Chapter 6 Beau
Beau
“You have lost your damn mind!” Mount roared from his recliner. I pinched the bridge of my nose, sick of having this conversation with him.
Like everyone predicted, my father did, in fact, lose his ever-loving shit on me when he saw the Whispers article about me last week.
I thought for a second there the vein in his forehead would pop with how hard he tore into me.
He had been at me like a rabid dog since, trying to convince me to drop out.
But it wouldn’t work. I was in this now, and nothing he could say or do would convince me to quit. It’d do more harm than good for our reputation to pull my application anyway, and I wasn’t about to risk Circle M looking like a bunch of quitters when things got hard.
“Dad, this will be good for the ranch, I promise.”
“I’m beginnin’ to think this was all a mistake,” he murmured.
My head whipped towards him. “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”
He just shook his head at me, his eyes full of contempt.
“I shoulda never listened to your sister. She told me you knew what you were doin’.
That you’d never do a thing to hurt this ranch.
And look atcha now, tryin’ to bring ponies in here like we’re the goddamned Golden Bridle.
” His face had been stuck in a perpetual state of disgust since he found out, but it got significantly worse any time he mentioned Golden Bridle.
My teeth probably would’ve shattered if I had clenched my jaw any harder.
“They aren’t ponies, they’re performance horses,” I said through gritted teeth.
“There will be therapy programs and clinics. Breeding thoroughbreds—Olympians and Derby contenders. A legit business. This isn’t some petting zoo, Dad.
Cavendish Academy has a lot of pull with big names.
People Joseph works with. If we don’t jump on this, then someone else will, and we’ll lose out. ”
“Then we lose out. Circle M is cattle,” he said, jamming his finger into the cushioned arm of his chair like he was a judge slamming a gavel. “You don’t know the first thing about horses, boy.”
I stopped the flinch I felt inside from showing. He and Claire should get together to talk shit about me. They’d have a fantastic time telling me how clueless I was. Hell, maybe they already had.
“Joseph does.” The words came out weak, like some pathetic justification. Like I was a boy again who got caught messing with the cattle.
I couldn’t stand it when he made me feel so small. So insignificant and inferior to him.
“And what? You think he’s gonna hold your hand through it all? He’s got a baby comin’, Beaumont! He’ll be with his family, not draggin’ your sorry ass through this mess you’ve created.”
I wrenched my jaw, letting out an angered breath. The thought had crossed my mind, but I hadn’t planned on giving it any weight. But that was what Mount had always been there for: to bring all my insecurities and doubts to the surface and spew them right back in my face.
Dad got up slowly, hiding his painful winces behind his pride.
He stood as straight as he could, which wasn’t much considering his hip.
“You don’t have my permission to do this.
When I’m dead and buried with your mama again, you can do what you damn well please.
But until then, this is my ranch, and I’m not gonna let you run it into the ground with these idiotic fantasies. ”
He glared at me with all the authority he could muster, driving his point. It was a look that terrified me as a child. It had even terrified me as an adult, but things were different now.
Straightening, I towered over him and shot that same look right back. “Good thing I don’t need your permission then.” I didn’t give him a chance to respond and left, letting the door slam shut behind me.
I stopped short on the porch when I saw Joseph at the bottom of the stairs, leaning against the railing. “What are you doing here?”
He straightened. “Now is that any way to greet the best brother-in-law?”
I strode past him towards the stables. “Not in the mood today,” I grumbled.
Joseph stopped in front of me. “Where are you going?”
“For a ride.” I looked past him to the stables. They were so close but so far away.
“Well, it’s gonna have to wait.”
My brows furrowed at him. “What? Why?”
He looked at me as if it were obvious. “Cavendish reps are going to be here any minute for a tour. Remember?”
No, I had not remembered. I ripped my hat off and threw it to the dirt.
“God-fucking-damnit,” I hissed. I paced, raking a hand through my hair.
That was the last thing I needed after having Mount tell me my plans were nothing but fantasies.
I couldn’t meet with them now. My confidence was rattled, my nerves were shot, my anger was too raw.
The crunch of gravel under tires behind me told me I didn’t have a choice.
