Chapter Three Willow #3
“It’ll be good for us. It’s a beautiful day, and I’m sure there’s plenty to do outside.”
“Yeah, it’s fucking awesome being free labor.” He rolls his eyes, and I scowl.
“Watch your mouth, Aiden. I’m lenient with you, but you’ll speak with respect, or you won’t speak at all.”
He growls and turns his head to look out the passenger window.
“Why are you so grouchy? You’ve always loved the ranch. You used to love hanging out with Ray—”
And then, it hits me. Of course he’s upset at the thought of returning to the ranch since Ray has passed. He refused to come to the funeral, and I let that slide because we all grieve in our own way.
But Ray was the only grandpa that Aiden has known, and they loved each other.
“I’m sorry, buddy—”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
I roll my shoulders. It’s been a few days since I got Aiden from school after the fight, and he’s been in the surliest mood ever since.
Worse than usual. I’ve cooked his favorite meals for dinner, I’ve tried to tease him, and I’ve even offered to watch his horror movies with him, but he will not soften toward me even a little.
Finally, I turn onto the ranch road, and when I pull up in front of the house, I get out of the car, but Aiden stays put, his face drawn in hard lines.
Thankfully, there’s no sign of Ryker or Gideon. There are plenty of workers bustling around, and even from out here, I can tell that there’s been a lot of progress on the house since I was here a few days ago, but the guys are nowhere in sight.
Good.
I walk around the car and reach for the passenger door handle, but Aiden locks the car. He won’t meet my gaze.
I have the fob in my purse, and when I touch the handle, the car unlocks, and I quickly open the door.
“Unless you want to lose every privilege in your life, you’ll get out of this car and stop throwing a tantrum like a damn three-year-old.”
“I don’t want to be here.” He sets his jaw and crosses his arms over his chest. “I’ll wait for you in the car.”
“Aiden. I won’t warn you again. Get. Out. Of. The. Car.”
“Fuck off.”
That has me staggering back a step in shock.
“You want to speak that way to me, big man?”
I spin around and find Ryker at my back, his face mutinous, hands in fists, glaring at my boy.
When I turn back to Aiden, he swallows hard, but he still doesn’t get out of the car, and he doesn’t answer Ryker’s question.
Ry takes my shoulders in his hands and gently moves me aside, and then, with his forearm resting on the roof of the car, he leans in and says something in such a low voice that I can’t understand the words.
Aiden shakes his head, and then Ryker says something else, and that has my nephew getting out of the car.
Aiden swallows hard and steps over to me. He won’t meet my gaze, but he says, “Sorry I told you to fuck off.”
God, he sounds so angry.
“Okay. Thanks for getting out of the car.”
He shrugs, and then he’s off, headed for the barn. Aiden’s always loved the horses, and he knows how to ride, how to tend to them, so I leave him be.
Maybe he needs some animal therapy.
“Hey.” Ry hooks his finger under my chin and tips my face up, and I’m fighting tears. “Are you okay?”
“Sure.” I lick my lips and swallow the tears down. “He’s just in a mood today.”
“He tell you to fuck off often, Trouble?”
I shake my head and meet his gaze. “That’s the first time.”
“That’s the last time,” he says. “Come on, I’ll pour you some coffee.”
“I should go check on him.”
“Leave him be. He’s fine in the barn. I told him to go brush and feed the horses. He said Dad showed him how.”
“He’s great with the horses,” I confirm, and Ry nods, takes my hand—sending sparks up my arm—and leads me inside. “What’s on the agenda for the day?”
I stop short when we get inside.
“Holy shit, Ry. There’s been so much done in less than two weeks.”
“I think the crew hates the drive out here every day. Most of them live fifteen minutes away in Paradise Valley, but they don’t even like that commute.”
Paradise Valley is a small community a short drive away.
It’s the closest grocery store, schools, hospital, the whole nine yards.
It’s much closer than Missoula. But it doesn’t surprise me that the workers don’t even love that commute.
