Stepbrother Cowboy: A Western Romance

by Kelly, Angela

  I was pulling the new shirt over my head when I heard the Jeep pull up, and rushed out to turn the coffee pot off and get my boots. Sure enough, Alison had driven it up right to the porch railing and Jackson gave a wave with his Stetson, before getting out and holding his hand out to me.

  “Morning, boss,” I told him.

  “Last warning kid, I’m not your boss,” he growled, but his eyes twinkled in amusement.

  “Any word from Owen?”

  “No, but he’s covering outside while folks are at the hospital,” I nodded and it made sense.

  “You want to drive?” Alison asked me, getting out and holding up the keys.

  “No, I think I’ll let you. Last thing I drove was about four and a half tons. Besides, I’m not used to all the new streets in town yet.”

  “Got ya.”

  “Ms. Sandy, I’ll sit in the back with tall dark and ugly if you don’t mind,” I said and scooted in before Jackson could swing his hat at me.

  “I told you kid…” Jackson growled.

  But we all knew what the jokes and mock anger was about. None of us particularly liked Tim, nor anything that he’d done as of late, but he was a son. A sick son. If it was the tumor that had been making him loco and twisting his thoughts, then maybe we should cut him some slack. We rode in silence for the thirty minute trip to the hospital. The mountains kept my view and I wanted to ask Jackson a thousand times what else happened yesterday, but didn’t. I figured I’d know more when the time was right.

  The hospital we went to wasn’t the one I’d remembered, though it was in the same spot geographically. This was a modern monstrosity almost five stories tall, whereas the old one was only two. We walked without talking to the glass paneled front where there were two automatic sliding doors, the emergency doors further down the drive. There still wasn’t much parking, but I didn’t expect there to be much out here in god’s land where cows outnumbered people.

  “Hold on Cameron, I have one more thing,” Sandy said, tugging on my elbow. Jackson and Ali gave me a pitying look then headed in.

  “So, now that you know what’s really going on, how do you plan on fixing it?”

  “I think it’s still the same answer I gave last night.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Mending fences.”

  I left her there, her mouth open a bit and saw both Jackson and Alison heading towards the elevator as Sandy hurried to catch up to me.

  “Wait up,” I called, and they stepped inside the open elevator, holding a hand against the door.

  “Took you long enough,” Alison poked me, and I jumped. Damn the girl!

  “That never gets old,” Sandy said, and although I couldn’t see her expression, I knew she was probably laughing. Hell, they were all probably laughing.

  “Any word?” Sandy asked aloud.

  “None. He goes into surgery in twenty minutes.”

  “The Bart’s will be in the surgical waiting room then.”

  “That’s what the information desk told me dear.”

  “Are you getting smart with me old man?”

  “I’ll show you smart later on you-” I let their bickering wash over me and stepped back next to Alison.

  “Hey girl.”

  “You ok?” She asked me, brushing my cheek.

  “Not really.”

  “What’s wrong, have you been crying?” I ducked my head as Jackson looked over his shoulder at me.

  “No,” I lied. “This is just a little awkward. What if Carl and Tyler…”

  “They’ll be too busy to be angry,” she assured me, hugging me softly.

  The door opened, and we followed the signs to the surgical lounge. A woman was holding onto Carl, probably his wife, with Tyler standing there, dressed in his uniform, looking broken, defeated. Tyler’s eyes flashed in anger when he caught sight of me, but his look softened when Sandy rushed forward to give everyone hugs. I waited a tense moment, but Tyler looked at me and motioned with his eyes. I followed him to the far side of the room.

  “Are you here to gloat?”

  “No, no. How is he?”

  “They don’t know.” He said, his voice cracking.

  “Is it bad?”

  “As bad as things get. We’re all praying for a miracle.”

  “Listen, that thing in his head, the tumor, you don’t think it made him a little crazy, do you?”

  “Yeah, I do, but that isn’t my call. I do need an answer from you. Are you going to be pressing charges when this is all over?”

