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Twenty-One

My toxic trait is once the sun stops shining, I want to quit my job.

— Posy’s secret thoughts

POSY

I fucking hated suits.

Even more, I hated wearing suits to stuffy functions where everyone wanted to one-up the other with their money and their prestige.

But, like I had to keep reminding myself, this stupid ball was for a good cause.

A cause that was now near and dear to my heart thanks to Searcy’s full explanation of her formative years, and how the Y had helped her so much along the way.

There was no way I’d ever skip this function ever again.

It was just too bad that tonight was not only the ball, but after the ball, I’d have to go into Dallas for an overnight shift at DFD—Dallas Fire Department.

Because the moment that Searcy stepped out in that dress…it was over for me.

If I didn’t have her at some point before I went into that shift, I might very well die.

“Holy shit,” I breathed.

“Do you like it?” she asked. “I had to go to a prom dress store for this. I about threw up when I saw the total.”

I’d offered to pay, of course.

Since she was doing me the favor by going.

However, she’d adamantly refused, and I’d let her.

Money was a weird topic right now with everything going on, and if she wanted to pay for her dress, that was fine.

As long as she didn’t try to pay for dinner or buy me anything, we’d be good.

“I fucking love it,” I said as I took her in in all her glory.

Long black dress that had a train behind her. Black shoes with red bottoms. Sparkles all over the dress.

Her hair was in a simple braided updo that looked complicated as hell, and her makeup was just shy of looking like she had none on at all.

Her eyes were green tonight, and her lashes looked long as fuck.

She wasn’t wearing fake ones, though.

I only knew that because she’d complained non-stop about how expensive lash extensions were, and even if she did have money now, she would never pay for them.

She’d gotten dressed at my house and had taken to leaving her more expensive stuff at my place since she didn’t want anyone at her own knowing what was going on.

Hell, even Kent and Anders had some stuff here for when they came over to hang out.

The house was looking rather lived-in lately.

The old place hadn’t felt like this since my dad had been alive.

“Ohh, that’s beautiful!”

Scottie’s voice had me turning to survey her.

She was home for the weekend, and she’d volunteered to go with us tonight as moral support.

I’d readily agreed since I didn’t want to leave Searcy alone at any point in the night, and if I had to talk to someone, I didn’t want Searcy having to deal with all the bureaucracy bullshit that came with these types of functions.

Not that I thought Searcy couldn’t handle it. She more than could.

But because I knew how shitty these functions were when you were forced to go, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

“You look stunning,” I said to my little sister.

Scottie beamed. “Thanks.”

I gestured to the door. “Y’all ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Scottie said. “You?”

“I guess.”

Searcy snorted and slapped my shoulder as she moved past me.

She walked as confidently in an expensive pair of heels as she did in a pair of worn-out tennis shoes.

The two ladies made their way to my truck, and I helped both of them inside before slamming the door to my ol’ red Dodge.

“Should’ve cleaned out the dust,” I muttered as I looked into the passenger seat where Searcy was to see all the dirt and grime on the seat.

“It’s black.” She shrugged. “It’ll wipe off.”

I started the grumbly diesel up, and we were headed to the outskirts of Dallas where the event was being held at a convention center.

Why we couldn’t do this in Decatur, I didn’t know, but I wasn’t the one to plan this out.

Did it make sense that we would do it in the same town that we were trying to help? Yes.

But I was going anyway.

The drive took forty-five minutes, and by the time that we arrived at the event center, I was angry because I hated having to deal with stupid traffic.

“How’s Calliope doing?” Scottie asked.

I’d filled Scottie in on everything Calliope relayed when she’d arrived.

“Calm your tits, Hicks.” Searcy giggled as I put the truck in park and got out.

“They are calm,” I grumbled as I helped first Searcy out, then Scottie.

“They don’t appear calm,” Searcy teased as she tried to squeeze my nipple through my suit jacket.

I caught her around the waist and pulled her to me, laying a quick one on her before holding my arm out to both of them. “Let’s get this shit over with.”

“Don’t say that once we get inside,” Scottie mumbled.

“I’ll try,” I lied.

I’d say it if I wanted to.

“Sure you will,” Searcy countered. “Didn’t you try not to get so frustrated with Sweet Baby Ray, and then got all butt hurt after he came right up to me today and went into his pen without you having to chase him everywhere?”

“Whatever,” I grumbled. “That was just luck.”

