Final Ride (Taming the Stallion #12)

Chapter One

Sunday, July 21 st .

Harlan and Virgil’s Birthdays.

Wild Stallion Ranch. Montana.

I woke up early and it was barely light. Not time to get up for chores yet. Looking across the room at my brother Virgil sleeping, I remembered what day it was. Today was his birthday and he was turning seventeen.

He had grown a lot in the past year and was almost as big as me. I outweighed him by a few pounds but not much. The way he ate, he’d pass me in a month.

We were two years apart and shared the same birthday. I was born two years ahead of him—not that I remember—and I’m gonna be nineteen today.

Our mother couldn’t take care of us, and she gave us up when we were little. Neither one of us remembered what she looked like. Didn’t matter now. We had a new home. Not a new mother, but a new father.

We both grew up in the foster system and survived it—barely. Both served time in juvenile detention and survived it. Then Travis Bristol, Sheriff of Coyote Creek, Montana, former Marine, former biker and a real tough guy, took us to his ranch and adopted us as his own boys. Why he wanted to take a chance on two bad boys like us I haven’t figured out. Maybe I never will.

Me and Virge got new lives and a fresh start.

Today we had a choice to make.

“Happy birthday, boys,” said Billy, when we walked into the kitchen after chores. “You both have done a lot of growing up in the past year and you done good. Didn’t know what to get you for a present, so I got you a new set of tires for your Jeep. God knows you need them.”

I laughed. “Thanks, Billy. You’re the best. We do need those tires so fuckin bad. That’s a great present. Thanks.”

“Thanks Billy,” said Virge. “I kept putting Harlan off because I didn’t want to come up with my half. Make too big a hole in my bank account.”

“Virgie is so cheap,” I started in with one of my cheap jokes and Dad pointed at the table for us to sit down.

“I made y’all pancakes for your birthday. There might be enough syrup if y’all don’t let Virgil have it first.”

I made a grab for the syrup and Billy beat me to it. “No way I’m going second after Virgil.”

“This is Sunday, so we don’t have to go to the station,” said Travis. “You boys want to go for a ride this morning?”

“Yeah, I was thinking about doing that, Dad,” said Virge. “You coming with us?”

“Yeah, I’ll go. I’ve been neglecting Outlaw something awful. When I try to saddle him today I wouldn’t be surprised if he kicked me in the nuts.”

We laughed at Dad. He could be funny without trying.

Loaded up with too many carbs after all those breakfast pancakes we ate, we saddled the horses and took off through the evergreen windbreak surrounding our ranch house.

We galloped across the first field of our thousand-acre ranch and when Dad got to Uncle Carson’s grave marker, he reined Outlaw in and dismounted.

Me and Virge did the same figuring that’s why Dad wanted to ride back here. He wanted to have the big birthday talk to us out in the open.

We sat down on the grass and Dad started talking about selling the ranch. “What’s gonna happen is more of a swap out. Sell this one and buy one in Texas. Land might cost more in Texas, but I don’t know that for sure until we start looking for another ranch. That’ll be the eye-opener.”

“We love this ranch, Dad,” I said, “but you want to retire in Texas, and we totally get that. You’re from Texas and that’s where you want to live.”

“You boys have had a decent amount of time to think about it and this is the day y’all are gonna give me y’all’s decision. You can stay in Montana where y’all were born. Stay with Billy—maybe not here, but I’ll get y’all a place—and work at the station, or you can come with me, and we’ll all make the change to living in Texas.”

“We’re going with you, Dad,” said Virge.

“Yeah, I didn’t have to think about that for even a minute, Dad. Me and Virgie go where you go. Simple as that.”

“Thanks, boys. I want y’all with me more than anything, but y’all will soon be adults and you should have the chance to make your own decisions.”

“Are we gonna sell this ranch right away?” asked Virge.

“We’ll put it up for sale tomorrow, but no telling when it will sell. I’m done work on the last day of July, and we might leave then or wait. Don’t know yet. Depends on the situation at the other end of the line. We need a place to go to in Texas before a lot of other decisions can be made.”

If this ranch doesn’t get sold before we leave for Texas, Billy will be here until the new people take over.”

“We’ll miss Billy and the station,” said Virge, “but I’m keen to live in Texas. Don’t know what I’m gonna do there, but I’m keen to be a Texan.”

“We’ll fly down to Texas and take two or three days to look around and find ourselves the perfect ranch.”

“Is our new ranch gonna be near Annie’s ranch?” I asked.

“That’s one thing we have to decide before anything else. Where do we want our ranch to be? That has to be first, then we can get us a real estate agent in that area and set him or her to work.”

