get the horses ready. Once he had all the gear they needed in the barn, Austin saddled Red and rode off alone. Bliss whinnied her objection to being left behind.

Nora rubbed her horse’s neck.

“You need to get used to it. They’re leaving us,” Nora said quietly.

When they finally left the barn, Bliss looked around, trying to find Austin and Red, but they hadn’t waited.

When Nora returned from her ride, she spotted Red in his stall, and it was evident Austin had taken care of the evening chores.

The girls had enjoyed their ride, and Emily and Travis had hit it off. It was good to see her little brother have some success with girls without Maverick’s help. A girlfriend would do wonders to build his confidence.

As she loaded the girls into her car to take them home, Nora spotted Austin eating dinner with his dad and future family on the deck on the barn. He glanced down at her momentarily and returned to the family conversation. Nora wondered if she’d missed her shot with him.

The girls were helping their mom clean up, which left Austin alone with his dad.

“I need your advice.”

“What about?” Clay asked.

“Luke and Mav started a rumor about me that’s spread like wildfire, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

“What did they say?”

Austin told his dad the broad strokes, including his supposed porn name, ‘The Virginator.’

Clay chuckled.

“And people believed that?”

Austin shrugged.

“I don’t think they meant to be mean. It’s sort of made me popular.”

Clay sighed.

“And being popular makes you uncomfortable?”