Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9
CASH
I t had been a long day. An unexpected storm had hit the ranch in the middle of the night. Cash spent the day pulling fallen trees off a broken section of fence. They were lucky the trees had landed in a way that still blocked the cattle from being able to escape. The last thing they needed to worry about was tracking down lost animals. There had also been an issue with thieves lately. Cattle were valuable here, and plenty of people would jump at the chance to pick up lost animals wandering around outside a fence.
He worked tirelessly through the day with several of the hands, cutting up wood and loading it into a trailer to be hauled back by work trucks. Cash preferred riding a horse when it came to traveling the ranch, but sometimes engines just made more sense. After they finally had all the lumber taken care of, they had to repair the fence.
It was late by the time they were done, the sun slouching toward the horizon. He was exhausted and famished. The hands who’d been tending to the rest of the ranch while they worked were probably already eating dinner—or done with it completely. A secret part of him was disappointed that he’d probably missed Wilder. He’d been at the ranch for almost a month now, and he still mostly kept to himself, hiding away in his room after dinner or going out to the paddock with the mustang. Either way, he avoided the people. But Cash enjoyed his dark, unassuming sense of humor, the way he smiled, and the golden glow of his fresh tan in the sunlight.
He let Darryl drive them back to the house, lounging in the passenger seat with his water and wondering whether to reheat leftovers in the kitchen or head to his room for a shower first. He was close to dozing when they made it over the hillside that overlooked the house and the main barn, and Darryl broke the silence for the first time.
“I’ll be damned.”
Cash turned his head—and his breath stalled in his throat. Wilder was in the paddock with the mustang again, but now he was on the horse’s back. Bareback and with nothing but a rope attached to the halter, he was guiding the horse in an easy gallop around the edge of the paddock. Haloed in sunlight and wearing the brightest grin Cash had ever seen on him, Wilder looked like the years had been washed away.
“How in the hell did he do that?” Darryl asked. “Didn’t think that horse would ever tolerate being ridden.”
“It just needed the right rider, I guess,” Cash said breathlessly.
He could barely contain himself as Darryl parked the truck. As soon as it stopped moving, he was off, plopping his hat on his head and marching across the lawn to the paddock.
“Looking good!” he called, bracing his hands on the top rung of the fence.
Wilder turned to look at him, his mouth stretched into a wide, excited grin. It made him look downright boyish. “Hey! Finally let me get on him!”
“I see that! How long have you been riding?”
As they came around to Cash’s side of the paddock, Wilder tugged back on the rope with a gentle, “Whoa, whoa,” and the horse slowed, dancing to the side a bit before settling in front of Cash. “I don’t know, about twenty minutes, I think? He’s doing amazing. Just wants to run. The minute I can get a saddle on him, I’m taking him out into the fields. I think burning his energy’ll help him settle down.”
“Definitely. We’re bringing the cattle down to the southern field in a couple of weeks. You think you’ll be able to ride him then?”
Wilder brightened, like that hadn’t occurred to him, and Cash lamented that he hadn’t brought it up sooner. He’d do anything to keep that light on Wilder’s handsome face.
“I hope so. I’ll keep working with him. Blaze’ll make a great ranch horse. He just likes to run.” As he spoke, the horse began to circle restlessly, tossing his head up and down and forcing Wilder to twist in order to keep Cash in sight.
“Blaze, huh?” Cash said, chuckling. “That seems fitting.”
“Boy, if you don’t quit circling,” Wilder said around a laugh, patting Blaze’s smooth neck. “He can’t stay still for nothing. I’ll try to put a saddle on him soon. If he can handle me sitting on him, I think he can handle it.”
“I’d say so. I’m a little surprised you started out bareback.”
Wilder lifted one shoulder. “I used to love riding bareback as a kid. And sometimes it helps, if the horses are unfamiliar with the saddle. It’s less restricting to them this way, helps get them used to having weight on their back. I had to hop right back off the first couple of tries, because he didn’t like it, but he settled after a bit.”
