Page 44 of Brother In Arms

Chapter 15

Rush

I was filling the holes left just outside the newly repaired fence left by the old fence posts. They were a hazard, a broken horse leg or human ankle waiting to happen and with laws and shit the way they were now, even if a motherfucker was trespassing, they could sue the property owner and win. I wasn’t willing to let that happen so here I was with a truck bed full of fill dirt making it happen.

I was out here probably an hour, maybe more, when Bailey came riding up on Jasper, one of the farm horses. He was a beautiful animal, too. Gorgeous reddish brown coat with a white star on his forehead and white socks.

Bailey looked solemn and worn out already which sucked considering the day was just beginning for her. I straightened up from my latest shovel full of dirt and asked, “What’s up? How’d it go with the iron horse lady?”

She dismounted like a fuckin’ pro and walked Jasper the rest of the way, securing him to the fence giving him enough lead to graze if he wanted to. She climbed the fence and took a seat facing me so I could keep going but we could talk. I had no interest in shoveling dirt right that second, though. Not with her sitting there looking like someone’d just kicked her favorite puppy.

“I get two guesses?” I asked.

“You’ll only need one.”

“What’d your assclown brother do this time?”

She hiccupped on a laugh and said, “Assclown, that’s a good one, I’ve never heard it before.”

“You’re stalling.”

“I’m pissed.”

“Most people get pissed off they fuckin’ rage, you mean to tell me you get pissed off and just sit there like a bump on a fence lookin’ all pathetic? Come on, now! I’ve seen your fire, where is it?”

“No, that’s me when I’m irritated. Now, I’m pissed.”

“I seriously don’t fuckin’ get you sometimes.”

“Rich girl 101, biker boy. If we’re legitimately pissed off about something or have a real reason to be angry, it only takes a few times of the men in your life ignoring you, or your mother telling you it’s not ladylike to blow up for you to start bottling it up.”

“Ah, a conditioned response kind of a thing. Well, we’ll just have to break you of that habit, won’t we? Any rate, one problem at a time, what’s the jerkoff doing now?”

Ooo boy, did she have a whole mess of shit to unload off those slim shoulders, and the more shit she spewed about, the more she got fired up. I don’t think the woman had ever had anyone on her side, let alone just listen to her – I mean really listen to her.

I was pretty sure I wanted this particular girl in my life for a good long time, so it was the least I could fuckin’ do. So, I leaned on my shovel and let her vent, and the more she talked the more pissed off I got.

“So let me get this straight, you own two-thirds of this place, you run it, you operate it, and yet your assclown brother and your daddy’s golfing buddy are making all the financial decisions runnin’ circles around your ass and you’ve been letting them because..?” She stared at me blankly for a full minute and swung around on the fence, dropping to the ground.

“Get over here,” she bossed, and I went to the fence, she stood up on the bottom runner and grabbed my face with both hands laying one on me. “Thanks,” she breathed and I raised an eyebrow.

“For?”

“Putting it in perspective.”

“What’re you going to do about it?” I asked.

“Call my lawyers and see if I can’t get through to my mom, she didn’t pick up earlier.”

“Good luck!” I called as she swung up into Jasper’s saddle.

“I won’t need it. I’m done with playing by the rules while everyone else runs around getting away with murder.”

“That’s my girl!” I called after her and she waved over her shoulder, taking Jasper into a trot.

I finished up and threw the tools in the back of the farm truck. I looked out over the place and sure wished that it was worth the problems Bailey was takin’ on for it. One of the things that attracted me to the girl was her level of commitment to this place. If she committed half as hard to a relationship? Yeah, I could already tell that she wasn’t the cheating type which just made her hotter to me in so many ways. It was just figuring out how to convince her that the world she’d been living in for so long was the wrong one; that she needed to throw some caution to the wind and try mine on for size.

Truth be told, I didn’t think I was going to have to convince her very hard. Our vibes meshed really fucking good, now that she’s knocked it off with all the pretentious shit.

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