5. Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Billy
H er eyes are so soft. So innocent. So honest. And it doesn’t seem to rattle her at all that it’s late and she’s working. The work ethic on this girl is admirable and very much matches my own. Hell, I’ve been known to park my truck and use it for my floodlights on the roof, so that I can work through the night. Done that many times. I help her wade through all the shit on the table, while she inputs bills, sets up some bills for online payment, and she even pays a bunch that are on final notice. It’s past midnight when I look at her and see that her eye lids are turning pink.
“That tea’s starting to hit home, darlin’.” I tell her. “You should go and get some rest.” Then I remember that she’s living in her goddamn car, and I feel like a shit. But there’s no way that she’s staying here. Sure, the chemistry is great, and she’s an amicable young thing, but Jesus Christ, that’s all I need. Word gets around that I’m housing some poor homeless girl and I’m sunk. I start to wonder if what she spoke about earlier has any clout; where she thinks that I worry too much about what the town thinks of my actions. But it’s true. I have to worry about what people in town think. I’m a business owner, and if I ever want to have any decent business, I need to keep my nose clean. Asking a young, homeless girl to sleep under my roof isn’t the way to go here.
“I should let you get some rest, too. I’ll be here bright and early, okay?” She says, rising, not making me feel guilty about possibly pulling up to some random parking lot to sleep. It takes everything in me not to ask her to stay. But I can’t. The voice inside my head is screaming at me, but I can’t tell which issue it’s upset about: the fact that I’m even considering asking her to stay, or the fact that I’m not, and perhaps placing her in harm’s way. Copper Cove isn’t exactly the most unsafe town, but I’m certain that eyes will be on her, if they aren’t already. I’m so torn as I watch her walk towards the door. “Thanks for the tea and the ride.”
My guilt is making me feel physically sick, but I swallow down the bile and let her go. I’ve just met her. She’s not my responsibility. We’re not lovers and we’re barely acquainted, other than the last three or four hours that we spent together. Sure, she’s honest and kind, but I barely know her. It’s asking for trouble offering her my couch or my spare room for the night. Plus, if she stays one night, how much more difficult will it be to make her leave tomorrow? No, she goes. That’s final. “You’re quite welcome. I’ll see you in the morning.” I watch her leave and wonder where she’s headed to. It takes me ten seconds to make a snap decision and grab my keys. I guess that she’s headed to the same restaurant that she mentioned earlier, but I see her car driving very slowly around the corner, in the opposite direction.
There’s a small, barren, carpool lot by the highway. I see her pull in there, but then she drives away, and I’m thinking likely the same thing that she is: that it’s too obvious. That’s when my phone rings on Bluetooth, and I turn back home. It’s Cassidy, calling at an unusual, but not an unheard of, hour. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?” I answer with.
“I was about to say the same thing to you, but then I know you. What are you tackling at this time of night, brother?”
“Ah, just running an errand.”
“What the hell’s open after midnight in this town? Or did you go to Dallas?”
“Naw, I was just up grabbing a tea.” I lie.
“A tea?” He growls, unconvinced. “At this hour? Bullshit! What are you up to, Billy. I know you better than that.”
“Look, just let it go. It’s none of your fucking business.”
“Okay, I’ll guess. You tell me when I’m getting warmer.”
I sigh and start driving home. I find myself glancing at the rearview mirror, even though I know that Piper is long gone, and I don’t know where she went. Damn Cassidy for interrupting me. Sometimes he can be such a nosey asshole. And I know that he’s not going to let it go, so I might as well tell him and get it over with. “Fine. I was following Piper.”
“Piper? As in the chick that you were supposed to interview? What the hell are you doing that for?”
“Well, you know as well as I do that she’s living in her car. And she left just a while ago, so I thought I’d follow her and make sure that she’s okay.”
“Wai...wai...wai....wait!” He says, stopping me. “She left ? What the hell was she doing at your place, man?”
“She came over because I didn’t call her. Wanted to make sure that she still had a chance.”
“Dude, doesn’t that make her sound like a fucking freak? Who does that? It’s creepy and wrong and why the hell did you let that slide? That’s so unlike you, mister critical of everybody, including his own damn family and anyone that has anything to do with them.”
“Relax! I’m not an idiot! I went with my gut like always, man!”
