Page 19

CHAPTER 19

Billie

I frowned and folded one of Gramps’s shirts as he continued pulling clothes from his dresser and closet. Sitting on his bed, I continued packing his suitcase. “I know you have to go, but I’m going to miss you.”

I was willing to do what I had to in order to protect my ranch and myself, but the idea of someone catching Grandpa unaware again worried me. Sending him away was logical, even if I didn’t want to do it.

He sighed. “It’s killing me to be leaving right now, Billie Girl, but I’m no help to you here. In fact, I’ll be nothing but a hindrance. Besides, my brother really could use the help for a couple months after his surgery.”

He was trying to talk himself into this trip because he didn’t want to abandon me. As much as I was going to miss him, I wanted him to go. I was going to all but shove him out the door. It was just safer for him that way.

Gramps’s brother Ned was only six years younger, but was only days away from a full knee replacement. The plan had always been for Gramps to go and help him during recovery. You do for family. It was our family motto.

I was glad he was going to be over in Ohio for two to three months. After the beating he took, I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving him alone again and unfortunately this ranch was a lot of work. I loved him too much to lose him. He was all I had left. Him and this ranch. If this company took them both from me? I wasn’t sure what I’d do.

Shaking off the fear that crept in when I thought about something else happening to Gramps, I folded more shirts and placed them in his suitcase in an orderly fashion. “You’re going to have fun once Ned is feeling better. You probably won’t want to come home.”

Gramps let out a derisive snort. “He’ll be trying to kick me out two days after I get there. Just you wait and see.” He sat on the bed next to me and frowned. “I shouldn’t go.”

“Gramps,” I said, “you have to. He needs your help.”

And I need you safe.

I didn’t say it out loud. It would just make Gramps angry. “I won’t be here alone.”

He nodded, a smile forming on his face. “That’s the only reason I’m going,” he warned me. “That biker out there isn’t about to let anything happen to you.”

We finished packing him up. “You have your wallet?” I asked.

“Yup.”

“Your meds?”

“Yeah.”

“Good,” I said with a smile.

In unison we finished Dad’s old spiel, “Anything else can be bought when we get there.”

Gramps’s eyes softened. “Your dad loved you so damn much. I hope you know that.”

The pain was an old familiar ache inside me now. It wasn’t sharp and blinding anymore. Just something in the background that never really went away, but didn’t get in the way of day to day life anymore. “I do,” I replied. “Just like he knew we loved him.” I wondered what he’d have thought of me now. I hoped he’d be proud of the woman I’d become. Of the rancher I was because of him teaching me everything he knew.

Gramps grabbed his suitcase. “My Uber should be here any minute,” he said as we walked out into the main part of the house.

I stopped in my tracks frowning at him. “Uber? Why would you use an Uber? I’m going to take you to the airport.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Toxic in the kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee, watching us.

“And lose an entire day to driving back and forth?” Gramps scoffed. “No, this works fine. We’ll say goodbye here and in a couple months you can pick me up from the airport.”

I shook my head. “Cancel it. I’ll take you. One day doesn’t matter in the scheme of things.”

A horn honked outside and I crossed the room to look out the back door. There was a car sitting in our drive and a young guy was out front looking around with his jaw dropped open. You’d think he’d never seen animals before.

As a group, my flock of chickens, ducks, and geese rushed out, the turkeys were a few waddles behind. The damn mail delivery drivers had gotten them used to being fed and they were swarming the poor Uber driver looking for treats.

“Ah!” he practically dove back into the safety of his car as my fowl mobbed him.

Gramps had me in a hug before I knew what was happening. “You be careful, Billie Girl.”

I squeezed him back, trying not to sigh. This needed to happen. If I showed any sign that I didn’t want him to go, he wouldn’t. “I will. Let me know when you get there.”

“Take care of our girl.” Gramps gave Toxic a narrow-eyed stare.

“Will do. Safe flight,” Toxic told him. He was still leaning back against the counter as though he had not a care in the world. The warning of violence in Gramps’s tone certainly didn’t worry him.

I didn’t bother to correct Gramps on the whole ‘our girl’ thing, because he was already headed down the porch steps. I hurried after him, struggling to let him go now that the time was here. “You have your cellphone with you, right?” I asked.

