Chapter 14 Beau
beau
I expected Nash to leave when I arrived at Iris’ house, but he genuinely looked worried for her.
He had every right to be when we realized her temperature was a hundred and three point two.
He said we should take her to Atlas, but a quick call to the doc and he said he had seen her earlier.
She needed to take her medicine and some Tylenol for her temperature, drink lots of liquids and if her temp went any higher, then she needed to go to the hospital.
“Hey, honey. I need you to drink this, and take your medicine.”
“I just want to sleep,” Iris grumbled.
“I know, but you need this,” I said, attempting to prop her up, when Nash stepped in and propped her up against his chest.
He was adorable when he was worried.
She shook her head, mumbling something.
“Iris, please. Atlas said you needed to take this,” Nash said.
Iris leaned against Nash. “Damn, you’re so warm. My back hurts, and this feels good.”
“If you want him to stay, drink the broth and take the medicine,” I said, not afraid to play dirty.
Iris glared at me or at least I thought it was a glare. It looked more like a squint, but I got the gist. Nash took the cup from me with the straw, holding it up to her mouth. She took a few sips before I gave her the Tylenol, then more broth before she finally took the flu medicine.
“See, that wasn’t too hard,” I said, picking up trash, looking up at Iris and Nash.
Iris snuggled up against him as he looked down at her with what looked like, what, affection?
I felt like an interloper watching this tender moment.
Had something happened since I last saw Iris?
I walked away before jealousy made me do something irrational.
She wasn’t mine and what we had done was just between friends.
I told her it didn’t have to mean anything and I meant that.
“Here,” I said, handing Nash a bag with a sandwich, chips and a drink when I walked back into the living room.
“Fuck, Beau. You’re a lifesaver,” he said, tearing into the wrapping.
“Did you come from work?” I asked, opening my bag.
“Yeah, we moved the herd today and one mama had her baby. Forest and I stayed with her for a bit to make sure she delivered her well, and didn’t reject the calf,” he said, biting into his sandwich. “It's wild how the calf comes out walking and all these instincts come into play.”
“I don’t know if I could watch that,” I shuddered.
“Eh, you get used to it and when you're on a farm or ranch it's part of the workday,” he said in between bites.
“Have you always worked on either?” I was curious for more information on Nash.
“My father owns a dairy farm and a ranch in west Texas,” he said, with a tone that sounded like anger or bitterness.
“So, this has been your life since you were little?” I opened my bag of chips.
“Yup, been working like this my whole life,” he said, opening his Coke.
“Then why are you still doing it? Aren’t you tired of it?” I asked.
“Yes and no,” he sighed, crumpling the wrapping from the sandwich. “The work is comforting. I love working with horses the most but I do love the other animal, but I only do it for a few months out of the year just to get my fill.”
“Why don’t you just work with horses?” I asked.
“Equine Estate’s want full-time workers and smaller stables are harder to come by and are less likely to hire someone for a few months,” he said, opening his chips.
“If I had my way, I would buy a piece of land, open my own place and have it run by someone else while I did the rodeo, come back and work it during the off season. There’s a place out in northern Virginia I visited years ago and I think about it constantly.
The Wilder Estate was gorgeous. It gave me a vision for the future. ”
Nash looked dreamy as he spoke. For the first time, he wasn’t intimidating, he was just a man with a dream. He was soft and I liked this side of him.
“You don’t want to be like your dad?” I couldn’t help but ask.
Nash scowled. “I know you think I’m an asshole for doing his bidding. I know it might not seem like it, but my father holds my future in his hands and this is how he controls me at least for now.”
“What do you mean?”
“My father funds my bronc riding, and if I don’t do what he needs, then he threatens to pull my funding,” he said, exasperated. “I married Iris because he bullied me and reminding me I wouldn’t be able to ride anymore unless I did this.”
“Jesus Christ, Nash,” I said, putting my trash and drink on the coffee table. “Why don’t you just quit?”
