by K. C. Crowne
“Right. And apparently they got a bit of a reputation for not treating their animals all that great. Skye’s taken notice. And Bryce has taken notice of her.”
“Shit. So she’s been, what, protesting or somethin’?”
“That’s right. She and some friends of hers have been showin’ up at the tracks, causin’ all kinds of headaches for Bryce. And he’s none too happy about it.”
“So…what’re you thinkin’? That he’s gonna start playing dirty with her?”
“I don’t know what he’s capable of. But the way I heard him talkin’ on the phone about her…” He shrugged, but his meaning was clear.
“Fuckin’ hell,” I grouched. “Yeah, I don’t know what kind of shit Bryce might pull. But if there’s money on the line and he puts the evil eye on her… Damn, she might be in for a world of trouble.”
“Skye’s not the type of woman to want the men to come to her rescue.”
“Right about that. Too strong-willed. Stubborn, even.”
“Mhmm. So I’m thinkin’ we ought to keep an eye on her from a distance, make sure she doesn’t stir up somethin’ that blows up in her face.”
“Yeah. That’s a good call. She’s young, young enough to not know what happens when you get between people and their money.”
He nodded, then finished his beer. I took another sip, thinking about what he’d just told me.
“Anyway, I think I’ve said my peace. I’ll let you get back to it, bud.” He got up and I did too, heading with him over to the door. “I’m…glad we talked about this, Trav.”
“Same here.”
I gave him a friendly swat on the shoulder before opening the door. Adam stepped out, placing his hat back on his head as he headed away from the cabin. “Let’s get some beers later, if you’re up for it.”
“You know I am.” He tipped his hat and was gone.
As soon as I was alone, the weight of the conversation settled on me. I knew I’d done the right thing, been the bigger man about it all. And I’d told the truth.
But I’d have been lying if I’d said it didn’t sit badly with me.
I wanted Skye, and more than that, part of me wanted her all to myself.
Adam
Travis was my best damn friend. Had known the man for years, been with him through good times and bad. And that meant I knew him well enough to understand that he was full of shit.
We’d hashed the thing out about Skye, come to a pretty reasonable understanding. Travis had gone out of his way to be big about it, and I appreciated it. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that he’d been as sincere as he could be. But I also knew, sure as shit, that he wasn’t having as easy a time with the matter as he’d let on. I was sure he still wanted Skye, and that the idea of pushing her away and leaving her to his friend likely was rubbing him raw.
The situation had only been a day long, but I knew without a doubt that it was going to be bigger than a talk would be able to sort out. But it was the best we were able to do for now.
It only made a certain kind of sick sense that I’d spot Skye working while on the way to my truck. She was in the middle of hauling a couple boxes, the things in her arms making her look smaller than she already did. I hurried to her, Skye spotting me from behind her load. A strange expression flashed on her face, as if she were surprised to see me.
She looked good as ever, her tight body packed into a pair of even tighter jeans, her blue-and-black cowboy shirt pulled up enough to expose a strip of her mid-section. Just seeing her was enough to make my blood run hot, my cock to come to attention in my jeans. I wanted to take those boxes out of her hands, drag her to the nearest barn, and give her the screwing of a lifetime on one of those bales of hay.
“Let me help you out there, little lady.” I reached for the boxes, but she quickly pulled them back.
“Don’t need your help – I got this.”
I grinned. What else should I have expected from her? “Then let me supervise, make sure you don’t have an accident.”
She gave me a wry smile. “Damn, Adam. You really don’t have much faith in my ability to do my damn job, do ya?”
“Not a matter of that. Just wanna make sure you don’t hurt yourself.”
“I’m fine.” She turned her attention back to the barn where she was headed. “Don’t need you frettin’ over me.”
“Can’t help myself. My mama raised me to be a gentleman.”
“Didn’t see you bein’ much of a gentleman last night.” Another grin, but then her face reddened as if she’d brought up something she didn’t want to talk about.
“Is that right? And you sure as hell weren’t bein’ much of a lady.”
But she didn’t smile back. Instead, her expression was serious as she kept on moving. There was something going on, and I was getting the impression it had to do with Travis.
“You doin’ alright?” I asked as we continued walking.
Before she could respond, Skye stumbled a bit, the top box nearly toppling over. I reached over and grabbed it.
“I said I didn’t need your help.” Her tone was sharp.
“You’re gettin’ it. Don’t wanna see you takin’ a spill your first day on the job.”
She said nothing, the hard expression returning to her face as I tucked the box under my arm. There was definitely something up with her.
“You alright?” I asked as we continued walking. “You seem out of sorts.”
“I’m…fine. Just trying to focus and not screw up on my first day.”
She was avoiding something. Whatever was bothering her, that wasn’t it. “Well, if it’s any consolation Travis thinks you’re doin’ a great job. You likely don’t need to be worryin’ about him givin’ you any shit.”
No response. Had the mention of Travis really managed to put her in that kind of mood? I checked my watch, seeing that it was near quitting time. I had an idea.
“What’re you doin’ tonight?”
“Finishing up here. Then hopin’ my car actually starts. Then I’m goin’ home and gettin’ some rest before comin’ back to do it all over again.”
