Page 64 of Isabelle & Jason
Mark laughed from where he stood. “He’s not wrong, Jason. You’re out of practice.”
Could he be out of practice when he didn’t normally do this sort of thing? He was good at riding and fixing things with his hands. But when it came to doing actual cowboy taskslike lassoing an animal? He was surprised he hadn’t been fired already.
The only good thing that had come from his decision to put distance between himself and Isabelle was the camaraderie he’d developed with the other wranglers. There had been some turnover since he’d been hired, and he didn’t know many of them. But that was quickly changing.
“Are you going to come to the party this weekend?”
The question wasn’t directed at him. One of the other guys was speaking to Mark.
“It’s at the Callahan ranch, right?” Mark asked, turning his attention to Tucker.
The man nodded, leaning over the saddle horn and bracing himself on it awkwardly. “Yeah. It’s just gonna be some dancing and food. I think they’re celebrating the latest development with the wolf problem.”
“That get resolved then?” Mark asked as Jason tossed his lasso and failed once again to get the calf roped.
Daniel sighed and threw his own rope, wrangling the animal with ease before two cowboys ran to its side and immobilized it.
Jason coiled the rope as Tucker continued speaking.
“That researcher did his job right. Turns out the wolves shouldn’t have even been here. They were brought here for protection, but they’re an apex predator. Of course, they’re going to thrive and take over. Seems they’re going to be rounded up and relocated.”
“Finally,” Mark said. “How many cattle did Copper Creek have to lose before the powers that be realized they needed to do something?”
It was a rhetorical question. The wolves had encroached on and attacked several ranches’ livestock. Thousands of dollars in property had been damaged.
“Klein! A word.”
Jason jumped and glanced over toward the source of the angry voice. Marcus and Roman were scowling at him from the other side of the fence. It had been a week since he’d broken things off with Isabelle, and he hadn’t heard a word from her brothers. He’d been on edge, waiting for the day when they’d come after him.
He looked in Mark’s direction. His friend almost seemed concerned. But Daniel seemed relieved to send Jason on his way. There would be no avoiding this conversation.
Daniel nodded to him and roped another calf. “Go on. We got this.”
Jason turned his horse and headed for the gate. This wasn’t going to turn out well at all. He didn’t have to see the disgruntled looks on their faces to know the exact reason they’d tracked him down.
This had Isabelle written all over it.
And this had been a long time coming.
Jason did his best to show confidence. While he was second-guessing himself most of the time, he couldn’t deny that regret was harder to disregard. The distance between him and Isabelle hurt, but they couldn’t continue down the path they’d been taking. At this point, it was a lose-lose situation.
When they had made it far enough from the other wranglers, Marcus whirled to face Jason, his expression tight. Roman looked angrier than his younger brother. Neither one of them seemed inclined to hear Jason out, so talking this through didn’t seem possible.
“What did you do?” Marcus snapped. Roman must have been his backup.
“I didn’t do anything,” Jason hedged. Would Isabelle throw him under the bus? What had she told them? The fact that she refused to tell anyone about what had happened with Dillan had him assuming she would keep this breakup to herself, as well.
Marcus gave him a little shove. It was hard enough that Jason stumbled back a step.
Roman grunted out a warning, “Marcus. We’re not here for that.”
Marcus squeezed the back of his neck, shooting his brother a hard look. “You’ve seen her. She’s completely closed off. We don’t even know if she’s eating.”
Jason stiffened. His eyes darted from Marcus to Roman, and he took a step toward Marcus. “What’s going on?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know,” Marcus sneered. “You’re the reason this is happening. Don’t act like you’re not. We’re not blind. Up until a couple days ago, she spent all her time with you. Now… nothing. She barely comes out of her room.”
Jason couldn’t help but look toward the house. Had he been wrong in his methods? That sinking suspicion that he had been ate at him. Listening to his gut had gotten harder lately. “What has she told you?” he whispered.
