Herd That ARC

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  “I’m glad that they cleaned up for us.” She laughed.

  I shrugged. “Cleaning up a farm is nearly impossible. I mean, it’s like asking your non-trained animals to be house pets for just a little while. It ain’t gonna happen.”

  She smiled at me over her shoulder. “I realize that. We had goats and chickens when I was growing up. If anyone knows that, it’s me.” Her smile was whimsical. “We used to have this one goat that used to try to sneak in the house all the time. The only problem was that he used to shit everywhere and eat only my dad’s shoes. I’m not sure if that’s because he was attracted to my dad’s scent or what, but Dad wouldn’t allow him in the house. When ol’ Sore Mouth finally died, I think my dad was just as sad as we were.”

  “Sore Mouth?” I asked with a grin, getting the door for her.

  Her eyes went wide as she took in the inside of the building. “Yeah. When we got the goat she had an infected gum or something. We got her fixed up, but the name stuck since at the time we didn’t have a name for any of them. Wow, this place is gorgeous.”

  I agreed wholeheartedly.

  This place was the epitome of what I wanted to make out of my own house. The old barn wood all the way down to the stained concrete floors.

  All I needed was about four more years in the black, and I might be able to accomplish it… with a miracle.

  “One day I’m gonna have a barndominium that looks like this,” I said softly.

  Codie’s eyes came to me. “You don’t like the place you’re living in now?”

  I shook my head. “It’s a roof over my head, but it needs some work. We couldn’t afford much when we first moved here, so we bought the double wide from a man who was selling. It’s old as fuck, has saggy floors, and I’m more than ready to have a place that doesn’t have something break in it every single day.”

  Her face softened as understanding lit her eyes.

  “One day you’ll get that, Ace,” she replied. “And when you do, I hope you’ll let me come ooohh and ahh over yours, too.”

  I winked. “You can help me decorate it and design it if you want to.”

  Her mouth opened to reply, but a hearty ‘ho-ho-ho’ had us both turning as Santa made his way into the room.

  “Wow,” she said softly. “They got a really realistic looking Santa.”

  I agreed. The Santa was perfect, and you could tell that the beard he was sporting was real and not fake. His face was rosy and he was fairly chunky to boot. There was no fake anything about him.

  The kids were going to love him.

  Andddddd, apparently so was Codie.

  She’d walked straight to him and walked right into his arms.

  I blinked, surprised by the move.

  “Santa!” she crowed. “You’re here!”

  I brought my hand up to my mouth to cover my smile.

  God, she never ceased to amaze me.

  “Why hello there, little lady,” Santa said to Codie. “And who might you be?”

  And that was how Codie ended up talking to Santa, and hogging him, for a good five minutes while there were eager children practically bouncing in their seats to meet him.

  I saw all the parents getting a little miffed, so I went to save her before there was a revolt on our hands.

  “Uhhh, Codie?” I called out, touching the palm of my hand to the small of her back.

  She looked over at me with bright eyes.

  “Ace, this is Santa,” she introduced me.

  I bit my lip and nodded my head. “I know.”

  “He’s actually not Santa,” she said so low I could barely hear her. “His name is Scott, and he used to work with my dad.”

  My brows rose. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.” She nodded. “And you better get to work. I’m glad to see you.”

  Scott winked at her and gestured at her with a nod of his head. “I’d like to stop by your house and check on you. Your grandfather hasn’t been receptive to having visitors lately.”

  She rolled her eyes. “If you just show up, he won’t be able to argue, now will he?”

  ***

  Codie

  Grinning at the man who was looking quite old, I said, “Well, I’ll let you get…”

  “Do you mind?” a man’s voice said from behind us.

  Ace and I turned to find none other than Jace, the man my grandfather and I had been talking about just last night, standing directly behind us. “We have to go somewhere after this, and we’d like to let our son take a picture with him before we have to go.”

  “Oh, sorry,” I apologized. “You remember Santa, don’t you?”

  Jace’s eyes shone with amusement.

  There was no doubt in my mind that Jace knew who Santa really was.

  “I do,” he confirmed.

  Jace looked at me with a warm grin. His wife, however, who was holding their young child? Yeah, her look wasn’t so welcoming.

  “Aren’t these things for little kids?” she sniped.

  I shrugged and Ace wrapped his arms around me.

  “Smokes said all ages welcome,” Ace said, grinning and not realizing the tension that was rising between Jace’s wife and me. “And I’m more than willing to come here. I’m out of bacon anyway.”

  Jace’s wife handed her son over to Jace and then turned her back on us.

  “You’ll have to excuse Marie,” he said softly. “She’s annoyed that we couldn’t get her other son for today. Her ex-husband wouldn’t allow it.”

  Jace’s wife, Marie, was another woman who’d graduated with us. Or would have had I graduated with my class.

  “Hmm,” I said softly.

  My eyes went to Jace’s child, and I squinted. “I thought you had a boy.”

  “I did,” he said, turning the child in his arms so that I could see his face.

  Not that it helped.

  The kid was wearing what looked like a dress.

