9. brooks
nine
brooks
. . .
Angel Eyes - Love and Theft
The door opens and then closes with a slam, and the heavy thud of boots on the wood floor of the entryway reverberates through the cabin.
Everett catches my eye, visibly bracing himself.
There’s only one person it could be. Ruth is much too light on her feet to make that sound, and Jody would’ve announced himself immediately, so it must be—
“Got anything stronger’n that horse piss?
” Ashton appears in the kitchen doorway and nods toward the beer bottles Everett and I are holding, sat on either side of his breakfast bar.
Her arms are folded across her chest, dust and dirt smeared over the smooth, colourfully-inked skin that extends below the short sleeves of her cowgirls do it better T-shirt.
I let my eyes trail down her body to see her jeans caked in mud, too.
“Got anything cleaner than that mud suit?” Everett rebuts.
He reaches into a cupboard and emerges with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a cut glass tumbler in the other.
Ashton grunts as she pours herself a generous serving, before lifting the glass in thanks.
Then she brings it to her lips and downs the amber liquid in one mouthful.
I can’t pretend watching a strong-as-fuck woman shoot whiskey without even flinching from the burn isn’t sexy as hell.
I shift on my bar stool, willing my cock to stay cool and not make a scene.
Not here. Not over my best friend’s little sister.
“The fuck happened to you?” Everett pokes the beast. He’s braver than I am. I’m ballsy, but I don’t think mine are big or brassy enough to provoke Ashton Tanner when she’s glaring at him the way she is. “Got enough dirt on you there, Ashey?”
“S’not dirt,” she argues with a pout. I know she’s grumpy, but it’s kind of adorable, and I’d bet a bottle of the good stuff that I already know what she’s about to say next. “It’s cowgirl glitter.”
A snort escapes me and I immediately clamp a hand over my mouth. I was right. Ashton’s eyes narrow further as her gaze swings across to me. I’m suddenly reminded of a day nineteen years ago. A core memory.
The five of us are playing in the barn. Me, Everett, and Jody are the sheriffs, and Ev’s little sister Ashton and Jody’s little brother Reston are the bad guys.
Except, Reston’s kinda too young for this game, and he’s not really playing much.
He keeps getting distracted with the toys Ms. Angie brought over for him. So really, it’s just the four of us.
“HA-YAH!” Jody leaps from one old hay bale to another, narrowly missing the rope swinging from one of the wood beams high above our heads.
He lands on his butt in a cloud of dust and straw, and pops to his feet immediately.
He clambers over the hay bale he landed on until his boots hit the hard floor.
“Betcha can’t catch me!” Ashton leaps off the smallest block of hay, before rounding the stack and climbing up again.
She makes the same jump Jody did, reaching out and grazing her hands along the rope, before losing grip and dropping to the floor, missing the hay bale entirely and landing with a loud thump on the wood.
There’s a second of silence, and then Everett gasps.
He flies off the top of the highest hay bale and arrives at his sister’s side right away.
I don’t think I even had time to blink twice.
Jody and I follow. By the time we get there, Ashton is sitting up, rubbing her elbow and frowning with tear-filled eyes.
“Are you hurt? You’re not hurt, right, Ashey? You’re okay?”
“Not hurt,” she says, lips turned down. “But look at my jeans, Evvy! My new boots! They’re all covered in dirt! They’re ruined! Mom’s gonna be mad.” Her lower lip wobbles. Jody—the tallest of us—crouches next to Ashton.
“She won’t be mad, Ashey,” Everett promises. He uses his dirty thumb to brush tears from his sister’s eyes, leaving a dark trail of old dust on her face.
“It’s not dirt,” Jody says kindly, picking a piece of straw from her hair and tossing it on the ground. “It’s cowgirl glitter.”
He says it so confidently that Ashton perks up immediately, a smile blooming on her face.
“Cowgirl glitter?”
“Uh-huh,” Jody nods. “Right Brooks? Ev?”
Ev and I both nod as some kind of twinkly tune fills the barn.
I’ve never heard of cowgirl glitter before, but if Jody said it, it’s probably true.
And it’s made Ashton smile again, which releases the uncomfortable knot that formed in my belly, so I’ll go with it.
I glance over to see Reston on the floor just outside the open doors, immersed in some kind of musical electronic toy.
“Hey, kiddos.” My big sister Harriet appears from somewhere, swinging Reston up onto her hip as she enters the barn.
Reston grins with his tiny teeth on display and grabs a handful of Harriet’s ponytail.
I watch as my sister zeroes in on Ashton, still dusty and a little tearful, surrounded by all of us boys on the floor.
“Come wash up. Dad is grillin’ for us up at the main house. You okay, Ashton?”
Ashton nods, rising to her feet and brushing the dirt off her pants.
“’Course you are,” Harriet says with a smile. “You’re a big tough cowgirl. Let’s go get some steak.” She brushes her free hand over Ashton’s messy braid as Ashton runs ahead of all of us.
“You boys good?”
