Dirty Cowboy

by Alycia Taylor

  “I only have black and white socks in my closet.”

  “You only have black and white everything in your closet,” she stated.

  “That’s true.”

  “Isn’t today the day of your first club meeting?” she asked.

  “Yeah. It is. I have a whole list of things that I need to run through with everyone. I only hope that they listen to me. My father and I are very different people. You’ve met him. You know what I mean. He’s . . . well, let’s just say he’s a people person, and I’m definitely not.”

  “Nah, you’ll be great,” she said.

  “I hope so. Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to see you tonight. I’ll be back after the meeting, but I’m going to be gone for most of the evening. Is that okay? Do you want to just hang out here? I’d feel safer knowing you are here than at your own place.” I thought of inviting her to the meeting, but it had always been members only, and I wasn’t sure that the other members would take kindly to me breaking the rules on the first day of being in charge. Also, if I messed up, I didn’t want her to see it happen.

  “No problem at all. I’ll be fine on my own. And I can definitely hang out here. I think that’s actually a great idea. I’m just going to go home quickly and get a few things. I’ll be back a bit later. Although, I warn you, your jar of peanut butter might be empty when you get back. That’s just the payment you get for leaving me alone.” She licked her lips, and I wasn’t sure what was more delicious—her or the peanut butter.

  Eliza came back a few hours later, and I was relieved to see her. I almost wished that her ex-boyfriend would just come so that we could finally face up to him. I hated the fact that I got nervous every time she was on her own. It killed me to think that anything could happen to her. I sometimes considered going to find him first, but I knew that would be a bad idea. Usually, that would be exactly the sort of thing I would do. But I was different with Eliza. I wanted to do what she wanted, not just what I wanted.

  “You’ve got this!” she said and kissed me before I left for the club.

  I had been to every single club meeting since I was a member, but today felt different from every other day. For the first time since I was old enough to join, I was going to be standing up in front of everyone to talk. This pretty much went against everything I knew I was good at. I arrived early and saw that Patriot was there. What was up with him these days? He was always around. I looked around for some of my other brothers or cousins but saw none of them. I shook my head.

  “Gunner! Why are you shaking your head?” Patriot asked. I hadn’t seen him walk up to me.

  “Ah, I was just looking around for the other guys.”

  “Who?”

  “Our family! Our brothers, our cousins. Why are they even a part of this club?”

  Patriot shrugged. “Who knows? I guess life got in the way.”

  “Yeah, well I’m thinking of making a rule that if you don’t come to at least half the meetings, you get kicked out the club. It’s supposed to be a community of people who work together.”

  Patriot smiled. “It’s not a bad idea, Gunner. So, how you feeling?”

  “Honestly? Nervous as hell. Do I really have to do this?”

  “You’ll be fine. You have nothing to worry about. You’re already making some good executive decisions. Pop would never kick out his own family members, but you realize the core reason for this group.”

  “Well, he’s a lot softer than me.”

  Patriot grinned. He looked like he was about to say something but he didn’t get a chance because the room was filling up and a lot of the members were coming up to greet me. I wasn’t used to getting so much attention. I wondered if they thought that my father was an idiot for giving the job to me. Were they looking at me with admiration or with annoyance? I couldn’t figure it out. But the meeting was about to start, and I didn’t have the time to think about it anymore. I saw that everyone was in place, and I spotted one of the guys at the back close the door. The meeting was about to commence.

  I made my way to the front of the room and looked around at all the faces I knew so well. I was nervous at first, and I could feel my hands shaking. But then someone smiled at me, and I realized that these were people that I had grown up with. They liked the same things as me, and they were there for the same reason as me. So I cleared my throat and began to talk.

  “Due to a very poor decision by my father, you guys are now stuck with me. I apologize in advance,” I said, and everyone laughed. The laughter helped to take away the nervousness, and even my hands stopped shaking. “Okay, I have a lot of things that I want to get through today. But I also want a chance to go for a ride after this. That’s something we haven’t done together as a group in a long time. So, how about we get this meeting over with, and then we all take a ride together?”

  The room erupted in applause, and I knew that I had said the right thing. I started to talk, and the more I spoke, the more I could hear my father inside of me. It was like it was him standing in front of the club and not me. I wondered if that was how he had felt when he had first taken over from his own father. I’d never asked him that.

  I was surprised at how well the meeting went, and how easy it was to stand up and talk in front of so many people. And most of all, I was surprised that they had all listened to me. I had expected them to ignore me, or worse, to laugh at me. But they’d all listened. I even saw one guy taking notes. Perhaps they were humoring me for the sake of my father, or maybe they had really enjoyed listening to me. Either way, I was glad that I hadn’t made a fool of myself when I walked off.

  “Well, that’s it for today. I think we covered a lot of ground. Thanks for listening to me. I know I’m not as well-spoken as my father, so I appreciate you hearing me out today. Now, let’s go ride! I’ll meet you all out front in fifteen minutes.”

  I gathered my things and started walking out when Patriot stopped me.

  “You did well,” he said.

  “Really? Was I not too nervous up there? Public speaking is not exactly something I thrive on.”

