by K. C. Crowne
“Alright,” he said. “We’re all here, and we’re all up. Might as well sort this shit out while it’s still fresh.”
“Yeah,” Skye agreed. “Good idea.” She poured three cups of coffee and handed one to me.
“What the hell’s there to talk about? We had a few drinks, got up to some shit last night, and well, whatever. Ain’t like it’s gonna happen again.”
Adam strolled closer to us, his shirt slung over his shoulder. He cast a glance to me as he took his cup of coffee. “Speak for yourself,” he said, slipping his arm around Skye’s waist and pulling her close.
I was stunned. “What?”
Skye didn’t seem to understand either if her furrowed brow was any indication.
“We had fun last night, didn’t we?” he asked her.
“Yeah. It was nice. I mean, better than nice.”
“Right. And if Travis wants to do the right thing and be the responsible boss, that’s his prerogative. But you and I don’t have any reason why we can’t have some fun every now and then.”
Skye chewed her lower lip again, but this time not indecisively. Nope, the expression on her face made it clear she was more than okay with Adam's suggestion. A surge of something hot ran through my body. I didn’t like it.
“You’re joking, right?” I asked.
“Why not?” Adam asked, shrugging one shoulder. “I mean, what do you think Skye?”
She considered it for a moment before answering. “Adam’s right. He’s not my boss, so the rules don’t apply.”
It didn’t sit right with me. I wanted to get the hell out of there right. After a long pull of coffee, I plopped my mug down on the counter, some of the liquid sloshing out the side and burning down the side of my hand.
“We’re goin’. Right now.”
“Are you fuckin’ serious?” Adam asked, surprised. “It’s the weekend, Trav. We ain’t got anywhere to be.”
I pointed at the two of them. “This shit’s ridiculous, and it’s not gonna happen again. Now, let’s get movin’.”
“You don’t have to stay,” Adam said. “You drove, you can drive back. I’ll find my own way home.”
The smile vanished from Skye’s face as the tension increased.
“Quit bein’ a stubborn dumbass,” I said. “We’re both goin’ back to town.”
“No, we ain’t doin’ anything.”
Silence filled the air, the two of us staring one another down. Fuck of it was I knew he was right – no reason he couldn’t stay there with Skye.
No reason other than I didn’t like him having her all to himself.
“Alright,” Skye said, raising her hands and stepping between us. “You boys clearly need to do some talkin’ about the whole thing. Why don’t you both head back into town and, I don’t know, maybe we can figure somethin’ out later.”
Adam narrowed his eyes, not happy that the vibe had been ruined. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll be in touch, y’hear?”
Skye allowed herself a small smile before standing up on her tiptoes and planting a quick kiss on Adam’s cheek. However hot my blood had been, that got it boiling. I grabbed my shit and threw it on before marching out of the apartment.
“What the fuck was all that?” Adam called out from behind me as he shut the door. “You got a bug up your ass or somethin’?”
I rushed down the stairs, not wanting to talk to Adam in the slightest.
“Hey!” he said. He caught up with me and dropped his hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off and kept moving. “You’re actin’ like a damn child,” he said. “Stop and talk to me.”
“Talk?” I asked. “What the hell you wanna talk about?”
“That shit you pulled back there,” he said, gesturing to her apartment. “Throwin’ a tantrum, sayin’ I’m not allowed to see Skye like you’re my damn daddy or some shit.”
“You can do whatever you want. But it’s not a good idea for you to keep seein’ her.”
The two of us walked side-by-side, heading back in the direction of Raw Hearts.
“And why the hell not? You got a reason not to, but I don’t.”
“Because…it’s not a good fuckin’ idea. Trust me on this.”
He let out a laugh. “You can’t even think of some bullshit to toss out. Trav, I know what it is, and the fact that you don’t is a serious fuckin’ laugh.”
“And what do you think it is, huh?”
“Because you’re jealous.”
Now it was my turn to laugh. “Jealous. You’re full of shit.”
