Page 100 of Coiled Tight
“What do you want?”
Most of the time, I played nicer with her. We hadn’t had the type of childhood every sitcom showed, where siblings squabbled nonstop. For the most part, we stuck by one another. That didn’t mean I was going to act like her biggest fan. It was a matter of principle.
“Rumor has it Cam is getting you to hang out with everyone again.” She reached where the two of us were and gained my mare’s forgiveness by offering her one of the fancy treats she didn’t let the rest of us have. Something about not trusting us to space them out and how expensive they were. “I won a bet on the two of you, by the way.”
I huffed. “There were bets?”
People had time for that shit?
“Two queer men on a road trip alone?” Sofía snorted. “Men who had already spent months making eyes at each other like absolute fools? Damn right there were bets.”
I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t making eyes at no one.”
“You one hundred percent were,” Sofía piped in like theannoying older sister she could be. “But anyway. Gloating about being right aside, why are you brooding all alone here?”
“Da is with Cam.” I frowned. I realized I sounded like an insecure teenager who didn’t know what he was doing. If the shoe fit… “I wasn’t welcome, and I needed to leave before I throttled him anyway.”
Sofía laughed. “Cam or dad?”
“What do you think?”
The question—or the stink eye that came with it—had her sober up, but only slightly. It was strange to focus on her when she was talking. I always listened, of course, but really seeing her was strange; cataloguing all the similarities and differences. Lighter hair. Same eyes. Fewer wrinkles and spots on her skin, but the same nose with scattered freckles no one really noticed until they stood real close.
“You can’t be a grump forever,” she said all reasonably. “Da wouldn’t be so in your business if you gave him reason to believe you’re not going to end up a total hermit.”
“I’m not a total hermit.”
“Not anymore, you mean.”
The urge to roll my eyes again was strong, only quelled by years of knowing the gimmick rolled off my sister’s back like water.
“What if I put everyone at risk again?”
Sofía placed a hand on my arm. “You didn’t do that the first time around. You know that, right?”
“I didn’t help.”
I ignored everyone’s warnings. There had been warnings about Cam, too. The hands had taken months to trust him, to even consider bringing him into the fold. They’d respected him from the start, which was more than I could say for what they did with Roy, but what if the similarities mattered more than thedifferences?
“You’re not worried about that.” Sofía hummed. “Not really.”
A pause made me realize quickly that no, I wasn’t. I just… How the fuck did I explain what I was worried about to the person who might have my back but didn’t always keep her mouth shut?
“Cam’s been… hurt before.” I scrubbed a hand down my face. I shouldn’t have shaved that morning. Not only did Cam complain he didn’t have soft hair to nuzzle now, but the beard did a fairly decent job of hiding it on the few occasions I blushed. “He left everything and everyone to come here. What if it isn’t enough?”
What if I’m not enough?
“Now that’s more like it.” Sofía shook her head before I could tell her what a weird thing to say that was. “Y’know, this place isn’t just a sanctuary for animals. It’s saved all of us. It’s saving him. Plus, he has me. And I already overheard a bunch of the hands talking about throwing hands if anyone tries any funny business with him again.”
It… I tried to let the words sink deep, to absorb the meaning. The truth in them.
It wasn’t easy, but I forced myself to take a deep breath regardless.
“Now can you go rescue Cam from our father, Miss He-Has-Me?”
Sofía punched me in the arm before she cracked up laughing. Giving me bruises because she had one hell of a hook was obviously hilarious.
“Deal.”