“Where did you grow up in Texas, Dad?” I asked. “Maybe you want our ranch to be near there.”

“South of San Angelo. That’s about a five-hour drive from Annie’s ranch.”

“Five hours,” said Virge. “Huh.”

“It will have a lot to do with what’s for sale, too,” said Travis. “Might take a while before we find the perfect place.”

“I can’t wait to start looking,” said Virge. “Be nice to have an area where we can ride our horses. And it would definitely be good to live near a town with a lot of hot girls.”

Travis laughed. “Yeah, I don’t think they put that stat on the maps, Virge. You and Harlan have to find that out for yourselves.”

“Our first project in Texas,” said Virge.

Watson Residence. North Carolina.

Tammy sat at the kitchen table for breakfast with Willy-John and it made his heart pound faster to see her healing and making so much progress.

But she was young and had that going for her. Truly a beautiful girl. She was almost twenty and he would soon be forty. Willy kept asking himself if he was in love with a girl half his age.

And if he did love her and wanted her to stay, then what? She admitted she was a wanted fugitive. Did he want to risk aiding and abetting a fugitive? He could spend years in jail for helping Tammy like he’d already done.

“I can cook,” said Tammy. “My mama is a super cook, and she can make roast beef dinners and bake the best pies you ever ate, and every morning she makes biscuits for her cowboys at her ranch.”

“Your mama got a lot of hands on her spread?”

“Yeah, there’s a lot of them, and she loves them all.” Tammy smiled. “I guess I won’t ever get to go back there, me being wanted by the law n’all.”

“I’d like to think you could straighten a lot of that out, Tammy. Possibly with a good lawyer.”

“Don’t think it’s possible, Willy. I did some pretty bad stuff when I was out of my tree.”

“That’s it right there, Tammy. If you were mentally incapacitated and didn’t know what you were doing, the judge might take that into consideration and go easy on you.”

Tammy laughed. “I’m worse than you think, Willy. I am one badass that you don’t want staying in your cabin. The sooner I leave here, the safer it will be for you and George and Gracie.”

Willy took the dishes over to the sink and turned on the hot water, and that’s the moment George and Gracie raced to the door and barked their fool heads off.

“Lock yourself in the bathroom for now, girl. I’ll tell you when to come out.”

“I should just put my hands up and get it over with, Willy. I’ll walk out with you onto the porch.”

“No. Not yet. Please, stay in the bathroom until I see who’s at the door. Might be somebody who needs stitches or a mustard plaster.”

Willy opened the door and released the hounds. George and Gracie ran like the devil was up their butts circling around the sheriff and his deputy, yipping and snarling at them.

“Lay down,” said Willy-John and both dogs flopped down on the porch and never moved.

“This is our second round of canvassing, Doc. We’re still looking for the driver of the wreck and his passenger—if they ain’t dead. I’m guessing you haven’t seen any strangers, or you would’ve called the station.”

“That’s right, Sheriff. I said if I saw anybody wandering around I didn’t know, I’d call, and that hasn’t happened. This is a quiet road, and the mountain folk don’t have many visitors unless it’s their own kin.”

“True enough,” said the sheriff.

Tammy sat on the side of the bathtub and waited for Willy to be done talking on the porch to whoever was out there. If it was the sheriff again, Tammy needed to leave, or Willy-John would be in big trouble for helping her and she couldn’t let that happen.

Willy was a good man who did love her. She could tell that. He wasn’t like Eldon who only pretended he loved her, took the sex she offered, and then when it came down to the nitty gritty, he dumped her in a rest area with a taser burn on her neck.

Tammy opened the bathroom door when Willy-John tapped twice. He smiled and pulled her into a hug. “It’s all okay. They’re gone.”

“I need to leave here, Willy, or you’ll be in big trouble when the sheriff finds out you’ve been helping a wanted fugitive. Can you drop me in town at a bus station?”

“You’re not fit to go anywhere on your own yet, Tammy. The healing of your leg wound is still going on and you can’t move around too much yet. Please, sit down and we’ll work out a plan.”

“Do you have an idea?”

Willy chuckled. “I think I’m hatching one, but I’m not ready to tell you about it yet. My brain needs to do more work on it.”

Tammy sat on the sofa and said, “You’re a good person, Willy, and I’m a bad person. I can’t stay here, or I’ll turn you into a bad person like me and I don’t want to do that. I love you too much to hurt you like that.”

Willy smiled. “I love you too, Tammy, and I know you’re a lot younger than me, but I can’t deny how I feel. I don’t want you to leave. If you do leave, I want to go with you.”

“You would leave your cabin and go with me?”

