23. Augustus
TWENTY-THREE
AUGUSTUS
April 26th, 2024
Not once in my life have I been called a sane or rational man. Hell, I rode horses that wanted to kill me for a living, lived thirty-four years with a man who seemed to want to plot my death every single day, and have been obsessed over the same woman for ten long years.
I’m anything but sane or rational.
But one thing I am consistently, is passionate. And I passionately believe that woman is mine —with every fiber of my being. And I’m fucking done sharing.
Walking into the barn, I hear the front door of the house clang shut. I suck in ragged breaths, the oxygen cutting me open from the inside out. Closing my eyes, I clench and unclench my fists, the scent of musky horse sweat and hay doing little to calm my racing heart. I have the overwhelming urge to turn around, run into the house, and strangle that maddening woman. My maddening woman, who is spending all her time and energy pushing me away.
Like a brat.
I expected this to be difficult. Fuck, you can’t tell me you know a more patient man than I. But I didn’t expect her to use other men to push me away, to barricade between us. Every time I think she’s starting to feel something for me, she climbs behind her wall of ice and shuts me out.
“No more, Little Filly.” Caving to my urges, I turn on my heel, the hay beneath my boots crunching with the weight. I notice every little sound: the creaking of the wind through the old boards, the shifting of the horses, crickets chirping in the corner of the musty room, cows bawling in the distance. I hear it all because my mind is quiet, my heart and blood nearly silent. One sound, one thought, rattles around in my head, falling in time with each pounding footstep against the dusty ground.
Mine.
Yanking open the front door, I plow into the kitchen, my eyes zeroing in on Nathan.
“I don’t know, Stetson. My parents do want to buy some cattle, but your place and herd aren’t exactly known for the quality we would like to have.”
Her back is rigid, as if each word is a physical blow. That’s the only match I need to ignite the silent inferno waiting to explode in my chest.
A growl tears from my lips, red hazing over the corners of my eyes. Call it ten years’ worth of watching my girl be treated like trash by everyone she meets, herself included, but I snap. Explode. Detonate.
They both whirl on me, Nathan looking far more terrified than Stetson. Although her eyes are wide, her plump lips parted in a gasp, hands clasped in front of her chest, she doesn’t look afraid. She looks hungry, and afraid of what that means for her soul.
“You.” I point menacingly at Nathan, and he shivers; actually fucking shakes. “Get the fuck out.” He turns to look at Stetson, who continues to gape at me, the same desperate expression she wore the day we met at the feed store on her face. “Don’t fucking look at her. Get out. Now.”
“We’re discussing business.” His voice is quivering, but clear. If I didn’t hate him so much, I’d applaud his bravery.
“Not anymore, you’re not.”
“Gus, you can’t just come in here?—”
I flash a vicious smile at Stetson, cutting her off. I don’t know what they were talking about, and I don’t fucking care. I don’t care if she thinks Nathan is the last hope she has before going under completely. She’s done with him. Even if I have to be the one to remove him from her life.
“Oh, I fucking can. Are you—” I swivel my eyes to Nathan again and he shrinks back. Pussy. “Or him going to stop me?”
“Calm down,” she snaps, clearly trying to remember the part of her that is a bad bitch—a bad bitch that likes to roll over in the presence of dominating men. My smile grows, and I know it looks feral— violent— because they both step back.
I’m so fucking proud of her. Even if she is a brat.
“Gus, leave. This is a private conversation.” She actually tries to dismiss me, and a hoarse laugh rips from my mouth.
There she is.
“Little Filly, there is zero chance I’m leaving. Either he leaves on his own two legs, or I break them both and then carry him out. Wouldn’t be the first time.”
Her eyes spark at me, trying to puzzle together my meaning. But there’s no fear in her gaze.
“He’s an asshole. I don’t know why you put up with him.” Nathan huffs. He really is fucking stupid. Stetson turns incredulous eyes on him, and I know she’s thinking the same thing. She might think she needs him, but my little filly hates him, too.
“Okay, maybe we should be done for the night. I would like you to consider my offer. It’s a better price for a hundred pairs than your family will get anywhere else. And it would be really helping me out. A win-win.” She looks at me, her eyes pleading, and my skin vibrates with the need to pounce.
