Get Bucked (The Valentine Boys Book 4)

by Lani Lynn Vale

  He wasn’t.

  He was drowning, just a lot more slowly than what we had been when we were kids.

  “Gibson’s a good guy,” I said. “When we were younger, we did some questionable shit. His brother, sadly, was caught up in that questionable shit. Gibson blames himself. I blame his brother because honestly his brother was just as responsible as we were. I mean, it’s not like we took him by the hand and led him down that path. He was charging headlong into it right along with us. Where Gibson and I saw the error of our ways, his brother did not. Still hasn’t, as a matter of fact.”

  She grimaced. “He’s alive?”

  I nodded.

  “He fried his brain,” I admitted. “Took too many drugs, fucked with the wrong person, and lost brain function because he was oxygen-deprived for too long. Now he’s in a medical facility for criminals where he practices functioning as a well- rounded adult, but fails miserably. He has impulse control issues, and does shit that most people only think about.”

  “Like what?” she asked curiously.

  I thought about it for a long moment, then gave her an example as I accelerated.

  “Last night I thought about driving home,” I said. “But I realized that was dumb, and could kill somebody, so I didn’t. Brenton wouldn’t have done that. He would’ve driven.” I paused. “I just passed that car. I had the thought, ‘what if that car would’ve hit me head-on?’ Brenton would’ve swerved and hit the car just to see what would happen.”

  She grimaced.

  “What did he do to get into prison?” she asked.

  I thought about not telling her the story, but decided that she needed to know.

  If she was considering allowing me to move in, she should know who it was that she was moving in.

  “Gibson and I were in a lot of trouble growing up,” I said. “We did some shit that we shouldn’t have. When we got out of juvie, Brenton decided to stay. Felt like his life was better spent where he was than where he could be. After his accident and getting the shit beat out of him, Gibson tried to help. Bring him home. But a few weeks after he was brought home, he decided to buy some drugs from an undercover cop. When he got caught, he was taken to jail. While in the jail cell, his lawyer came to meet with him. He must’ve had a mental breakdown because after he beat the shit out of his lawyer, he kept saying ‘I didn’t mean to.’”

  She sighed.

  “That’s sad.”

  It was.

  “He’s where he needs to be,” I admitted. “Gibson didn’t need the responsibility of taking care of his twin.”

  “His twin?” she gasped.

  I nodded. “That’s why I say he was right there along with us. He was our age. Had control of his own destiny. It wasn’t like we led him into the web of sin. He did it all on his own.”

  She made a sound in the back of her throat that sounded suspiciously like a scoff.

  “What?” I asked curiously.

  “You’re telling me all of this so I won’t want you to be my roommate,” she said.

  I shrugged.

  What she said was true.

  I didn’t think that me staying with Waylynn was the best of ideas.

  In fact, I knew that it was wrong.

  Despite everything, Waylynn was a good egg. Me? Not so much.

  I still had to fight tooth and nail to prove myself to everybody.

  Hell, getting into college had been a nightmare. And then getting my jobs? I’d had to jump through hoops.

  Luckily all my dumbass stunts had been done in my youth, and I hadn’t actually been charged with crimes.

  That was the only thing that saved my ass.

  Right now could’ve been a whole lot different.

  I could’ve been struggling to find a job with an arrest record.

  I could’ve been lost.

  I could’ve been nothing.

  “Nobody looks like they’re up,” Waylynn pointed out.

  I looked toward the dark house and snorted.

  “They’ve gotten too used to me doing all the grunt work that requires them to get up at the crack of dawn,” I admitted. “I’m out here mucking stalls out well before they even crack their eyes open. They don’t even start their day until they’ve had breakfast. And Desi doesn’t even start that until seven.”

  She pointed at the bunkhouse.

  “They look like they’re up.”

  I looked toward the windows where I could see lights shining through, then nodded.

  “They’re usually up getting shit ready, too,” I told her. “They’ll be setting out riding fence and moving the herds to a different field here in a bit. Delivering hay to the herds that we can’t move.”

  She bailed out of the truck before I’d even gotten it into park.

  “The sound of your truck won’t wake them?” she questioned.

  I shrugged. “They’re so used to hearing the workers for the house come in and out at such weird times that I doubt it. We had a concrete crew out here at three in the morning once.”

  Her face scrunched up into the most adorable of grimaces.

  The way she was standing under the single lamp that lit the front of the barn made my heart race.

  “Let’s get going,” she ordered, snapping her fingers at me impatiently. “I really am starving.”

  I sighed.

  “I’d offer you breakfast with us,” I said. “But yeah… not on speaking terms still.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “I’m more than aware of that,” she said. “And, I’m sorry, but nobody can beat Darrel’s cheesecake waffles at Catfish Charlie’s. Nobody. I found the place yesterday by accident. I borrowed GQ’s car to get something from Darrel, who apparently used to be a worker at the Apache when it was in its prime. He told me to wait and grab a bite to eat while he went to the back and handled an emergency… and Jesus Christ. I can’t stop thinking about it.”

  “I didn’t even know that they served breakfast, and I’ve been here since I was a baby,” I told her.

