by Piper Rayne
But then he blinked, and the moment was gone.
“I’ve got to tell you something.” His tone sounded shameful, and his eyes went blank, and she immediately nodded.
Here it comes, she thought. He’s back with Bria.
Girding her emotions, and angry with herself for even thinking about sleeping with the man, she forced out her next words. “Tell me.” She’d known this would happen. Anger sliced through her.
But instead of replying, Bobby’s still-vacant gaze slipped past hers, and when it landed on something behind her and then locked on tight, the back of her neck began to itch. What was she missing?
Turning, she scanned the area. “What is it?”
“Easup,” he muttered beside her. “He’s a fucking asshole.”
Jewel’s eyes popped. Bobby rarely cursed.
After firing a glance back at Bobby, she studied Easup. One of the other stock contractors, Adrien Easup, stood on the opposite side of the campfire, a beer in one hand and a self-sure grin on his mouth. He spoke with one of the older riders, wearing the air of confidence she often associated with him. And he had reason to be confident. He’d had the best bulls in the business for the last several years. That was due only to the rough patch the Double B had gone through, of course. Before that, Bobby’s dad had always run neck and neck with Easup, sometimes easing ahead of the other man, other times falling behind. It had been years of healthy competition, but if ever there were a nemesis to the Double B, Adrien Easup was it.
She turned back to Bobby.
“Let’s walk.” He rose, holding a hand down for her, and she took it without question.
“What’s going on?” she asked the minute she was on her feet.
Bobby didn’t reply. He simply led them away. Once they’d put a hundred feet between them and the rest of the group, he finally released her. But he didn’t look her way.
“Bobby?” Worry settled inside her. “What is it? What happened?”
He pulled off the hat he’d worn all week and ran a hand through his hair. And as he did, he stared over her shoulder as if once again seeking out the man in question. She peeked back at Easup, as well.
“What did he do?” she demanded, and when she turned back, cold eyes finally latched on to hers. She’d never seen Bobby so angry.
“He made an offer to buy the Double B.”
Chapter Five
Bobby peered through the magnifier and focused on the intricacy of the project in front of him. It would be a character from a Japanese manga series when finished, and it was about three-fourths complete. He’d started it when he’d been home the year before, wanting to try something new that he couldn’t do in his smaller workspace in Missoula. So, he’d looked up a popular series, made a few sketches, and off he’d gone.
As he worked now, he tried yet again to put the last couple of days behind him. Or, at least, to shed the bad parts of the weekend. Rolls Royce had remained unridden, so that had been good. At least, it should have been a positive. But as it was, Rolls going unridden would only encourage Easup to up his offer. Which, in turn, would leave his mother more inclined to sell.
He gritted his teeth and reminded himself to focus on the good stuff. The positives. Such as Jewel.
Jewel, he was finding out, was always a positive. She calmed him. She made him smile.
She got him.
Even when he was so damned furious he saw nothing but red, Jewel had a way of soothing him.
Unfortunately, being that angry—and then sharing the news with her—had not led their weekend down the path he’d originally hoped. In a strange way, however, it had made them closer. Which was nice. They’d seethed together over the injustice of losing a part of their lives that meant so much, and without even being able to fight for it.
And losing it to Easup.
Her jaw had gone slack the instant he’d shared the news.
“I had no idea your mom wanted to sell. When did that happen?”
“She wasn’t looking to. At least, according to her. But he approached her with an offer, and she wants us to consider it.”
Tears had sprung to her eyes.
“But it’s your dad’s business. His passion.”
And yeah, he knew that. And he knew that his mother had always been so proud of all her husband’s accomplishments. They’d both been supportive of each other. Always had the other’s backs. Yet one crap offer by the one man his dad would never have wanted to sell to, and that was all it took?
He ground his teeth and refocused on his work.
He did not want to sell.
“Is it a done deal?” Jewel asked. “A good offer?”
“No, and no.”
They hadn’t even gotten into the fact that it would leave her unemployed. Not that she couldn’t find another job. Anyone in the business would jump at the chance to hire her. But these were her bulls as much as they’d been his dad’s, and it had made him sick to give her the news.
“Mom wants us all to agree,” he told her. “Yes or no. After Dad died, the business was split between the four of us. But Brady and Brooklyn won’t ever be a part of it. They’re solid in their careers, and both live a couple hours away. Selling won’t matter to them. Mom is always busy.” He shrugged. “And now I’m . . .”
“About to start a whole new life for yourself, as well.”
“Yeah.” Which, some days, royally sucked.
“But”—her eyes implored his—“does it have to be Easup?”
That had been the million-dollar question. Did it have to be fucking Easup? He hadn’t asked that of his mom. He’d been too shocked and pissed right out of the gate. And he hadn’t talked to her since. He and Jewel had done their jobs at the rodeo, then they’d returned without talking about it again. The drive home had been ridiculously silent, neither of them being up to conversation. He’d left her at the barn several hours ago, and he’d been snarling at his manga project ever since.
