Chapter 10 Beau #2
Weston just glared at me like I pissed in his beer. I fucking knew it. I was a genius. I had suspected something had happened with him and Savannah, and the way Weston was gripping his beer like it was a lifeline was all the confirmation I needed.
“Wait, what?” Joseph interrupted, looking confused. “She put shit in your boots? Like human shit?”
Colt choked on his drink, giggling. “No, cow shit. The girls—your wife—terrorized us as kids.” He smirked triumphantly. “But we gave it back just as good.”
Emmett gasped, eyes wide with a churning idea.
“We should get them back! We never did after that last one.” I thought back to the last time we were together as kids when the girls had stolen our clothes.
I remembered being pissed, but also having the time of my life that day.
And then it came to a screeching halt when our fathers almost fought each other right in front of us.
Colt laughed, clapping his back. “I’m sorry to inform you, but we’re not kids anymore. We’re in our thirties now. And I’m—I’m the sheriff. I can’t condone illegal behavior.”
“I’m the sheriff,” Weston mocked, looking serious and deepening his voice. “You’re off duty tonight, so pull the badge out of your ass and let’s hear what the man has to say.”
“What were you thinking?”
His eyes met mine. There was that fire in them, that spark of life, that Claire got. And I knew then whatever he came up with, we had to do it. This was the push he needed, that he asked for.
And that’s how I found myself loading hay and feed from Golden Bridle’s barn into the bed of my truck at dawn. We were moving slowly since all of us were still kinda drunk, except Joseph, who was our getaway driver.
“This might be the best idea we’ve had,” Weston said, grinning as he slung a hay bale into the bed. “Better than the pickle juice for sure.”
Colt was running, giggling like a child, with a bag of feed as the sun started to rise over the horizon.
“Hurry,” I whispered-yelled. “Emmett said Claire gets up to ride at five thirty.”
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?
!” Tore across the ranch in a shrill yell that made my pulse kick.
Claire was on her porch thirty minutes too early, hair a tangled mess, and still in her pajamas: a skimpy tank top and shorts that rode so high up her glorious legs that I couldn’t look at her for too long without risking getting hard.
She was supposed to just find it all gone, not catch us in the act. A collection of laughs and curses left the guys as they scrambled to get into the truck bed. I slammed a fist on the cab, and Joseph tore off, kicking up dust.
“Bye, bear!” Emmett yelled, grinning wider than I’d ever seen. Claire’s jaw dropped, and she sprinted off the porch and into the barn. The angered scream that followed made me grin so hard my face hurt. Emmett and Weston roared with laughter and high-fived, their legs hanging off the tailgate.
“Oh shit,” Weston laughed as Claire barreled out of the barn, horseback and gaining speed on us by the second. The look in her eyes was pure fire, and it sent my heart racing. I couldn’t even join in with my brothers on antagonizing her. I was too lost in how magnificent she looked.
“Get back here!” She screamed over the wind, gritting her teeth as she pushed her horse harder.
“Only if you catch us!” Emmett said to his sister, giving her the bird. That must’ve been a Hayes trait.
Colt turned and climbed clumsily over the hay bales and bags of feed. “Go faster!” he screamed through the window to Joseph.
The engine revved, and there was a crash followed by the distinct sound of wood splintering as we crossed properties.
I nearly fell over the edge of the bed as he drove over the ruined fence.
“I just built that, you fucker!” I scolded as we rode onto Circle M, tearing up my perfect fields. Mount was going to have a stroke.
“You said drive, so I’m driving! Just shut up and hold on,” Joseph laughed from inside the cab.
I looked back to find Claire racing after us, hair whipping in the wind, her skin illuminated with the first colors of dawn. Her horse jumped over the fence with ease, and she was completely unfazed. A natural.
I’d build a million fences if it meant I could see her like this again.
“You assholes are dead!” she said, almost running in pace with us. Joseph hadn’t made it easy, though. He was doing sharp turns, swerving, kicking up grass and mud. At one point, Colt even leaned over the side and puked.
Claire matched every move we made with such quickness that it was like she anticipated each one before it even happened. I’d never seen anything like it, considering we were probably reaching sixty miles an hour, not even with the cattle cutting pros.
She was mesmerizing.
“Can’t kill us if you can’t catch us,” I yelled, grinning wide. “Don’t know if you got what it takes anymore.”
Emmett turned back, looking up at me with a gleam in his eyes. The difference in how he looked now compared to how he looked yesterday morning was like a frigid winter had thawed and made way for spring. “You know you just signed your death certificate, right?”
“Sure do.” And I watched Claire prove me wrong with more joy than I’d felt in a while.
When we finally came to a stop, wind-blown and adrenaline high, I felt like a new person, and it looked like everyone else did too.
Claire got off her horse, her shorts riding up to a painful degree that sent all my blood rushing south. She stormed up to me, bare feet stomping in the mud without a care. I nearly dropped to my knees at the sight of her: cheeks flushed, eyes bright, curls a mess, and absolutely livid.
“I know this was your idea,” she snarled between heavy breaths, jamming her finger in my heaving chest. That one touch alone was like a jolt of electricity that stayed humming beneath my skin.
I shook my head. “It wasn’t.” I gestured to her brother, who was playing around with Weston and Colt. “It was Emmett’s.”
Her head reared back. “What?” she breathed. Her eyes darted between mine. “Are you serious?”
I nodded. “We were talking this morning, or I guess yesterday morning, when we were workin’ on the chicken coop. And I thought it’d be good for him to get out with the guys, liven him up some. Looks like it worked if you ask me.”
Her eyes became glassy, looking like grass slicked with morning dew. “Beau…” she whispered, voice cracking. “I don’t know how I can ever repay you for what you’ve done. Not just with him, but with the ranch.”
My eyes lowered to her mouth. I swallowed, wetting my lips. “I could think of something.”
I was expecting her to refuse. To chew me out for being so persistent. But nothing could have prepared me for what she did instead.
A shaky, shallow breath left me as she rose on her toes, leaning in slowly.
She smelled like the wind, like adrenaline.
Having her body this close to mine again felt like salvation, like falling with no end in sight.
Her lips were soft against my skin, landing on my cheek right at the corner of my mouth.
It was absolute torture, just like I knew she planned it.
My hand found her waist as she lingered, and I bunched the thin fabric of her tank top in my fist when she whispered in my ear, “Thank you, Beau.”
I swayed on my feet as she pulled away, looking at me with darkened eyes and flushed skin.
And like the desperate fool that I was, my mouth followed after hers for a second.
I couldn’t care about anything else, not the guys watching, not the Cavendish partnership, not our family history.
Nothing. I wanted her so badly it made me dizzy.
Gripping onto the truck, I cleared my throat and said, “You’re welcome.”
She backed away and turned to the guys. “Now get your drunk asses back in that truck and put my shit back,” she ordered, hopping onto her horse in one swift, sexy-as-fuck motion.
“Yes, ma’am!” Emmett laughed with a salute. Claire peeked at me over her shoulder with a little grin and rode off.
That little grin was an arrow shot straight at my heart.