10. MATTHEW
Chapter ten
MATTHEW
NOT QUITE THE HERO
I wanted to vomit when I saw him at the bottom of the pool.
I didn’t think, I just ran and dove into the water.
I never expected to find he was actually happy to be there.
Then he kissed me and any embarrassment disappeared—well, at least until the humiliation of one kiss sending Atlas running for the hills sank in.
Then I wanted to disappear all over again, or for the bottom of the pool to open and swallow me whole.
I wade toward the edge, and I’m about to push up when my toe skims something on the bottom.
I can’t see what it is under the low light of the moon and the small lights scattered through the trees surrounding the pool, but it’s smooth and round and sort of scrapes along the bottom as I slide it with my toe, so I dive down blind, palms skimming the surface for what feels like forever until my fingertips catch the edge of the coin.
Pushing up, I burst through the surface and hold it up to the light. Another penny to add to my collection.
“Well, I guess jumping in wasn’t the worst idea I’ve ever had,” I chuckle and wade to the edge, where the water becomes so shallow you can easily step out. My clothes cling to my skin in all the wrong ways, and my shoes make squelching noises as I make my way to the car.
“Should I ask?” Connor calls from the doorway of the main house.
I hold up an arm and wave.
“Probably not. See you in the morning.”
***
I get to the ranch early, but it appears I’m the last one up and moving.
Connor is talking with his partner Hayden by the milking barn doors, and Dean is already waving goodbye to Preston and Poppy, who drive past me in the vet’s van on my way down the drive.
Skye is easy to spot with his freshly dyed bright blue hair.
It throws a sort of purple hue when the light hits it from the pink that’s faded beneath.
Skye’s hair is naturally white blonde, which makes coloring it pretty easy, but it also means the color fades quickly.
He spent about a year refreshing the pink as it dulled, then suddenly, a few weeks back, he decided blue was more his color.
I can’t say it doesn’t suit him, because it really does.
“Isn’t it exciting?” he asks as I step out of the car and join him in front of the house.
“Soon there’ll be more horses than cows,” I reply, and Dean laughs.
“That’s what I said. I don’t know how they keep talking me into these things.”
“Now, if we can just figure out how to get you to agree to a nudist weekend, we’ll all be happy,” Atlas says, coming around the side of the main house.
“Not happening,” Dean replies with a playful roll of his eyes. I’m not sure I completely believe him myself.
“You know you could charge double,” Atlas replies, walking my way carrying a dozen lead ropes in a rainbow of colors over one arm.
I smile, and my hand pops up in a small wave before I clutch it with my other hand and force it down.
What the fuck am I doing? My backup phone rings, and I check the caller ID before answering.
It’s the COO of the Richmont Group, Miles Stevens.
This is exactly why I even have a backup phone.
I’m expected to be contactable at all times.
I’ve got the other one back at my place drying out in a tub of rice, but I don’t like my chances it will survive the dip.
“Mr. Stevens, sir. What can I do for you?” I ask as soon as I answer the call, and I catch a side-eye from Atlas on his way past me.
“You can put me on with our reclusive owner is what you can do.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but he’s unavailable right now.” It’s the standard line Connor has asked me to deliver whenever anyone wants to speak with him directly. He prefers them to email me any requests, for me to brief him on during our check-ins.
“Then make him available. There’s a massive wildfire bearing down on Diamond Ranch. I don’t have time to call a board meeting.”
“Yes, sir. One moment, sir,” I say before muting the call and running to the milking barn. “Connor, Mr. Stevens needs to speak to you about a fire near one of the ranches,” I say, and his wide smile immediately falls as I unmute and pass over the phone.
“Miles, what do you need?” Connor asks. Hayden is standing close, his arm around Connor’s waist, as he watches with his lips pursed in worry.
Connor nods. “You have my approval; the emergency funds are there for exactly this reason.”
The emergency fund is one of Connor’s private accounts, accessible only when absolutely necessary. This fire must really be huge if the company’s standard resources won’t suffice.
“Deploy everything, get the workers out of there, then save what cattle and land you can,” he says, and my stomach sinks at the thought of the number of people who could lose their lives on a ranch.
The Richmont Group owns so many properties, even more since Connor started saving ranches and farmlands at risk of being developed into gated communities and shopping malls.
The biggest ranch is Diamond Ranch in Texas.
It’s six hundred thousand acres with about fourteen thousand mother cows breeding premium Hereford, and one hundred and twenty workers there on any given day, not to mention the families that often live with them at the different camps across the land.
“Keep me informed… Yes. I’ll get on that. Thank you.” Connor ends the call and hands back the phone.
Hayden presses his hand against Connor’s chest as if he can somehow calm his heart that has to be racing as fast as mine right now.
“Winds shifted for a small fire north of Diamond Ranch. Now it’s hurtling full force toward it,” Connor says, and the swirl in my gut intensifies.
“What can we do?” I ask.
“Nothing from here. Miles will be evacuating the workers and sending in private firefighting crews to help battle the blaze.”
“They won’t leave. They’ll want to help save the cattle,” Hayden says, and I know he’s right. If there’s one thing you can bet on in places like this, it’s that these guys would rather die trying to save the animals than run away to save themselves.
“That might be true, but we can get their families out so they can stay clear-headed,” Connor replies, and he strolls over to Dean. I watch his expression shift from carefree to a knowing frown in moments.
I rack my brain trying to think of anything at all I can do to help, then it hits me, and I pull out my phone and dial Miles.