  “God, we don’t need to worry about that, let’s get the boy through surgery.”

  He paused and gave me a long look.

  “You aren’t here to gloat?”

  “No, actually I’m here to offer my regards and prayers, if they’d help from a lowlife like me.”

  “Lowlife? I may have been hard on you for being heavy handed on my nephew, but you seemed pretty straight up to me. You could have killed him, but you didn’t. Dade said you’d be a good guy to ride trail with.”

  “He seems like a decent guy. How are Carl and his wife taking things?”

  “He went through the roof about the shooting, but I was already bringing him to see Tim in jail when we heard the call over the radio about the ambulance. He thought you’d beaten Tim again. Had to take his guns away.”

  “That bad huh?”

  “Tim is all he has,” he said simply.

  “Yeah. Listen, do you think Carl is going to be upset if I talk to him?”

  “He’s going to be upset no matter what you do.”

  “I mean…”

  “I know what you mean. Go ahead; I’ll make sure you don’t bust him up if he goes after you.”

  “Thanks.”

  I knew it was time, but Sandy and Jackson were talking to Carl, Alison talking to who I thought was Carl’s wife. God, I hated hospitals and in the Army, you always hated to see somebody there. With everyone busy for the moment, I decided to head back towards the elevator where I saw a coffee pot. I went out a different door than I came in, trying to avoid Carl for now and entered a white hallway with an arrow pointing the way to the elevators. I started to go towards it when I heard a voice I recognized. I started in the opposite direction from the elevators, walking heel to toe, nice and quiet.

  “…So the dumb fuck shot at him?”

  “…. Don’t worry.”

  “….Tyler might find…”

  “… The elders don’t have to know. We’re almost…”

  “… Two more weeks and we’re free and clear.”

  “Promise?”

  “Promise.”

  Two voices I recognized now, and I peeked around the corner of a hallway T junction. My jaw dropped. Dade and Karen were holding each other, kissing passionately, only breaking free long enough to talk. Because of a woman? What the hell? I needed to put some space between us, and give myself time to think. I was just about passing the doorway I’d left out of when it came crashing open. A young guy about Tim’s age came rushing out, locking eyes on me. He didn’t say anything, but he surprised me when he charged, lowering his shoulder and plowing into my gut.

  The guy surprised me and the wind rushed out of me. He was all unfocused rage when he landed on top of me, trying to bang me through the floor of the hospital by grabbing my shoulders and bouncing me.

  “It’s your fault. He fucking…”

  I rolled him off of me, and for a moment I wrestled him down, finally able to get an arm around his neck, the other pulling his hand behind his back as I sat on his waistline. Every time he struggled, I gave him a little less air until the fight started to go out of him. All this took the space of a few seconds, but it felt like minutes. I wasn’t surprised when I saw Tyler come out the door, looking bewildered and thumping footsteps from behind me.

  “It’s your fault. Tim wouldn’t have done any of that,” the guy on the ground cried.

  “Sheriff, is this one of yours?”

  “No, that’s a kid
Tim went to school with. What happened? Can you let him up?”

  “As long as he doesn’t go after me again.”

  “That won’t happen,” Dade said from behind Tyler.

  Shit.

  “Is he one of yours?” I asked Dade.

  “No, but he hangs out at the ranch. Tim and James there been buddies since diapers.”

  That settled me down a bit, so I released the pressure on his neck and when he didn’t start fighting back, I got up slowly. James followed suit.

  “James, go home,” Tyler told him softly.

  “Tim’s my best friend, I can’t do…”

  “Would you have attacked someone if you weren’t all upset?” The sheriff asked him.

  “I… but Cameron, he’s the one who…”

  “Shut up. Go calm down; you’re not doing Tim any favors by starting shit out here,” Dade said, with a hint of amusement in his voice.

  “You ok with this?” Sheriff asked me.

  “Yeah,” I said after a long pause. “But I seem to be doing an awful lot of forgiving lately. Maybe folks should quit pushing at me before I get pissed.”