“That’s what I’ve been thinking of doing. Yes. I’d leave here and go with you if we were going to try life as a couple.”

“I’ll ruin your life, Willy.”

“My life isn’t much now. There isn’t much for you to ruin, girl.”

“Where would we go?”

“Let’s have a coffee and think about that a little more.” Willy-John smiled and felt a surge of excitement race through his body. “We might be close to solving this problem.”

“I think there is a solution,” said Tammy. “And this is it. I should give myself up and you should pretend you never met me. That’s the only thing I see as a solution.”

Willy smiled. “That’s not even close to what I’m thinking of doing.”

“Tell me your idea.”

Shadow Mountain. West Virginia.

Bobby slept late and made himself some breakfast when he got up. There was nothing to do at the cabin and some days were so long and boring, he nearly lost his grip on reality. He understood now why mountain people went hunting. It was something for them to do to stay sane, but hunting wasn’t for him.

When Ray was with him, he was irritated and annoyed most of the time with Ray’s constant worrying, but he was never lonely and never bored.

Every single day, he cursed Tammy for killing Ray.

“Do you think we should look for Tammy and make her pay for Ray, Cleo?”

Cleo wagged her tail and Bobby nodded. “I’m thinking of doing exactly that. Just need to plan how we’re going to find that looney and then we’ll go get her and put a bullet in her head. Same as she did to Ray. Payback, Cleo.”

Cleo pushed her huge body closer and licked Bobby’s face a couple of times.

“Wish you wouldn’t do that, Cleo.”

An hour later, still with time on his hands, Bobby cleaned up and drove down the mountain to Shadow Valley. The pool hall on the main street of the little town was a good place to hang out and he liked the girl who ran it.

Beautiful girl with pink hair, a perfect body and a strong West Virginia accent, she’d given him a couple of free lessons. Great little pool player and from their last conversation, he gathered she was thinking of moving back to West Virginia permanently with her two kids.

“Maybe I should get to know her a lot better. She seems like someone who could cure my boredom.”

Coyote Creek Inn. Montana.

Travis arranged a big birthday dinner for the boys. The Inn was already up for sale, and this might be the last time they could hold a birthday dinner there, so Travis thought he’d make it a big one.

He invited Molly and Ted from the station to join him, the birthday boys and Billy for the celebration, and when they were all together and had drinks in their hands, Travis made his official announcement.

“Tomorrow I’ll be talking to the county office about my retirement and Billy will officially take over as sheriff of Harrison County on the first of August.”

Molly wiped a tear from her eye. “I knew this was coming, Travis, but I’m still not ready to accept it.”

“We’ll miss you, boss,” said Ted. “What are y’all gonna do in Texas?”

Travis shrugged. “I’m buying another ranch so our lifestyle will be similar to what it is now. Not much of a change. As far as work goes, I’m not sure. We’ll see what turns up, but I have a few options I can pursue if I need to.”

“Want to share your ideas for the future?” asked Molly. “I’d love to hear your plans.”

“I’m not sure I’m ready to do that yet, because I have to run it by the boys and get them on board before I do anything else.”

Virgil’s eyes widened. “Get us on board with what, Dad?”

Travis laughed. “Let’s order and have some fun. I’m not ready to talk about any of that stuff yet. I need more time to get a few things solidified.”

The food was fantastic like it always was at the Coyote Creek Inn. For dessert, Susan, the manager, brought out a huge chocolate cake with both boys’ names written on the thick icing.

Happy Birthday, Harlan and Virgil. Best boys ever.

Travis thought he felt a tear creeping up on him when the boys blew out their candles.

“You blew out some of mine,” said Virge.

“Did not,” said Harlan.

“Did so. I was counting.”

Everybody laughed at Virgil.

Dry Run Roadhouse .

After the fantastic birthday dinner, Molly went home, and Ted followed them to the roadhouse. They picked a booth where they wouldn’t be disturbing other customers and Travis bought pitcher after pitcher of Miller to celebrate the birthdays of his boys.

Savanna joined them a little later and so did Jack Johnson, the owner of the place. He brought over a couple of complimentary pitchers to keep the party going.

Because it was a special occasion, Travis let the boys drink a little more beer than he usually did when they were out in public. The boys were underage drinkers, but they were also the law in Harrison County. That’s the way things worked.

Travis held his glass up for a toast. “Here’s to the future. Me and my boys and all the other boys we’re gonna put on the right path.”

“What’s that mean, Dad?” asked Virgil.

“I’ll tell y’all my plan when I’m sober.”

“I’ll drink to that,” said Virge, and clinked his glass against mine.

Best birthday ever.