“Then what is it? You think our astrological signs don’t match? You don’t wanna see your bud get hurt?” He scoffed as we walked. “Nah – it ain’t any of that shit. You’re jealous that I can have her, and you can’t.”
I let out a snort. “You kiddin’? I could have her if I wanted. Hell, I’ve got some very clear memories of havin’ her last night. Pretty sure you were there to see it.”
The words hit me strangely as soon as they came out of my mouth. Thinking about what happened last night, how Adam and I had shared a girl. I’d never done anything like that before and still wasn’t sure how I felt about the whole thing.
But I sure as shit wasn’t happy about Adam getting uppity about it.
“Yeah, you had her last night when we were a little buzzed, still havin’ fun. But now that it’s the clear light of day, you gotta know that she’s off-limits. You’re her damn boss.”
“Nah,” I said. “She’s off-limits to me, she’s off-limits to you.”
Adam shot me a cock-eyed glare. “And how the hell do you figure that?”
“You need me to spell it out for you?”
“I’d love it if you spelled it out for me. Because from where I’m standin’, I can’t see a damn reason why I can’t hang out with a girl who’s clearly into me.”
“What, you think she’s in love with you or some shit? Adam, you just met her last night. And more than that, I’m pretty damn sure she was only into you because it let her live out that crazy-ass fantasy she’d been walkin’ around with.” I was being petty and I knew it. But I didn’t care. The whole thing was rubbing me raw.
He laughed mockingly. “And now you’re what, tryin’ to get me to think she’s not actually into me?”
I didn’t know what I was trying to do, to be honest.
“You know what I think it is, Trav?”
“Aw, this oughta be good.”
“What I think it is, is that you’re pissed that I can keep on seein’ her and you can’t.”
He was speaking truth I didn’t want to hear, which pissed me off. Rational thought was hard when my head was hurting, but I forced myself to calm down. “You know what, I’m tired of talkin’ about this bullshit. I’ve got a headache that feels like a damn truck just ran me over. How about whatever thoughts you have on the matter you can keep inside. Sound good?”
Adam narrowed his eyes at me, then he sighed and said, “Okay, we’re both feelin’ a little raw this mornin’. We can drop it for now.”
We approached the truck, and I opened the driver’s door and looked at him. “Listen, man, it’s just fuckin’ weird. I’m not sure what to think right now.”
Adam nodded, agreeing. Neither of us was happy about how this was shaping up, but we weren’t fighting at least.
“Let’s table it for now,” he said. “We’ll figure it out like we’ve always figured life out. Right?”
“Damn right.”
Adam
Took about an hour, along with some mega-doses of coffee and aspirin, before the hangover finally wore off. Unlike Travis, I didn’t have the luxury of relaxing on the weekend. I’d been lining up work at Atwater Ranch and needed that morning to head to the place and hammer out the details with the owner, Bryce.
After I got back to my place and climbed into my truck, the bullshit from last night slammed into my thoughts. The entire situation was fucking crazy – no doubt about that. And I was damn sure I was right, even if Travis didn’t wa
nt to admit it. He was just jealous, which I understood, but he was her boss. I wasn’t.
But the argument about it wasn’t sitting well with me. Sure, Travis and I had gotten into it more than a few times over the years. And a few of those fights had come to drunken blows every now and then. That was fine. Those kinds of fights always ended the same way, with us drunkenly wrestling around in the dirt outside some shitty bar, one of us winning and helping the other up and forgetting about the whole thing.
There was something about this argument that ate at me. Sure, we’d put it away, but it would have to be discussed. Hell, I would’ve felt better if one of us had clocked the other across the jaw – a fight like that had a way of dumping water on bullshit.
It took about thirty minutes to drive out to Atwater Ranch. The place was nice, a gorgeous little piece of property situated on a sloping hill. It wasn’t as nice as Rainbow Canyons, sure, but there weren’t many places around the area that were.
I killed the engine to the truck and hopped out. A handful of ranch hands were on the property, doing chores here and there, some of them tending to the animals. A big, ranch-style house was in the center of the property, a few barns scattered here and there.