  “He’s got long hair,” I said, trying to explain away my confusion.

  “Yeah,” he sighed. “Marie doesn’t want to cut it because she thinks if she cuts it, it’ll take away all his curls.”

  I eyed said ‘curls’ and said nothing.

  Jace snorted. “You never were able to keep the truth off your face, were you, Codie?”

  Ace’s arm went around my waist and he pulled me into him, causing me to melt into his side.

  I liked that Ace did that in front of Jace.

  Now that I was looking around, I could see quite a few people that I knew, and all of their eyes were on me.

  I guess I’d made an entrance.

  That, or Marie, who looked like she was telling every one of her friends that had come with them, was spreading rumors.

  My guess was both.

  “Ace,” Jace held out his hand. “It’s good seeing you out and about instead of holed up at your ranch.”

  Ace shook his hand, then dropped it quickly. “Codie makes me go out. She doesn’t want me to become a hermit.”

  I looked up at Ace.

  I’d done no such thing.

  Jace’s eyes turned from me to Ace and then back to me. “Y’all are an item?”

  Marie scoffed as soon as she reappeared at her husband’s side.

  “Of course, they’re not…”

  “Yes,” Ace answered before I could even open my mouth to deny it. “We’re new, though.”

  I looked up at him, dumbfounded, and he chose that same moment to look down at me.

  Our lips connected almost before I could draw in a breath, and all of a sudden, I was kissing Ace Valentine.

  In the middle of Smokes.

  Right smack dab in the middle of almost fifteen of my high school classmates that thought I was nothing more than trash.

  I, Codie Spears, was kissing Ace Valentine and he was doing it voluntarily.

  Everything exploded.

  My body instantly started to tingle. My lips felt l
ike they were on fire. My senses went into overdrive, and my God, did he smell good.

  I wanted to crawl into his body and soak every single part of him up and roll around in his scent.

  I wanted to take a picture. I wanted to remember this.

  I wanted… everything.

  Right then, I wanted it all.

  With Ace.

  Ace fucking Valentine.

  The hot cowboy who everybody and their brother wanted.

  He pulled away, and I grinned when I saw his cowboy hat askew.

  I reached upward to straighten it, and he grinned down at me.

  “I’m glad for y’all,” someone was saying.

  Distantly I was aware that Jace might’ve been that someone, but I couldn’t turn away from Ace. There was something that kept me exactly where I was, staring up into his eyes.

  I felt like a delicate flower next to his tall, strong frame.

  And God, was he hot and hard all over.

  “Thanks,” Ace said, breaking the eye contact.

  I was panting as I finally looked in the same direction.

  Jace was grinning like a loon. His wife, on the other hand, looked like she’d tasted something bitter.

  “If everybody could take their seats, we’ll get started!” I heard yelled.

  Ace looked over his shoulder the opposite way to see the owner of Smokes standing on top of the bar in the middle of the large open room. He was waving his arms as if that would help focus everyone’s attention on him.

  “You can sit with us,” Jace offered.

  I stiffened, and Ace felt it.

  “Actually, we’re gonna sit over here by this fire. Codie’s cold,” Ace declined politely. “But thank you.”

  Marie mumbled a growling ‘thank God’ under her breath, and all of us pretended like we didn’t hear it, even though we did.

  When Jace whipped around and took Marie by the hand, practically yanking her behind him, I could tell that he wasn’t happy.

  “I see you have friends,” Ace teased as he directed me toward the couches that were placed strategically around the large fireplace in the corner of the room.

  I snorted. “The people in this room right now are the cream of the crop. The people that found inventive ways to make my life hell when I was a teen. Just sayin’, but if I get into a fight today, you may want to make sure you have bail money ready. Because there’s no way in hell I won’t go to jail. They’ll all gang up on me and say that I committed a felony when it was only a misdemeanor.”

  He snorted too and threw his arm around me, pulling me even closer. “You sound like you’ve had experience with that.”

  I shrugged my shoulders and tried not to pay attention to how good it felt to be in the man’s arms.

  God, did I mention that he smelled good?

  It was like walking down the men’s aisle at Walmart, or the men’s section in Dillard’s department store. He smelled that good.

  “There was one time that somebody was spray painting the school. When they couldn’t figure out who it was, they put up cameras. The cameras caught the graffitist, but unfortunately, they couldn’t see his or her face. Since it fit my height and weight as well as general description, about eight of my classmates banded together and blamed it on me. That was the camel that broke the straw, so to speak.”

  “You mean the straw that broke the camel’s back?” he asked, sounding unamused, even though that’d been what I was trying to accomplish. “And how does that work? They just reported you and the principal agreed with their assessment?”

  I nodded. “That, and they planted some paint cans in my car. They weren’t even the right colors.”

  Ace’s eyes were hard when he said, “Why’d you come back again?”

  I shrugged. “There are times I ask myself that same question. I mean, Granddad is doing really good. Actually, if I didn’t know better, I wouldn’t think he’d been sick at all.”

  Ace tugged on a lock of my hair. “I’m glad that you stayed. Even if it’s for me.”

