CHAPTER 12
Keaton
The breakfast table had never been silent in the Hellstone household while we were growing up. There were twelve of us and silence wasn’t something we did. Gray, Owen, and I had continued that same tradition. The breakfast table was always loud and busy with the family who’d come with us and our other farmhands. There was always joking and goofing off before we got serious for the day.
The morning after our tryst with Bumble B, the table was silent. It was like the rest of the team knew our mood was black. I stared down at my biscuits and gravy with a frown on my face, wondering what the fuck we were going to do about B. I hadn’t slept at all after she’d run off. I could tell that Owen hadn’t either. Gray was completely shut off to me that morning so I didn’t know what was going on with him.
I pushed my food away and sighed. I felt like shit. We’d all decided to stay the fuck away from B when we’d arrived. We’d blown that rule out of the water and hurt her. In more ways than I cared to admit. From the way she’d cried out the night before, I had a solid idea she was limping that morning.
“You fuckers are never going to believe what I saw last night.” Our little brother, Jamison, burst into the kitchen and grabbed a biscuit. After taking a huge bite of it, he opened his mouth and let pieces of it fall out as he spoke. “Maybe it was closer to this morning. I couldn’t sleep after being forced to listen to you three screw some poor woman half to death so I decided to go out to the barn to check on things.”
“Jamison.” Gray’s voice was dark as he glared at our brother.
“Imagine my fucking surprise when I look up and see Little Billie Myers coming out of the barn in the smallest lingerie I’ve ever seen. That’s all. Just a tiny bra doing god’s work and a sexy little thong that-”
Gray slammed his hands down on the table. “Leave it alone, Jamison.”
Ty, a farmhand we’d hired from town, smirked at Jamison. “What’s she hiding under those baggy clothes?”
“Heaven.” Jamison, ignoring Gray, slid into a chair at the table and leaned into Ty. “Seriously, I was floored. I was mid-bite in my granola bar and I’m surprised I didn’t choke to death. She is fine. And get this. She stands in her doorway with the light from inside making her look like a music video and she gave me one of her little scowls…I thought I—”
“Wait!” Johnny, another hire from town, stood up and planted his hands on the table. “What was she doing out in just lingerie? Are you sure she wasn’t sneaking back from the boom-boom room upstairs?”
Owen cleared his throat. “That’s enough.”
“Oh, shit.” Ty elbowed Johnny. “The bosses popped that cherry, huh?”
Gray shot out of his chair and grabbed Ty by the front of his shirt. “One more goddamn word out of your mouth and you’re out of here.”
I groaned before grabbing Gray and pulling him away from Ty. “Cut it out. Outside. Now!”
Gray shot me a look which said he didn’t like me bossing him around but he still went. Owen followed him, leaving me alone with the team. Ty looked shocked that his normally level-headed boss had just grabbed him.
“It was a long night. Just stop talking about B.” I straightened Ty’s shirt and smiled. “I’ll make sure you get to accidentally throw horseshit on him later.”
Gray was pacing the front porch when I joined them. He jabbed his finger in my direction and scowled. “He deserved much worse.”
Owen rubbed his eyes and shook his head. “We don’t touch our employees like that. You know better.”
“Did you want to let him keep talking about her?” Gray growled. “What the fuck was she doing running around like that?”
I sat in one of the rockers and stretched my legs out in front of me. “That’s a good question. Maybe I’ll ask her.”
That turned Gray’s dark mood my way. “Stay away from her. We’ve done enough.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not trying to fuck her, Gray. I just want to make sure she’s okay.”
He shook his head. “What the fuck was she thinking? She saw how big we are. She didn’t give a single warning. I fucking hurt her.”
Owen walked to the edge of the porch and frowned. “Whose dog is that?”
I walked over and saw that there was a scrawny looking dog huddled behind a bale of hay. Its head hung low but its tail still wagged when it noticed us noticing it. I’d never seen the thing but it looked like it was close to starving.
A lightbulb went off over my head and I hopped over the porch railing. “Bumble B has a cow and a racoon. Maybe what she needs is a dog.”
Gray followed me over the porch. “You think giving her a dog is going to make things right?”
“Well, wait a minute. I’m coming, too.” Owen landed heavier on the ground and the pup yelped and backed away. Seeing he’d scared the dog, he swore and then lowered his voice as he slowly moved closer. “Sorry, little pup. I didn’t mean to scare you. If you come with us, there’s a really nice lady who will probably smother you in her cleavage soon. And it’s really nice cleavage.”
Gray smacked the back of Owen’s head. “Shut up.”
The puppy walked closer to us, its little body so thin its ribs stuck out. My stomach twisted at the sight and I looked around, trying to see if there were more or if it wound up in the middle of nowhere by itself. More than likely, someone had dumped it.
“Look at that.” Owen gently scooped the puppy into his arms. “I think he liked the idea of cuddling B’s cleavage.”
I caught Gray’s hand when he tried to hit Owen again. “Not when he’s holding the puppy.”
“Let’s go. She’s probably already in the barn with her other pets.” Gray said it like he suddenly minded when we all knew he’d always liked how much care B gave the animals.
I grunted. “It was my idea. Let me hold it.”
Owen scowled at me. “Fuck off. It came to me.”
From the porch, Jamison whistled. “Well, I’ll be. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. You three look about as desperate as that puppy. Who knew all it would take to knock you on your asses was a quirky little cow lover?”
I took the puppy from Owen while he was glaring at Jamison and headed towards her house, thinking maybe I’d catch her at home during one of her pitstops. The little runt wiggled in my arms and stretched its head up to lick my chin. For a second, I considered turning around and taking it into the main house to keep for myself but I really wanted to convince B not to hate us.
I knocked on her door and heard a muffled shout from inside. “Bumble B? You okay?”
Gray stood next to me with his arms crossed. “Did she scream?”
Owen moved to my other side. “She screamed?”
Gray knocked on the door harder and shouted. “Open the door, Billie!”
Another second passed before B yanked open the door and glared up at Gray with fury shining in her eyes. “Don’t call me that!”