“I’ve got a better idea.”
She cocked her head to the side. “Is that right?”
“Yeah. Come with me into town when you’re done. You ever been to Raddler’s?”
“Never heard of it.”
“Burger joint down in Patterson. Got the best damn French fries you’ll ever eat. And the beer’s good and cheap.”
“A cheap date, huh?” she asked, a hint of a smile on her full, red lips. “You really know how to entice a woman.”
The word date brought the whole situation into the forefront of my mind. Yeah, I wanted to take her on a date. And I wanted to do a hell of a lot more than that with her. But with the conversation I’d had with Travis still fresh and knowing what I knew about what he was likely thinking, I figured that wasn’t the best idea in the world.
“Not really a date,” I said. “More like…a couple of friends grabbin’ a bite.”
Confusion and relief washed over her face in equal parts. Easy to see she was likely conflicted about everything too.
“Hm. Alright, I’ll grab a burger with you. But you ain’t payin’.”
“Whatever the lady wants.”
“Let me finish up in the barn, shouldn’t be more than fifteen minutes.”
“I’ll help.”
She opened her mouth, almost certainly to protest, but seemed to realize there wasn’t any talking me out of it. “Fine, fine. But you helpin’ is a one-time thing, got it?”
“Got it.”
We headed into the barn, the low light of the late afternoon sun streaming in through the top windows and dappling across the hay bales. My little fantasy of getting frisky with Skye returned to my thoughts. But I pushed it out as best I could.
Skye set her box down and I did the same. She looked at me and said, “Just help me get these supplies all in one place. I guess if you help it’ll make the job go faste
r.”
The two of us went to it, moving a few more boxes from around the barn all into one corner. With the two of us, it didn’t take long. When we were done, her belly grumbled loudly enough for me to hear it.
“That sounds like the belly of a woman who needs a burger, fast.”
“I ‘spose it does sound kinda good.”
“Then come on – I’m starvin’.”
The couple of beers I’d thrown back with Travis had got my appetite going, so my mouth watered at the thought of something good and greasy to eat. We headed out of the barn and to the parking area. She stepped over to a beat-up old truck, one that looked like it had seen much better days.
“That’s your ride?” I asked.
“What, not fancy enough for you?”
“No, not that. More that…I don’t know, doesn’t look all that safe to me. When’s the last time you took that in for a tune-up?”
She laughed. “You kiddin’? Between not havin’ the money or the time…gonna say a good few years.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. Not only was it beat to hell, the tires looked bare as a newborn’s head. “I’m gonna take a look at it later. I’m more of a construction guy than a car guy, but I know enough to make sure it’s safe to drive.”
“You don’t need to do that.”
“Skye, there’s no debate here. If you’re gonna be drivin’ that thing, it needs to be safe. Consider it a favor to let me look at it if you want.”
Again, she seemed to get the impression there wasn’t any talking me out of the matter. And there wasn’t. The thing with Bryce caused concern about her safety, and I wasn’t about to add a dangerous truck to the mix.
“Fine. But food first, truck shit later.”
“Deal.”
She climbed into her truck and I climbed into mine. Before I gunned the engine, I listened as hers sputtered to life, the sound not giving me any more faith in the safety of her truck. But I’d have to worry about that later. I let her pull out first so I could stay behind if anything happened to go wrong with her truck on the way down.
About fifteen minutes later, we reached downtown Patterson. I texted her the address of Raddler’s and we were soon in the parking out getting out of our trucks. We walked inside and found a booth near the window that looked out on the small park in the center of town.
“Holy hell,” she said, the beat-up paper menu open in front of her. “Now that I’m here I feel like I could eat a whole damn cow.”
“Ask the kitchen – might be the day’s special.”
She grinned before turning her attention back to the menu. “Alright,” she said when the waitress arrived. “I’ll take…the double-bacon cheeseburger, extra bacon. And can you do the thing where it’s fries and onion rings all at once? And make that a large size.”
“Hell, sounds good,” I said. “Gimme the same. And a pitcher of Bud.”
The waitress jotted down the order and was off.
“Damn,” I said. “You weren’t kiddin’ about bein’ hungry.”
“I never mess around when it comes to food. People are always surprised when they see how much I can put away.”
“Nothin’ wrong with a girl who likes to eat.”
Skye had curves for days, and it was easy to see where she got them. It made me like her more – nothing more annoying than a woman who ordered nothing but salads and picked at it when it finally came.
With the food ordered, the grim expression returned to Skye’s face. I realized I was about to have the second conversation of the day about the me-her-Travis situation. And there was something else. Sitting there with her, talking with her about nothing in particular, made me realize there was major chemistry between the two of us. I’d been sincere in bringing her out to spend some time together as friends, but it was hard as hell to not want to move things in a different direction.
No sense in waiting to bring the issue up. After we’d spent a little time chatting about this and that, I cleared my throat and changed the subject.
“OK,” I said. “You’ve obviously got somethin’ on your mind, somethin’ that’s bothering you.”
She glanced away as if she’d been caught. “It’s…nothin’. Nothin’ you need to worry about.”
