Page 33 of Property of Riptide
She tilts her head to the side as she mulls over what I said. “It must work with horses too.”
“It does,” I confirm. “Issy has it. I swear she’s a horse whisperer.”
“But you didn’t feel that ‘calling’?” she asks, using her fingers to symbolize quotation marks around the word calling.
“No,” I answer, shaking my head. “Wasn’t ever interested in dodging piles of shit, which is why when Paps came to me wanting to expand, I jumped.”
“So y’all don’t have cattle in Canton?” she continues, and I smirk because some folks get freaked out when they find out what we do, but it’s a necessary business to have when the Kings need someone to disappear.
“We don’t, unless you think some of my brothers could be considered animals,” I quip.
“From what little I’ve witnessed when it comes to your interaction with them, you do have to wrangle them from time to time,” she laughs, hooting.
I shake my head because her laughter is contagious. She lightens part of my soul that I thought was forever going to be dark. “Think that’s funny, do you, Van?”
“It’s pretty comical,” she rebuts. “But I have an outsider’s perspective.”
“Sometimes, those who are looking in from the outside can be the most intuitive,” I counter. “You may see things that I’d otherwise overlook. And if that time ever comes, feel free to talk to me about it.”
“It’s a good thing I have your permission because there are times I have foot to mouth disease,” she conveys, not looking embarrassed about it in the least. And she shouldn’t, at least, not with me. “When I am comfortable with someone, I tend to overshare. I’m preparing you ahead of time.”
“Duly noted,” I state. We get lost in conversation as the final ride progresses, and before I know it, it’s ended.
As we leave the bleachers and go in search of little man, Rio comes up to us and stops us. “I have been meaning to talk to you about an expansion. Montana needs help,” he tells me. “There just hasn’t been any time for us to sit down for a length of time so I could talk to you about it.”
“The original plan was for us to head back home tomorrow, but Van isn’t leaving for another couple of days, so I was going to see if you were good with us sticking around until then anyway. How about we sit down tomorrow and hash things out and you tell me what you’re thinking in regard to it. Is it going to be acomplete take over or are we just going to help them get back on their feet?”
“A little of both,” Rio replies. “We’re still tossing around ideas, but none of my men are interested in relocating long-term.”
“I can promise you none of my men will be interested either,” I respond. “I’m sure I could convince a couple of mine to head up there temporarily, though.”
“That’s along the line of what I was thinking. Nobody has volunteered to go, but if they know it’s only for a month or two, it’ll be easier to talk them into going,” Rio surmises.
“We’ll get a show of hands before the guys and I leave. Then whatever we decide, I’ll take it to the table and see what the consensus is,” I offer. “My men will be more willing to vote yes if I give them a game plan and they know we are in this together.”
“I’ll get with Abyss and make sure he’s there, too,” Rio advises. “Ten sound good?”
“Yeah, brother. I’ll be there,” I say, shaking his hand to cement it. Since my VP is still back home keeping things afloat, I send Slayer a quick text to make sure he’ll put himself in a private room around that time so we can conference him in.
As we walk through the field, Van broaches the topic of what we do to survive. “You have never told me what business y’all run in Canton, Riptide.”
“We took over the cemetery there,” I admit. “We do all of the mortuary services. Does that freak you out?”
“No,” she denies, smiling up at me. “We all have to go somewhere like that after we pass on. Those sorts of businesses don’t bother me. Unless they turn into zombies, then, it’s everyman for himself. I will trip someone to stay ahead of the brain munchers, I’m not becoming a dead man’s snack. You’ve been warned.”
“I’ll keep in mind that if that happens, I need to stay ahead of you,” I tease. “I’ll attach little man to me in one of those sling things.”
“Not a bad idea,” she states. “You’ll have a better chance than I would carrying the added weight. My luck, I’d lose my balance, trip and fall, then become a person of the dead. Now that idea freaks me out.”
“Is that a real fear of yours, Van?”
“No, because I know it’s not realistic. However, I like to be prepared and have a plan in place in case the government has been hiding the fact that things like that do exist.”
“You’re not secretly a doomsdayer, are you, baby?” I ask, enjoying this side of her.
“Would it be a turn off if I was, Riptide?”
“Can’t say that it would, I’m just wondering if I need to build a fallout shelter,” I banter.