“And your gut told you to invite her in, have her stay all night, and follow her home?”
I’m annoyed. “She doesn’t have a home, man, and that’s precisely the point. I didn’t want her just going off somewhere and getting mugged or murdered or something.”
His voice is taunting, like he knows what the answer to his question is already. “Why the fuck do you care so much, Billy.” He comments. “Since when do you care so much about a lady, huh? What, did you mess around with her?” He chuckles.
“No! You’re sick!”
“Oh, then it’s even worse. You actually care about her. For once you don’t just want to take her up against the barn and then send her packing.”
“Fuck you.” I sneer. “Since when did I ever do that, anyway? Oh, never mind. It’s not like that, you asshole.”
“Alright, then what is it? And how come she was at your place for so long, hm?”
“Because she’s about to be my employee and she’s never even seen a live horse before. I took her riding, and then she and I started working through the piles of shit on my table. That’s all. She’s got a strong work ethic and like me; she doesn’t mind burning the midnight oil.”
“Okay. But that doesn’t explain why you’re following her. What if someone sees you?”
“It’s after midnight. There’s nobody on the roads.”
“And she hasn’t figured out yet that she’s being followed?”
“No. But that’s because I stopped following her when you called me, douche bag.”
“Like it or not, I did you a favor, Billy. Think about it. Anyone sees you following a young girl around, they’ll talk, and it won’t be pretty.”
“Fine.” I say, irritated.
“Is your head back on straight, brother? Are you headed home now, or do I have to come out there and get you?”
“Quit treating me like a child, dickwad.”
“I will once you stop acting like one.”
“You know what’s funny?” I ask, mirthlessly. “You’re the asshole that wanted me to hire her. I think you even alluded to the fact that she and I might be a good match. Now look at you, you two-faced son of a bitch. What’s your problem.”
“My problem is that you’re taking it a step too far, Billy. Christ, next thing I know you’re going to be asking her to live with you, for God sake!”
I pause, worrying that he’ll read more into this, and I’m sunk.
He senses my pause. “You were going to ask her to stay over, weren’t you.”
“No.” I lie.
“Bullshit.”
“If I did, dipshit, don’t you think she’d be at my place now?” I point out.
“It was a tough call, wasn’t it.” He guesses.
I go for coy. “You think you know me so well.”
“I’m right, Billy.” He says, matter-of-factly, pissing me off.
I’m not quite defeated, but my older brother can smell a rat from a mile away. “Well, so what if I did, hm? I made the right call. She’s not at my place.”
“But if it weren’t for me, you’d be at her taillights.”
“So?”
“So, you would have caved and asked her to stay over.”
“And so what if I did? She’s living in her fucking car, Cassidy, remember?”
“Is that your problem?”
“I just made it my problem by hiring her. How shitty do you think I’m going to feel knowing that she’s sleeping in her fucking car, while I’m lying in my soft, warm bed, safe and sound? Did you ever consider that?” I practically shout, and then I feel even braver. “And she’s right, you know. She told me I worry too much about what people think.”
“It’s your job to worry, Billy, considering that these people you claim you shouldn’t be worrying about are the ones that will be lining your pockets once this ranch is built.”
“Bullshit!” I bellow. “I don’t need any of their business! Hell, I can advertise in goddamn Dallas! Fuck them all here in Copper Cove! I don’t need any of them!”
He laughs, pissing me off. “You like her.”
“Fuckoff. No, I don’t.”
“Then why did you hire her?”
I suck my teeth. “I like her enough to hire her, but I don’t like her the way that you mean, dick head.”
“What’s the difference?” He tests.
“If you have to ask, you’re even more of a fool than I thought.” I say as I pull up to my house. “Now, let me go, man. I’m tired, pissed off, and I’ve got builders coming in five and a half hours.”
“As long as you promise to keep your head on straight.”
“Fine. I’ll behave like an asshole, and watch her head into her car to live, meanwhile I’m all toasty and warm in my house. Sure. I can stomach that.”
“Good.” He says facetiously. “You do anything stupid and I’ll talk to mama and daddy.”
“So, you’re really going to be two-faced about it, aren’t you.”
“A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.”
“Yeah, well, I’d sooner the town knows than mama and daddy, and I don’t see the difference, anyway. They muddy my name up to everyone, anyway.”