  My brows rose, and I looked at him with an incredulous look on my face. “What makes you think that you’re part of the reason I’m staying?”

  He grinned and pulled me closer into the curve of his arm. “I don’t know… maybe that’s just me hoping at this point.”

  I shook my head and stood, pushing up using his very hard, muscular thigh. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom before the festivities get started.”

  He waved me on. “I’ll be here, saving our spot.”

  I eyed all the people that were surrounding us and realized that was likely a good idea. The place had gone from just a few people to wall to wall people in about five minutes.

  “Okay,” I said softly, offering him a playful wink. “Come find me if I’m longer than five minutes. That means someone kidnapped me.”

  He grinned. “Will do, ma’am.”

  With that grinning look aimed at me, I walked away, knowing he was staring at my ass as I moved.

  Unfortunately, all earlier playfulness wiped completely off my face the moment that I arrived in the bathroom to find Marie standing there taking selfies in the bathroom mirror.

  The beauty of the bathroom paled in comparison to how awful I knew this was about to get.

  Son of a bitch.

  Trying to ignore her, I walked into the first stall that I found and did my business. The moment I got out, I wasn’t surprised to find her leaning against the counter waiting for me to exit.

  I walked up to the sink that was farthest away from her and hoped she wouldn’t say anything.

  Sadly, my luck didn’t hold out.

  “Why don’t you just go back to Dallas?” she hissed. “Nobody wants you here.”

  I stiffened.

  “And don’t think I didn’t get your application.” She snorted. “It was on the chief’s desk, but I helped him out and filed it under ‘no way.’”

  With that, she left, and I was left staring at her as she went.

  No wonder I hadn’t gotten a call back!

  What the fuck?

  What do I do?

  Do I say something?

  Do I confront her?

  Do I go talk to the chief of police and ask him for his consideration?

  I honestly had no clue what I should do.

  Meaning as I walked out of the bathroom, I had a very annoyed look on my face, which was much different than the one that’d been on it as I’d entered.

  When I arrived at Ace’s side, my playfulness, as well as my excitement at being there, was gone. In its place was an anger so deep and old that I feared that it would rub off on Ace.

  So, like the annoyance that it was, I put it at the back of my mind and tried to have a good time.

  And I did. Mostly.

  Other than the few looks at Marie, who hadn’t stopped glaring at me since I’d arrived back from the bathroom, I’d managed to put her at the back of my mind.

  I also really enjoyed the food.

  “This was really good.” I paused. “But it wasn’t enough. I’m still hungry.”

  Ace agreed wholeheartedly. “I agree. I’m starving still. I could eat about twenty more strips of bacon and about four more helpings of that casserole.”

  I snickered.

  “Want to get out of here?” he asked. “I can take you to breakfast.”

  I thought about it for a few long seconds and then nodded once.

  Getting out of here sounded like a great idea.

  “Great.” Ace stood up and then offered me his hand.

  I took it and he placed his hand on the small of my back, guiding me to the door without nary a word to anyone, even though I saw quite a few faces in the crowd that noticed who he was.

  It wasn’t until we were gone, driving away from the place that I was so excited to visit not so long ago, that it all hit me.

  Though Ace was a great reason to stay… I knew what we had
wouldn’t work out. A person like me and a person like Ace were complete opposites when it came down to it.

  He wanted someone that could help him at the farm, offer him something. But I’d be a burden.

  I couldn’t get a job doing what I wanted… and that was important to me.

  “What’s the long face for?” Ace asked, his hand reaching over the center console to grab mine.

  I clenched my molars for a few long seconds before saying, “Nothing. I was just thinking I didn’t want to go home.”

  And that wasn’t a lie.

  I didn’t want to go home.

  I wanted to stay with Ace.

  Ace felt warm and inviting. I felt like I was wanted when Ace and I were together.

  He made me forget that the rest of the town didn’t feel the same way.

  He grinned. “Want to go see a movie after breakfast? I hear the new superhero movie is pretty good. I know a friend at the movie theater, too. He said he could sneak us in to a private showing of the really new one. The one by the other comic book world.”

  “That sounds great.” I paused. “Who is this friend?” I asked curiously. “And I’m not going to get arrested for sneaking in and watching a movie that hasn’t been released yet, am I?”

  He grinned. “Don’t worry. All the employees and their families get to see it early if they so wish. We’ll just have to act like you’re his sister.”

  An hour and twenty minutes later, after I’d consumed three more large pancakes and another whole stack of bacon, I was looking at the man who was supposed to be my ‘brother’ and started to laugh.

  “I’m half Japanese, Ace,” I snickered. “I’m not Chinese. Those are two different countries, for your information.”

  Chen, the man who worked at the movie theaters, snorted. “Nobody will look close enough, I promise. We do this all the time.”

  I was fairly sure that would’ve worked out, too, had Jace’s wife, Marie, not been there to watch the other superhero movie at the same time we were sneaking in to watch the one that hadn’t been released yet.

  It was as I was going to the bathroom that I heard her say, rather loudly, that she thought I was following her.