Page 11 of Cam
I cut past the kitchen island and to the sink where I washed my hands. I glanced toward the big table where everyone appeared to have just finished eating. Except Shep, who ate for two or even three regular people. The only person I knew who could eat more was Zeb and he was away at school playing collegeball. I’d told Ma earlier in the week I’d be over for dinner and I didn’t want to skip it, even though I felt like doing nothing more than going home, grabbing a beer from the fridge and watching shitty TV.
It was good to see Pops at the head of it where he belonged. It’d been two months since the incident at the county fair. While he’d been medically cleared to get back to his life, Ma was keeping a close eye on him. Like all of his kids, he wasn’t known to sit around and be idle.
Ma was beside him in her usual spot. Bray and Katie, Buck, Shep, and Hayes were all here. Instead of taking their usual seats around the table, they’d settled at one end so there weren’t any empty spots between them.
“What took you so long?” Shep called, mouth half full.
“I stopped in to check on a lame horse. Bray, you’re gonna need to stop by Wild Wild Wilderness and put on a new shoe.” And after tending to the lame leg and knowing a farrier like Bray was needed, I got stuck shutting the place down. I’d filled the horses’ hay bags and double checked the water. All becauseshehad been there. The one who was at fault for Pops getting hurt. Getting brain swelling and put in a coma. As I dried my hands, I studied him, laughing at something Ma said tohim. His color was back. So was his smile. Ma’s cooking since he’d been home had put any weight he lost right back on. It was as if the event never happened.
He looked… good.
Still, I remembered him unconscious in that hospital bed and I got pissed all over again.
I went around the table, gave Ma a kiss on the cheek and set my hand on Pops’ shoulder before taking a seat. From across the table, Katie passed me the casserole dish. Cheesy beef and macaroni. It had little bits of green pepper in it and the top had a crust of cheese and breadcrumbs. One of my favorites and one Ma made in a huge batch.
“I’ll call them in the morning,” Bray said, then switched topics. “Heard from Ace and Cody that you met a girl at The Roadside last week.” He shot me a sly grin. “While you didn’t toss her over your shoulder like a pro, they said you pretty much dragged her out of the bar and they never saw you again.”
Over the summer, Katie had approached Bray when she worked there, asking him to be her fake boyfriend to get an asshole customer to leave her alone. He must not have heard thefakepart, because the story goes he threw her over his shoulder and carried her out of the place. And married her.
“Yeah,” I muttered, reaching for the bowl of corn. Ma had loaded it with butter, which made it taste so fucking good. Everything was cold, but I didn’t care.
“Doesn’t sound like it worked out,” Katie added, her voice soft. She didn’t talk much, being shy, but since she married Bray and became a Wilder, she was slowly coming out of her shell. She had no family left of her own but she now had a huge one.
“Oh, it worked out. Until it didn’t.” I shoveled a huge forkful of noodles and saucy beef into my mouth. Fuck, that tasted good.
“What does that mean?” Shep asked. “You either found The One or you didn’t.”
“She’s The One,” I said with my mouth full. Everyone started talking at once, clearly happy for me. That made me feel even more pissed off. Like a bear with a thorn in his paw and no one could pull it out. “The one who got Pops hurt.”
That shut everyone up faster than me saying I was moving to the Amazon to breed piranhas.
“What?” Buck asked, slamming his iced tea glass on the wood table.
“Taylor Reeves,” I said. Obviously saying her name would make everyone understand.
“Your woman isTaylor Reeves?That’s so exciting!Why didn’t you bring her with you to dinner?” Ma asked.
I paused, my loaded fork halfway to my mouth. “Why didn’t I bring her? Ma, are you serious?”
“Yes, son,” Pops added. “Why didn’t you bring her?”
“Because she put you in a fucking coma!” I shouted.
Everyone around the table stared at me wide eyed. We didn’t swear at the table. We didn’t swear in front of Ma. Not because she hadn’t heard it all before, but out of respect and to prove to her we had manners. Sometimes.
“She didn’t do any such thing,” Ma scolded. “Rod Severs is the one who did it.”
“And he’s still out there!” I pointed toward the nearest wall, indicating outside. The entire world. After the rodeo, he’d either fled the state or was hiding really fucking well. Colt had a warrant out for his arrest, but that only meant he was still roaming free.
“I’m okay, son,” Pops said, his voice calm and reassuring. It was a similar one I used when trying to soothe a skittish animal.
“Why are you so pissed right now?” Bray asked. “Didn’t that happen on Saturday when I was supposed to meet up with you?”
“Because I didn’t know who she was. After… well, after, she ran off.” My cheeks flushed remembering what we’d done. How I’d gotten on my knees and tasted her pussy. Licked that sticky honey and got a taste of something better than any of Ma’s cooking. Discovered no man had claimed that pussy because she was a fucking virgin. That I’d been the one to take that cherry with my fingers while she came all over my face.
Needless to say, I wasn’t going to tell any of them that and stuck with the word “after”.
“She ran off,” Bray repeated.
