Chapter 16
It’s been two weeks since Cal and I went to dinner.
Two weeks since he saw me get dry-humped on stage by a half-naked cow man.
Two weeks of fighting against blushes whenever I see Cal, and nightly dreams where I replay that embarrassing evening in endless permutations.
In some of the dreams, Cal gets pulled up onstage. In others, I’m back up there, but he’s laughing at me. In the worst ones, he’s the one grinding on me. Those are the dreams that leave me sticky and aching between my thighs, and unable to meet Cal’s eyes the entire following day.
He’s kept his word about trying to trust me because he hasn’t stopped by to pick me up for chore duty. In fact, the only time he’s been back over to Dawn’s house is to supervise while the internet guy set things up.
I’m sure Cal feels as awkward as I do. He played it off with jokes, but I remember the dark, almost angry look in his eyes when I got down off the stage.
I’m sure the weirdness will pass, eventually. If only my brain would stop thinking about how big the minotaur dancer felt against me.
Last night I caved and impulse purchased a…toy. I already regret spending the money, but Gretchen talked me into it after I told her about the dreams and horny thoughts I can’t get rid of.
I’m really glad I couldn’t see her face when she told me, “get a minotaur toy, because I bet you anything you’ll take one look at it in person and change your mind about those fantasies.” She’s probably right, but now it’s framed as a challenge I can’t back down from.
It can’t be that big, can it? I’ve seen some porn with minotaurs, but always assumed their size was on the extreme end of things.
“Miss Belle? You get everything you need?” Remy’s voice snaps me out of my dirty thoughts and I realize in horror that I must’ve been standing there, holding my camera in front of my face while the sweet young cow man was waiting for me to stop thinking about minotaur dick.
“Yes!” I squeak, shoving the camera back into my bag. “Thanks again for your help. You sure you don’t mind these put up on our website and socials?”
As soon as Remy found out that Wylie had let me take some candid clips of him working around the farm to use for promotion, he came to me asking if I needed more content. I didn’t want him to feel like I’m playing favorites, so I accepted his help, but I’m not sure I’ll be using the shots.
Not because they don’t look good. It’s hard to make things look bad when the ranch is so damn pretty, even for an amateur photographer like me. I’ve just been feeling…conflicted about using the minotaur staff to promote the ranch ever since I went to The Rodeo.
The reactions on socials to my posts have been much more enthusiastic than I expected.
I posted a few short videos that showed various locations on the ranch, and two of them went semi-viral.
One had Wylie riding a horse on the mountain trail.
The other featured August cradling a hen and sweet-talking her.
That’d be fine, but the comments are filled with people thirsting after the cow men in a variety of colorful ways.
So far it’s been silly and fairly harmless, but I need to talk to them about it and see if they want me to take the videos down.
The last thing I want to do is make people that are technically now under my employ feel like I’m intentionally sexualizing them.
God, I’m clueless.
Of course a video with an attractive minotaur saying things like “good girl” and “can you give me one more, sweetheart?” is seen as a thirst trap. And I’m no better than those horny commenters online, because I can’t stop dreaming about cow man dick.
I pull out my phone and check the comments again, wincing when I see August’s video has shot up to half a million views. Shit, I gotta go talk to him about this now, my mortification be damned. Before it ends up in his feed. Or worse, his daughter’s feed.
It’s lunchtime, so I hurry to the dining hall even though I’d planned on eating back at Dawn’s house so I didn’t have to worry about running into Cal. Thankfully, a quick scan of the space shows he’s not inside. Maybe he’s hiding from me too.
August is over by the buffet, putting salad on his plate. He smiles warmly as I approach. “Hey Miss Belle!”
“H-hey, August.” I try to smile back, but it ends up as more of a grimace.
His brow furrows. “What’s wrong?” He glances around the dining hall. “Is Cal being a menace again? Because I know you didn’t want me to say anything, but I’ll—”
“No, no, Cal is fine. He’s great. I, uh, I need to talk to you about something else.”
The line between his brows deepens. “Sure thing. Is this a conversation we can have over a meal, or should we go somewhere private?”
There’s hardly anyone in here right now, so I shrug. “Wherever is fine. I don’t want to disturb your lunch.”
He nods and finishes filling his plate, and I follow him to a table in the back corner. “Heard you convinced Cal to get decent tables and chairs for in here,” he says, inclining a horn toward the horrible table and attached bench combo.
“Oh! Yeah! Actually, would you mind if I get some measurements from you so I can buy the best option? You’re the biggest minotaur here, so if it fits you then it should work well for most people.”