It was strange. If she was worried about me and Travis, it most certainly was something I needed to worry about.
“Come on,” I nudged. “Not gonna do you any good bottlin’ in up.”
She took a deep breath, her eyes on the table in front of her. Finally, she lifted her gaze to me and spoke. “There’s this website…”
I frowned. Wasn’t the direction I imagined the conversation to go. “What kind of website?”
“It’s kind of an investigative newsletter sort of thing. I run it with a few friends of mine from college, activist friends who have as much passion about animal rights as I do.”
“Sure.”
“And I wrote this piece a few days ago. Nothin’ major, just a tiny expose on this racetrack in town.”
“Shamrock Greens?”
Her eyes lit up. “Yeah, that’s the one. How’d you know?”
“Figured – it’s the only track nearby. Anyway, go ahead.”
“They treat the animals there terribly,” she said, a hint of sadness in her voice. “Ride the life out of ‘em, and when they show the first signs of losing their step, they’re sold for…God, I don’t even want to know what they get sold for. Anyway, I wrote this article about what I’d heard from a few employees, how they treat the animals.”
“And what happened?” Bryce came to mind, my blood heating as I remembered the conversation I’d overheard.
“I checked the article this morning and the comment section has blown the hell up. And all the comments were really bad. Like, threatening bad.”
“Are you serious? What’d they say?”
“Called me a liar, said I was makin’ stuff up for attention, slandering the name of a local business owner, things like that,” she listed. “Said I didn’t know the first thing about horses, said that if I knew what was good for me, I’d quit writing such nonsense.”
My hands clenched into fists under the table. “Bryce Atwater.”
Her eyes widened. “You…you know him?”
“I know him. And it sounds like the kind of shit he’d pull.”
The waitress brought the food, but both of us were too engrossed in the subject to touch it.
“And what’re you thinkin’?” I asked. “You wanna pull the article?”
“Hell no,” she said hotly. “Article’s stayin’ up, and there’s gonna be a hell of a lot more to come.”
I grinned, loving her passion and fire come out. “But,” I said, sobering. “You know Bryce is gonna be a problem. If he’s behind this shit, and I’d bet good money he is, there’s not a chance he’s gonna keep things at some pissy comments online.”
“I know. And he hasn’t.”
“What?” The word came out in a growl. The idea of Bryce doing anything to her was…not something I wanted to hear.
“When I protested at Shamrock. He’s come to talk to me. Though it’s less like ‘talkin’ and more like ‘threatenin’.”
“How?”
“Tellin’ me that if I’m smart, I’ll leave him and his business alone. Tellin’ me that he’s dealt with people like me in the past before, and he’s not afraid to do it again.”
“Fuckin’ prick.”
“No kiddin’. But I’m not scared of him, not even a little. He can do his worst.”
I snatched up a fry and popped it in my mouth as I contemplated her words. Skye was brave and bold, no doubt about that. But Bryce had money, and he had power.
I vowed that I’d look out for Skye. Nothing was going to happen to her.
Not on my watch.
Skye
Bringing up the subject of Bryce didn’t put me at ease. Made me pretty damn tense, actually. But having Adam with me, listening to my concerns, it actually helped. I didn
’t know the man very well, but it was obvious he wasn’t about to stand around and let some rich prick threaten and intimidate me.
Felt good to know I had someone like him in my corner. Went a long way.
When I felt ready to eat, I tore into my burger. Just like Adam had promised, it was fucking delicious. The burger was juicy and flavorful, the bacon crisp to perfection. And the beer to wash it all down with was the cherry on top.
After finishing our meals, I sat back with a full belly.
“That was pretty damn impressive, gotta say,” Adam said, his eyes on the grease stain on my plate where the burger had been.
“I told you, I like to eat. And workin’ on the ranch sure as hell gave me an appetite.”
“You want anything else?” he asked. “They’ve got some killer blackberry pie. Not sure if it’s as good as what my mama makes, but it hits the spot just right.”
“Nah. Beer’s my dessert.”
“I’ll drink to that.”
He poured the rest of the pitcher, the two of us tapping our glasses after he’d filled them.
“Alright,” he said after taking a sip. “Here’s the deal – I’m gonna drive with you back to my place.”
“Your place?”
“Yeah. And you’re gonna hang out while I take a look at your car. Shouldn’t take too much time.”
“Aw, hell, you don’t need to do that. I told you.”
“It’s nothing,” he said. “And if you’ve got a prick like Bryce breathin’ down your neck, that means you’ve got enough to worry about. Knowing your truck’s up to speed should be a little bit off your mind.”
I wanted to protest. After all, I knew a little about cars myself. But Adam was obviously one of those stubborn cowboy types, the ones who took pride in looking after the women in their lives. No sense in trying to talk him out of it.
“You’re…pretty damn sure it’s Bryce?” I asked.
“I’m thinkin’ it is. After what I heard him say, it wouldn’t surprise me that he’d go to that kinda length to intimidate someone.” Another sip of beer. “You have any other run-ins with the man?”
“Yeah. There’s these city council meets I go to sometimes and I see him there. The guy’s got pull around town, I think.”