At least it’s spring and there’s no snow, and I know for a fact that Ryker is paying them well.
I smirk. “It’s pretty isolated out here. Makes sense they want to finish up quickly.”
“The few repairs to the barn are done, and they’re finishing the bunkhouse today.” He pulls a mug out of the cabinet and fills it for me, doctoring it up just the way I like it.
How he remembers the way I take my coffee after all this time, I have no idea.
“That’s great, Ry.” I accept the mug, doing my best to ignore his fingers touching mine, and then take a sip. “Where’s Gideon?”
“He’s using my office for a while,” he says. “Apparently, there’s trouble in DC with the First Daughter. She’s harder to deal with than Aiden.”
I lift an eyebrow. “I’m sorry to hear that. I bet he’s itching to get back there.”
He leans his hip against the counter and crosses his arms, and I have to actually work at not salivating.
He’s in that backward baseball cap again. Today’s T-shirt is a black Seattle Blizzard one that sits perfectly on his biceps and hugs his abs, leaving nothing to the imagination. Add in the faded blue jeans, and he’s every fantasy I’ve ever had in my life.
“Furniture’s coming tomorrow,” he says, pulling me out of my ogling of his body. “Things are wrapping up here, so if he needs to go back, it’s okay.”
“It’s been good having him home.” I sip my coffee and glance outside in time to see my boy ride his horse through the pasture.
“You want to talk to me about what’s going on between the two of you?” Ry’s lips flatten when I turn to him.
“He’s angry,” I reply. “And he won’t talk to me about it. Maybe being out on the horse today will help.”
To my surprise, Ryker leans closer and tucks my hair behind my ear, his fingertips lingering on my neck, and holy shit.
“If you need help, you come to me. I’ve always got your back.”
I swallow hard. Of course. Because he’s my best friend.
“Thanks, Ry. Now, what do you need me to do today?”
He doesn’t answer. If anything, he leans closer, and he looks like he’s going to kiss me, and my heart stutters to a stop.
His chocolate eyes fall to my lips, and his hand slides back to my hair, but then there are footsteps coming closer, and Ryker drops his hand just as Gideon walks in the room, looking like he’s about to spontaneously combust.
“You okay, handsome?” I ask him, trying to calm my system down.
“I’m going to fucking throttle her ass,” he mutters, shaking his head, his face set in furious lines. Holy shit, Gideon is intense when he’s pissed. Or is he worried? “She’s a goddamn menace, and she’s going to get herself and someone else killed.”
He’s pacing, and Ry and I share a look.
“Gid, things are pretty well under control here. If you need to go—”
“In a couple of days.” Gideon pulls his hands down his face, looking rattled. “I want to go on that ride with you and Dusty around the ranch to make plans, and I want to make sure most of the work in the house is done. This is what I’m here for, and I won’t bail on you.”
These two have come a long way from that day when they came here as fifteen-year-old enemies, ready to tear each other apart.
They might not be related by blood, but they’re brothers in every way that counts.
“It’s your call,” Ryker says. “I’m not kicking you out.”
“Good.”
“What are we doing today?” I ask them both, and they grin at me, but it’s more of a sinister grin than a happy one. “What? I don’t like those looks. I’m not doing anything gross.”
“We’re peeling the wallpaper off the walls here in the kitchen,” Ry says.
“Ugh, that sucks.” I eye the faded walls. The paper has apples and ducks on it. I have no idea why Aunt Deb chose it. It’s . . . not pretty. And I think it’s from the 1980s. “Why not just paint over it?”
“Because that’s not the right way to do it,” Ry replies, and his lips tip up in his cocky grin as he reaches out to tap the end of my nose.
“And you can’t throw some of your many millions to the crew bustling around to get it off?” I prop my hands on my hips, already thinking about how sore my shoulders are going to be later.
“They’re busy getting the rest of the house finished,” Ryker says. “If we get this off the walls today, they can paint in here tomorrow, and then the crew is done.”
I heave out another sigh. “Fine. Let’s do it.”