“Sure,” Cash allowed. “Maybe a little more dangerous for you, though.”
“Nah, he’ll let you do just about anything if you give him enough apples.”
“Apples and running, huh?”
“His two most favorite things,” Wilder agreed. “Hold still, now, let me down.” He clicked his tongue as he tugged back on the rope, and Blaze stilled long enough for Wilder to swing his leg over and hop down.
The sound of a screen door slamming shut caught their attention, and they turned at the same time to see Annalise racing across the driveway toward the barn. Lain was following behind her at a more sedate pace, an easy smile lifting the corners of his mouth as he watched her. It faltered slightly when he saw Wilder and Cash standing together. He raised a hand to wave. Cash waved back, but Wilder, he noticed, ducked his head, fussing with the way his hat sat on his head.
They really needed to clear the air.
“Have you two talked at all since the night you arrived?” he asked quietly.
Wilder shrugged one shoulder. “Nothing to say, I reckon.”
“I highly doubt that.”
“I’m here to do a job, that’s all. He doesn’t want me getting involved with his family and the life he’s built here.”
“How do you know that?” Cash challenged as Lain disappeared into the barn with Annalise. He must be letting her ride tonight. “Did he say as much?”
Wilder stepped closer, giving Cash a clear view of the darkness in his gaze. With only the fence between them, Cash swore he could feel the heat emanating from Wilder’s sun-warmed body.
“I was behind bars for eight years,” he rasped quietly. “You want to know how many times my brother came to see me? Or called me on the phone? Or sent me anything?”
Cash’s chest tightened. He didn’t want to hear the answer.
“None,” Wilder went on. “He doesn’t need to say the words, Cash, and I sure as hell don’t need to hear them. His actions were clear enough. The only reason I’m here now is because we both knew I had nowhere else to go. He blames me, and maybe he’s right to. I’ll never regret what I did, because that man was evil, but Lain will always see me as the one who orphaned him.”
Cash’s mouth was dry. He wanted to argue, but what could he say? And a traitorous feeling buzzed under his skin at the sound of his name on Wilder’s lips.
“You, too,” he finally said, stubbornly.
A flicker of a frown crossed Wilder’s face. “What?”
“You orphaned you, too, didn’t you?”
Wilder’s expression cleared, and his pretty blue eyes fell away. “Maybe. But I’m the one who made the choice. I took his choice away, didn’t I?”
“You were a kid. I don’t think either of you really had a choice.”
Wilder sighed heavily. “There’s no point in discussing it, is my point. I can’t change what I did. I can’t even apologize for it, because I don’t regret it. So if that’s what he’s wanting to hear, I can’t give it to him. The best I can hope to do is keep my head down, finish out my parole, and then move on.”
But Cash didn’t want that. He didn’t like the idea of Wilder disappearing from the ranch one day and never returning. This was his home. It was where he belonged… wasn’t it?
One of the big bay doors opened into another paddock connected to the barn, and Lain led a saddled Persimmon out by the reins. Annalise bounded along beside them. While Cash was distracted, Wilder climbed over the fence beside him. Before he could slip away, Cash reached for him, snagging an arm and pulling him back around. Wilder’s slightly wide eyes met his, and Cash wondered at the last time anyone had dared to put a hand on him like this.
Face to face, Cash’s thoughts poured straight from his head. His mouth opened but nothing came out. Wilder’s gaze fell to his lips, and a hot jolt went down his spine at the attention.
“I can’t speak for anyone else,” he said softly, and Wilder inched closer, as though to hear him better. The brim of their hats brushed. “But I’m glad you’re here.”
Wilder’s face softened. His hand covered Cash’s for a tender moment, and then he gently tugged Cash’s hand from his arm. His palm slid up Cash’s forearm as it fell back to his side, thumb stroking the sweat-dried grit on his skin idly.
His eyes twinkled with mirth as he said, “Well, you’ve obviously been working too hard, then. You’re delusional.”