“Sure, okay.” Nathan does not look the least bit invested in what Stetson says and is even less interested in whatever deal they are discussing. He steps toward her and then grips her hand. Surprising both of us, based on Stetson’s grunt, Nathan pulls her quickly to his chest and then kisses her.
Her eyes remain wide open, her body stiff, as he licks at her face. I don’t know what happens next. You couldn’t pay me a million dollars to sort out the details, either. Black consumes my vision, fire erupting throughout my body, and I move, driven wholly by instinct.
“Fuck, Gus, get the fuck off him!” Small hands tear at my arms, scratching and clawing, no doubt breaking skin. My chest heaves, oxygen barely sawing in and out of my lungs. Another tug on my arm and I snap my head toward the source.
Stetson.
Her face flames red in anger, her eyes blazing silver. Golden hair tumbles around her face, the strands yanked from her braid. She looks like an angry, vicious goddess, and I loosen my grip on the body beneath me.
The body. Fuck. Nathan.
I look at the blubbering man beneath me. His face is bloody, eyes swollen shut, black and blue, a crooked bleeding nose, and a busted lip. I huff looking at my handy work.
All things considered, he doesn’t look too bad.
Snot dribbles from his broken nose, and tears leak from the corners of his swollen eyes, but his face isn’t caved in. That has to be good, right ? He looks pathetic—correction: he is pathetic . His arms lay helplessly by his sides; he didn’t even fight me or defend himself. He just laid there like the little pussy he is.
“What the actual fuck, Gus? Get the fuck off of him.”
Growling, I turn my snarling face to look at Stetson. She tugs on my bicep again, her fingers piercing my skin. I can hear her hammering heartbeat from here, and smell the faint hint of lemon that always seems to cling to her skin.
“You going to save him?” I bark, and she flinches, caught off guard by my question, before shaking her head.
“No, but you are going to be in such deep shit, and I don’t want that.” The words are a mere whisper, but something about her trembling voice makes my cock hard. Which is fucking weird because my hips hover just above Nathan, who’s moaning incoherently beneath me.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want you to go anywhere.” Her lips tremble now, too, and I wonder if she’s about to start crying. Stetson doesn’t cry. I won’t allow it.
“Never, Little Filly.”
She shakes her head, her anger deflating like a balloon, replaced with something akin to defeat—and that is the fucking worst.
“Get off of him, Gus.”
I hiss, my fists re-curling at my sides. I can’t stand seeing her sad and defeated. “Does seeing me like this upset you? Disgust you?” I know I’m snarling in her face. I know I’m probably pushing too hard. But I do not fucking care. Stetson is stronger than she allows herself to be. So what, she likes kinky shit, and is into domination and degradation. So, she had the worst fucking parents known to man and doesn’t know how to give or receive love. All of that is fine, all of that is perfect, actually. Because I will show her, I will share with her, I will teach and learn and be with her , always. She just needs to show me a sign that she’s ready.
“Answer me, Stetson.”
Her eyes are wild now, her grip so tightly wound around my arm I can feel my heartbeat—my blood struggling to pump through the vise.
“No, it doesn’t disgust me. It, it…” she stutters, but she doesn’t look away. She doesn’t back down or drop my arm. She leans in.
It’s a single action, a barely there movement, but it’s the biggest step we’ve taken. My girl is more worried about the villain than the victim.
“You’re as fucked up as I am.” I mean it as a praise—as a triumphant declaration—but her shoulders slump, proving she doesn’t see it that way. Her eyes hungrily trace my face, and I can’t tell what she’s looking for. She doesn’t release her vise-like grip on my arm. And fuck, I hope it brands into my skin.
Maybe I’ll have to get a tattoo of her fingerprints there. To remember this moment.
“You have no idea.” She breaks the silence, her voice trembling, and I smile, that feral one that always seems to come out around her.
“Try me.”
Her eyes continue to search my face, hungry and desperate, and her fingers dig deeper into my arm, making me hiss. I don’t pull away, though. She’s as much my anchor as I am hers. Silver eyes dip to my lips and her tongue pokes out, tracing the bottom seam. The plump pink glistens and I ache to bite the juicy flesh, to see if it tastes as good as it looks. Groaning, the sound vibrates through my entire body, and she sucks in a sharp breath.
“Violence turn you on, Little Filly?” She opens her mouth to respond and the front door clangs, announcing someone’s arrival. Stetson drops her hold on my arm as if it electrocuted her, and scrambles back. I growl, anger pounding new and unchecked within me.