A knock sounded at his door, and he scowled instead of getting up. He still didn’t want to talk to his mother. He didn’t want to say the things to her that were on his mind.
Did she not love Dad anymore?
How could she possibly move on so soon?
How could she simply toss his dad’s legacy aside?
When the knock sounded again, he growled and set his tools down. Turning off the light on the magnifier, he slipped a cloth over the sculpture and rose. His mom knew that he did more than the simple carvings he sold at the festival and in the shop downtown. He’d given her a figurine of a man and a woman a couple of years ago. The woman was in scrubs and the man in a cowboy hat. But even she didn’t know how much more he did. No one did. And he wasn’t about to share that information now, either.
Stomping across the room, he wrenched open the door, deciding to let it out. Blast his mother with all his thoughts. Only, it wasn’t his mom standing at the top of his stairs. It was Jewel. And she still looked as furious as him.
“How bad was the offer?” Jewel demanded without waiting for him to speak.
“What?”
She pushed her way into the small living space. “I asked the other night if it was a good offer, and you said no. So, how bad was it?” She braced her hands on her hips. “Did he offer what Rolls is worth?”
“No.”
“So then, not what Death is going to be worth, either?”
“Correct.”
“Then I don’t get it, Bobby.” She paced across the floor before turning back. “Why would your mom even consider it? Am I not doing a good enough job running things?”
Was that what she thought?
“Jewel.” He reached for her, but she ignored him and kept pacing. “No,” he insisted. “You’re doing an amazing job, and Mom knows it. We all know it. The Double B wouldn’t be the same without you.”
“Then why sell?” She stopped moving and glared at him. “Why get rid of everything that your dad—” Her voice cracked, and danged if tears didn’t appea
r in her eyes again.
Pain filled Bobby, finally making him see something other than anger. He hurt for her. He hurt for himself. And he hurt for his mother, who even though she claimed she was fine with selling, he worried she might come to regret it.
He forced himself to admit the truth. “She’s selling because of me.”
And that was his biggest issue. His mother was willing to sell what had meant the most to his dad—to her husband—because of him.
Anger eased from Jewel’s face, replaced by confusion. “Because of you?”
He sighed. Then he hid all other emotions. “She thinks that by keeping the Double B, by keeping Dad’s dream, it’ll interfere with mine.”
“How?”
He stared at her. He didn’t want to answer. Because when he did, he knew she’d take that burden on herself.
“Bobby.” She moved to him. “I’m running the business. You’re about to go back to school. How would selling it help you?”
“Because I didn’t go to school last year.”
It took a moment, but reality hit. He saw it with her involuntary step back. Then he watched as the color drained from her face. “And then Leon needed off this summer . . . and you had to come home again.”
“Right.”
“But you’ll be done in time to start school this time. Leon will be back on the job.”
He didn’t say anything else. He waited for her to figure it out. It didn’t take long.
“But what if it happens again?” she said, her voice growing softer. “What if you’re needed again?”
He swallowed. “Right. That’s Mom’s argument. It’s not always easy to find last-minute help.”
“Then I coerce one of my sisters into helping.” Fierceness filled her. “Or maybe all three of them. They could rotate. That’s what family is for, after all. Heck, that’s what I should have insisted on doing this time.”
He let out a sad laugh. And while he appreciated her energy, her willingness to twist her sisters’ arms, he knew it wouldn’t change his mother’s mind. She’d stated as much when he’d offered the same suggestion. She’d refused to hear him when he’d said that it had been his choice to stay home the year before. His choice to delay school.
“She’s made her mind up,” he told her, letting her see his acceptance of the situation. “We all have to agree, but none of us will go against her wishes. If she decides to sell, we’ll sell.”
“But for less than it’s worth?”
He shook his head at that. “No. That we won’t agree on, and neither will she. She told Easup she’d take another offer Labor Day weekend. At the end of the summer’s competitions. That’ll give both sides time to truly evaluate what Rolls is worth. What Death will be worth. Not to mention, the rest of the bulls, the equipment, the name.”
Horror suddenly shown on her face. “The land?”
“Not the land,” he confirmed. “Not the house. She won’t do that. She might lease out the land at some point, though.”
“Good.”
“But she is going to ask your opinion on our stock”—he shot her a raised brow and a teasing grin—“and I’m hoping you won’t unfairly inflate the numbers?”
Annoyance filled her eyes. “Of course I won’t unfairly inflate the numbers.”
“Not even because it’s Easup?”
That earned him a half smile and her signature eye roll.
“I may want to inflate the numbers,” she clarified, “but no. If your mom really wants to sell, I’ll do what I can to help. Plus, fucking Easup would know if I wasn’t being legit anyway.”
He chuckled. And then he grew silent. He took her hand. “And you’ll be okay?”
Her gaze flickered to his.
“I know you could get another job,” he continued, but he left unsaid that by doing so she’d be walking away from “her” bulls. From the business she’d put so much of her own self into.
