The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [162]
Two seconds later his bedroom door flew open and bounced off the wall. Morgan leaped out of bed, automatically reaching for his gun. The overhead light came on, nearly blinding him in the gray morning shadows, but showing his brother’s angry face clear as day. Sawyer stalked in, grabbed Morgan’s discarded jeans and flung them at him.
“Get dressed.”
Morgan began pulling on his pants without hesitation. It wasn’t often Sawyer issued commands that way. “What’s wrong?”
“You blew it, that’s what.”
He stumbled, his jeans only to his knees. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means Misty is gone.”
Forget the elephant, it felt like his heart was smashed flat. Wheezing, a little light-headed, he asked, “Gone where?”
Sawyer jutted his chin toward Morgan and growled, “She left, Morgan. What did you expect her to do with you moping around, ignoring her, acting like she didn’t exist? I thought you loved her!”
Morgan dropped onto the edge of the bed. “I asked her to marry me,” he said, feeling numb. “She turned me down.”
“You must have misunderstood.”
Sawyer and Morgan both turned to see Jordan standing in the doorway. Morgan shook his head. “No, I asked and she flatly refused.”
Jordan crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. “I can tell she cares about you.”
Gabe walked in. “She’s crazy about him, if you ask me.”
“Oh, for the love of—” Morgan stood and finished pulling on his pants. “If that’s true, why wouldn’t she marry me?”
Honey pushed Gabe out of her way and glared at all of them. “Because she said you didn’t love her.”
“What?”
“She said you were just trying to take care of her, but without love, it wasn’t worth it.”
Morgan cursed so viciously that Gabe backed up and Jordan rolled his eyes. Sawyer pulled Honey protectively to his side. “Get a grip, Morgan. Are you going to go after her or not?”
His head shot up. “Go after her? When did she leave?”
Honey tapped her foot. “About two minutes ago.”
Before she had finished, Morgan had snapped his jeans, shoved his gun in his pocket and started out of the room. But his brothers had all congregated inside, blocking his path at the end of the bed, so he bounded over it instead, bouncing on the mattress as he dodged past them. He ran out the doorway, not bothering with a shirt or shoes. Gabe trotted after him, waving a shirt. “Wait! Don’t you want to finish dressing?”
Morgan ignored him, but he couldn’t ignore the loud guffaws from his other brothers. He snatched his keys from the peg by the back door and ran into the yard.
“Damn irritants,” he muttered, then winced as his bare feet came into contact with every sharp stone on the dewwet grass. He slipped twice, but within thirty seconds he had the Bronco out, lights flashing and sirens blasting. When he caught up to her…
Morgan filled the time it took to get to town by plotting all the ways he’d set her straight.
She was in front of the sheriff’s office when he spotted her. She slowed when she noticed his flashing lights, and after a few seconds she pulled over.
Unfortunately, Ceily was just coming to the diner to start preparing the food, and she paused on the front stoop to watch as Morgan climbed out of the Bronco and slammed the door. Nate was at the station already, and he and Howard and Jesse also walked out to see what was happening. It wasn’t often that Morgan pulled anyone over with so much fanfare.
By the time he’d circled the front of the Bronco, Misty had already left her car. She gaped at him, then demanded, “What in the world is wrong with you? Has something happened?” She gazed at him from his shaggy hair, his bare chest, to his naked feet.
Morgan stomped up to her, ignoring the sting to his feet and the way the sidewalk was quickly beginning to crowd with curious onlookers. He hooked his hand around the back of her neck and drew her up to her tiptoes. “Where in hell do you think you’re going?”
She blinked at him. “I have to meet with my lawyer today.”
Morgan prepared to blast her with his wrath—and then her words sank in. “You’re not leaving?”
“Leaving, as in for good?”
He nodded.
“Why