That startled a laugh out of him, and Wilder smiled at the sound.
“Night, Cash.”
“Goodnight, Wilder.”
He watched Wilder walk away with a tightness in his chest, certain it wouldn’t be the last time.
It was after breakfast one morning when Clyde approached Cash and said, “Hey, boss, the kitchen’s running pretty low on some things. You want me to run into town later?”
Going grocery shopping for the bunkhouse was typically a job he’d delegate to someone else, but this time, Cash looked across the room at Wilder as he put his hat on and stepped outside. The others had gone into town on more than one occasion since Wilder joined the crew, either for ranch business or to relax at one of the local bars, but Wilder himself hadn’t left the ranch since the day they bought his clothes almost six weeks ago.
“No, that’s okay. I’ll go this time,” Cash said. He’d take Wilder with him, maybe draw the man out of his shell a little bit while they were away from the ranch. He kept his walls so firmly in place here, surrounded by his sordid history. Getting away might do him some good.
Clyde gave him the list, looking far too knowing, and Cash quickly made his escape. He spotted Wilder over by Blaze’s paddock, standing on the bottom rung of the fence and holding out an apple for the horse, who trotted up to him right away.
“Hey,” Cash called as he approached, keeping his steps slow and his voice a little softer than usual so he wouldn’t spook Blaze.
Wilder turned. “What’s up, boss?”
Cash waved the grocery list, pinched between fore- and middle fingers. “Got an errand to run. Thought you might like to come with me into town.”
If he didn’t know better, Wilder perked up. “Really? Sounds good.”
“Great. I’ll go get the truck and bring it around.”
Wilder nodded, and Cash strode away, wondering if he’d be able to convince Wilder to pick out a few things for himself at the grocery store. There were probably a lot of foods he hadn’t been able to get his hands on in prison. Were there any favorites he’d missed?
Wilder was waiting when he pulled the truck around the bunkhouse and came to a stop on the driveway. He jogged over, climbed into the passenger seat, and then they were off.
“What’s the plan with Blaze this evening?” Cash asked, because talking about the horse was the easiest way to get Wilder animated about something. It had been a few days since he’d ridden him bareback around the paddock, though Cash had seen him laying the saddle pad on Blaze’s back one day and adding the saddle itself the following day.
“He didn’t like the saddle at first, so I gave him some time to get used to the feel of it. He can handle being walked around the paddock with it on now, though, so I feel good about riding him soon.”
“Fantastic. I’d like to see it when you do. I’d hoped for good things with that horse. He’s got a ton of potential.” Not unlike the man sitting beside him, but he quickly turned his thoughts away from that avenue.
They chatted about the upcoming ride for the rest of the drive. As it stood now, they had the cattle separated into four different fields. Rotating them through each field gave the grass a chance to recover, and before winter came, they would be moving each herd to the four fields that encircled the feed barn. It meant several days of long work herding them from one place to another. They would need all hands on deck, and Lain would most likely come out to help, too. The pregnant heifers would be in the field closest to the house, and birthing should begin not long after they moved them. It was important to have them settled before then. No one wanted to herd newborn calves. Better to have them where they wanted them before the calves dropped.
As they came into Roselake, Wilder looked around at the blossoming little city and said, “Wait, so where are we going? You didn’t say earlier.”
“Clyde says we’re running low on groceries at the bunkhouse.”
Wilder’s head swiveled to face him. “We’re going grocery shopping?”
“That’s right. I thought you might like to come along and help me pick some things out.”
Wilder’s face did something Cash couldn’t interpret. “Oh.”
Cash wished he didn’t have to divide his attention between Wilder and the road. “Is that bad? What is your face doing right now?”
“What? Nothing. My face is fine.” Wilder turned away. “It’s fine. It’s nothing.”
“It doesn’t sound like nothing.”
“It’s nothing,” he insisted. “It was years ago. I’m sure it’s fine.”
What was years ago? Cash wanted to ask, but he bit back the question. Pushing would just make Wilder clam up even more.
