Nathaniel #2
Back at square one.
“Bucky, you good?”
I looked up again realizing that one of my teammates, Bradley, was speaking to me.
My team was all Black because so often we weren’t given the type of facilities and opportunities that came with being a part of the rodeo.
Didn’t matter that our people started the whole sport and had been the original cowboys.
White people doing what they always did and Christopher Columbus’d our shit.
I found as much talent as I could and put them on because I wanted our dominance in this sport to continue long after I retired.
It was the reason I started the school. I allowed anyone to come and take classes and rent rings.
But that was only so I could offer free or discounted rates to Black athletes who needed further training.
“I’m good. I got some shit on my mind.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t be riding today then.”
We were going to be practicing relays and that was probably the one thing I needed. To get on the back of a horse and just go full throttle so I could erase what happened with Charmy.
Like that shit was possible.
“Nah, it’s what I need. To get on Pistol and just ride. It’ll be better for my head if I do.”
“You sure?” He looked skeptical and I didn’t blame him.
I knew they were worried because a distracted rider could be a dangerous one. I knew they were worried about my comeback almost as much as I was.
“Yeah, I’m good. I’d never put myself or my horse at risk to prove a point. I’m about to saddle up.”
“Who’re you riding today?”
“Probably Pistol. But we’ll figure out if any of the newer stock needs to get their chance to shine. I’m not going to play favorites. Whoever the best runners are is who we’re going to ride to win. We’ve got buckles to win this year.”
He knocked me on my shoulder with his fist as he grinned. “Damn right.”
My phone rang before I could even get to my horse and I saw my brother’s name flash across the screen. This was the worst possible time for him to be calling. He would know something was going on with me and I wouldn’t be able to hide my stress from him.
I held up my finger for Brad to give me a minute and he took a step back as I answered for Samp.
“What’s good, big bruh?” I leaned against the railing hoping I could keep him out my business. I had to wonder why he was calling me in the middle of the day.
“There’s a problem.”
I stood up straight my hand going to my pocket to see where the keys to my truck were. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not trying to involve you in this shit, Bucky. You’ve got a lot going on.”
Well, it was too fucking late for that.
“Aye! Keep an eye on shit here. I gotta head home!” James nodded and I turned my attention back to the phone as I headed to my truck. “Does it look like I give a shit? You’re trying to cut me out now?”
He scoffed, the implication that he would do something like that or that I would let him was humorous to him. “Never that.”
“I didn’t think so. I’m on way so have everything you need to let me know pulled up.” The drive was going to be quick so I didn’t bother saying bye. He’d see me soon and probably cuss me out for being rude.
I pulled out of the back gate and headed toward my family’s place. I could drive the road with my eyes closed but I wasn’t stupid enough or arrogant enough to do that. While I drove I pulled up my text messages so that I could let Charisma hear from me what was going on.
I smiled reading her response before I tucked my phone and made the last turn that led to my family’s ranch.
We’d had a code reader installed on the gate that allowed it to read our plates and automate the gates.
As soon as I could squeeze my truck through I was riding toward Sampson’s office because I knew that’s where he would be.
The ranch was quiet at this time of day and I was happy that I wouldn’t have anyone ask questions about why I was here.
Or about Charisma, since I knew everyone had been trying to get more information on her and so far neither of us had revealed much.
Yzzy had been at a conference and our parents had been on vacation so they hadn’t even met her yet.
They were due back soon, which meant we were going to have introductions.
I walked through the halls of the building, which held Sampson’s office. He and Yzzy now shared a space. I assumed he got tired of walking across the ranch when he wanted to fuck in the middle of the day.
“What’s going on?” No formalities were needed because he was well aware of why I was here.
“Several heads of cattle are missing.” Sampson looked annoyed.
Most people would miss it since he was usually stoic in every situation.
It was the tightness around his mouth and the way I could see the slight twitch in his finger because he wanted to act but didn’t have direction yet.
I was a shotgun, quick to explode and doing a lot of damage on my own.