“That’s not true, man, and you know it.”
“Bullshit. And I’m not getting into it. Later.” I say, hanging up. I’m done with this shit. I’m tired and pissed off, and I’ve had enough. After I get out of my truck, I head back into the house, take a shower, and get into bed. Sleep doesn’t come for a while, and it might as well not, since I hear Mazy whinnying a few hours later. It’s an odd sound, and I know instantly that she’s gone into labor. As I trot outside, after throwing my jeans on and pulling my boots back on, I see her lying on her side in the well-stacked stall. I’ve been keeping it cleaned with fresh straw daily, for when she goes into calf.
But what I don’t expect to see is the extra piece of bedding off to the side. While Mazy is in here having a baby, it seems that Piper has made herself a bed inside the stall. She wakes when she hears Mazy whinny once more. “What...what the hell are you doing here?” I ask, half my attention on Piper, the other half on Mazy, who appears, at first glance, to be doing just fine.
Piper darts up, half clothed, wearing some tiny t-shirt and nothing else. “Oh my God, is she okay?” She asks, seemingly ignoring my question. “Do you...do you need to call the vet?” Her voice is laced with concern. I think I might even see a tear pooling in her eye.
“No, she’s fine. The foal is about to be born anytime.” I tell her, trying to avert my gaze from her very obvious nipples sticking out under the white t-shirt.
“Are you sure? Is she supposed to be lying on her side?” She asks, kneeling, completely oblivious to the fact that I can see her fine ass and a little bit of hair poking out from under the shirt at the crest between her legs.
“Yes, that’s how horses give birth. She’s just fine.” I close my eyes, mentally cracking the whip on my cock, that wants to sit up for attention in a way that it hasn’t in a very long time, which isn’t that difficult, considering I have a pregnant mare on my barn floor. “Can you please...cover yourself?”
With a gasp, she rises quickly, covering her mouth, embarrassed as all getgo, and runs over to the pile of her clothes next to her sleeping bag in the straw. She pulls her jeans on as I turn my head, all attention on Mazy, and she returns to my side. Her nipples are still plain as day but with Mazy’s foal on its way out, it’s easy not to look there. Within minutes, the foal is out, and Mazy is tending to her. Piper watches with awe as I talk Mazy through it, patting her snout and whispering gently to her, while this foal is born.
“Is it a girl?” Piper asks, a tear forming in her eye.
“Yes.” I smile, as the little one lays on her side, staring up at us. “It’s a girl. Looks just like her mama.”
“She’s beautiful.” Piper licks her lips. “I’ve never seen anything be born before.”
“Yeah?” I ask, checking Mazy over.
“Never. And it wasn’t gross.”
I chuckle. “It’s a little gross, but this was a clean birth, very clean. Mazy did well.”
“She sure did. She did it all by herself.”
“That’s right. Looks like I had the vet set up for nothing. But it’s better to be safe than sorry. I’ll have him come over here and have a look at her tomorrow, but everything looks perfect.”
“What will you name her?”
I rake a hand through my hair. “Not sure. Mazy came with her name, mind. What do you reckon would be a good name?”
“Sprout.” She says with a smile. “I thought ‘Scout’, but that’s a boy’s name, I think.”
“Sprout.” I test on my tongue, and then I frown, impressed. “I like it. Sprout it is.”
“Are you sure?” She practically squeals. “I...I barely know you, and you’re going to let me name your horse?”
I shrug. “Well, why not? Mazy came with a name, and I didn’t have one in mind.” I lick my lips. “Besides, Sprout’s a fine name.”
Her smile is contagious. “Wow. Thank you.”
“Well, as a matter of fact, I should be thanking you .” I comment, forgetting that I found her squatting in my barn, next to my horse.
“I’m honored.” She says, patting Mazy, who is lying there, calm as anything, resting from giving birth. Little Scout is as cute as anything, sitting there, glancing at us, as if to say, ‘what’s up, guys?’.
“What do you say we let Mazy and Scout bond, hm? Horses generally like to be alone during this process.”
“Are you sure? We can leave her alone?”
I wave. “This is all part of nature, darlin’.” I look over at her things. “Now, why don’t you tell me what you were doing sleeping in the barn?”
Then she hits me with an answer I don’t expect.