I fired off a quick text to Bryce, letting him know I was there, but he didn’t answer me. The man had money, which was why I was happy to take the work, but the fucker could be unreliable. I leaned against my truck for a few minutes before realizing I would have to track his ass down.
“Where’s the boss?” I called out to one of the ranch hands as I wandered onto the property. The man gave me a quizzical look, and I realized he probably didn’t speak English. “El Jefe,” I said, busting out my rough Spanish. “Dondre es?”
The man’s eyes lit up with realization. “Jefe? Con los caballos.”
I didn’t understand anything but “jefe” and “caballos,” and when he pointed to one of the barns, I realized what he meant. I tossed off a “gracias” before heading in the direction of the barn. The building was closed, and when I reached it, I raised my fist to knock on the door. Before I made impact, I heard the commotion of something going on inside.
“Come on, you little shit. Can’t you cooperate for once in your damn life?”
I stopped before I knocked, listening to what the hell was going on.
“Come. On! Move your ass, damnit! Got a fucking busy day ahead, don’t have time for this shit!”
I recognized the voice – no doubt it was Bryce. And whatever was going on in there, he wasn’t happy about it. The guy was Texan, but he had the crisp accent of the kind of guy who’d spent most of his upbringing in boarding schools and private colleges. A trust-fund kid to the core. Sounded more like he was from Maine or some shit than anywhere around these parts.
“Fucking hell! Why the hell do you need to be so damn stubborn? Paid enough for you that you oughta jump when I tell you.”
I couldn’t hold back my curiosity and opened the barn door just enough to see inside. Bryce was a tall, lanky guy with broad shoulders and a head of sun-blond hair that always seemed to be in the kind of perfect part you didn’t normally see on men who worked with their hands for a living. He was dressed in stuff that looked like standard cowboy gear, but it was clean and pressed, obviously expensive designer stuff. Hated to be too judgmental, but every time I saw him, he appeared to me more like a city slicker playing dress-up than a real cowboy.
He stood next to a tall, well-built stallion, it's color an even cream. And he looked pissed. “Move. Your. Ass!” He made an angry circle around the animal, his eyes locked on it. “How many times I gotta tell you?”
He didn’t seem to notice me because he was too focused on the horse. The creature didn’t seem to give a single shit about anything he was being told to do. Something about the situation didn’t sit well with me. I’d gotten frustrated with animals before, but there was real anger in his voice.
“Move. Your. Ass!” he repeated. Then he pulled back his hand and struck the horse hard on the haunches. Not a closed-fist kind of thing, but a hard strike nonetheless.
That shit wasn’t cool. Sure, you had to discipline animals every now and then, maybe give a horse the occasional whip with the riding crop. But the way he’d hit that beast wasn’t right. Nothing he was doing was straight-up animal cruelty, but it had the spirit of it.
It made me think of Skye, strange as it might sound. I thought about the conversation we’d had last night about animal activism. Not a doubt in my mind she wouldn’t stand around and let someone treat a horse like that. She was strong-willed as hell, and I dug it about her.
The strike appeared to hurt Bryce worse than it did the horse. The animal let out a snort, whipping his tail back and forth and still not budging an inch. I’d seen enough.
“Yo, Bryce!” My voice echoed through the expanse of the stable.
Bryce stopped and turned his attention to me, his blue eyes widening. “Who’s that?”
“It’s Adam Carter. Didn’t mean to interrupt, but I’ve been textin’ you and hadn’t heard back. One of the workers told me to find you here.”
He put his hands on his hips, obviously still frustrated. “This fucking thing,” he said, gesturing to the horse. “Paid a damn arm and a leg for this stallion, and it’s as stubborn as a kid who doesn’t want to go to bed.”
I stepped over to the animal, its black eyes focusing on me as I approached. “You gotta have a soft touch with these guys. You start takin’ a tone with ‘em, and they get even less cooperative.” I put my hand on the horse’s haunch and stroked it slowly. “There you go, boy. All’s good, isn’t it?”
