Chapter 13 Dean
THIRTEEN
DEAN
“Hey, you got a minute?” I ask Lawson, the oldest of our bunch.
He’s not around the barn as much as I am.
Usually, he’s riding from pasture to pasture with Lane and a few others, and they’ll move the herd of cows to fresh fields.
In between they’d keep them out for downed fence line, and if it was a small break, they’d fix it.
The bigger issues they’d put a call into the barn and whoever isn’t busy would ride out and take care of fencing.
“Sure. Everything okay?” It’s been a few days since JW and I came back from the auction with six horses instead of three.
The bloodwork has since come back in decent standing.
Obviously, they had some vitamin deficiency.
Honey Belle is about five months pregnant, but for the most part, they got lucky.
They all need to put on a quite a bit of weight, definitely could use some training with simple tasks like loading up and off-loading from a horse trailer, and then there’s getting them used to human touch.
They’re still so damn skittish it nearly breaks your heart.
“I think so. I suppose it depends on the way you look at it.” I take my hat off, run my fingers through my hair, and put it back on. The sun is a damn scorcher today, and with the blue eyes we all carry, it’s like we’re being blinded by the big yellow orb in the sky.
“Yeah, I can see that. Hear you got your girl. Between Birdie and Tully, we’re going to have a houseful of women. The men will be weeded out, ya’ll start reproducing little Johnsons. Lord help us all. Do me a favor and don’t have a girl. My uncle heart won’t be able to handle all that.”
“All is good with Tully, and brother, ain’t no way that’s on my agenda right about now.
You’ll have better luck with Lane and Birdie.
” I can only imagine what Tallulah would say if I brought the subject up.
Hell, it’d probably go a little something like this: ‘My vagina is off-limits until further notice!’ And then she’d proceed to kick me in the balls for good measure.
“You’re probably right. Anyways, what did you want to talk about?
” We walk toward the round pen. Raven is currently walking around getting acclimated to the area before I start working him a little bit.
Honey Belle will be next. We’re still quarantining them from the other horses for a bit longer, mainly because we’ve got a bunch of divas.
They like to make noises, interacting with one another, trying to get attention from anyone walking their way, and at night you’d think they’d sleep.
Fuck no. They’re up and moving. I’ve been woken up so many times to the camera feeds, thinking one of my pests decided to figure out the gate lock and make a great escape only to realize they were just being nosy.
“Well, you’ve seen the horses I’ve brought in.
Something’s not right. It’s givin’ off a weird vibe, one I can’t shake.
I’m worried these might be stolen horses, they transported them here, and now here we fucking are.
” I don’t tell Lawson my major concern is that Tallulah will get so attached to Honey Belle, shit goes sideways, and she’ll end up having to be taken away.
That’ll piss me the fuck off. I’ll have to throw out a bunch of money, call in a fuck ton of favors, and still deal with the aftermath.
“Yeah, and don’t think we’re tabling the discussion of you paying for them either.
Sunday dinner, that shit will be rectified.
Don’t be swinging your ass out there on a limb.
None of us would do it. You shouldn’t either.
” Law is good and ticked. Hell, so is everyone else.
Dad specifically. He’s already given me the talk.
As much as I should care, I don’t. I did what I had to do, and the paperwork can always be changed at a later date.
“I hear ya,” I say mostly to shut him up and to move the conversation forward.
Tully is hoping to get out here on her lunch break, and I’d like to have Raven out of the round pen and Honey Belle out so Tallulah can work with her.
“You think Fletch would mind looking into this for me? I’d like to keep it as quiet as possible. ”
“Hell yeah, he will. Fletch is probably bored off his rocker. Peache Springs, Georgia is smaller than Arrowleaf in population and land. He’s got plenty of time to fuck around seeing as how he’s in his I’m not settling down stage.
” Law and Fletch have been friends for years, each of them having their moment of rowdiness, Law more so than Fletch back in their day.
“The same could be said for how long it’s taken you to go after Juniper,” I finish my statement before I move out of Lawson’s way and his rock-like fist so it’s not meeting my face, and get to work on Raven.
“God fucking damn it, Dean,” I hear him say as I unlatch the gate and walk inside the pen with the black stallion.
Goes to show you how much Juniper, our ranch nurse, has an effect on him.
She doesn’t always give him the time of day.
Law will run his mouth, usually in order to protect her from something he thinks will hurt her.
She’ll get pissed, call him on his shit, and then storm out.
It seems the tables are turning today because I have truly angered the bear.
He turns around, stomping his booted feet and kicking up dust from the dirt ground.
I’ve got him well and truly mad. Good. It’s about time he gets off his ass and goes after Juniper.
If he takes too much longer, she’ll be done with his grump ass.