Page 17 of Wild As Her

“Where’s my horse?” I demand, anger filling my chest. No one rides my horse but me.

“Jace has him out running fence.”

“The fuck he does,” I quip

as I take one of our spare horses and get him ready.

That fucker did this on purpose. He knows no one touches my horse. There are at least a dozen horses the wranglers ride, and they’re all still here. He took mine on purpose, and I’m sickof the slacking off, shady crap, and taking my horse to goad me. Big mistake.

“Which way did he go?” I ask.

The wrangler shrugs and looks away, not wanting to tell me.

“You’re fuckin’ fired. Get the fuck off my ranch.” I point to Anson.

He scoffs, and kicks up dirt with his boot.

I glance around at the other wranglers. “And if any of you want to remain working here, I suggest you start doing your actual jobs and remember who signs your fuckin’ paychecks now.”

Hank walks in the barn, looking around at the commotion. And if I had to guess by the look on his face, he looks relieved. I’m done with people walking all over this ranch. They want to be loyal to my father and his old ways, then they can go find a new ranch to work with or join my father in prison for all I care.

“Hank!” I call as he turns and looks at me. “Anson is out of here.”

I head out and ride the pasture until I come over the hill and find Jace talking to someone on the fence line that borders our property to the north. When I get closer, I see that it’s Granger he’s talking to.

Anger sears through me at seeing him near my property and my horse.

I ride up, and Jace looks over at me and sneers, then looks back at Granger and says something.

“Why the fuck do you have my horse?” I ask when I get off and walk over to where Pesto is standing next to him. I snatch the reins out of his hand and walk Pesto over to the other horse and tie him to her.

“Now you can fuckin’ walk. And you can head that way with your friend,” I say as I point to Granger’s property.

“You think you can get away with that stunt you pulled withmy truck?” Granger snarls as he spits and stands with his hands on his hips. He smells of skunk, and I hold back a smile.

“Granger, get the fuck away from my property.” I turn, ignoring him, and point to Jace as I mount Pesto. “Don’t step foot on my ranch. If I see either of you on my property again, you’re a trespasser. And neither of you want to find out what I’ll do to trespassers.”

“And just what do you think you are going to do about it?” Jace scoffs.

I level my gaze at him and say calmly, “I’ll remind you what my fuckin’ last name is and where it came from.”

Chapter 6

Cami

Weren’t for the wind by Ella Langley

I’m sitting at the tiny table in my coffee trailer with my old-school calculator, running numbers. And these numbers are looking really good. The only problem is that I’m not sure if I’ll have a ranch to actually do any of the plans that I’m working on.

I hear someone pull up, glance over, and see Jenna walking up to the window. She bypasses it and comes straight around the back to knock on the screen door.

“Hey, come on in,” I call out to her.

“I think my brother is going to kill me,” she says as she plops down into the seat across from me.

“Oh, yeah? Why’s that?” I ask curiously.

“You promise you won’t say anything? I mean, you have to really promise. Like pinky swear and all that shit,” she says, looking stressed.

---