She seemed to understand his question, but she didn’t immediately answer. Instead, she once again began to pace. Only, she moved slower this time. She made it to the edge of the living room, took in his bed tucked into the nearest corner, the mini fridge and microwave crammed in beside a table barely large enough for one. Then as if in slow motion, her head turned, and she scanned the rest of the space.
The band saw, the chisels, the Dremel, the carving bits.
The shards of wood he hadn’t cleaned up from the work he’d been doing today.
She also eyed the large locked cabinet sitting against the back wall and the piece, now covered, that he’d been working on before opening the door to her.
Taking another couple of steps forward, she peered around the edge of the workbench. He held his breath instead of stopping her. She’d not been in here before. No one had other than his mom. And even then, she had never seen half the pieces now on display. She didn’t know all he was capable of.
“Bobby,” Jewel whispered. He fingers went to her mouth. “I had no idea.”
“No one does,” he admitted. His heart hammered in his chest.
Bria knew he had more talent than the simple pieces he sold, but even she’d never understood how much. She also thought of this as his “little hobby.”
“Welcome to my studio.” The words were laced with the fear that she might not appreciate what she was looking at. What he was allowing her to see.
“All that time last year,” she murmured.
She moved to the workbench and picked up the queen and king he’d made for a chess set. He had yet to paint them, but he soon would.
She held up the pieces. “This is what you were doing?”
He nodded. “It is.”
“Then why in the world are you hiding it from everyone? Why isn’t this your dream?”
The words, though something he’d asked himself before, felt like lead weights settling over him. “I can’t make a living doing this.”
“Are you sure?” She lifted the cloth from the manga piece and literally gaped as she pointed at it. “This is insane.”
He smiled. He did appreciate her appreciation for his work.
“This is something to do in my spare time.” He moved into the workshop area with her. “It’s what I’ll take up again after I retire.”
The sharp look sent his way caught him off guard. “You’re going to quit doing this now?” She sounded angry. “Why?”
“Because I won’t have the time. Not once school starts. And when I graduate”—he shrugged, not sure how to make her understand—“I’ll likely end up working in retail. Pharmacist hours can be brutal.”
“Then don’t be a pharmacist,” she muttered, and the way she said the words, the awe coloring her features, inflated his ego. It reminded him of how his parents used to look at each other.
She continued to seek out every nook and cranny, her eyes, as well as her fingers, taking everything in. “I don’t know how you cannot do it, Bobby. You clearly have a passion for this.”
He’d wondered that same thing, as well. Especially after he’d worked so hard the year before to bring his skill to a new level. He wasn’t sure he was ready to quit seeing where he could take things.
As she continued skimming her fingers over each piece, he decided to take one more risk. Why not fully go for it?
He reached for the key tucked behind the locked cabinet. “Do you want to see more?”
She spun in his direction. “You have more? Yes. Please!”
Without giving himself time to think about what he was doing, he slipped the key into the lock and pulled both doors open wide. Then he took a step back. These were the real pieces. The ones he’d envisioned seeing in art galleries. This was the type of artwork he wanted to spend his life improving upon.
The theme was the human body. Hands, faces, curves, shapes, nudes, partial nudes. He had women in yoga poses, women rising up out of water. Mother and child. Lovers standing back-to-back. He’d carved every pose that had ever spoken to him, every thought that made him feel.
He’d smoothed and polished them until they were as close to perfection as he could get. And then he closed them up in a locked cabinet.
Jewel hadn’t said anything yet. Nor had she made a sound.
And the eerie silence had Bobby’s pulse racing.
Finally, he couldn’t take it any longer. He slipped his hands into his jeans’ pockets and rocked back onto his heels. “Say something.”
She turned to him then, and the look on her face, the sheer understanding of what these pieces meant to him, had him falling a little bit in love with her. No one had ever looked at his work that way. No one had looked at him that way.
She didn’t comment. Instead, with methodical movements, she slowly closed the doors, then pressing her back against the cool metal, she pulled a breath in through her nose. And finally, she spoke.
“Why did you break up with Bria?”
He jolted at the unexpected question, but once past the initial shock, found it interesting that’s where she’d gone. It was as if she instinctively knew. “Because she didn’t want me coming back here again. She was afraid I’d end up delaying school for another year.”
She lifted her hand and touched one finger to the door behind her, right above her shoulder. “She was afraid you’d spend a few more weeks doing this?”
“She’s never actually seen those. But yes. She’s not a fan of my carvings.”
She laughed. “Those are not carvings, Bobby. Those are art.”
He wanted to hold this woman.
And he might never want to let go.
She looked around the room again, seeming to take in everything around them, each ounce of his soul he’d put into the work, before finally bringing her gaze back to his. And when her gorgeous eyes once again zeroed in on him, the earth shifted beneath his feet.
“You made the right decision breaking up with her. Now, kiss me, will you? Before I go up in flames. Because for all those years that you saw only Bria, I saw only you. And I didn’t even know about all of this.”
Shock rooted him in place. She’d always liked him?