Wild Cowboy Nights (Foolproof Love #1-3) - Katee Robert

Chapter One

“Tell me again why we’re going out into the middle of nowhere for a bonfire? That’s like holding up a sign begging some ax murder to come along and mass murder us.”

Jules Rodriguez kept her eyes on the road—sad excuse that it was. Her truck rocked and shuddered as she muscled down the deep ruts. “We’re not going to get mass murdered.” Though her best friend, Aubry, had a point about it being in the middle of nowhere. They’d been working their way off the main road for almost twenty minutes, and there wasn’t so much as a taillight in sight. She pushed down the knot of anxiety for the seventeen millionth time today.

“How do you know?”

Across the bench seat, her best friend had her knees pulled up to her chest and was staring out the side window like she expected that ax murder to come sprinting at the truck at any second. She wore her favorite pair of black jeans and one of her nerdy T-shirts with puns most people didn’t understand, and she’d even picked out a pair of red tennis shoes instead of her normal boots.

Probably because she thinks she’s going to have to run for her life at some point.

Aubry pointed at the passing trees. “I think I hear banjos.”

“You live in Devil’s Falls. I would think you’d be used to the banjos by now.”

Aubry frowned, her pale face standing out against the darkness of the cab. Despite living in Texas for years, she managed to avoid anything that might resemble a tan. “I do my best to pretend they don’t exist.”

“Denial. It’s not just a river in Egypt.” She finally caught sight of light through the sparse trees. “There!”

Aubry pushed back her long, fire engine–red hair and snorted. “Who invited you to this thing again? Because if we’re not going to be mass murdered—and I’m still not convinced on that note—they could be luring us in for some sacrificial killing.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you have a deeply troubled obsession with murder?” Jules pulled in next to the open space at the end of a line of trucks. She recognized most of them from around town—Devil’s Falls wasn’t exactly a place hopping with new people. The last person to move in from out of town had been Aubry, and that was five years ago. “Besides, a sacrificial murder requires a virgin, and that ship sailed for both of us years ago.”

“Good point.” Aubry let loose a melodramatic sigh as she turned off the engine. “Remind me why we’re doing this again?”

“Because Grant’s back in town.” Jules hadn’t seen him since he dumped her ass on his way out of Devil’s Falls after graduation—he hadn’t even come back for holidays. Nine years later and his parting words were still ringing in her ears. I don’t want a life that’s going to bore me into putting a gun in my mouth and pulling the trigger before I hit thirty.

She clenched her hands around the steering wheel, counting to ten twice. It didn’t do a damn thing to stop the anger eating away at her. There wasn’t a single thing wrong with Devil’s Falls and the life she had here. Wanting to settle down and raise a family here—eventually—while being surrounded by the people she loved was a good thing. It didn’t make her boring.

A subject she and Grant disagreed wholeheartedly on.

“Yeah, you mentioned that jackass showing up earlier, right before you started pummeling that poor loaf of bread at the café. Personally, I’m still waiting to hear what your plan is.”

She didn’t have one, not that she was going to let that stop her. It never had before. “I just want a look.” Maybe he’d gained the freshman fifteen—and another twenty for law school. Or something. Something to prove that she was better off having been dumped so unceremoniously.

“I thought we agreed that your ex is a douchecanoe.”

“We did. And I’m past it.” Mostly. Past him, definitely. Past how he’d made her feel about herself, not so much.

Aubry snorted and opened the door. “Right. You’re so past it that you’ve dragged us out to be maybe killed, maybe sacrificed to hang out with people who are still clinging desperately to their high school glory days.” She looked around, her brows drawn together. “Because, seriously, who goes to bonfires when there’s a perfectly adequate bar in town? Two, in fact.”

“The cool kids?” That was always who’d been out at bonfires when she was in school. She’d avoided