“In my pocket,” Grandpa said as he put his own suitcase in the trunk of the car. The kid was locked firmly in the car and showed no signs of reemerging.

I rolled my eyes when he jumped about a foot off his seat as a chicken fluttered up onto the hood of his car. He started waving at the windshield. And though the windows were up and I couldn’t hear him, I just knew he was saying, “Shoo, shoo.” City people.

Gramps stopped and gave me one more hug. “Be good.” Then he got into the car—pausing a second to toss a chicken out of the back seat—and they drove away. I stood there, the early morning sun shining down on me, and watched the plume of dust follow them down the road.

When I couldn’t see any sign of him anymore, I turned and went back inside the house. The door shut behind me and I froze as Toxic shot me a sinfully handsome smile.

“Alone at last.”

I blinked at him. We weren’t. Butcher was outside somewhere, doing whatever Butcher did. Toxic had mentioned the other men would be here later. They were going to help us drive the cattle to the next field today. We were so behind on doing that. With everything going on, I’d just left them in place, but now it was time to get them onto a new field.

“What?”

“It’s a joke, Lightning, relax,” he said with a chuckle.

It was my turn to narrow my eyes on him. “My Gramps can barely make a phone call on that damn phone…”

Guilt flashed over his face, but he masked it almost as quickly. “Oh, really.”

“Suddenly he’s ordering Ubers?”

“He’s a wiley old bastard,” Toxic said in an agreeable tone.

“I wanted to take him to the airport,” I said in a soft voice. Now that Gramps was gone, I let the melancholy steal over me. We hadn’t been apart more than a couple days since my father’s death.

Toxic sighed. “And he didn’t want you driving home alone after dropping him off. He knew you were going to be upset seeing him go.”

I sat down at the table and shook my head. “You must think I’m so weak.”

It was Toxic’s turn to blink at me in surprise. “What? Why the fuck would I think that?”

“Because I’ve done nothing but complain, cry, and shirk my duties since you showed up.” I peeked over at him to gauge his reaction. His opinion of me shouldn’t matter. But it did. Meeting his family the other night had only solidified my respect for him.

I wasn’t sure there was anything he couldn’t do. He was a pro with my animals. I was sure they all loved him more than they loved me now. He handled Irene, my most stubborn red mare, as though she was a sweet tame perfect little lamb. My house and barn were painted. Hay was stacked and piled neatly in strategic places that was going to make winter feeding so much easier. And my damn equipment was all working again. Seriously, even the tractor that has been broken down since Dad died.

There was still a lot left to do, but he’d blown through half of the ever growing to do list and hadn’t even broken a sweat. Well, fine, he’d sweated, and I’d gotten to watch a bead of it trail down between tanned shoulder blades yesterday morning, as he picked up and delivered hundred pound bales of hay to the animals out by the barn. But it all seemed so…effortless for him. And it was all a struggle for me.

I was feeling sorry for myself. I honestly almost never did that because I hated it. But my life was veering out of control and I couldn’t seem to get it right.

Toxic dragged the chair next to me out from the table and sat down. He was staring at me with a grim look on his face. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, Woman,” he said.

My brows shot up at that, but he didn’t let me get a word in.

“You’ve been running this place by yourself for fucking months. Years,” he corrected, “but without any help for months. You were so fucking run down your body gave out on you, forcing you to actually rest. You’ve got some dickheads trying to bully you off your own damn land. And you think I’m judging you for crying once?”

I wanted to cry right now. Because he was validating the fact that my life had been a bit of a shit sandwich lately. I’d been telling myself for months to just suck it up because this was life, and this was definitely ranch life at that. But in all reality, it was a lot worse than normal. I should have had a whole crew of guys helping me over the last five months, not doing it alone.

“What else could you do?” Toxic asked, taking the words right out of my mouth. “I get it. All you can do is move forward and keep working, but trust me, I know how fucking hard it is to keep all this going. Especially when someone is sabotaging you.” He leaned back in the chair, crossing his arms over his chest. “Speaking of, now that your Grandpa is gone, I need to fill you in on a few things.”

I hadn’t seen his expression darken like that before, so I knew whatever he needed to tell me wasn’t going to be good news.