Who the fuck is interrupting us now?
Glaring over my shoulder, I see Dale saunter in and stop, taking in the scene before her, her eyebrows raising to touch her hairline with each new noted detail. She looks between Stetson’s flaming face and my own, both confusion and delight twinkling in her eyes. I’ll never fully understand why she pushed Nathan on Stetson, but the way she’s looking at us now, I wonder if it had more to do with just pushing Stetson to do anything outside of her comfort zone, to have contact with anyone that made her skin crawl, simply to get behind her icy wall. Dale might think Nathan is a decent enough human, but she’s in Stetson’s corner, even if that means receding into the darkness with her to access it, and does not seem the least bit concerned about the current state of his face.
She cackles, the sound eliciting bumps to raise across my arms, and Stetson’s eyes to widen. I can’t fight off a chuckle of my own, which earns me another glare from Stetson.
I knew I liked Dale the first time I watched her take Stetson out and defend her, even after years of no contact. But that smile, that cackle? She just moved up to my best friend spot, too.
“Want help burying the body?”
I smile at her, and she winks, making Stetson groan.
“We have to get him out of here; take him to a fucking hospital.”
“Bitch, he needs to learn to rub some dirt in it. Might make him less of a prick, and less pretty,” Dale sneers, and I nod in agreement.
“No.” Stetson looks back at me, panic blooming across her face. “You’re going to be in enough trouble as it is. If we don’t take him to a hospital, who knows what will happen. Maybe he won’t press charges. Besides, I thought you liked Nathan, Dale. What happened to that?”
Dale walks farther into the room, her hands resting on her hips. She notes the small space between Stetson and I, her smile growing. “Maybe, at first, I thought he’d be good for you. But now,” her eyes ping between us, “I think he’s served his purpose.”
I snort at that. “Charges, Stetson? He’s the one who assaulted you.”
“Assaulted, Gus? He kissed me, and then you freaked out. You assaulted him, and he didn’t even fight back or defend himself.”
Dale laughs again, stepping closer to me, and extends her hand to help me up.
“Honey, that doesn’t surprise me at all. He’s always been too weak for you. I’m just sad I missed this.” I stare at her hand as she shakes it in my face. “Come on, big guy. Stetson is right. We gotta sort this cluster fuck out if you guys have any hope of figuring out your cluster fuck . Hopefully, by starting with fucking.”
Stetson groans again, stomping her foot in that cute way she does when she’s mad, making Dale and I laugh in unison. Gripping Dale’s hand, she helps me up, and as I step past her, she slaps my ass with a cackle. Stetson and I freeze, causing Dale to shriek maniacally. She’s fucking crazy.
“Someone needed to tell you good job!” Dale howls, her face alight with mischief.
“Dale, you really need to get laid,” I grumble, trying to hide my smile. Shaking my head, I notice Stetson glaring at the offending hand, and that makes me smile wider.
“Offering?” Dale asks, her voice laced with mock interest.
“Enough. Help me get him up,” Stetson snaps, her face turning red once more. Oh, she is pissed. Dale winks at me.
I watch them prop him up. He groans and cries out. He’s not fully conscious, and I’m glad for it. If he was, he’d no doubt be filling this happy little moment with screaming and crying and whining like the little bitch he is. And then I’d have to beat his ass all over again.
Not a bad idea.
“Get his truck,” Stetson grumbles at me, and I reluctantly step away. I don’t want this moment to end. But I also know Stetson has retreated back behind that wall of ice and there’s no hope of reaching her. Not tonight, anyway.
Running outside, I fire up his fancy truck, wondering if I should wreck it while I’m at it. Now that would teach him a lesson about messing with other people’s girls. Sighing, I know that would only piss Stetson off more, and I feel like being nice tonight. We have, after all, made some real progress between us.
Heading back inside, I hoist the now blubbering sack of bones into my arms and carry him to the back seat of his truck. I dump him onto the black leather and smile when I notice blood leaking from his face, sticking to the seat— score.
As we head into town, Stetson and Dale in her truck right behind me, I grumble to myself. Stetson is right, there’s no way Nathan and his daddy are going to let this slide. But it’s nothing worse than what I have faced before.
And seeing Stetson beginning to cave to her inner demons?
Fucking worth it.