Page 30 of When It Reins (Three Rivers Trevors Ranch #5)
mitch
Nerves tighten my stomach as I watch each kid line up, ready for their first lesson on bull riding. It will take some time before I let them actually get on a bull. It’s not quite like it was when I was a kid, and they threw us on, telling us to hold on tight.
For this, we have a practice dummy bull where we will work on their forms, then after I think they are ready, we’ll move on to the small bulls that will hardly even lift a foot off the ground. That is how I want it to be.
If one of these kids gets hurt under my watch, I am probably going to puke.
Bonnie and Jax are here for support and seem to know most of the kids from the orientation they held a few months ago. I wasn’t interested at that point, not sure if I would ever be able to handle teaching my own lessons.
After my secrets finally came out, and my family decided to graciously forgive my misgivings, I was able to breathe around them a little easier.
“Tighten up your stomach,” I instruct the eight-year-old boy who is on the dummy bull.
“Yeah, hold your arm up high in the sky. Can’t let it drop down.
” Jax stands at a corner, pulling on the pulley mechanisms that made the barrel—or bull, in this case—move up and down.
“You wanna squeeze your legs and let your body lean back, but keep your stomach muscles tight so you don’t develop back problems.”
I hear Jax snicker and know he’s going to bring up that bit of helpful information when we were done here, but I’m not wrong. I have terrible back problems because of poor early riding days.
We go through several more kids, some better listeners than others. I probably shouldn’t have, but I already picked my favorite students.
When we’re all wrapped up, Jax and I head into the barn where I see my brothers and CT sitting in the alleyway, looking like they just ran marathons.
“Look at these slackers,” Jax comments, going to the mini fridge in the office for a bottle of water. He grabs an extra and tosses it to me.
“Slacker my ass. We just got back.”
I hear shuffling down the way and see some of the wranglers working. Maverick is the only one who is sitting with the guys here. “Where did you head today?”
“Pasture six. Already eaten through,” CT answers, shaking his head. He wipes some sweat off of his brow and says, “I’m thinking we’re gonna have to push to twelve next week.”
“Twelve? It’s a day’s ride,” Maverick answers, looking surprised.
“We’ll have to camp out overnight, ride back the next day.”
“I’ll go. So will Bo.” Stetson volunteers.
“Could be a good couples’ retreat. You and Dani wanna go?” Logan asks, looking to CT.
“Maybe. We’ll have to see who can watch Waverly,” he replies, referring to their one-year-old daughter.
“Yeah, same for Colter.”
“I’ll go,” I volunteer, realizing me and Stetson are the only single—as in not parents—people here. “Juniper might be up for it.”
We settle the details, and I feel a tendril of excitement for the trip. Juniper’s never rode with me, and it’s been a long time since I’ve done a cattle drive. Maybe even over a decade. It was with the Trevors, but I was just a teen when we did it.
Juniper, as far as I know, has never ridden a horse. But there are plenty of safe options for her to get on when we go. If she is up for going.
“You want us to what?” Loki’s incredulous voice doesn’t stop me from continuing what I was asking.
“The bar needs some extra security for this concert Juniper is throwing for Four Foxes.”
Mick frowns and taps his tattooed fingers on the table. There are some designs on them I don’t recognize, and I’m not the type to actually ask for that type of information. “I thought you told her to stay out of it.”
I tilt my head, waiting for my neck to pop, and sigh.
“I told her not to mess with David—or Aaron.” I nod at Cheat, who informed us that David is a cover name.
His real name is Aaron Tracks. “I told her to stay away from him. However, she made a friend”—I glance pointedly at Loki—“in the community and offered to help raise money for them.”
“We could have done that,” Loki says, his tone piss poor considering Juniper is helping out the community, and we’d be able to keep our operations quiet and his mom from losing her home.
“And everyone in town would love to come to some charity concert thrown by the local biker gang, right?” The sarcastic comment comes from Atlas, our road captain, and I can’t deny that what he’s saying holds some weight.
People don’t like us, and I guess I get why, but they don’t really know us either.
“So, Hero, tell us what you need.” Mick gets us back on track, and I nod.
“She’s gotten Felicity Vogel on board, as well as a band called Broken Hearts, some country band that I guess is popular.”
“Hell yeah. Their guitarist is hot,” one of the members pipes up, then holds his hands up innocently. “What? I’m a fan.”
“Anyway…” Mick drags out the word, prompting me with a raise of his eyebrow.
I take that as my sign to continue, and I do. “Yeah, so they need some extra muscle for the night. We wouldn’t get paid?—”
“Oh, no deal then.”
Someone snickers, and I watch to see Loki’s head nearly explode. The glare he sends down the table is full of wrath, but before it can, I explain to the interrupter why it’s unpaid.
“The money they raise is going to charity, genius.” The redhead kid’s cheeks redden, and I sigh. “We’d only be needed for about four hours. Figure we can do a couple of shifts, and it won’t be a big deal.”
Mick nods, and he points at a few of the guys. “I don’t care how you split up the time, but you’re doing it.” Loki snickers, but Mick’s attention goes straight to him. “You too, asshole.”
“What?” Loki throws his hands up, but the glare from our prez has him backing down, crossing his arms, and pouting at the new chore he was just given.
I smirk, and Mick looks to me. I raise up a hand in defense and say, “I’ve already volunteered.”
“Good.” He sighs, rubbing his forehead, and our road captain frowns. He’s a man of very little words, but Atlas only speaks when absolutely necessary.
“You good, Prez?” His question has the room going quiet, and he nods his head.
“Fine. Just some issues at the brewery.”
“What kind?” Loki demands, looking mad that he wasn’t already told the details. The dude needs to learn some meditation or something, learn how to calm the fuck down.
“Just some management issues.”
“You finally hired someone?” I ask, thinking of the last church meeting when Mick admitted he couldn’t take on the role and run the clubhouse.
“Yes.” His teeth are gritted, and Cheat snickers. “Shut the fuck up.”
“What’s going on?”
“Our new manager just has a certain style.”
Mick’s tone tells us to drop it, so for now, we do and move on to our other hot topic of the meeting.
“What’s going on with Biller Holdings? Have you found any information on them?” Mick’s question is directed at Cheat.
“I have.” Cheat nods, but shrugs his shoulders in answer.
“As far as I can tell, there are no contracts between Biller and any development properties. This would be a first for their company to be embarking into real estate. I tried linking them to Aaron Tracks as well and couldn’t find a link.
I think this guy made some serious promises, and I don’t know if Biller is planning to follow through. ”
“If we get the tax liens paid before the due date, what can they even do?” I ask, unsure how all of this real estate stuff works.
“My guess? They’ll move on and drop it,” Cheat says. His confident tone gives all of us a sigh of relief.
We are pretty quiet with our dealings in our town, but community is important. Allowing some bigwigs to come in and take what is not theirs isn’t something we want them to be able to do.
Then there is the matter of the adjacent property we own and use on a regular basis. If a big box store or something comes along, we will have no choice but to find another property.
Too many eyeballs on the place, and we’d be exposed in no time.
“Is Tracks still in town?” Atlas asks Cheat, knowing that he is likely keeping a close watch on him.
“Not that I’ve seen.” He nods to Loki and me. “After you two put the fear of God into him, I think he left.”
“Keep an eye on it,” Mick demands, his brows furrowed. “If Tracks put some money into this, like he said, he’s not going to go away quietly.”
And if he doesn’t, I’ll just have to make him.