At my mention of him being big, my traitorous mind conjures everything that size might imply, and a furious blush rises on my cheeks. “Sorry, that’s rude of me to ask. I can figure it out on my own!”
August huffs out a soft laugh as he takes his hat off and sets it down on the table beside his tray. “Don’t worry, you didn’t offend me. I know I’m a solid guy, and never mind helping. Especially when it means I won’t have to keep straddling these damn benches.”
“Well, okay. Thank you.”
There’s an awkward pause, and August cocks his head at me, ears flicking. “That what you needed to talk to me about? Or is there something else?”
I groan softly and force myself to get it over with. “You remember how I took some videos and photos of you for promoting the ranch?”
“Yep. How’s that working out for you? Do you need more footage?”
“Uh, no. Maybe? No.” August gives me a bemused look, and I sigh. “The video of you is going viral. Because people think you’re hot. They’re uh, thirsting after you. Hard.”
There’s a moment of silence as August processes my words, and my stomach sinks, but then he releases a deep bark of laughter and claps his hands together. “Well, I’ll be damned! Guess this old cow man has still got it.”
“I swear I didn’t know people would react that way. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have posted it. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
August waves me off, pulling his phone out of his pocket and tapping a few times until he navigates to Taurus Ranch’s profile. His eyes widen as he scrolls through the comments on his video with the chickens. “Has Cal seen this?”
“No! Do you think he’ll be upset? I’m so sorry. I’ll take the video down.” I take out my phone, but August shakes his head.
“What? No! If anything, we should make more videos,” August says, continuing to scroll.
“We should?” This isn’t at all how I expected this conversation to go.
August points at the phone screen. “People are talking about Taurus Ranch! That’s a good thing, right?”
“Yeah, but they’re acting like it’s some kind of gimmick,” I say with a frown, stomach sinking as that truly sets in. “This place isn’t a joke. You’re not a joke. Fuck, I need to take this down before Cal finds out about it. He trusted me with this and I’ve already messed it up.”
I don’t realize how much panic is rising in my chest until August places his hand atop mine, anchoring me back to my surroundings.
“Hey, now, Belle. I know you don’t think that.
If you’re really that worried about it, then sure, take the video down.
But I say, why look a gift horse in the mouth?
This is…” August’s eyes bug out a little as he checks the number of views on the video.
“Half a million people finding out about Taurus Ranch. Stars, maybe it’s my ego talking, but I don’t mind having that video out there one bit.
Talk to Cal about it before you delete things. ”
I swallow against the lump in my throat at the idea of telling Cal what I’ve done. “I don’t want him to get upset or think I’m not taking things seriously. Or think that I’m objectifying minotaurs.”
If he asks, I won’t be able to truthfully tell Cal that I haven’t been lusting after any of the minotaurs on the ranch because of my damn dreams about him.
Shit, I better work on my poker face.
August shrugs. “No one thinks that. And maybe it’s not PC, but who gives a damn if it’s objectifying me? People use sex to sell all kinds of things and if it brings in business, I’m all for it.”
“Even if your daughter sees people calling you a sexy minotaur daddy?” I ask, face scrunching.
He cackles. “Hadn’t seen that yet. But Clara is an adult.
She can deal with knowing I’m attractive to some people.
Stars know I don’t see it, but I’m not about to complain.
Take as many videos of me as you want.” August sobers his amused expression.
“Once Cal gives you the okay, of course. I think he’s in the office if you want to get it over with. ”
Great. I have to go talk to the minotaur I’ve been avoiding because of our night out at a strip show, and discuss filming thirst traps to promote the ranch. What even is my life?
“Okay. Guess I should go do that.” I’d rather do anything than tell Cal what’s happened, but it’s better to get it over with than let things spiral out of control and have Cal really get mad at me.
I stand on shaky legs and take a step away.
“I’ll stop by later so you can get those measurements,” August calls out, having the audacity to wink at me.
I roll my eyes at him, and he laughs.
I think I’ve created a monster. Albeit a sweet, helpful one.
My nerves spike as I make my way out of the dining hall and to the front desk, where I find Cal hunched over behind Marcie, scowling at her computer screen.
“This can’t be right,” he says, squinting.
“I don’t know what’s going on. I’m not great with computers,” Marcie says with a shrug. “Maybe something got messed up with the settings with the updates to the website?”
Oh shit, did I screw something else up?
I have the urge to run before either of them notices me, but a floorboard creaks under my foot, giving me away. Marcie and Cal look up from the reception computer.
“Belle. Care to explain what’s going on here?”
Well, there goes any hope of Cal not thinking I’m a complete fuck-up.