  She widened her eyes, and I opened the door to the barn.

  At the sound of my voice, horses everywhere started to poke their heads out of their stalls, ready for their treats and a pat-down.

  “Ohhh.” Waylynn clapped her hands excitedly. “Look at all the pretties.”

  I watched as she went from horse to horse, loving and rubbing on each of them.

  While she did that, I went to the fridge and grabbed a bag of apples and carrots.

  “Here,” I said as I handed her the bag. “The one in the back corner can’t have any apples. The rest can have whatever you want to give them.”

  She looked at the horse in the last stall and her face fell.

  “What’s wrong with him?”

  “Her,” I said. “And I just rescued her from a place off the side of the road. She was tethered to a tree and had been for who knows how long. I’m slowly nursing her back to health, but apples seem to upset her tummy.”

  She nodded then started handing out apples and carrots.

  Almost all of them wanted the apples, which wasn’t a surprise. They all had a sweet tooth for sure, and would always rather an apple over a carrot.

  But I had to try.

  Tomorrow I would be giving them carrots.

  Usually I didn’t give them a choice, and since yesterday was an apple day, I would’ve normally been giving them the carrots.

  But I wanted them to like Waylynn.

  That was why I was giving her the good stuff.

  The stuff that would for sure give them hearts in their eyes when it came to her.

  “When you give them their food,” I called as I started pulling out feed bags, “you can start letting them out. I’ll go open the back barn door for you.”

  She ignored me and walked to the barn door herself.

  And, since it was about fifteen feet tall and half as wide, I watched with amusement as she tried
her hardest to get it open.

  Eventually, she did, but since it was old and stuck in its ways, it definitely gave her a run for her money.

  “Jesus,” she said, wiping sweat off her face. “That was difficult. You should climb up there and lube those rails.”

  I snorted and gestured to them.

  “I do,” I said. “Once a week. They’re actually much better now than they used to be when nobody gave a shit about them.”

  She made a funny face at me, poking out her tongue as an added bonus.

  “Okay, so just let them out?”

  I nodded.

  She did as she was told, letting them all out but the one on the end that didn’t get the choice on carrots or apples.

  Once the horses made their way outside, all happy to be out of their stalls for the day, she stopped in front of the last stall and stared.

  “I saw this horse, I think,” she said softly. “Is this the one that I mentioned to GQ?”

  I nodded.

  She held her hand out, and the horse looked at her warily, not even taking the first step in her direction.

  “I’m calling her Butterfly,” I told her, coming up to Waylynn’s side and taking a carrot from the bag. Holding it out to Butterfly, I waited like I had all day for her to reach out and take it from me.

  She did.

  Eventually.

  And nearly tripped over herself in her haste to get away from me.

  “Beautiful,” Waylynn said. “She’s gorgeous. Very skittish, though. Has she gotten better? Or is she exactly like she was when you first got her?”

  I laughed then.

  “You should’ve seen me getting her into the trailer and bringing her here,” I said. “It was a sight to be seen.”

  Waylynn laughed then, making my entire being feel lighter.

  “Gave you hell, did she?” Waylynn snickered.

  Remembering how much hell the horse gave me was comical to say the least.

  “Oh, yeah,” I said. “Big time.”

  We worked in companionable silence after that. At one point, I lost my t-shirt and Waylynn lost hers, too.

  I tried not to look at her belly.

  But I couldn’t stop myself.

  It wasn’t tight and toned. It was a little bit flabby and she had a few stretch marks on her sides.

  But, goddamn, was she breathtaking.

  It was a freakin’ miracle to see someone that wasn’t tight and toned and perfect.

  I got plenty of that at the freakin’ rodeo.

  Girls that seemed more fake than real.

  “What about her?” Waylynn asked.

  I looked at the horse and shrugged. “I tried to get her out of here the first day, but nobody else was able to get her back up. It seems mean to leave her cooped up in here.”

  “If your brothers have a problem, I’m sure they’ll call,” Waylynn said.

  I’d imagine they would.

  They wouldn’t miss an opportunity to give me shit if they could help it.

  “Agreed,” I said, sliding the lock out of the wood. “Can you go stand back there? I’m not saying that she’s going to hurt you, but she might get scared.”

  She did as I asked and backed up, giving me plenty of room to work.

  After pushing the barn door open so she’d have an easy escape, I went back to the stall and swung the door open.

  She took one look at me, the open stall door, and the open barn door, and flew out of there as fast as her skinny legs would take her.

  I backed up just in time not to take a hoof to my left foot.

  “She’s pretty fast,” Waylynn said. “She could’ve been a barrel racer with that speed.”

  I agreed.

  “I made the mistake of letting her off her rope that first day I was trying to get her into the trailer,” I said, watching as the horse ran circles in the pasture. “Won’t make that mistake again.”

  Waylynn came up beside me and pressed her shoulder to mine.

  Neither of us moved for a few seconds as we watched the horse run.

  “Do you think she was ever able to run?” she wondered.

  I backed away from the door and closed it up, ensuring that the horses wouldn’t be entering into the barn without supervision and possibly getting let loose if someone came in through the main door.