“I’ve invested too much time in this to just give up,” he said. “I was almost out a few years ago. I had endorsements, I was at the top of my game, winning rodeos with big purses. I went to one party, one fucking party, had three beers. After I left, a cop pulled me over, saying I was swerving.”
I scowled, remembering him having three beers at the bar and feeling fine.
“He did a sobriety test and said I had failed which prompted him to do the breathalyzer which I failed too, so they booked me for a DWI,” he said bitterly. “I lost all my endorsements. Pictures of me partying going out with men and women circulated and they outed me as a bisexual man to the world.”
“Fuck,” I said, as my stomach churned.
“So, here I am, trying again because once I get enough money to float my rodeo bills and live on my own, I’m telling my father to fuck off,” he growled.
An uneasy feeling hit me. “I don’t mean to play devil's advocate, but have you ever thought your—
“Father was behind the DWI?” he finished my sentence. “For months afterwards, that was all I could think about, but how the hell could I prove that and he had no way to know I was at that party. I was with friends.”
“Fuck, Nash. I’m so sorry,” I said, feeling bad for him. “No one should be outed like that.”
“You don’t need to apologize.” He shrugged, looking down at Iris. “I hate that it happened, but now I don’t have to hide.”
He put his hand over her forehead, looking satisfied when he took his hand off.
“Still shitty not coming out on your own terms,” I sighed.
He nodded, looking up at me. “I never meant to be an asshole to Iris.”
I didn’t know what to say.
“When we got married, I assumed she would go to the farm, continue doing what she was doing before and that would be that,” he said, running a hand over his face.
“I did what my father asked of me, and she got what she needed. It was transactional. When I saw her at a rodeo in Monroe, it pissed me off that she went behind the scenes where all the riders were. I went off on her because I thought she was trying to sabotage me or worse, tell everyone we were married. She showed up with her wedding ring on her finger. We fought and one of the last things she told me was she thought my parents were going to be there and that no one was answering her phone calls.”
It was weird knowing both sides of the story.
“I didn’t realize at the time that Iris wasn’t at the farm, and that my family hadn’t let her back,” he sighed.
“This entire situation is a shit show, and I know I’ve made it worse.
It’s not right that she hasn’t been allowed back, for whatever reason, but my father needs something and well, maybe this is the way she gets back in. ”
“Why are you telling me?” I already guessed the answer.
“I don’t want to hurt her. You guys are close and I want you to know that I’m not here to do anything malicious. I’m just… I came here for selfish reasons at first, but now I see maybe we should have been working together at least for what we both wanted,” he said, sounding sincere.
I didn’t want to believe or like him, but everything Nash had said tonight sounded genuine. He also didn’t need to stay or be a human pillow. There was affection in his gaze.
“It still sounds like you still need my help,” I said, as a last test.
“I mean, if you’re offering,” he smirked, making my stomach flutter. “But no, Iris and I will eventually sit down and talk when she is ready and if that means I have to come back in between rodeos, then so be it.”
“Won’t your father be mad?”
“Then maybe he shouldn’t have ignored her either,” he shrugged.
Goddamn, why did he have to give such a great answer? Ugh, I racked my brain for more things to hate about Nash, but nothing came up. He was being a decent human being and I felt like a shitty person for messing around with Iris.
“Well, I hope your father doesn’t do something stupid,” I said, when the silence stretched for too long.
“If he does, I’ll make sure he remembers she is my wife, and I will not make her do something she doesn’t want to do,” he said with conviction.
“I’m sure if you let her, she would tell him the same thing,” I said, grabbing our trash.
“The last thing Iris needs is to deal with my father,” he growled. “He’s a horrible man willing to do shitty things to get what he wants. So, the less she interacts with him the better.”
Iris coughed, and it turned into a coughing fit.
Nash looked ready to take her to the hospital when she wouldn’t stop, but I assured him it was a good thing she was coughing.
We traded places, so that he could use the restroom and we spent the rest of the night doing much of the same thing.
Talking, sleeping and caring for Iris. I wasn’t supposed to like Nash, but he was making it so hard to hate him.