Page 25 of Tusks & Saddles

Chapter Seventeen

Willamina

“ A lright, Will, what’s up?” Gracie whispered as the pair walked through the dusty nighttime air.

She’d packed a bag to stay at Will’s house for the night, not wanting to have to walk all the way back home.

While she could just shed her skin and wolf out, Gracie tried not to do that after the sheriff tranquilized her when they were teens.

Plus, once the babies were a little older, Gracie intended to move their little family back onto the ranch.

It gave Will time to fix up the cabin on the right side of the horse pasture.

“Nothing,” she lied.

“Willamina Jones, if you don’t stop lyin’ to my face I swear I will bite you right now,” Gracie threatened as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“It’s just…I failed you,” Willamina confessed with slouched shoulders.

“How? You about to tell me you lost the ranch in a poker game?” Gracie teased, nudging Will with her elbow.

“No,” Will short her a stern look that broke apart with laughter as Gracie stared at her in disbelief. “I didn’t lose the ranch!”

“Then how could you fail me? ”

“I got Kaffa kidnapped.” Will stopped in the middle of the street, a half-moon directly over them.

While they had three moons, one of them was very close that night.

It illuminated the two women like a spotlight.

No other stars in the sky that night, as there were small clouds rolling in. It might rain.

Gracie ripped around on her boots, hands to her hips.

“What are you talkin’ about? You didn’t sell her for meat.

Didn’t sell her to Simon or Two Toes. Plus, you got your horse back, because, need I remind you, Kaffa belongs to the ranch.

She just prefers me and I’ve been riding that girl since I started working on the ranch with you.

Willamina Jones, quit feeling guilty for bullshit that’s not your fault. ”

Will rocked back on her heels, hands crossed under her chest as she glared at her best friend. Gracie mimicked the posture. They were in a stalemate. Will scowled harder. She’s right…she’s right. With a huff, she threw her hands out. “I just…”

“I know what you were just thinkin’. You were thinkin’ that I was already two paws out the door and if you lost Kaffa that I wouldn’t want to come back to the ranch.

Will…you’re my best friend. Always have been, always will be.

I know you got this pit in your stomach made of limestone, but you’ve got to stop thinkin’ people are goin’ to leave you.

Do you remember when we were thirteen and I got my tail stuck in the fence? ”

Will sucked in a ragged breath, tears welling in her stubborn eyes. Glancing away from Gracie, she nodded.

“And you stayed with me, screamin’ your head off till your daddy came to get me free? Then you rode with me all the way to see the cleric, holding my nearly torn off tail in one hand and the reins in another?” Gracie stepped forward, a knowing smile on her sweet face.

Will pouted a little, nodding again .

“I told you that day that me and you? We’re best friends.

You’s my girl. I’m yours. I told you that I was always gonna be your best friend.

Even with that thick ass head of yours. Even when you tried to run Ken off or bite Duke.

Even when you decided that just because I got married and had some babies that I no longer had room for you. ”

Will stomped her foot with a huff. “You always wanted a family!”

“And for some reason you think cause I married Ken and had kids that somehow that no longer included you?” Gracie scoffed, waving a hand at Will flippantly.

Will opened her mouth to speak only to let out a small squeak, “Yes.”

“Willamina Jones, get over here and hug me before I smack the shit outta you.”

Will stomped up the last few feet of road and threw her arms around Gracie.

Warm, strong arms wrapped around her back and squeezed her tight.

Will melted into the touch. Gracie sighed dreamily, tightening the hold around Will until she heard a loud pop.

The two broke out into dizzy giggles as Gracie hoisted Will off the ground, swinging her back and forth.

Goddess, it feels good to be home. Will was going to fix up that cabin starting tomorrow.

Well, starting soon. The quicker that Gracie had a real place to live and move in the other part of her family, the sooner Will got her girl back.

She has a point; I do always think people are going to leave me.

That they’re going to run away from me screaming.

I always imagine it’s me. That they can’t stand to be around someone like me, like they can’t see how scared I am on the inside.

Will smiled to herself as she nuzzled her face into Gracie’s shoulder. But Gracie’s never been scared of me.

“Girl, why do you smell good? You been bathing in cologne or something?” Gracie teased .

