Page 34 of Trickster King

“Six hours if we don’t stop.”

“I promised Eddie fast food breakfast, so we will need at least one detour.”

“I have been made aware of the breakfast situation,” Randy replied in a wry tone.

I chuckled. “Eddie, go check on Bullmanchu. If he isn’t busy with one of his new ladies, please bring him into the barn. We’ll take care of the feeding, but you need to do a nose to tail check. Look for any signs of a fungal infection, and if you spot anything, ask for help from one of the ranchers if we’re not around.”

“Okay.” With the energy only a child possessed, Eddie grabbed Bullmanchu’s halter and a lead line and bolted from the barn.

“Randy, go ahead and book me into the RPS clinic for my back after we’re done this trip, by the way.”

The head of my detail sighed. “What happened?”

“An enthusiastic child crawling all over me finished what living and breathing started.” I shrugged. “It’ll hold for a week or two. I just know it’s going to get bad again, so I may as well be proactive about it. It doesn’t hurt right now, but I am assuming it will.”

“All right. I’ll schedule you in for a comprehensive once we have a better idea of when we’re headed back to the palace, and I’ll talk to the dispatchers to make sure the clinics are aware we may stop in earlier. I’ll get a list of the ones best qualified to treat you while we’re roaming Texas.”

With that out of the way, I went to work. The faster the cattle were fed, the faster we were on the road—and the faster I got home to see my horses. Or I caved and asked someone to haul them to me.

Some separation would do us good—or so the other empaths said. I could only hope Baby Boy and What’s the Story, Morning Glory decided to leave the barn intact when they finished expressing their displeasure over the disruption to their routine.

After fast food breakfast and once convinced I wouldn’t be going anywhere without him while driving the SUV, Eddie conked out for a nap. Geoff, who’d claimed the front passenger seat, sighed. “I thought he’d never run out of battery.”

I raised a brow. “Are children actually equipped with batteries now?”

“This one obviously is. Isn’t he supposed to be fatigued? This is not a fatigued child. This is a hyperactive child who got bored enough he decided to sleep off the part of the trip he doesn’t like.”

I snickered at Geoff’s exasperated tone. “Are you upset he’s excitable or that he possesses the talent of falling asleep at his whim in three seconds flat?”

“I spent a great deal of time staring at the ceiling last night, and I’m at the stage of tired I couldn’t nap if I wanted to,” the RPS agent complained.

I checked my mirrors and counted RPS agents. “You’re not going to be working on this trip anyway. I count five RPS pairs pretending like trouble is going to happen. Honestly, I’m impressed they’re all behind me rather than boxing me in.”

At our current stage of the trip, the RPS agents tended to become rather nervous their monarchs demonstrated a willingness to function outside of set protocol. They’d adapted to Jessica’s wild side.

I tended to do what they expected most of the time, but when I went off the beaten path, I did so without any regard for their comfort.

“Charlie probably told them to let you run wild and free. And anyway, Randy has the point position. Nobody is going to win against that truck or trailer if he intervenes. And yes, we’re trained on how to make use of a truck and trailer if that happens to be what we’re driving at the time.”

I winced at the thought of Randy weaponizing my new truck. “I should have made him drive one of the wife’s.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. It’s been a while since anyone has tried anything seriously. It’s an unannounced trip, and your dislike of driving borders on legendary. Half of Texans wouldn’t believe you’d drive without being forced even if we told them you do it fairly often now. The other half would just nod their approval and offer recommendations on how to drive properly.”

“Charlie keeps promising me interesting things to drive,” I admitted.

“That was part of the reason we brought him in. His enjoyment of fast cars is rather contagious. You could buy your own fast car, you know. You can certainly afford one, and the RPS keeps a list of makes and models that are easy to customize to be appropriate for royalty to drive. It would surprise your wife if you came home in a new car of any sort.”

“It really would, wouldn’t it?”

“Your trucks and trailers are practical. A car? That’s not nearly as practical. And if you buy a sports model with only two seats, you’ll astonish her. Then you can take her on a drive while Charlie and a few of his friends shadow you.”

“You can talk me into a car a little later in the trip.” The idea of sneaking off with my wife appealed, although it would likely result in additional consequences if we waited until after the twins were born—just like she wanted. “You get to explain to Randy when I plan a weekend getaway with my wife in my new car.”

“I don’t think that will be a problem. We’ll fight over who gets the kids off-duty and send the rest off with you in the shadowing cars. You two don’t get out often enough. A few weekends won’t hurt anything, especially if you send the kids off to weekend activities they’ll enjoy.”

Once the twins were born, it would be at least a year before we had any hope of making off for even a weekend. Even if Jessica didn’t mind someone babysitting our herd, she tended to get rather irritated if she was separated from our babies for more than a few hours. “But are you sure?”

“I’m booking you in for therapy for working too much.”

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