The silence was charged as Cash pulled up at the local grocery store. He threw the truck in park and looked at Wilder, who was staring up at the shop’s sign with something like resignation.
“Ready?” Cash asked.
Wilder blew out a breath and unbuckled his seatbelt, not speaking. Cash watched him go around to the front of the truck and stop, staring off into the distance with a pensive look on his face. How did he manage to screw this up before they’d even begun? All he wanted was to get Wilder away from the memories of the ranch for a little while. He didn’t expect the grocery store to be a place of contention.
Sighing, he locked the truck and led Wilder inside. He grabbed a shopping cart and tried not to notice the way Wilder’s eyes scanned the store. When they disappeared into the aisles, he loosened up some. The store wasn’t busy at this hour, and no one seemed to pay them any attention. He even gave Wilder the list to distract him.
“Why don’t you pick out a couple of things, too?” he offered. “What’s something you like?”
Wilder tilted his head. “I… haven’t really thought about it.”
“I imagine the food while you were,” he paused as a blue-haired old lady tottered past, “ away left something to be desired?”
Wilder chuckled, glancing over his shoulder at the little old lady to make sure she was out of earshot. “Yeah, the prison wasn’t known for its fine dining. But I haven’t really thought about it. If I see something, I’ll let you know.” He grimaced. “But I can’t let the ranch pay for it.”
“If it goes in the bunkhouse kitchen, the ranch pays for it,” Cash said.
“What if I want to keep it in my room?”
“Then the ranch pays for it, and I don’t tell them,” Cash said, biting back a smile. “This time. Can’t make it a habit, but I insist that you let me cover it this time.”
“What? No way.”
“Yes way. I’m your boss. You’re not allowed to argue with me.”
Wilder sputtered out a laugh. “I don’t think that’s the way it works.”
“Yes, it is, because I say so. And I’m the boss.”
Wilder rolled his eyes so hard his whole head moved. “Fine. Just this once, you can buy me a snack.” A snorting laugh left him as he said it, like he found the whole argument ridiculous, and Cash beamed, because this was the lighthearted Wilder he’d hoped to see.
“Perfect. Now just be sure you pick something good.”
They wandered up and down the aisles, and Cash let himself zone out for a while, grabbing things from the list when Wilder pointed them out. It took a lot of food to feed the ranch hands, and the cart steadily filled with a variety of products. When they turned down an aisle with coffee on one side and packaged cakes and snacks on the other, Wilder slowed, perusing the snack cakes while Cash picked out some coffee for his personal coffeemaker in his room. The bunkhouse got the cheap brand, but Cash paid for the good stuff with his own money. He dropped the box in the cart and found Wilder with his hands in his back pockets, studying a box of Twinkies.
Cash’s gaze lingered on the long length of his body, the way his hands accentuated the curve of his ass and the tight hug of his jeans around his thighs.
He shook himself, walking over to him. “See something you like?”
Wilder picked up a box. “I haven’t had one of these in years. They probably don’t even taste as good as I remember.”
Cash hummed. “Why don’t you put it in the cart and find out?”
A glimmer of childlike hope shone in Wilder’s eyes. He slowly set the box in the cart, like he expected something to stop him. Cash would rip the head off anyone who tried. Wilder was so used to being denied what he wanted, and Cash was determined to give it to him.
And, he realized, he didn’t want to share this moment with the rest of the hands. He didn’t want to take the Twinkies to the bunkhouse and share it with the others.
“Tell you what,” he said as they fell into step together. “I know a really great spot where you can see the sunset. Why don’t?—”
As they came out of the aisle, the grocery store owner, Gary, was standing near the cash registers. He turned at their approach and spied Wilder, his wrinkled face morphing into one of fury.
“You!” he bellowed, startling the girl behind the cash register.
Wilder stopped dead, and Cash stopped a step ahead of him, scowling.
