Chapter 20
Twenty
Wyatt
Ishould’ve known the morning was going too damn smooth.
Kegs checked. Deliveries logged. Coffee is still hot. No calls from Holt. No suspicious vehicles. Just me and a quiet brewery before the doors officially opened.
Then the front door opened, and in walked trouble.
Pink-haired, five-foot-two, trouble in combat boots and eyeliner, scanning the room like she was casing the place. Dani, Tessa’s roommate. The same woman who once slammed a door in my face, screamed-whispered at Tessa behind it, and called me a creep loud enough for the entire hallway to hear.
She spotted me instantly.
Her whole body stilled.
“Oh,” she said, voice dropping with dramatic venom. “There you are, I thought you’d be harder to track down.”
Fuck, I groaned to myself.
“Morning, Dani.”
“You remember me, how nice,” she said.
I took an involuntary step back as she stalked toward the bar like a cat that had memorized every human pressure point. She hopped up on a barstool and slapped her hand on the wooden top. Her pink hair was bright enough to cause retinal damage against the warm wood and stone backdrop.
“Alright, Cowboy. Let’s have a chat.”
“I don’t think we need to,” I said as I shook my head.
“Oh, we need to. We absolutely need to. I have questions.”
Of course she did.
“All right, I’m listening,” I said, out of pure resignation, like I was in a hostage situation. She raised one perfectly sharp eyebrow.
“You answered her phone.”
“Oh god,” I muttered and rolled my eyes, wishing I’d stayed in bed this morning.
“Don’t roll your eyes at me,” she said, loud enough that the bartender polishing glasses at the far end suddenly found the ceiling fascinating.
“You answered her phone and told that unhinged ex of hers, and I quote, “If you ever come near my woman again, I will bury you so deep in the mountains not even the coyotes will find your body to eat off your decaying flesh.”
“That was situational.”
“That was Cowboy Daddy energy,” she countered.
I blinked. “Cowboy Daddy energy?” Not actually sure, I wanted to know what she meant.
“Yes. Alpha male, testosterone, cowboy toughness, territorial claiming. That whole vibe you have going on.” She waved vaguely at all of me. “The boots. The shoulders. The broody, damaged, divorced man energy. It’s sexy.”
“I’m not broody.” It was about the only thing I could argue about, because the rest was true.
She laughed. “Sweetie. I’m sure you brood in your sleep. In fact, I guarantee it.”
I rubbed my jaw, trying very hard not to let this tiny pink menace get under my skin.
She leaned over the bar and narrowed her eyes at me. “Here’s what we’re not gonna do. We’re not gonna pretend you didn’t scare the shit out of Tessa by making her see you as someone she might not quite hate as much as she thought.”
“I was just trying to help.”
“She called me crying.” Her face changed from fierce protector to concerned best friend.
My chest tightened. “Is she alright?”
“Oh, now you worry.”
“From the moment I let her know about Ray, I worried about her.” There was the revelation I’d tried to push down. I was worried about Tessa. There wasn’t a reason for it. She was capable and smart, but she’d worked her way into my iron heart.
Dani froze. Her eyes softened in a way that made me deeply uncomfortable. “See,” she said quietly. “That right there is the problem. You care about her.”
“I don’t see how that’s a problem,” I said as I turned to the beer tap and grabbed a mug. Having this conversation needed a drink.
I slid the beer toward her, and her brows furrowed slightly as she stared at it.
“On the house,” I said as I poured one for myself. Having a beer at noon wasn’t something I usually did, but this was an extenuating circumstance. “Follow me.”
“Are you going to hit me over the head and toss me in one of those beer vats?” She asked as she trailed along behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and shook my head.
“You and Tessa lived together too long, she asked me the same thing, exactly.”
“We like true crime,” she said easily. Well, that explained it all then, didn’t it?
“Why is it a problem that I care?” I asked as I sat in the oversized leather chair in front of the fireplace.
“Oh my GOD.” She threw her hands in the air. “You giant prairie himbo. The problem is she doesn’t know what to do with a good man who actually cares and doesn’t manipulate her.”
I stared. “A what?”
“Himbo,” she repeated. “It means hot, incompetent, and emotionally stupid.”
She shifted in her chair and tucked her feet up under her. “Why does Tessa attract men who can’t give her what she needs emotionally? This is her curse. This is cosmic cruelty.” Dani reached for her beer and took a sip. She frowned, looked at the mug, then took another sip. “This is good.”
I went to say thank you, but she started talking again.
“At least you look like you could pull down trees with your aura alone. That’s better than the pipsqueak she was with.
I think you have money too, maybe more money than she walked away from, but you don’t flaunt it.
” She let her eyes gaze around the brewery.
She wasn’t wrong, I did have money, and no, I didn’t flaunt it all over creation. People around here know who I am; they don’t need reminders every time they see me. I liked to live a quiet life, spoil Maddy at every opportunity, even when her mother says to stop.
“What are you getting at here, Dani?”
She shifted on the chair again, set down her beer on the coffee table in front of her, and planted her feet on the floor, resting her elbows on her knees.
“Listen to me, Wyatt Hargrove. Tessa is fragile right now. She’s mourning a man with whom she had a complicated relationship, extreme debt, and stupidity from every direction.
She doesn’t need a cowboy knight in shining emotional armour complicating her life. ”
“I’m not trying to complicate anything. I’m just trying to help.” My voice dropped, and I suddenly felt exhausted. My life had been turned upside down by Tessa showing up, and part of me wasn’t upset about it, but I needed to stop fighting with her at every turn.
Her eyes narrowed. “Do you like her?”
I didn’t answer, just let my gaze drift to the windows.