“That was her befriending him because he likes molasses,” Scottie countered. “I told you to be nice to him a long time ago and he might listen a little better.”

“Well.” I hesitated when we got to the steps that would lead up into the event. “That’s just your opinion.”

“Sure it is.” Searcy leaned her head against my shoulder. “Are we going to stand here all night or go in?”

I took a deep breath, then went to face one of my worst nightmares.

“You’re a paramedic?” an older man that looked to be around eighty-five asked. “ And you’re a rancher?”

As if he couldn’t believe that one person could be both things…

My brows rose. “Why do you say it like that?”

“Just seems slightly improbable.” He shrugged. “Those two careers don’t necessarily go together.”

“They don’t, no,” I said, not bothering to explain.

I’d gotten my paramedic license a long time ago, thinking that would be the career path that I took out of life. Then my dad died, and I realized that career path wasn’t the way I wanted to go anymore.

Now I was a rancher, and the only reason I kept the guise of working as a paramedic up was because I wanted to keep my license fresh, just in case.

Life was unpredictable. There was no reason to completely leave a career path behind if I didn’t have to.

Plus, it was exciting and fun and kept my foot in the door in case I ever wanted to leave ranching behind again.

Which, the way I felt lately, might be something I wanted to do.

The ranch was just too much.

Though, I had a feeling I’d keep it going at least until Scottie was out of school and could make the decision with me.

A lot could change in four years.

You had to be prepared for everything.

“Um, Posy?” Scottie touched my arm. “You need to come with me.”

I frowned and looked at her face to see her freaking the fuck out.

“What’s going on?” I asked as I let her pull me away.

“That man over there,” she pointed. “He’s getting all up in Searcy’s face.”

Taryn Durant.

Fuck.

“Thanks,” I muttered as I hurried toward them.

Scottie was right on my heels as we came to a stop next to Searcy.

“If you don’t step the fuck back, right now, I’ll make you,” I said softly, trying not to cause a scene.

Taryn’s eyes came to me, and he narrowed them. “Well, well, well. Isn’t it fucking perfect. The trailer trash meets the orphan.”

I gritted my teeth. “I still have a mother.”

“A mother that hates you,” he countered.

I rolled my eyes. “You’re really original. I don’t know what your issue is with her, but you need to back off. I don’t like it when she’s bothered.”

Searcy offered me a wink, letting me know that she liked when I protected her, and said, “It’s been fun, Taryn, but I have to go.”

She pulled away from him and moved to me, her hand coming out to me.

I took it, pulling her into my side, and whispered, “I’m glad you got his winning lottery ticket.”

She snickered and fell into step beside me, but came to a sudden halt when she saw a house displayed on the screen.

I checked it out and said, “What’s that?”

“A beach house in Florida,” she said. “Exit 13A.”

“Is there a significance to that exit?” I asked.

“I heard someone talking about it,” she said.

“The owner of the house died, and the family decided to donate it to this auction. Something about the Y helping them when they needed it the most. They’re auctioning the place off because they don’t need it.

They live on the East Coast and barely make it down this direction.

The two siblings selling it were talking to the director about how much money they could’ve gotten if they rented it during the summer months and I was floored. ”

“Buy it,” I suggested.

She looked at me startled. “What?”

“Buy it,” I repeated. “Get a passive income. Real estate isn’t ever a bad thing.”

She bit her lip, and I nudged her. “We have to leave soon, or I’ll be late for my shift. But seriously. Go put a bid in on it. If you win it, you win it. If you don’t, it wasn’t meant to be.”

When she still looked torn, I offered, “I’ll go put the bid in.”

She started walking with me, her eyes wide.

“How much do you want to put?” I asked. “Starting bid is five hundred thousand.”

She swallowed hard and said, “That. Exactly that.”

So that’s what I did.

I wrote the bid down, but made sure to put Searcy’s name and phone number since I wouldn’t be able to take any calls tonight while on shift.

After putting in the bid, I said, “Let’s go.”

“And we have a starting bid of five hundred thousand,” the man over the intercom said, but the rest of his words were drowned out by us exiting the building.

What we wouldn’t learn until later was that the man hadn’t just stopped at saying the bid. He’d said who’d placed the bid.

It wasn’t until that next morning when we became aware of the consequences of that man’s actions.

And fuck me, but I was stuck at work while she had to deal with it.