Page 22 of Stirring Up Trouble (Saddle Up #1)

Twenty

Blaze

With only seventy-two hours left in the rodeo, I knew my time to wait had run out. There was no beating around the bush anymore. I had to talk to Robin about him staying, and not in the way that I had been doing where I simply suggested the notion or said it in the heat of the moment.

No, I had to sit him down and have a man-to-man conversation with him. Or maybe it needed to be Daddy-to-boy.

Whatever it was, I needed to make it clear to him that I wanted him here.

I wasn't going to demand it though. If he wanted to continue long distance because he wasn't comfortable with the idea of moving in together so quickly, then I would be okay with that too.

What I wouldn't be okay with was losing him.

I would meet him more than in the middle. Because I understood that sometimes 50/50 wasn't the thing. Sometimes it was 80/20 or 70/30. And as long as we worked together, I knew he'd have my back when I needed it too.

The entire morning, I gave myself pep talks while I worked. Robin had needed to check on some of the animals, so we weren't attached to the hip like we had been since Jake, Maddox, and Leon stopped through.

Their visit, along with the night I found him hanging out with Sylmen, changed the dynamic we had. It further solidified things. I could see my boy relaxing more and settling into a life with me. He hadn't said he was going to stay or asked about our plans for the future.

And while I could wait until the last minute like I wanted to do to avoid any confrontation, I couldn't risk him thinking anything bad about my feelings.

When lunchtime rolled around, I stalked off to try to find my boy. Instead, I found something I really didn't want.

Jacob Cooksey, my former stepfather, was standing talking to a young woman who very obviously wanted to get away from him. Her body was turned, and her eyes scanned the crowd as if hoping someone could save her from his attention.

The asshole had to be twice her age since she was a baby-faced little thing who probably came out to the rodeo to have a good time. She didn't need this jerk bothering her.

I resigned myself to having to fix the issue.

Mostly it was resignation at having to deal with him at all. I could have gone the rest of my life without being in touch with the man.

Yes, he left the ranch hanging without any type of warning, but worse than that, he had tried to desecrate my family name. That bullshit wouldn't stand anymore.

I approached and slid into the space between him and the young woman. Keeping my gaze on him, I told her, "Run along, sweetheart. I need to have a word with him."

Jacob smirked as he watched her sprint away from us. “Now why are you getting involved in my business?”

I stared him down, noting all the changes since I’d last seen him. While I used to think of him as a big, powerful man, I could see the spinelessness behind him now. I could see how dead his eyes were and how the muscle tone that I once thought fierce had withered and fallen away.

Since he'd left the ranch, he must have been through a rough patch. He wasn't thriving. It definitely explained why he would show his face anywhere near the people that he'd hurt before.

"What are you doing here, Jacob?" I said.

He raised his brows. “I never knew we were on a first name basis there, Blaze. I'm still your stepfather.”

I scoffed. "No, you're not. I don't give a shit what legalities you want to try to pull, but you are nothing to me other than a stain in my past I'd rather not think about. Why the hell are you here when you know you're not welcome?"

His brows dipped. "What the hell do you mean I'm not welcome? I can go anywhere I please."

I shook my head as my hands moved to my hips.

"Maybe anywhere else, but you hurt this county.

Hurt these people. Tried to destroy my family's name and legacy of our ranch.

Then you hightailed it out of town when none of your plans worked.

Do you think you could just waltz in here and it would all be fine? "

“Now you listen here. Everything you have is because of me. None of these people want to work with you. Just look around. You’re a fraud standing with them.”

His lip curled, and I could tell he was getting ready to deliver his final blow.

“Who in their right mind would trust a —”

Before he could finish his words, he jerked back. I looked down to see his chest lit up with a neon yellow splatter of paint. As he stood there, more appeared, forcing him to step further away. He put his hands up to cover his face while I looked for the culprit.

"What the fuck?"

My confusion turned to awe when I saw my boy marching forward, paint gun in hand.

"Baby?" I asked, my voice full of questions.

He skipped the rest of the way, then wrapped his arm around my waist. Tipping his head back, he asked for a kiss, which I gave easily.

Tapping my finger against the barrel of the paintball gun, I asked again, this time using my words, "You want to tell me what this is about?"

He shrugged, turning to look at Jacob, who was watching us with wide eyes. "Well, you see, I was on my way to find you for lunch. I was walking with Corny."

I growled at the mention of the ranch hand who had been flirting with him.

He smacked my chest lightly. "It's fine, Blaze. He was just trying to help me navigate. He knows not to touch what's yours. But as I was saying, Corny was leading me here, and he froze when he saw this fellow.”

He pointed his paintball gun at Jacob again, who held up his hands once more, like it was a real weapon.

I knew his chest had to hurt because when you didn't wear any type of padding, a paintball was sure to leave a bruise.

And Jacob was pale enough it was going to create a mess of his chest under that shirt.

"What happened with Corny?" I said, drawing my boy's attention back my way.

"He told me that that was Jacob, aka your stepfather, aka the asshole who left you high and dry after trying to destroy everything that your family had built.

I decided to grab the paintball gun from the youth play area, jog back over here, and take a swing at him.

Good timing too since he was about to say something he shouldn't ever have.”

I smile so wide my cheeks hurt. "Look at you stepping in to protect me, baby. I didn't know you were so ferocious."