Her jaw dropped. “OH MY GOD YOU DO.” Her voice was far too loud for indoor use.
I cleared my throat and looked around to see who was in the bar and if they were listening to this conversation. Thankfully, at this moment, it was basically empty. “It doesn’t matter what I feel. Tessa hates everything about me, and I won’t add to her stress load or complicate her life.”
“Oh, but it does. Because if you hurt her, I will destroy you.”
“Destroy me?” I asked and arched my brow.
“Yes. Emotionally. Spiritually. Physically, if necessary. I will make your cattle turn against you, and figure out how to spoil every keg of beer you have in this place.” She leaned back in her chair and stared me down, like she was offering a challenge to see how I was going to play this.
“That’s not rational, or possible.”
“And I will dye your horse’s tails pink in retaliation,” she added quickly. Now that she could do. I found her humorous, but I wasn’t about to let her know that.
I blinked. “That seems extreme,” I said flatly.
“Try me,” she said, cocking her head slightly to the side, deadly serious. I stared at her. She stared right back. Then she broke into a feral grin.
“You’re scared of me,” she said, an evil grin spreading across her face.
“I’m not scared of you,” I replied, unamused now.
“You are terrified.”
“I could pick you up and throw you in a beer vat with one arm,” I said, circling back to the earlier conversation.
“And I could ruin your entire life with one group chat.”
That shut me right up, because it was probably true.
She smirked. “That’s what I thought.”
I exhaled slowly. “What do you want from me, Dani?” I asked and placed my elbows on knees and leaned forward slightly.
She softened again. “Take care of her. But don’t let her know you are taking care of her. And don’t make her feel like she owes you anything. That’s the easiest way to get on Tessa’s bad side.”
The joke was on Dani, because I was already on Tessa’s bad side, and I hadn’t done either of those things. “I wasn’t planning to.”
“Good.” She reached for her beer and took another sip. Maybe we were at the end of this conversation, but no, she took a deep breath again. “Also, if you decide to be Mr. overprotective, toxic masculinity, cowboy dude, can you please make sure Colin never bothers her again?”
I stared at her for a long moment.
Then, despite myself, I felt my mouth twitch.
She noticed.
“Oh lord,” she gasped. “The cowboy actually smiles. What is happening?”
I shook my head. “You’re something else.”
She grinned triumphantly. “I know. Now I think you should buy me lunch, Cowboy Daddy.”
I groaned. “Please don’t call me that.”
“Not a chance, it’s your name now.” Then she stood, turned on her heel, and headed toward the patio doors like she hadn’t just verbally dismantled me in my own damn establishment.
And the worst part?
I liked her. She was a fierce friend and wasn’t afraid to make sure everyone knew it.
Dani was a person everyone needed in their corner.
But I was never saying that out loud. I stood there for a solid thirty seconds after Dani left, staring at the fire like I’d just been hit by a pink-haired tornado with emotional brass knuckles.
“Cowboy Daddy, don’t forget my lunch,” she called out, and her voice carried easily from the patio into the main area.
“Jesus Christ,” I huffed. Of all the things I’d been called in my life, boss, rancher, stubborn bastard, pain in the ass, this was a new one.
I muttered the words once under my breath, just to confirm they sounded as stupid as I thought. I punched in a burger and fries for the woman. Given my luck today, she’d be a vegetarian and offended I hadn’t asked what she wanted.
“You alright, boss?”
I looked up. One of my bartenders stood there, eyebrows raised, pretending very hard she hadn’t heard everything.
“Yep”
She hesitated. “You’re kinda smiling.”
“I am not.”
“Okay,” she shrugged and laughed quietly.
I turned toward the back hall, pushing through the swinging door and straight into Holt, who’d clearly been waiting and clearly had absolutely no business listening as hard as he had been.
He didn’t say anything at first. He just stood there. I tried to walk past him, but he filled the doorway and smirked.
“Don’t.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he said as he let me pass and followed me.
We took three steps. Three. Then he lost it.
“Cowboy Daddy,” he wheezed, doubling over, laughing so hard he had to grab the wall. “She said it with her whole chest.”
“She did not,” I growled at him.
“Oh, she did. I’ve never seen a woman assign a grown man a porn name before lunch.”
“I’ll fire you,” I muttered.
“No, you won’t,” he said cheerfully. “You’re too busy here to run things at the ranch, too.”
“Fuck off.”
“Cowboy Daddy,” he sang.
I closed my eyes and considered every poor decision that had led me to this moment. It wouldn’t kill me. But it might shut him up.
“Why are you here anyway? I pay you to be at the ranch, not here.” Pushing open the door to my office, I flopped into the chair and waited for him to talk.
Holt stepped inside and shut the door with his boot heel. The grin he’d been wearing died fast, replaced by something weightier. He hooked his thumbs into his back pockets, eyes cutting toward me in a way that told me I wasn’t going to like what came next.
“Stopped at the feed store on my way in. Ran into Katherine Miller.”
My jaw tightened. “From the county office.”
“Yeah.” He nodded once. “She pulled me aside. Didn’t say much, she can’t, but she said just enough. The bank’s pushing Ray’s file up the chain. ‘Expedited review,’ her words.”
A slow, cold pressure tightened under my ribs. “Meaning?”
“Meaning they’re looking at foreclosure timelines,” he said quietly. “Soon. Sooner than Tessa’s ready for.”
The room went still around us. The hum of the walk-in fridge. The muffled clatter from the bar. All of it felt too far away.
“Katherine said a notice is probably being printed this week,” Holt added. “Thought you’d want the heads up before it hits her mailbox.”
I blew out a breath that tasted like metal. Ray had run out of time. Tessa didn’t have the luxury of any.
“Yeah,” I murmured. “Thanks.”