  Patriot laughed. “Same here. Although to be honest, I think it’s the one thing that most people hate. But you did very well. I knew you would. But, Gunner, you did better than I thought you would. Everyone loved you up there. It was weird; it was like it was Pop up there and not you.”

  “Oh yeah? Well, thanks, man.”

  “Pop would be proud.”

  I didn’t say anything, but as I walked toward my bike, I could feel my lips turn into a smile. For the first time in my whole life, I thought he might be right.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Eliza

  I slept over again at Ian’s place. Neither one of us had actually made the decision for it, but I just ended up getting changed into my pajamas and spending the night. I had packed a few clothes as well as my toothbrush in case it happened, and Ian didn’t mention it. It was perhaps a little disconcerting that we spent so much time together and that we still hadn’t spoken about what sort of relationship we had. I had a feeling that the conversation was going to come up in the near future. But the problem was that I had no idea what I would say to it. Did I want to be his girlfriend? Did he want me to be his girlfriend? I had a feeling I wasn’t the usual type he went out with. And I had already told myself time and time again that I wasn’t ready for a boyfriend. It wasn’t healthy to go from an abusive relationship straight into another relationship. He was the opposite of abusive, but I still wasn’t sure if it was what I wanted. But seeing him sitting in front of me at the breakfast table while we drank coffee and chatted about the week ahead felt good. For now, I would forget about what we should or shouldn’t be doing and just enjoy his company.

  “So, do you have another busy week ahead?”

  Ian nodded. “Yeah. Usually we only find out on the day whether or not it’s going to be busy, but we already have five bikes booked for today. We’ve also started up a bit of a shop to sell equipment, and that has tak
en off more than we thought it would. We’re going to have to get new stock in to keep up with the demand. It’s going to be one hell of a crazy week.”

  “But you love it, don’t you?” I said and grinned at him. His entire face lit up when he spoke about the shop.

  “I do. Hey, I just realized that we both get to work with our best friends. That’s awesome.”

  “How long have you and Chris been friends for?” I asked. It was clear to me that Chris was someone that Ian thought the world of.

  “Oh, forever. Since we were little. He’s more a brother to me than my own brothers.”

  “That’s cool. What is it like having four brothers?”

  “It’s okay. I mean, we were never that close. We’re all just so different. And maybe they just took after my mom, and I took after my dad, or vice versa, but I’ve never really felt close to any of them. Except for Patriot. He’s probably the most similar to me. Which is why our relationship is a little rocky, I guess. I don’t know; I don’t really think about it all that much. And like I said, I consider Chris like a brother more than the rest of them. How about you? What’s it like to be an only child?”

  “People have asked me that before, but I never know how to answer it because being an only child is all I’ve ever really known.”

  “But now you have Mae.”

  “That’s true. I still can’t believe that I’ve known her for less than two months. It seems completely crazy. Like I can actually call her my best friend already.”

  “Yeah, the two of you seem close. So, are you preparing for the party today?”

  I grinned. “Yes! I’m so excited. We’re actually going shopping all day instead of staying inside the office. How cool is that? I know it’s going to be busy, but I still can’t believe that I’m going shopping and not sitting at my desk. This is definitely my dream job. I’m meeting her at the office, and then we’re going together. We have a long list of things to get.”

  “I bet you’re going to find time to sneak in a cup of coffee somewhere,” Ian teased.

  “What? On company time? How dare you—yeah, of course we are,” I said and chuckled. “Ooh, I better get going.”

  “Already?”

  “Yeah, we’re getting an early start. Thanks for breakfast.”

  “Anytime.”

  I quickly ran to the room to get ready. I had to be at the office in five minutes, but I hadn’t realized how late it was already. As usual, when I got caught up in a conversation with Ian, it was hard to stop. I grabbed my bag and walked out. Ian was still drinking his coffee at the table. I walked up and kissed him squarely on the lips.

  “Bye, Gunner,” I said.

  His eyes widened. “Gunner? Not Ian?”

  “Let’s be honest; I’m always turned on by you. Well, have a great day. See you later.”

  Ian groaned. “Seriously? You’re going to say something like that and just walk away. That’s cruel.”

  I chuckled. “I’m sorry. But I really have to go.”

  I rushed out and made my way to work. By the time I got there, I was only ten minutes later than we had planned. Mae was standing at the doorway tapping her watch when I ran up the stairs.

  “Where’ve you been?” she demanded.

  “Wow, not even a good morning?”

  “No. Only those that are on time get a good morning.”

  “Do I at least get a coffee?”

  “No. You get nothing. Come on; we have a full day ahead of us.”

  “Don’t I even get to go inside?” I complained.

  “Nope. If you were on time, you would’ve been able to. But we have a very serious appointment to get to first.”

  I didn’t know that we actually had actual appointments. Mae was walking down the street with a determined look on her face. I ran up to her and matched her stride.

  “Wait, where are we going? What appointment?”

  “We’re going out for some coffee.”

  “What? With who?”

  “Just you and me,” she said while still keeping a serious face.

  I burst out laughing. “And that’s the serious appointment?”