“It’s Boone,” Will confessed in a single breath.

“Why would it be Boone? Is that why you two looked so cozy at the station?”

Will flushed as she pulled out of Gracie’s hug. “Uh, actually…”

“No…way.” Gracie squealed, hopping on the balls of her feet. “No way, Will, you mean you and Boone? Boone and you?”

Will rolled her eyes, swatting at Gracie’s arm. Her best friend only shrieked more. Tell me more! Gracie demanded the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Plus, they had a good thirty minutes till the ranch anyway. So, Will started from the beginning.

“He brought Jacobus home from the train station…”

The whole time she couldn’t help smiling like some lovesick damsel, her cheeks a deep crimson.

Gracie paid ravenous attention to every piece of information.

From the ride out there, to sharing a bed roll, to the sand slither, and to the kiss.

Will didn’t realize so much happened until she was flinging her hands left and right about the stronghold.

“And then, there he was. Simon still brought those damn cows to the stronghold. After everything he was still sure he’d sell them off as mine! Stole 500 head from some poor fool!”

“Rat bastard.” Gracie shook her head. “What Boone do?”

“Keep me from killing the bastard,” Will grumbled.

“Good call.”

“Hey! Whose team are you on?” Will huffed as her best friend broke out into snickers.

Somehow they’d made it all the way onto the ranch.

Everything was so dark, she couldn’t tell if she was imagining that the fence was fixed.

Well, yeah, I bet Jacobus felt so bad for the broken leg, after he got patched up, he fixed it?

Or maybe Boone came home to finish it? Then she glanced at the bunkhouse and stopped, confusion clear on her face.

Lights were on. More than just Roger lights were on.

Gracie lit up with delight as she broke off from Will toward the bunkhouse.

“Woah, where you goin?” Will blurted out.

“To get a bunk before the good ones are taken,” Gracie scoffed.

“You can just crash with me?” Will jabbed her thumb toward the main house.

“And stop Boone from having the chance to sneak into bed with you? Not a chance. You’ve got a warm Paladin to snuggle up to!

Plus, I was kind of lookin’ forward to having a whole bed to myself, even if it is a bunk.

” Gracie shrugged with one shoulder, walking backward toward the bunkhouse with a swagger in each step.

“Uh-huh, sure,” Will rolled her eyes. “I bet Boone’s dead asleep in Jacobus’ room.”

“If he is, come and get me. I’ll eat my words right here and now if that man’s not already spread eagle in your bed.

” Gracie wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at Will before turning on her heel and marching to the bunkhouse.

Will stayed frozen in the yard, staring up at a lit-up bunkhouse.

It was past dinnertime so there was no reason for Roger to have all the lights on unless he was rummaging through the whole place. No, there’s people in there.

Will huffed, stomping toward the house to demand where the hell Jacobus found people to put in the bunkhouse…

and how the fuck he was paying them. She stepped through the front door to an empty kitchen.

Her heart lurched at the quiet blanket that fell around her.

Despite the fact the house was warm from life, it was asleep.

No one in the kitchen, and the only light on was the stairwell .

Toeing off her boots, she tiptoed up the creaky steps toward the second floor. She found Jacobus’ door shut, hers open with a light on within it. She whispered, “Momma?”

No response, but the distinct sound of a shower running.

Will crept along the hall. Peeking into Jacobus’ room, she saw her brother’s lump of a body spread across the bed.

No Boone-sized shadow in his room. Her heart skipped a beat as she peeked inside her mother’s room.

There was a harpy-sized lump in her bed, distinctly on her father’s side of the bed.

Will closed both doors quietly before creeping all the way to her room.

She stepped in and stopped to stare down at the door handle.

A lock? Eyebrows furrowed, she closed the door and stared down at the knob like it was some foreign moon stone that dropped out of the sky and hit her in the head.

Someone changed out my door? It was significantly sturdier than before, with a shiny, copper knob…

with a fucking lock on it. She flipped it and heard the heavy click echo into the room.

“Like it? I think Jacobus picked out a nice one. Had them installed throughout the whole house.”

Will twisted slowly to the bathroom to find Boone standing in the glowing doorway, wringing out his hair in a towel. She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder at the door. “I was only gone for two hours?”

“Four, but still,” Boone chuckled.