“We’re good, Hattie,” I say, grinning up at her. She’s eight years older than me, so she’s seventeen, and that makes her almost a proper grown up now. Sometimes she looks after us when Mom and Dad and Ev’s parents are busy on the ranch, or if they go out into town.
She’s pretty cool for a grown up, I guess. Jody, Ev, and I race each other back to the main house, and I win. Ashton got there first, though. She’s little, but she’s fast. I know she’s a girl, but she’s pretty cool, too. I’m glad she plays with us.
“Y’all just lucky Ruth ain’t here to see you spillin’ mud on her kitchen floor.” Everett swallows down another mouthful of beer before pointing the top of his bottle at his sister.
“S’not her house. S’yours. Where is Ruth, anyway?”
“New York. Last loose ends to tie up from her old job. She’ll be back tomorrow. Anyway, she’s my wife, Ashey. What’s mine is hers.” The man couldn’t look prouder. Or any more whipped. Jody and I laugh about it, but Ruth has been good for him, and she’s a good girl. She fits in nice around here.
“’Sides,” I add, “I get the feelin’ even if it were my house, or anyone else’s, she’d have kittens at the way that dirt is rubbin’ up all over the stool.”
Ashton looks down and sighs. dried dirt has flaked off her like dark sand, leaving a breadcrumb trail from the door right to her feet. And what hasn’t dried has smeared all over the wooden stool. Thankfully, they’re made from laminated wood and they’ll wipe clean good as new.
“I can take a hint,” she grumbles. She slides off the stool, her feet falling the couple inches to the ground, and follows her dirt trail back to the door.
“I should head out too.” I down the last of my beer, then swipe Ev’s empty bottle and toss them both in the battered black bucket he uses for recycling. “Thanks for the beer. Take a look at that spreader kingpin tomorrow, yeah?”
Everett nods and holds his hand up in a wave as I follow Ashton’s path out of the kitchen.
His phone is already in his other hand, probably halfway to calling his wife for another sickening game of no, I love you more.
I catch Ashton just as she finishes pushing her feet back into muddy boots and opens the door.
“Plans for tonight, Ashey?”
“Don’t call me Ashey,” she says. “Probably gonna soak in a bubble bath and then—goddammit. Can’t even order a fuckin’ pizza out here. Startin’ to remember why I left.”
“Guess you ain’t interested in the ham and pineapple Loggins special I picked up in Farrow this mornin’, huh, little devil?”
“You got Loggins?” Ashton’s face lights up and I can’t help but grin back.
That smile on her face right now could save the world, I swear it.
I don’t want to think about what it means, but I’m damn proud and just a little smug about being the one to put it there.
She bounces excitedly as we walk along the side of the creek that runs between her cabin and Everett’s.
“I didn’t know Old Bryce opened up so early! ”
“He don’t.” I wink. “But he owes me a few favors. Thought it was time to cash in. His niece is workin’ in the store now, turned the place right around.
You know he was about to close up shop and move on?
But she got him sellin’ some ready-made pizzas—the kind you bring home and warm it up.
Gone down a real treat. This one he did fresh for me.
Ham, pineapple, red onion. Little chilli in the tomato sauce… ”
Ashton’s eyes damn near roll back in her head as she imagines the flavor. It’s always been my favorite, and I know it’s hers, too. “Damn, I miss Loggins.”
“Offer’s there, devil. I got some buffalo wings and ranch dip ready to go, too. Blazing Saddles queued up on streaming…”
“Lemme shower this dirt outta my hair. Be over in twenty?”
“Thought it was glitter, devil?”
“Shut up.”
Ash hops off the low ledge that runs the length of the short bridge spanning the creek, and runs toward her cabin. She pushes the door open easily without using a key.
“Lock your doors, Tanner!” I yell. She raises a hand in a one-fingered salute without turning around, and I chuckle to myself. I never thought I’d miss her nearly as much as I have when she moved to New York, but goddamn, it’s nice to have her back on the ranch.
I make for my own cabin, taking long, quick strides along the creek to The Village. Since I left my parents’ house, I’ve rented one of the smaller cabins out here.
The day I moved in, Ev and Jody helped me move the furniture around, and Ashton “tested” the oven in my kitchen by baking my favorite kind of cookies: white chocolate macadamia.
Since then, I’ve made a few upgrades. Mama Tanner doesn’t care what I do here, long as I don’t wreck the place.
If I’m making the place more like home, she’s plenty happy with that.
Once I’m inside, I toe off my boots by the door and rest them on the shoe rack.
I throw the wings in the oven, then dash across to the shower.
Five minutes later, a little more fresh and redressed in a pair of gray sweats and a black tee, I return to the kitchen.
Full of nervous energy, I grab a rag and start wiping down every surface.
I’m a clean guy. I use my kitchen enough, but I clean up after myself, and my cabin is pretty tidy. But something about knowing Ashton is on her way over has my whole body buzzing with anticipation, and a strange desire to make the best impression.
It’s just Ashton, I tell myself. You’ve known her since she was born.
It’s just Ashton.