Gary strode over, his balding head shiny under the fluorescent lights. He jabbed a finger in Wilder’s direction, and Cash saw red, because Wilder was shrinking away, his shoulders coming up around his ears. It was the most uncharacteristic thing Cash had ever seen him do.
“I told you not to ever come back here.”
“Mister Scott,” Wilder said, crimson climbing up his throat. “I don’t mean any harm. I’m just here with?—”
“You’re a goddamn thief!” Gary hollered. “Your brother is lucky I allow him to come in this place at all, but you .” He dug his phone out of his pocket. “I should’ve filed a police report against you years ago. The biggest mistake they ever made was letting you out. I’m calling them now, and you’ll never set foot in my store again.”
The color drained from Wilder’s face, and Cash couldn’t stand it anymore. He snatched Gary’s wrist before he could dial 911.
“Gary Scott, I’ve known you for seven years and never seen you behave this way,” Cash snarled. “You will not be calling the police on one of my ranch hands without due cause, do you understand me?”
Gary jerked his wrist, but Cash didn’t release him. “Don’t you know who this is? He’s a psychopath!”
“Of course I know who he is. He’s the twin brother of my boss, and he hasn’t done anything to warrant this behavior.”
“He robbed me!” Gary shouted, giving up on trying to yank his arm free to point an accusing finger at Wilder, who wilted further under the attention. Everyone in the store was staring now. “For months! Maybe more!”
“When? Recently?” Cash asked coolly.
“No, years ago when he was a delinquent little teenager.”
“Why didn’t the police handle it then?” He couldn’t very well call the police over a ten-year-old accusation, and they both knew it. If Gary didn’t call the cops back when it happened, it was his own damn fault.
“My wife. Elena didn’t want me to, said we should just let it go. But I knew he was doing it.”
Cash gave him a push and flicked a dismissive hand at the phone. “Put that away. He hasn’t committed a crime today, and he won’t. You can’t prove he stole anything back then, and he damn sure hasn’t stolen anything today.”
“That you know of,” Gary sneered. “He’s a monster. I’m telling you. There’s no fixing criminals like him. Just look at him. Prison just made him worse.”
Wilder’s expression shuttered, and Cash wanted to scream.
“Wilder, go out to the truck and wait for me.” He handed the truck’s keys to him, and Wilder skirted around Gary and rushed toward the door, walking as quickly as social convention allowed.
Once he was out of sight, Cash said, “You should be ashamed of yourself, Gary.”
Most of the tension drained from the old man’s body, but the obstinance lingered in his eyes. “He’s not to come back here. I won’t allow it.”
This wasn’t the only grocery store in Roselake, and Cash didn’t take kindly to threats. “It’s a small town, Gary, but it’s not that small. If you refuse service to any of my ranch hands, we’ll stop doing business altogether.” They spent hundreds of dollars here every month on food for both the bunkhouse and Lain’s house, and they sold Scott’s Grocery some premium cuts of beef. Cash would raise hell with Lain to cut Gary out if this was the way he wanted to behave. “If you’re that pissed about what happened damn near ten years ago, I’ll see that Wilder pays you back for whatever he stole.”
Gary lifted his nose into the air. “It’s the principle of the thing.”
Cash took his phone out and stepped away from his cart. “So be it. I’ll call Lain and tell him to take your name off the next shipment?—”
“Whoa, whoa, hold on now,” Gary said hurriedly.
Cash whirled on him, this time jabbing a finger at him the same way he’d done to Wilder. “Stay away from Wilder Blackwood. If he comes in this store, you let him go about his business. You let bygones be bygones and let him move on from the mistakes he made when he was a kid. Or did you never fuck up when you were a teenager?”
Gary’s mouth pursed. “Fine. But I expect you to keep an eye on him, Cash. I don’t trust him.”
“You’ve made that clear.” Cash pocketed his phone and pushed his cart toward the wide-eyed cashier. He wanted to get this over with and go check on Wilder. He looked ready to bolt—and while he didn’t think Wilder would leave without him, he didn’t want to keep him waiting when he was already stressed.