Chapter 6
CAM
I stormed into my parents’ house, setting my hat on an empty peg by the back door. Four of them were already hung one after the other, so I knew at least three of my brothers were here, the last one being Pops’. The scent of garlic and fresh bread made my stomach rumble.
I cut past the kitchen island and to the sink where I washed my hands.
I glanced toward the big table where everyone appeared to have just finished eating.
Except Shep, who ate for two or even three regular people.
The only person I knew who could eat more was Zeb and he was away at school playing college ball.
I’d told Ma earlier in the week I’d be over for dinner and I didn’t want to skip it, even though I felt like doing nothing more than going home, grabbing a beer from the fridge and watching shitty TV.
It was good to see Pops at the head of it where he belonged. It’d been two months since the incident at the county fair. While he’d been medically cleared to get back to his life, Ma was keeping a close eye on him. Like all of his kids, he wasn’t known to sit around and be idle.
Ma was beside him in her usual spot. Bray and Katie, Buck, Shep, and Hayes were all here. Instead of taking their usual seats around the table, they’d settled at one end so there weren’t any empty spots between them.
“What took you so long?” Shep called, mouth half full.
“I stopped in to check on a lame horse. Bray, you’re gonna need to stop by Wild Wild Wilderness and put on a new shoe.
” And after tending to the lame leg and knowing a farrier like Bray was needed, I got stuck shutting the place down.
I’d filled the horses’ hay bags and double checked the water.
All because she had been there. The one who was at fault for Pops getting hurt.
Getting brain swelling and put in a coma.
As I dried my hands, I studied him, laughing at something Ma said to him.
His color was back. So was his smile. Ma’s cooking since he’d been home had put any weight he lost right back on. It was as if the event never happened.
He looked… good.
Still, I remembered him unconscious in that hospital bed and I got pissed all over again.
I went around the table, gave Ma a kiss on the cheek and set my hand on Pops’ shoulder before taking a seat.
From across the table, Katie passed me the casserole dish.
Cheesy beef and macaroni. It had little bits of green pepper in it and the top had a crust of cheese and breadcrumbs.
One of my favorites and one Ma made in a huge batch.
“I’ll call them in the morning,” Bray said, then switched topics.
“Heard from Ace and Cody that you met a girl at The Roadside last week.” He shot me a sly grin.
“While you didn’t toss her over your shoulder like a pro, they said you pretty much dragged her out of the bar and they never saw you again. ”
Over the summer, Katie had approached Bray when she worked there, asking him to be her fake boyfriend to get an asshole customer to leave her alone. He must not have heard the fake part, because the story goes he threw her over his shoulder and carried her out of the place. And married her.
“Yeah,” I muttered, reaching for the bowl of corn. Ma had loaded it with butter, which made it taste so fucking good. Everything was cold, but I didn’t care.
“Doesn’t sound like it worked out,” Katie added, her voice soft. She didn’t talk much, being shy, but since she married Bray and became a Wilder, she was slowly coming out of her shell. She had no family left of her own but she now had a huge one.
“Oh, it worked out. Until it didn’t.” I shoveled a huge forkful of noodles and saucy beef into my mouth. Fuck, that tasted good.
“What does that mean?” Shep asked. “You either found The One or you didn’t.”
“She’s The One,” I said with my mouth full. Everyone started talking at once, clearly happy for me. That made me feel even more pissed off. Like a bear with a thorn in his paw and no one could pull it out. “The one who got Pops hurt.”
That shut everyone up faster than me saying I was moving to the to breed piranhas.
“What?” Buck asked, slamming his iced tea glass on the wood table.
“Taylor Reeves,” I said. Obviously saying her name would make everyone understand.
“Your woman is Taylor Reeves? That’s so exciting! Why didn’t you bring her with you to dinner?” Ma asked.
I paused, my loaded fork halfway to my mouth. “Why didn’t I bring her? Ma, are you serious?”
“Yes, son,” Pops added. “Why didn’t you bring her?”
“Because she put you in a fucking coma!” I shouted.
Everyone around the table stared at me wide eyed. We didn’t swear at the table. We didn’t swear in front of Ma. Not because she hadn’t heard it all before, but out of respect and to prove to her we had manners. Sometimes.
“She didn’t do any such thing,” Ma scolded. “Rod Severs is the one who did it.”
“And he’s still out there!” I pointed toward the nearest wall, indicating outside. The entire world. After the rodeo, he’d either fled the state or was hiding really fucking well. Colt had a warrant out for his arrest, but that only meant he was still roaming free.
“I’m okay, son,” Pops said, his voice calm and reassuring. It was a similar one I used when trying to soothe a skittish animal.