But Sampson? He was a bomb. Sampson was methodical and his damage would affect a person’s entire bloodline. And that was after he beat their ass.
I frowned because I couldn’t have heard him right. “How the fuck is that possible?”
He turned the screen around so I could see proof of what he’d said.
“The geo-tags were taken off them. No one thought anything of it overnight but now they haven’t moved in hours.
The men in that part of the ranch radioed that the tags were on the ground and the stock was gone.
” He flipped through the photos showing me the tags that were lying on the ground.
I ran my hand down my face because poaching wasn’t something we’d experienced in years. “How much stock?”
“At least 15 heads.”
“That’s over fifty bands.”
I tried to minimize the number because truthfully it was closer to eighty.
Our herds had a higher level of the original genetics from the Ankole-Watusi stock that were bred to create the Texas Longhorns.
Many ranchers in the early days were breeding for the anomaly but our ancestors had been brought specifically because of their knowledge of how to handle these cows.
When freedom came they took that knowledge with them having refused to teach it to the so-called masters in order to keep it sacred.
That translated into the herds we had today.
Someone stealing fifteen heads of cattle meant they were trying to steal what didn’t belong to them.
They could try but they didn’t have the knowledge or the patience to generate the type of success that our ancestors’ blood, sweat and tears went into making Chisholm-Love what it was today.
To steal from land that was so sacred and protected would only cause everything they attempted to build to crumble.
Sampson and I weren’t going to wait on that to happen.
“I know. It’s fucking me up because it’s clear they thought we wouldn’t miss them soon enough.
But they don’t understand how we do what we do.
One thing for sure: I need to get the trackers updated.
” Sampson ran a hand down his face and I knew he was just as stunned as I was that the theft had actually happened.
I flopped down in the seat in front of his desk hoping that he and Yz hadn’t found a creative way to christen it. I already knew that sitting on the desk or the sofa was an absolute hell no.
“Yeah. Some shit that alerts if it’s tampered with or cut. I know we’d rather have a bunch of false alarms that need to be checked out instead of not having the extra level of safety.”
Samp nodded his head and I was sure he was still silently berating himself for what was going on. “Yeah, you’re right.”
I rapped my knuckles on the desk to get him out of his thoughts. “Stop that shit. One thing we need to focus on is finding out who did this shit. You reported it to the sheriff yet?”
“Yeah, Eric has been by here. The thing that’s fucking me up is how the hell they got out here. They’d have to know our property too fucking well for them to come and load up that much cattle at night.”
That thought wasn’t pleasant to think about so I moved on to another subject. “Tapes?”
He shook his head quickly. “Nothing. I’ve already reached out to have that area of the property better surveilled. That’s on me though. I shouldn’t have thought people around here would be respectful of who we were or what we were doing. Folks really got me fucked up violating like this.”
I grinned loving when Sampson took off his good guy hat and let his goon come out to play. “Do I need to get you a matching shiesty?”
He turned to me with his eyes narrowed. “Nigga, we talking about handling business. Why do we need to be dressed like the Les Twins to do that?”
“So you letting your wife turn you into a member of the Hive when I been telling you that lady was a lyrical genius all this time?” I was offended.
Had been trying to get my brother to understand that the Queen wasn’t just some pop star.
We were witnessing the making of a legend for years.
Sampson’s forty since he was born ass didn’t want to hear it.
But now he was making cultural references and I was insulted he’d finally crossed over.
“To be fair, my wife is fucking gorgeous and she offers me way more than you ever could. Besides, some of that lady’s songs have been playing during very…
pivotal moments of my life. They have deeper meaning now.
” His ass was smirking thinking about getting pussy in the past and I was sure soon in the future while I was in a drought.
This turn of events was fucking with me.
The virgin was getting pussy and the ho was getting caught beating his meat.
Yet again I had to distract myself because I was going to ruin my dick meat by being permanently hard with no relief. “Facts. But for the type of shit that we’re about to get into, we’re not involving the folks that helped us do our dirt before. We gotta make sure no one can tell it’s us.”