I scooped my hat off the ground and dusted the dirt off the black felt, but it didn’t feel like the armor it usually was. It felt more like a costume. Like I was playing dress-up in Mount’s boots the way I did as a kid.
His disapproving glare was the only thing on my mind, not leaving space for anything else. None of the facts or plans I memorized. None of the confidence I’d built. All of it spilled out onto the dirt at my feet.
Joseph clapped my back as we turned to face the reps in their polished pickup. “Don’t worry. We got this, brother,” he said through his smile.
It would’ve been real great if I had felt the same.
Two men climbed out of their polished truck in tailored suits and cowboy hats, surveying the property. And I wasn’t a man who prayed much, but I was praying to every god there was that Mount wouldn’t come outside and chase them off with a shotgun, busted hip and all.
My stomach twisted with doubt as the reps drew closer. “Gentlemen,” Joseph greeted with a charming grin, extending a hand. “Joseph Roberts, and this is my brother-in-law and partner, Beaumont McLeod.”
I woodenly shook their hands, vaguely catching their names. These men weren’t real cowboys, not like me. The knowledge only sent another wave of apprehension through me. They were used to working with men like Joseph—clean-cut, polished, established.
And while Circle M and I were established in the cattle world, we were anything but in the horse breeding world. I was way out of my depth here, and Claire’s snide remark from last week about not knowing horses popped into my head to remind me of just that.
“So, Beaumont, why should we partner with Circle M?” one of the reps, Oliver, asked me, and I almost choked on my spit.
What the hell kind of opening question was that?
I glanced at Joseph, but he was looking at me expectantly, waiting for my answer.
“Beau’s fine,” I said, clearing my throat.
I looked around the land, scrambling for a response.
“Well, Circle M might not be in horses, but uh, we’ve got the space to offer the kind of setup your company’s used to.
” There was an awkward lull that told me they were expecting more, so I filled it with nonsense.
“And,” I scratched the back of my neck, “Circle M is known for our quality in cattle, so you know you’ll get the same quality in your horses. ”
“Space and quality,” the other suit, Trent, echoed. He arched a brow, unimpressed. Heat crawled up the back of my neck at the boredom in his eyes.
Shit. I opened my mouth to respond, but Joseph beat me to it, stepping forward like he’d been waiting for this moment. My stomach hollowed out.
“Absolutely. What Beau is saying is that we have more than enough acreage to accommodate a state-of-the-art setup. We were thinking of a twenty-stall facility. With a vet bay, of course. As well as an indoor and outdoor arena. The works.” He gestured to the golf cart parked by the barn that came out of fucking nowhere; he must’ve brought it with him.
“We can take you out to the south pasture to show you our ideas.”
Oliver was writing something down on a clipboard, while Trent said, “That’d be great. Lead the way.”
As we rode to the pasture, I only did worse, too stuck in my head. I could handle Circle M questions. But horses? Our plans? I froze like a deer in headlights. Every time I tried to come up with something, Mount’s voice popped up instead.
You don’t know the first thing about horses, boy.
By the time we reached the pasture, it had become Joseph’s show, and I just stood there like a fool with my thumb up my ass, hoping nobody would notice.
He walked them through everything. Answered every question.
Eased any concern. All with his preppy voice and lingo that I’d never heard him use before. He sounded like a car salesman.
But if I didn’t have him, I would’ve been screwed. I probably already was, given the fact that the reps stopped speaking to me altogether.
Maybe Mount was right in thinking this was a mistake, and I was just an idiot with dreams that would never come true. Maybe I needed to back out before I got us in too deep. Before I risked anything more than our reputation.
The sun was setting, casting the pastures in a blanket of golden warmth, and the cicadas had begun their chirping by the time we wrapped up. Joseph and Oliver were talking about water draining and filtration and shit I didn’t know about when Trent looked around and said, “It’s beautiful out here.”
“Thanks,” I murmured.
“A lot of history here, I bet.” I nodded, struggling to find the words. “I heard this isn’t the first time your family’s ranch has tried to expand into horse training.”
I stopped walking then. “Where’d you hear that?”