“Why are you so pissed right now?” Bray asked. “Didn’t that happen on Saturday when I was supposed to meet up with you?”
“Because I didn’t know who she was. After…
well, after, she ran off.” My cheeks flushed remembering what we’d done.
How I’d gotten on my knees and tasted her pussy.
Licked that sticky honey and got a taste of something better than any of Ma’s cooking.
Discovered no man had claimed that pussy because she was a fucking virgin.
That I’d been the one to take that cherry with my fingers while she came all over my face.
Needless to say, I wasn’t going to tell any of them that and stuck with the word “after”.
“She ran off,” Bray repeated.
“Ha! Like Cinderella!” Shep said around a mouthful of bread.
I nodded. “Yeah. I didn’t see her again until tonight. Until I went to Wild Wild Wilderness to check on a lame horse.”
“That’s right. She said she worked there,” Ma commented.
Bray and Katie nodded. Clearly, they knew that, too.
I glanced down the table at Ma. “When? When did you meet her?”
“At the hospital. You were taking care of Junior at the clinic.”
That was Lainey’s horse that had been drugged in her trailer before the barrel racing competition.
“She came to the hospital?” I asked, wide eyed. “To see Pops?”
Ma nodded. “She was the one who told Colt about Rod. What he’d done. Apologized. Even offered to work here on the ranch to pay for the medical bills.”
“See?” I tossed out. “Even she thinks she’s responsible.”
“Because she’s a good girl,” Ma said. “Of course, she feels bad about it.”
“It wasn’t her fault,” Pops added.
“If she didn’t date that fucker, then you wouldn’t have gotten hurt,” I reminded.
“If Lainey didn’t barrel race, I wouldn’t have gotten hurt either,” he countered.
I frowned. “That makes no sense.”
“She didn’t do it!” Shep said, mouth full. “That’s what he’s saying. Stop if-ing the poor girl. Come on, Cam, get with it. She got hooked up with a loser and got used. Hard core. The guy stole her prize money. Probably other things she didn’t mention.”
Rod Severs stole her prize money? Because of Lainey, I knew it was often quite a bit of money.
“The guy’s a dick and I wish he was behind bars,” I muttered.
The short time I knew Taylor, she was sweet and funny.
Sexy and wild. I couldn’t see her with a guy who hurt people and animals to steal money.
Hell, I couldn’t see her doing any of that.
I didn’t know her, but I felt like I knew her.
Saturday night at the bar, I’d felt the instant connection, like I’d been the one kicked by a drugged horse.
I’d known then and there she was the one.
I wouldn’t have taken her behind the building and found out how good her pussy tasted or how she looked when she came if she wasn’t.
If I’d had to do the bingo card thing with Amber, I’d have given her a peck on the cheek and maybe asked for a hair tie or something. Or handed her off to Ace or Cody. But I hadn’t. In fact, I’d pretty much growled at them staking my claim on Taylor.
She was mine. Mine!
Was everyone at the table right? Had I made a huge fucking mistake because I was still so angry and upset with Pops getting hurt? Had I lashed out at her recklessly and unnecessarily?
Wait. She’d run off after I made her come all over my face because I told her my name. She hadn’t known before that moment who I was until I told her any more than I knew who she was until the stable at Wild Wild Wilderness. She’d run off because I was a Wilder.
“Agreed,” Bray added. “But him being a dick isn’t her fault.”
That was true. I had no idea she’d gone to Pops’ hospital room and apologized… for something she hadn’t actually done.
I’d made a huge mistake.
I’d yelled at Red. Made her feel like shit. Blamed her for something she didn’t do.
“Call her and have her stop by,” Pops said.
I frowned down at my plate, realizing the only person I should be mad at right now was myself. “Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.”
“Why not?” Ma asked, passing Shep the plate of rolls.
“Because I pretty much yelled at her and told her to get out of my sight.” Shame coursed through me, hot and potent.
Shep had half a bread roll sticking out of his mouth. Katie’s mouth fell open. Bray’s eyes narrowed. Ma had her glass of water halfway to her mouth but froze in place. Pops was turning a very furious shade of red.
Ma set her glass down, then stood. “Campbell James Wilder, you should be ashamed.”
I hadn’t heard Ma talk to me like that since the time I stole the numbers off Mr. Peabody’s mailbox when I was seven.
“Is she yours?” Bray asked. He was beside me so he leaned close and murmured. It really was the question of the night. Did I want her? Was she mine?
I met his gaze with my own guilty one.
“Yes. She’s mine.”
He nodded and he took Katie’s hand in his on top of the table, showing his own possession, showing how he understood. “Then go grovel, brother. On your knees.”