“What?” Miles asks by way of answering.
“I had an idea to help protect the cattle,” I say, and I feel more than a few sets of eyes shift toward me.
“Go on, then,” Miles says.
“Dallas has a fleet of drones; they can deploy liquid nanoclay and retardant to create a fire break.”
“We’ve already got the dozers headed out there,” Miles snaps back.
“They won’t be able to protect it fast enough,” I retort, my voice pitching up. “They can mobilize in a second. If you won’t make the call, I’ll get Connor to do it himself,” I snap, and Miles lets out an exasperated sigh.
“Fine, I’ll call them, but the ranchers won’t like it.”
“I don’t care if they don’t like it. And please tell me you’ve already called RedTech to have them use the sensors on the mother cows to create an audio barrier, herding the cattle away from the fire?”
“What are you on about now?” Miles replies.
“Do you know nothing about the companies the Richmont Group invests in?” I bark back. “I’ll call RedTech; you get those drones mobilized now.”
Miles hangs up, which means he’s doing what I said. I look up and find every one of the guys looking square at me.
“One sec,” I tell them, and then I find the number I need and hit dial.
“Redmond, please tell me the Diamond Ranch cattle sensors have the new software upgrade already installed.”
“Yep, they were one of the first. Why?”
“Winds shifted, we need to herd the cattle out of danger. It looks like RedTech is getting a live large-scale test. Can you do it?”
“Already logging into their system. The herd is scattered; it looks like they’ve cut fences to try to save as many as they can. I’ll send them south-east.”
“Thanks. Cost isn’t an issue, just do what you have to.”
“Got it. I’ll send you a link to the tracking as soon as I can.”
“Thanks.” I hang up and look up, my heart still racing. “Sorry. I umm, had an idea and…”
“We heard. Great thinking with the drones. Will it work?” Connor asks, and I shrug.
“It’s the best chance we have. Won’t be cheap, though, the retainer alone will be at least five hundred,” I say, and Atlas’s eyebrows pick up.
“Thousand?” he asks, and I nod. “And the sensors, are they the same ones we have on the cattle here?” he asks.
“Yes. RedTech has been working on using high-pitched sounds and small vibrations to help move herds. They’d only tested a few small ranches so far, but the last newsletter said the results were promising.
We’re lucky they already pushed out the updates to Diamond.
” My phone buzzes, and I click the link Redmond sent through.
It takes me to a secure website, and after logging in, I’m shown a topographical map with a bunch of tiny red dots scattered all over it.
The guys bunch around me to get a clear look at the screen.
“That’s the herd?” Hayden asks.
“That’s them,” I reply, and we all wait with bated breath as the dots move slowly away from the north-west border. With the internal fences down, the cattle can pretty much go wherever they want, and while they have a strong survival instinct, relying on those is not smart business.
There’s a huge group headed west, then, like they’ve hit a wall, the dots bunch together on that side then start to move south.
“It’s working,” I say, and the tightness in my chest eases just a little.
The sound of a rumbling truck breaks through the silence. It has to be the trailer with the new horses.
“Here, you take this,” I say, passing my phone over to Connor. “The horses will be here in a minute.”
“Back to work, boys,” Atlas says, and then his attention shifts to the drive and the large horse truck kicking up dirt as it stops at the top of the driveway.
Atlas throws the ropes over the fence by the milking barn and jogs up the drive to direct the horse rig down as far as it can go, and then they shut off the engine and the driver heads into the house with Dean and Nial while Atlas climbs up onto the side.
“Welcome home,” he tells the horses as he moves along, checking through the windows on each of them.
“Are they okay?” I ask.
“Look to be. Probably ready to be out running on grass, I think,” he replies, jumping down. “Should we show them to their new home?”
My stomach swirls under his gaze.
“Sure. Where do you want me?”
“Grab the lead ropes. We’ll take them over a couple at a time.”
“I can help too,” Skye says, holding up a large bunch of green-stemmed carrots. “I bet they’re hungry after the drive.”
“Good thinking,” Atlas says, and Skye’s face lights up at the compliment.
I grab the leads as Atlas unlatches the doors along the side of the trailer. A few of the horses neigh and stomp at the sound.
“Easy, loves, you have nothing to fear from me,” Atlas tells the horses, and hearing him speak to them with that husky tone makes my heart race in all the right ways.
I pass him the first lead rope, and as Skye feeds the nearest mare a carrot, Atlas hooks onto the bridle. The horse stirs for a moment but calms almost instantly under Atlas’s touch.
“Easy, girl, you’re home.”
He opens the stall gate. I quickly step aside, breathing in a lungful of his delicious scent as he passes with the mare. Its ears twitch at the sounds of the ranch. The noises are foreign to it now, but it won’t take long for these horses to recognize safety in the sounds.
“Grab a lead and a horse and follow me,” he says, and I pick one and hang the rest over the empty stall door.
“Do I just… hook it?” I ask, as I glance back out at Atlas leading the horse in a circle outside the trailer.
“Pretty much. No need to be afraid, these horses are used to being handled.”
I reach a hand slowly toward the nose of the large black stallion nearest me. His nostrils flare, and then he nudges my hand with his nose, and I give him a pat.
“You’re a real beauty, aren’t you?” I say as I latch the bright pink lead rope I grabbed and open the stall door.
He trots out without any prompting, and I follow along beside him.
I lean in to whisper, “You could at least make it look like I’m the one leading you.”