I gave him another kiss, this one lingering longer. It was only when I heard Jacob's disgusted voice yell out a slur that I pulled back.

Stepping partially in front of my boy, I crossed my arms. "You watch your fucking mouth, Jacob.

As a matter of fact, don't worry about it.

You're not allowed to be here. You're going to leave, and you won't come back.

You're not welcome at the ranch. You're not welcome at my rodeo.

You're not welcome in this county. I'm sure if anyone else had seen you first, you'd be wearing a matching set of black eyes for all the trouble you've given us. "

“On top of being this," he waved up and down my body, "you're also sleeping with a man? Your mother would be so disappointed in you."

This fucker using my mother’s name this way was another nail in his coffin.

“You don't know her at all. You never did. Her brother was gay. He died young, and my mother grieved him ‘til she died, so don't give me shit about how I feel or who I lo—care about.”

I had to quickly force myself to say that instead of proclaiming my love for my boy.

This wasn't the time or the place to do so. That was for when we were alone and not facing down my demons.

Before Jacob could spew any more hate, some familiar faces made their way through the crowd of onlookers and snatched him up.

"Should we call the sheriff?" Robin asked as he positioned himself back beside me. "I imagine he's got some type of warrants for his arrest, don't you think?"

I shook my head as I draped an arm over his shoulder and plucked the paintball gun from his hand. I didn't need him taking his feelings out on anyone else.

"No, baby, there's no need because those two guys that just came in are deputies. I'm sure if there are any type of warrants for his arrest, they've got it handled."

Corny walked up, and I tossed the gun his way. He caught it, then gave me a look that said he was sorry I had to deal with it, but he was proud to be a part of my ranch.

Don't ask me how I knew all that from a single glance. I just did. My guys were family after all that we'd been through.

As he strolled away, I directed my boy over to the food trucks. "We need to get some food in us after all that excitement," I told him.

He smiled, clasping his hands together. "Yes, I think so too, and lots of French fries are in order."

"French fries?" I asked.

"Yes, Daddy," he said softly, before adding with more volume, "cheesy French fries. Those are the best."

As we approached the window, I turned to him and said, "I'll do you one better, bacon cheese fries."

He pressed his hand to his head and pretended to faint against me as I laughed. The clerk at the stand heard us. She shouted for the cook to put the order in. I added more onto it because on top of his bacon cheese fries, my boy needed some protein as well.

By the time we ordered, I felt peace at everything that had transpired. Jacob had been somewhat of a problem in the back of my mind. I wondered when he’d show back up because I knew it was inevitable.

Pushing him out of my life for good was a relief. It also meant that Robin knew his face now and could go the other direction if he ever happened to cross him.

I doubted it would happen. I was serious about the deputies taking him away.

When we had our table number in hand, I steered us over to a two-seater table. I didn't want anyone else to stop us for conversation or try to sit down with us.

Robin fiddled with the little stand with the number forty-two on it. It was meant to let the cashier know where to bring our food when it was ready.

I called to get his attention. He perked up, straightening as he looked at me.

"Yes," he said slowly.

"I wanted to talk to you about something important. As you know, the rodeo is over in just a couple of days. While I know that you live somewhere else, I would like to keep this going between us.”

He dropped the number on the table, and his hands spread out against the worn tabletop.

"You do?" he asked.

"Yes, baby, I do." I eased my hands over his, hoping it would calm some of the anxiety I could see building in him. “And whether that means we’re long distance or I come visit you often or you come visit me, then we can handle it.”

He bit his bottom lip. Before I could tell him to stop, he asked, "What if I didn't want to do long distance?"

My chest ached at the notion of letting him go.

“Well, I'm not sure what to say about that. Does that mean you don't want to be with me?”

I needed him to clarify.

He shook his head. "No, Daddy. More like I want to live on the Anders Ranch.

The other night when I talked to Wes, he mentioned how his partner had started over completely.

I kind of like the sound of that. I have a lot of ideas for things we could do at the ranch to increase profits.

And I really feel at home there. Griffin already said that I could sell him my half of the clinic.

It's not like there's anything keeping me there.”

This time, my heart raced for a different reason. "You want to live with me, baby?"

"Yeah, I do," he said.

Our food arrived before I could snatch him across the table and crash his lips against mine. The interruption was enough to calm me down.

As he dug into his food, I couldn't help but grin. I settled the past with my stepfather and gained a live-in boyfriend as well, all in a matter of an hour.

"Why do you look so happy, Daddy?"

"Because I now know that you're not leaving me when this is said and done."

He frowned as he licked excess cheese off his lip. “Technically, I have to leave for a little bit to go get all my stuff, but then I'll be back.”

I reached over and squeezed one of his hands.

He stared into my eyes as I promised him, "I'll go with you, and we'll bring it all back. You can build a home with me. And all those ideas are going to be perfect. I just know it. I'm open to whatever you're thinking because I trust you. I believe you want to see my family ranch thrive.”

"Of course I do," he said. "It's yours. It's a part of you."

If I had any doubt before that this man was perfect for me, then it disappeared with that statement.

We didn't need to say, "I love you," or get married or pledge our devotion for eternity. His actions showed that we were in this thing, that we were committed, and I couldn't wait to see how much we would thrive together.

There would be big changes for us both. It was nothing we couldn't handle as a team.