The Longest Ride

on his “I’m so wholesome” routine, but his bloodshot eyes undermined his efforts.

“I was fine until you got here.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Wow. That’s harsh.”

“I have to be. You’ve been following me like a stalker.”

He nodded, acknowledging the truth of her words. And, of course, to show that he accepted her disdain. He could probably star in a video entitled How to Get Your Ex-Girlfriend to Forgive You… Again .

“I know,” he offered, right on cue. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Are you?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t want it to end the way it did… and I just wanted to tell you how ashamed I am about everything that happened. You didn’t deserve it and I don’t blame you for ending it. I realize that I’ve been…”

Sophia shook her head, already tired of listening to him. “Why are you doing this?”

“Doing what?”

“This,” she said. “This whole phony show. Coming out here, pretending to be so abject and apologetic. What do you want?”

Her question seemed to catch him off guard. “I’m just trying to say sorry —”

“For what?” she asked. “For cheating on me for the third time? Or for lying to me ever since I’ve known you?”

He blinked. “Come on, Sophia,” he said. “Don’t be like this. I don’t have any kind of agenda – really. I just don’t want you to go through the whole year feeling like you have to avoid me. We’ve been through too much for that.”

Despite the occasional slurring, he sounded almost credible. Almost. “You don’t get it, do you?” She wondered if he honestly thought she’d forgive him. “I know I don’t have to avoid you. I want to avoid you.”

He stared at her, plainly confused. “Why are you acting like this?”

“Are you kidding?”

“After you broke up with me, I knew I’d made the biggest mistake of my life. Because I need you. You’re good for me. You make me a better person. And even if we can’t be together, I’d like to think we could get together and talk sometime. Just talk. The way we used to. Before I screwed things up.”

She opened her mouth to reply, but his bravado left her speechless. Did he really think she’d fall for this again?

“Come on,” he said, reaching for her hand. “Let’s get a drink and talk. We can work through this —”

“Don’t touch me!” Her voice rang out sharply.

“Sophia…”

She slid farther down the railing, away from him. “I said don’t touch me!”

For the first time, she glimpsed a flash of anger in his expression as he lunged for her wrist. “Calm down…”

She yanked her arm, trying to free it. “Let go of me!”

Instead, he drew close enough for her to smell the stale beer on his breath. “Why do you always have to make such a scene?” he demanded.

As she struggled to break free, she looked up at him and felt a cold blade of fear. This wasn’t a Brian she recognized. His brow was furrowed, almost wrinkled, his jaw ropy and distended. She froze, leaning away from his hot, labored breath. Later, she would recall only how paralyzed with fear she was, until she heard the voice behind her.

“You need to let her go,” the voice said.

Brian looked over and back to her again, squeezing harder. “We’re just talking,” he said, his teeth clenched, the muscle in his jaw flexing.

“It doesn’t look like you’re just talking to me,” the voice said. “And I’m not asking you to let her go. I’m telling you.”

There was no mistaking the warning in the tone, but unlike the adrenaline-charged exchanges she’d sometimes witnessed at the frat houses, this stranger’s voice sounded calm.

It was a beat before Brian even registered the threat, but he clearly wasn’t intimidated. “I’ve got it handled. Why don’t you mind your own business?”

“Last chance,” came the voice. “I don’t want to have to hurt you. But I will.”

Too nervous to turn around, Sophia couldn’t help noticing bystanders outside the barn beginning to turn their way. From the corner of her eye, she watched two men rise from the tractor tire and start toward them; another pair pushed off a section of the railing, their hats shadowing their faces as they approached.

Brian’s bloodshot eyes flickered toward them, then he glared over Sophia’s shoulder at the man who had just spoken. “What? You calling in your friends now?”

“I don’t need them to deal with you,” the stranger said, his voice even.

At the comment, Brian pushed