  “Hey, you know I take my coffee seriously,” she said and grinned at me. “Anyway, I felt like we couldn’t truly start our day without a bit of catching up, don’t you think?”

  “I absolutely agree. This coffee meeting is of the utmost importance. The more coffee we drink, the better we will shop.”

  We made our way to a little café a few blocks down and settled into a booth. We ordered cappuccinos and then sat back against the leather sofas and grinned at one another.

  “I could seriously get used to workdays like this,” I said and smiled at the waitress as she placed two steaming cappuccinos in front of us.

  “Tell me about it. Now, why were you late?”

  “I wasn’t late,” I insisted. “Ten minutes is not late.”

  “It is for you. You’re always on time, or early. Ten minutes is late for you. You must’ve had a valid reason, and I’m willing to bet ten dollars that I know what it was.”

  “Oh yeah? Go on, tell me.”

  “Ten bucks?”

  “Sure, ten bucks.”

  “You slept over at Gunner’s place, or he slept over at yours. And you were so distracted by his tattooed body that you completely forgot what time it was.”

  “Close!” I said and burst out laughing. “In fact, so close that I’ll give five bucks. But you don’t the full ten. You left out some vital statistics. Like the fact that he made me breakfast. Sure, it was just peanut butter on toast. But still.”

  “He made you breakfast? The man with all the tattoos? I have to admit. It’s a pretty nice image. Wow, so things are going well with the two of you?”

  “They are. We’re just having a good time together. And he’s making me feel very safe in case Raymond comes back. I’m very lucky.”

  “I’m glad he’s there. I mean, you could’ve stayed with me, but there’s not much that I’m going to do against Raymond.”

  “Hopefully he doesn’t ever come back. Now, enough about Raymond. What’s on the agenda for today?”

  Mae pulled out the list and the two of us went through everything that we needed to do. Mae knew the area better than I did, so she mapped out exactly what we needed to do in what order so that we weren’t backtracking. We figured that it was going to take us all day to get through all the shopping, so we included a lunch break too.

  “You sure John won’t mind that we’re doing this?” I said.

  “Are you kidding? As long as we make this party amazing, he won’t care what we do. Anyway, he knows that we both need food in order to function correctly.”

  “That’s true. So, is he your date for the party?” I asked.

  She grinned. “He is. He just doesn’t know it yet. How about you?”

  “I’ve asked Ian. He’ll be there.”

  “Really? It doesn’t exactly seem like his sort of thing. Wow, the guy must really like you.”

  We finished our coffee and headed back to get Mae’s car. Then we slowly but surely made our way through the list, ticking each one as we went along. We’d both called all the stores beforehand to make sure that they actually had what we wanted. This meant that everything went smoothly. It also meant that we managed to find the time to stop for a long and leisurely lunch in the middle of the day. The lunch gave us the boost to continue, and by four that afternoon, we had everything that we needed to make the party perfect.

  We were on our way back to the office when I turned to look at Mae.

  “Thank you for such an awesome day,” I said.

  “Don’t thank me. Thank John for giving us this assignment,” she said. “I wish all days could be this fun.”

  “No, it’s not just John. If I had to do this with anyone else, I wouldn’t have had a good time. And it’s not just today that I want to say thank you for. I want to thank you for everything that you’ve done for me since I arrived in Arizona. I love
being here, but I know that it’s mostly to do with the fact that I met you.” I stopped short because I could feel the tears rolling down my face.

  Mae had just parked the car, and she turned to look at me in surprise. Then she started crying.

  “Oh, Eliza. You’re making me cry. I’m so happy that I met you. And you’re right; it’s not just about today. Ever since we met, I’ve felt happier. Like a part of me was missing all along.”

  That just made me cry even more, so I reached over and hugged her. She leaned in too, but we both got caught in our seatbelts and didn’t make it. That made us laugh, which in turn made us cry. At that moment, Paul and John walked by and rapped on the window.

  “Hi,” Mae said as she wound down her window.

  “What’s going on? Is everything okay? We were just on our way out and suddenly we saw the two of you crying in the car. Did something happen?”

  Mae turned to look at me, and I started laughing. We must have looked ridiculous. She shook her head and assured John that everything was okay.

  “We’re actually very happy,” I said.

  “That’s your happy face?” he asked.

  Paul peered in and sighed. “Yep. Trust me, John. I live in a household with only women. My wife, my little girl, and my wife’s sister who comes in almost every day. Sometimes they cry when they’re happy.”

  And, of course, that only made us laugh and cry even more.

  “You sure nothing’s wrong?” John asked again. He was looking at Mae with so much concern, it broke my heart.

  She grinned at him. “Nothing is wrong. In fact, it’s been the best day.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Ian

  It was the night of the party, and I was getting ready in the bedroom while Eliza waited for me in the living room. She’d gone home to get ready, and when she’d walked through my door, I’d been blown away at her outfit. She had on a beautiful, long, sky-blue dress that was tight around the ass and flowed gently all the way down to her feet.

  “Damn, you’re beautiful,” I said. Then I looked down and grinned. “And you’re wearing heels.”