I could feel a tenseness in the horse, likely on account of Bryce’s yelling. But the more I stroked its coat, the more the anxiety seemed to melt away. “There you go,” I repeated. “Now, why don’t you do what your master says, huh?”
Bryce watched, and though I was getting the results with the horse he’d been looking for, he didn’t appear too pleased, like I’d showed him up or some nonsense.
“He should be fine now,” I said, taking my hand off. “If he starts gettin’ ornery, just give him some TLC.”
Bryce shook his head. “Can’t believe I have to baby these fucking animals. How damn hard is it to train a horse to do what you say?”
“Harder than you think. And I’m sure you know you don’t want one of these guys freakin’ out on you. Easy way to get a hoof to the head.” I turned to Bryce. “Anyway, I’m not here for the horse. You still interested in gettin’ that barn built?”
“Yeah, you bet I am,” he said. “And I want it built soon – got a couple new thoroughbreds coming in next month, and I want to make sure they’ve got a place to stay.”
“Let’s go take a look.” Bryce nodded, and the two of us headed out of the barn and back outside. “Fine day on the ranch,” I said, glancing around and taking in the sights. “Good buildin’ weather.”
“How fast can you get this thing up?” he asked, not in the mood for small talk.
We stopped at a small plot of land, the place I’d picked out before when I’d come to his property the last time.
“Pretty damn fast. My boys and I ain’t strangers to puttin’ up barns – probably the most common job we do. But we’ve got some other jobs lined up for the next month…”
“Doesn’t matter. Whatever they’re paying, I’ll beat it.”
“Ain’t that simple,” I said. “We’re on contracts.”
“Then I’ll buy out the contracts. This thing needs to go up ASAP. Doesn’t matter the cost.”
A small smirk formed on my face. Rich folk could be pains in the ass to deal with, but it was hard to want to argue with them when they threw money in your face.
“Alright,” I said, my hands on my hips. “We might be able to work somethin’ out. If I can get this spot surveyed, call in all the boys, we should be able to get it up in the next week. But it ain’t gonna be cheap to work that fast.”
“Cheap doesn’t matter. I do
n’t feel like waiting.”
“You feel like payin’ and don’t feel like waitin’, we can most definitely work somethin’ out. Give me a half-hour or so to take some measurements, and I can let you know what I’ve got in mind.”
“Fine,” he said, his tone sharp. “I’ll be in the main house in the office. Just come in and find me when you’re done.”
He didn’t wait for me to respond before heading to the house. I’d never cared all that much about pleasantries – small talk had never been my strong suit— but the way Bryce behaved…I didn’t care for it. He acted less out of a sense of business and more like that he considered talking with working men to be beneath him.
Whatever – didn’t matter none. I was there to do some work, not to make friends. And Bryce sure as shit wasn’t the kind of guy I’d ever want to be friends with.
I grabbed a few tools from my truck, some odds and ends to check the land and get it measured. The work was quick, only taking a half-hour or so. But by the time I was done, the heat had caused a thin sheen of sweat to form on my forehead.
I started towards the main ranch, heading inside like he’d asked. The place was a palace, and more than that, it stuck out like a damn sore thumb. Rainbow Canyons had the southern thing going on, which was a strange fit for Texas. But it worked. Bryce’s home, on the other hand, was all sleek and modern, full of strange sculptures and art I couldn’t make heads or tails of. Looked more like a Dallas penthouse than any kind of ranch I’d ever seen.
A housekeeper strolled by, and I asked her in my rusty Spanish where I could find the office. It was upstairs, and I headed in the direction she pointed out for me. When I reached the office, I heard Bryce’s voice on the other side. Once again, I was overhearing a conversation, but I wasn’t in the mood for eavesdropping. Until I heard him say a name that caught my attention.
“This fucking girl, Skye Phillips? That her name?”
My brow pulled together as I listened. Why the hell was Bryce talking about Skye? I put aside my hesitation to eavesdrop and held off before knocking on the door.