Chapter 8 Dean
EIGHT
DEAN
“I didn’t realize you knew Tully enough to have her phone number,” JW says once I get off the phone.
Usually, I’d drive, but since I told him I needed to make a call, he offered.
Which was good on my part. Putting Tallulah on Bluetooth through the truck probably would have gone to shit.
Our relationship could have been blown for good this time.
There are only so many favors I can dole out before all of my brothers know what’s up.
As it is, Tallulah showing up at the ranch, me calling her sunshine in front of JW, I’d say the gig is up.
I’m going to count it as a win, though. There’s nothing hotter than seeing my woman in a pair of scrubs, her hair up in a ponytail, and in work mode.
She’s stronger and tougher than she looks, small and mighty but packs a punch.
“Yep.” I take a play out of his book and remain silent.
JW sticks to himself for the most part. Probably because we all take over a conversation pretty quickly.
Mom would tell us to pipe down so JW could finish his story, but he’d shake his head and move on.
Unless it’s something worth talking about, he stays quiet.
“Message received loud and clear, sunshine.” I shake my head in response.
I’m going to be completely and totally fucked.
Tallulah is going to kick my ass, that’s for sure.
I drop my phone into the cup holder and check the side mirror to make sure the trailer isn’t making any extra movements with how much weight we’ve got in the back.
“Seriously, though, you took a big risk back there. Spending cash on horses, using your name instead of the family ranch. You sure you know what you’re getting into?
” JW is a couple of years younger than me.
Still, he’s a wealth of knowledge when making me realize I may have stepped in a pile of shit in my haste to secure the horses.
Yet, I’d do it again, in the exact same way.
Others can say and think what they want.
I’m not a heartless son of a bitch. I saw the way other ranchers looked from one another when the three horses were brought through.
Their eyes were everywhere except on what I assume was abused and malnourished animals.
I wasn’t going to stand around and do nothing when I could save them.
“Well, better to fall back on me and my bank account than the family. It’s not like I could have held a family meeting via text to settle the subject on who would pay for them.
Shit went down fast, and you know as well as I do that if they weren’t bought, they’d send them to a slaughterhouse.
” Loading them up was a fiasco for the rescues.
They were spooked, barely knew what to do, but thankfully, the other non-abused horses were calm as a cucumber.
“We’ll see about that, won’t we? Mom and Dad are gonna want to know right away.
Mom especially. She always waits in the barn when we get home from any auction,” JW sates the truth.
It doesn’t matter what we bring home—horses, cows, chickens, sheep—any animal is free rein in Mom’s eyes.
Not to mention she tracks us through texts the entire time or calls us.
Dad shakes his head and calls her a worry wart.
We can be out roaming the pastures, gone for days at a time on a range, she won’t worry.
The minute we’re pulling a trailer with livestock, she’s pacing the floors.
“Mom text you yet?” I ask.
“Nope. Case must be keeping her busy today.” Ryland’s boy has been teething non-stop. He’s been up all hours of the night and sleeping through the day. Ry was hoping he’d get his days and nights back on track, and if Mom hasn’t asked when we’ll be home, Case must be back to normal.
“Must be. Back to the animal situation. I’d like to see what Tully has to say first. Then we’ll figure out what it’s going to take.
I’ll obviously train all of them. Do you mind working on their feet and teeth?
” JW does farrier work for the ranch and a few other horse owners, but for the most part, he spends his time with the rest of us and whatever we need to do on the ranch that day.
And there’s always something to be done.
“That’s a dumb question,” he grunts his response.
“You going to make me pay up like Ry did?” I may as well get this shit out of the way. The less he knows, the better. Still, I know how my brothers’ minds work; each of us would do the exact same thing for another.
“Nope. He gave you grunt work. I’m going to do one better. The stallion we’ve got in the trailer. What are you looking at doing with him?” I should have known this already. I’m going to be out of two horses between Mom and JW.
“Nothing right now. Who knows what Tully is going to say about him. You want him?”
“Yep. Some weight and muscle, the right training, and he’ll be good to go. He may be able to be studded out, too.” He takes his eyes off the road to look my way. I know that look. He’s asking me if he purchases the stallion, takes over the feed and whatnot, if I’ll work with him.
“Seeing as how I was going to anyways, he’s yours.
You’ll have to fight Mom and Tully first.” Though I’ve got an inkling she’s going to take one look at the mare, look at me, look at the mare, and without saying so many words, Tallulah will ask me if she can have her.
Yeah, I’m fucking sunk. So sunk that I’ve got no problem with Tully taking her as her own.
The only issue we’re going to have is the Coggins, bill of sale, and I’ll be damned if those fucks come sniffing around Tallulah to try some underhanded bullshit.
“Mom won’t be a problem. You think she’ll deny any of her boys a chance at an animal? She can have the colt and Tully the mare, or vice versa.” I shake my head.
“And what am I getting out of this deal?” The thermos of coffee has been in the truck all day. Since Mom made us all a big breakfast like usual, we didn’t stop for lunch. Now it’s late in the day, and coffee is about the only thing that is going to tie me over.
“Tallulah coming to the farm, fawning over the animals, and you getting to see her,” JW makes the rare joke. Jesus, this family is full of surprises lately.
“Har, har, har. Maybe you should find us some food along the way. This coffee won’t last between the two of us.”
“Someone is getting hangry. I thought only women got that way.” Seems the silent brother has no problems making what he thinks are funny jokes.
“And there he goes again. I think I liked it better when you were quiet.” I cross my arms over my chest, tip my head back, and close my eyes.
“Too bad, sunshine. This is the price you pay until the stallion becomes mine,” JW retorts.
“Fucking fine, the stallion is yours. Now will you stop at a gas station before I gnaw my damn arm off?” I hear the blinker click on and feel the slowing down of the truck. Thank Christ. Not sure I’d have been able to hold up much longer. Once we get home, it’ll be balls-to-the-walls chaos.
“That wasn’t so hard, was it.” I’d punch him the mouth if he weren’t driving. As it is, I’m stuck with the brother who manages to blackmail me worse than Ryland ever has.