Page 51 of Cowboys & Horses

He smirked. “I didn’t want to pull rank on you, sweetie, but needs must. You either give it a rest or kiss goodbye to your job.”

I balked at his words, speechless. Sucking in a breath, I thought through my options whilst he stood gloating in front of me. The sweet innocent side of me poked through, claiming he didn’t mean it, he was just using extreme tactics to make me see sense. He knew I loved my job. Threatening to ‘pull rank’ with his best friend being the owner of the company wouldn’t be something he would actually do. He wasn’t like that. But then, a year ago, I’d have never thought he’d knock my sister up either.

“You know being an ass won’t get you anywhere,” I said.

“No. But it might make you see sense.”

“How is threatening my job going to make me see sense exactly?”

“Because the seriousness of that is the equivalent to how ridiculous you’re being.”

I wanted to scream. A sharp knock at the door cut through our argument.

Ben flickered his eyes towards the interruption. “Who’s that?”

My breath hitched in my throat. I knew who it would be. Still, I acted normal, shrugging my shoulders as I brushed past him. I partially opened the door, joy and fear gripping me as Brady stood there with a beaming smile.

“Hi,” he said.

I almost melted right there and then. Before I could respond, Ben stormed up behind me, throwing the door wide open. He cast his eyes up and down Brady with an obvious distaste.

“Can we help you?” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Brady glanced at Ben, nothing but a poker face on his tanned features. “Sorry to disturb you. I’m Brady Lancaster. I’m the head wrangler here.”

“And you need us because...?”

I gasped, turning to Ben with bubbling anger. I couldn’t believe he was being such an arrogant ass.

Brady didn’t even flinch. “Apologies. I just came to see Sophie. I lost my father’s silver chain and wondered if I’d left it here last night.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, cringing. My heart rate tripled as Ben’s stare burned through me.

“Oh! No worries,” Brady said. I opened my eyes to see him smiling and holding up a silver chain. “I found it down by the door here. Must have slid off at some point.” He tipped his hat before disappearing.

Ben slammed the door shut, fury written all over his face. “Who the fuck was that? And why the hell would he have been in here last night?”

Part of me was grinning at Brady’s trick, but the other half of me cursed him for leaving me in such a predicament. Perhaps he was giving me the boost I needed to put Ben in his place.

Mustering my most sarcastic voice, I replied, “Well why do you think?”