  “This is a load of horseshit.”

  “Shut up James,” both Dade and Tyler yelled.

  To give the kid credit, he was more scared of them than me, and he scurried out of there.

  “I’m sorry about that,” Tyler said.

  “It’s been a weird week,” I admitted.

  I left the two men in the hallway, not wanting to look at Tyler after what I’d seen Dade and Karen doing. Could that be the girl problem? My head was spinning and I was trying to get the pieces put together. I decided to go see Carl, in hopes that family would at least keep me semi-safe. The blindside tackle had shaken me up a little bit, but I’d have to remember to be on my guard more. Violence seemed to be all around me, and I was trying to play peacemaker in the middle of a firefight. I had to fix this somehow.

  Carl stood when he saw me, as well as the woman. Jackson, Sandy and Ali were sitting across from them chatting, probably had already told them that I’d be in.

  “Carl…” I said holding out my hand.

  “This is my wife Cass,” he said introducing her, “Cass, this is Meredith’s boy, Cameron.”

  “Pleased to meet you,” We both said at once and smiled.

  “Jinx.” I said, grinning.

  “Not you too. Tim used to say that when…”

  “Carl, Cass… I never meant for any of this to happen.”

  “I know you didn’t,” Cass said, taking my hand in hers, covering it with her other one.

  “I just feel lousy for it. I didn’t know he had this thing in his head that was pushing him.”

  “I don’t know why the doctors didn’t catch it when he was in the hospital when you busted him up the first time.”

  “I don’t know. The headshots were just cosmetic. I was trying not to hurt him, but make a point.”

  “You didn’t have to stomp his ribs,” Carl’s voice was low, but you could tell he was hurt, angry.

  “I tried to end the fight once, but he kept pushing, pushing.”

  “He’s done that a lot lately,” Cass said, looking at Carl, her eyes tearful.

  “Yeah, yeah, you’re right. Tyler’s kept him off the books. Thank god for family.”

  Really? To hear somebody admit to this out loud made me seriously wonder if I should have let the kid off the hook. Maybe they could have gotten him evaluated or helped him a lot sooner if the sheriff hadn’t let things slide so much.

  “Listen, I’m here to offer some prayer power for you guys. I don’t like to see this happen, to anybody. No matter how many times that Tim’s crossed me. I hope it was all the tumor pushing him. I just don’t want to see you guys hurt by all of this. I’m…”

  “We know dear,” Cass said, releasing me.

  “It doesn’t look good for Tim,” Carl said, his expression grim. “No matter what happens, it sounds like you, Jackson and I need to have a sit down and hash out some things. I don’t know what exactly has been happening, but I’d like to think it wasn’t my boy. Especially if he dies.”

  Ouch. I know that admission hurt as much as the thought of his son dying.

  “We’ll do that.”

  I shook hands, and turned to Alison and sat next to her.

  “Are we staying?” She asked me.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  Jackson overheard us and turned to me.

  “Something happen?” He asked me.

  “Yeah. I don’t want to hang around in case more of Tim’s friends show up.”

  “Ok. We’ll have Charlie pick us up. I’ll text Alison to let her know if we can’t get in touch with him.”

  “Sounds good. Ready to head out?” I asked Alison as she stood up.

  “Yeah, let’s go. You’re driving this time. You have to get your old habits back.”

  “Not all of them please.”

  “No, not all of them.”

  Chapter 10 -

  Our first stop, after I got turned around three times, was to a cell phone store. I didn’t want a big contract to start with, but I wanted a decent phone. I found one that had what I wanted and got a thousand minutes. The clerk plugged the phone in a rapid charger while he was working on activating it. I couldn’t understand him much, his accent was Middle Eastern, but Ali knew him and they chatted up a storm as I tried to pay attention to the features. One of the biggest things I wanted the phone for, was the GPS. To do what I wanted, I’d have to get one with enough memory and storage. The store owner knew the kind of app I wanted, and pointed it out. I had them download it for me, and I paid for everything. Ali laughed a couple times as I played with the phone, and ran back inside almost as an afterthought and was back out a moment later.