  Then I cleaned out the last stall while Waylynn watched.

  When we were all done, I stowed the shit back where it belonged, and gestured to Waylynn to precede me out of the barn.

  “I’m gonna go grab some clothes from my room,” I said. “Wait for me in the kitchen?”

  She only nodded.

  Being careful to move on the spots of the floor that didn’t creak, I made it to my bedroom without waking one of my brothers.

  After packing my bag and grabbing a few essentials, I made my way back out of the kitchen to see Waylynn looking around warily.

  “What?” I asked curiously.

  She gestured to the open space.

  “You’re sure you don’t want to stay here for breakfast?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “Negative. Let’s go.”

  The sooner the better, actually.

  I didn’t want to chance running into one of my brothers and having to actually talk to them.

  She must have understood my eagerness to leave, because without another word she turned and walked out.

  I followed close on her heels, bag slung over my shoulder and keys in hand.

  “Have you decided to stay with me yet?” she asked.

  I opened my passenger side door for her and waited for her to get in before slamming it closed.

  Tossing my bag into the back of the truck, I got in and slammed my door closed as well.

  I saw a light flicker on in Ace’s bedroom and knew that the slamming of the doors had woken him.

  Starting the truck up, I was halfway down the driveway before I answered.

  “I’m going to stay,” I said. “But me helping you fix stuff isn’t enough. You’re gonna have to let me pay rent.”

  She snorted. “I don’t even pay rent.”

  I didn’t have anything to say to that.

  “Just stay. Help me fix the place up. Kill the spiders and I’m happy,” she informed me.

  “Kill the spiders?” I asked curiously.

  “Yep,” she confirmed. “I don’t like spiders. If you’re there, and I see one, it’s your job to take care of it. Okay?”

  Grinning like a loon, I drove until we were parked in front of Catfish Charlie’s and shut the truck off.

  “This place is the bomb,” she told me again as she bailed out of the truck. “Hurry up.”

  I didn’t hurry, but I didn’t take my time, either.

  “Nice place,” I said. “I didn’t know they remodeled.”

  She looked at me over her shoulder with confusion.

  I gestured to the new porch.

  “The outdoor seating is new,” I said. “It’s been a very long while since I’ve come here.”

  “It has,” an amused male voice said from inside.

  I turned to see my sister’s husband, Nico, standing at the counter paying.

  I grinned at him and offered him my hand, then introduced Waylynn.

  “Waylynn, this is my brother-in-law, Nico. Nico, this is Waylynn,” I said.

  Nico stuck out his hand and Waylynn took it, shaking it with a fierceness that surprised me.

  “Nice to meet you, Nico,” Waylynn said. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  She had?

  Nico’s eyes flicked to me. “This one hasn’t been telling stories, has he?”

  Waylynn grinned. “No. His best friend, Gibson, has. All of them having to do with you setting Darby’s ass straight.”

  Nico grinned.

  I rolled my eyes.

  “GQ talks too much,” I muttered darkly.

  Waylynn’s eyes
twinkled. “You’re just mad that he told me, and he was right.”

  “Whatever,” I muttered. “You here with Georgia?”

  Nico pointed to the corner, and I saw Georgia gabbing with the waitress.

  “Have y’all already eaten?” I asked.

  Nico shook his head. “No. I was ordering food for Bourne and Booth. My sister has the kids.”

  Waylynn gestured to where Georgia was sitting. “You mind if we join you?”

  I grinned down at her, happy that she was willing to spend time with my family.

  In fact, there were a lot of things that I was beginning to like about her.

  One of those being her sweet ass pressed up against me.

  “We order here?” I asked.

  The lady behind the counter nodded.

  Nico lifted his chin and walked back to the table.

  Georgia’s eyes perked up when she saw me, then she immediately got up and moved to a bigger table that would fit the four of us easier.

  After ordering, I placed my hand on Waylynn’s back and urged her forward.

  She didn’t shrug off the touch, and I didn’t move it away even though my sister’s gaze was pinned on our contact.

  Georgia grinned and hopped up, throwing her arms around my neck and hugging me hard.

  “I’ve missed you, baby bro,” she said. “Who’s this?”

  I introduced her to Waylynn, and we all took our seats.

  “So Ace called me yesterday,” Georgia said, her eyes on mine as if she was waiting for me to explain.

  I knew what she wanted, but I wasn’t going to give it to her.

  Not unless she flat out asked.

  Which she did in the next second.

  “Did you really move out?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “Yeah.”

  “But… why?” she asked. “Ace said that you got pissy about something and decided to leave.”

  I growled under my breath.

  “Ace tell you I found a job?” I asked.

  Her eyes widened. “You did?”

  I nodded again. “They were mad that I decided to actually utilize my degree instead of helping them on the ranch. I’ll be teaching classes at the college and working at the forestry service. They’re mad because I won’t be there to be their bitch boy anymore.”

  “I… that’s not how he put it,” Georgia finally settled on.

  “And I didn’t say that I wouldn’t be helping anymore. I said that I’d still do my chores—like I did today—but that they wouldn’t have me fully at their service twenty-four-seven like they used to.”