He shrugged a shoulder, looking pleased with himself. “Cavendish Academy does extensive research on all our potential partners. We’re aware of the merger that fell through with Golden Bridle in the seventies. As I’m sure you know, Claire Hayes has also applied for this partnership.”
“I’m aware,” I forced out. “I can only hope that after this tour, you know we’re the better option. Golden Bridle doesn’t have even a quarter of the space we do.”
“Yes, Joseph has been incredibly informative.” I didn’t miss the insult as he sped up to catch up with Joseph and Oliver, getting into the golf cart.
My eyes drifted shut, a weighted sigh leaving me, and I trudged after them. I felt like a dead man walking to that golf cart.
We rode back to the barn, and Joseph and the reps talked about their golf game, while a silent storm brewed inside me. We were all practiced smiles and firm handshakes as they left, and Joseph gave them a wave as they pulled off.
He let out a contented sigh, hands on his hips. “I think we nailed it.”
“Sure,” I said, dropping my act. “We as in you. You carried that whole meeting.”
His pleased expression fell. “I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to step on your toes, but we both know you weren’t on your A-game just now, and I didn’t want them thinking we weren’t ready.”
I wrenched my jaw. “Yeah, probably because I walked straight into that after getting my ass handed to me by my father for doing this.”
Joseph grimaced. “Again? Who knew Mount had that much steam in his engine?”
“Yes, again. Mount’s engine is a blackhole.”
“You’ve got to get past that, Beau. This is a business. An empire. If you want a place like Cavendish to take you seriously, you have to let them know you believe in this wholeheartedly. Not like you’re waiting for permission from Daddy to want it.”
I turned away, sucking my teeth. I knew he was right, but that didn’t make hearing it any easier. And Joseph was never one to shy away from hard truths.
I did a double-take, and that’s when I saw her.
Claire. She was watching us, and there was no telling how long she’d been there.
By the look of that pissy scowl on her face and the way her arms were crossed over her chest, I’d say long enough to know those Cavendish suits liked us.
Or liked Joseph, but she didn’t need to know that.
I knew what she thought of me, that I was in way over my head. But if she was as mad as she looked, then that meant she felt threatened. Good. I wanted her rattled.
That was all the fuel I needed to get my head on right and keep going.
My lips curled into a grin, and her scowl deepened. I gave a low, dramatic bow like the clowns at the rodeo, and when I straightened, she looked like she was about to explode.
“And that’s how it’s done!” I yelled. I could barely make out her rolling her eyes, but I was sure she scoffed in disgust before turning on her heels and walking off. And somehow, that was enough to make today not feel like a colossal failure on my part.
Joseph chuckled next to me. “You’re a fucking child.”
I shrugged, smirking. “What can I say? Making her mad is prime entertainment.” If I had known sooner, I would’ve started years ago.
“Before we got together, I loved making Anna mad,” he said with a tone that implied far more than he was saying. “It was like foreplay.”
“One, that’s disgusting, that’s my sister you’re talkin’ about. And two, that’s not happening, ‘specially not with her.” Claire was as off-limits to me as a lit match near the haystack. I would not look at her as anything more than competition, because that was what she was. Competition.
“Then why are you staring at her ass?”
“I’m not.” But now I was. And it was…fuck me, it was spectacular. Had it always looked that good?
Joseph scoffed, going back to the golf cart. “Right. Well, I gotta go, but I’ll call you later about the presentation next week.”
Some of my satisfaction was lost with the reminder. “Sounds good. See ya.”
My attention shifted back to Claire. I watched her fill buckets with feed, a distracted, far-off look on her face. Somehow, I knew she was thinking about me, about what she just saw. And when her eyes met mine, she froze before straightening slowly.
I refused to look away first. Not when the eye contact became intense enough that I wanted to squirm. Not when it felt like she was looking in my mind, rifling through every insecurity I had. Not when my heart began to quicken, and heat simmered in my blood.
Because if there was one thing about me where Claire Hayes was concerned, it was that I would never break first.
And when she looked away and stormed off into the stables, I knew if I could win that small battle of wills, then I could win the war for this partnership.