  “You’ll need one of these,” she tossed me a box.

  It had a combo charger, one for the wall but one with a cigarette lighter attachment.

  “Awesome,” I said, not sure what she meant.

  “Using data kills your battery fast. You’ll need one of these.”

  “Thank you,” I leaned over and kissed her hard. I loved to see her eyes widen like that, so I almost did it again but somebody honked, obviously wanting our spot.

  “Sorry,” I mouthed to the driver who shot me the bird, but I was laughing. Busted!

  “Now, where to?” Alison asked me.

  “I need more clothes. I literally have nothing.”

  “Good…” she looked at me hungrily, “We’ll find you something good…”

  “Ahhh geeze, I’m just going to buy a few more pairs of jeans and shirts, maybe a pair of boots so I don’t mess up my dress boots here.”

  “Spoiled sport.”

  “Then the gun shop.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Going to give Jackson his toy back, besides, I want something I’m more familiar with.”

  “Dad’s got guns at home.”

  “Not like what I want.”

  “You might be surprised,” she whispered.

  “We’ll see,” I tried to keep my eyes on the road, but she put her hand on my leg and driving became a chore as I tried to ignore what her hand was doing to me, rubbing my inner thigh.

  “So about the clothes?”

  “What about them?”

  “Are they going to fit you as tight as your jeans are right now?” She asked, and something in her tone made me look.

  Her gaze was predatory, and my hand jerked the wheel when her fingers grazed over the bulge in my pants.

  “They might.”

  “Good. Might I suggest somewhere quiet first?”

  “I don’t know if we have time to…”

  Her seatbelt unlatched and she leaned over into my lap and started playing with the belt buckle I had on.

  “Alison, what are you doing?”

  I knew what she was doing, and I pulled off on a county road, more of a two track dirt road as I looked for somewhere to park. It too
k both hands to control the jeep the way I was jerking, and when she got my cock free from my pants, her warm mouth inhaled me almost making me lose control of everything. My eyes were rolling back in my head by the sheer pleasure, so I looked in the rearview and to the sides, not seeing anybody. I parked the jeep on the side of the road as her bobbing head made me start to pant, her hands circling my manhood, going in the opposite direction of her mouth, milking me.

  I almost broke the brake pedal when I came, my arms flexed over the wheel as she swallowed, the muscles in her neck moving, her jaw moving to keep it all. After a few spasms, I was finally spent, and she pulled some wet wipes out of her purse and tossed me a couple, already getting herself put back together.

  “Holy shit. What the fuck?”

  “You’ve been wound up all day. I’ve wanted to do that to you for a long time now, and I figured that might be a good icebreaker.”

  My mind was swirling, and most of it was focused on turning around and taking her back to the ranch. “I have to go shopping still.”

  “Ok, then let’s go. You missed the turn by the way; it was half a mile back,” her voice teasing once again.

  “I was distracted.”

  “I hope you didn’t mind that distraction.”

  “Not at all, just give a guy a little warning first,” I was almost getting my breathing under control, and I’d broken out into a sweat.

  “Sure,” she smiled coyly at me, and I got myself situated and turned around, heading back towards town.

  My mind was spinning. Ali definitely wasn’t all innocent, but I’d never expected her to have been a virgin, hell I knew she wasn’t after last night. But I was confused on her asking me to go easy. Was there such a thing? Would that mean tonight could be crazy? Could she handle crazy? It had been a long time since I’d had sex, and I now felt more like that 17 year old who couldn’t keep his pants on from years back.

  My list was pretty simple, the clothing I already told Ali about, but I wanted a gun or two of my own. Something I could tear down and put back together, something I could rely on. Jackson’s Remington was a great gun, but it wasn’t what I was used to and I was stupid to have trusted my life with it the other day without even sighting it in. If there was one thing that bugged me, it was realizing a day later how dead I almost became.