Stepbrother Cowboy: A Western Romance (3 page)

“Oh god,” I moaned, as the others laughed.

Before things got too bad, Alison pulled me by the hand back to the dance floor. Somebody must have requested some Big & Rich as the familiar sounds of the intro to “Save a Horse” blasted over the speakers. I grinned, and led Alison to the floor, sweeping her around the room until the songs changed. A light pull on my shoulder signaled somebody else wanted to dance. Some of the ladies from my high school days took their turn with me on the floor. After the song ended, I looked around and found Alison sitting down by her dad and my mom, another cup of mystery punch in her hand.

“Hi there,” I said, bumping her over with my hip so I could sit down.

“Rude.” She pouted.

“Are you having a good time?” Bill asked me.

“Yeah, yeah I am. I’m sorry, guys. I’m so happy for the both of you, but I’m sorry for all those years ago.”

“Don’t worry yourself over it,” Bill told me.

Mom reached her arms out, and I hugged her, letting the last of my old anger wash away. Tonight would be a night of happiness and changes. I caught Bill’s gaze over Mom’s hug, and he smiled at me. A word took root in my head.
Family
. For the first time in years, I felt like I had a complete family, in spite of the trip hammer beating of my heart around Alison.

I looked at her and smiled. If I had to pick any girl to ride with me any day before today, it would not have been Ali. But the ache in my heart I felt right now meant I wanted more from her—from us. In one day’s time, Alison had helped me open my eyes and bury my anger, to understand what it was I missed in those years when my father was sick.

I knew I was young when it happened, but I don’t think I ever considered what affect it had on me. Being angry at everyone for everything had masked what I felt myself. Why be anything but an equal opportunity shithead?

That’s why it was refreshing to talk to Alison. The fact that she turned out so pretty put me off guard enough to shock me into listening before I let the anger take control. Now, every time she touched or came me, it astonished me. I spent most of my life hating the memory of a girl who had changed. I never was brother of the year material back then. She wasn’t the only one who had changed.

My mom made her way over in my direction. “I’m going to be helping Jackson in the morning. I grabbed the couch last night, but is there one of the bunkhouses that aren’t full yet?” I asked her.

“Oh, hey, you were too tired yesterday, and I forgot to tell you about it today. You have Tory’s cabin. She moved out last year to move in with her kids. She was getting up there you know.”

“Yeah Mom, I do. But don’t worry, you had a lot to think about today,” I grinned.

“You thinking about heading in early?” Bill asked.

“I might. I know it’s nighttime, but my body is still eight to twelve hours ahead of you guys. I have to try to get back into the right sleep patterns, or you’ll find me snoozing in the barn.”

“Well, feel free to. I know I sprung all this on you rather quickly, but I didn’t think—.”

“Mom, I would have acted like the world’s biggest ass. I know it. You know it. Besides, I have to look for a job here, and this has been a crazy fun way for me to get back into a civilian lifestyle, and—.”

Somebody tugged on my arm, and I turned. Ali frowned, and a tall full-figured woman my age stood just behind me, off to the left. Her smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, and the light made her dark glossy hair shine. My eyes widened as I recognized Karen, my high school sweetheart from forever ago. Her family owned one of the largest construction businesses in the state, and she’d always been the ambitious type, using her looks to get her what she wanted. I fell into her charms once for a time before I realized how much of a bitch she was.

“Hey, cowboy, can I have this dance?” she asked.

I just nodded and followed her to the dance floor. I panicked and looked to my parents. Bill smiled woodenly, but Mom had a weird look on her face. Alison looked away, but before I knew it, an old Kenny Rodgers song began, and Karen moved in close, pressing herself into me as we started to slow dance.

“It’s been a long time,” she whispered in my ear, sending shivers down my back. Her breasts crushed against my chest as we slowly moved around other couples on the dance floor.

“I left right after graduation.”

“You never called me, Cam.”

“There wasn’t anything to say,” the heat in my body didn’t warm my cold tone; Karen always had that effect on me.

“I was devastated when you left, you know.”

“It was over by then.”

“For you, maybe.”

“I’m sorry. I had a lot on my plate over there.”

“Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria?”

“Yeah. How’d you know?”

“I kept in touch with folks. I knew when you were coming home, too.”

“How’d you know that?”

“Tyler. You met him yesterday I think.”

“Tyler?” I asked, her breath hot on my neck, as she pulled me tighter.

“The sheriff. My husband,” she laid a quick kiss on my neck, under my jaw line.

I moved my head in time, barely. My body rippled in goose bumps with the words as much as the forbidden kiss. “Oh shit.”

“He’s not that bad. He’s ambitious, a little older than I like, but when you get bored dancing with Tim’s throwaways, I’ll be waiting,” her tone and words ignited the anger in me, and it flared.

I pushed myself away from her, disgusted. “Get the fuck out of here,” I spat out.

“So you’re un-inviting me? You leave for seven years, and now that you’re home, you are going to go right back to telling me what to do?” Her tone was mocking.

“This is my family’s party. I don’t know who invited you, but I am done talking. Get. The. Fuck. Out.”

“I’d like to see you try,” she stepped back and raised her hand to slap me.

Karen let out a small scream as someone yanked the bottom of her hair. She almost went down on her knees as Alison wrapped her fist in Karen’s locks. Alison’s other hand grabbed the seat of Karen’s pants, probably holding the belt.

My dad taught me one thing before he died about a couple people in life one never wants to fight: Cowboys, because they always wrestled things six to eight times their size, and old men, because they couldn’t take a punch like the young pups, so they just shoot you.

Alison’s fury confirmed that cowgirls were a different story. She was a force of nature. Cowgirls brought an order of magnitude. Alison walked Karen out of the barn on her tippy toes by a wicked combination of hair pulling and holding her by the belt. She kept herself out of Karen’s swinging hands with her nails scratching ineffectually against denim or the fabric of Alison’s shirt. Alison let her go just outside the double doors, and Karen turned for a moment, rubbing the back of her head. I remembered how rough Karen had been back in the day, and really admired Alison for how easily she gave Karen the bum’s rush.

“What the fuck?” Karen shouted.

“You crashed the party. Nobody asked you here. You didn’t play nice, and when my brother asked you to leave, you didn’t.”

The slap connected and Alison’s head rocked back for the second time in as many days. The music stopped suddenly, and everybody looked when Alison reacted, her movement almost too quick to have been believable. She decked Karen in the tit.

A gasp left Karen’s mouth as she staggered from the blow, and Ali stepped forward and kneed her in the crotch. Karen fell to her knees, and a few scattered cheers came up behind us.

“Get out of here, before I really kick your ass,” Alison hissed.

“Wait until I tell Tyler,” Karen said, her eyes watering and threatening to spill tears. “He’ll…He’ll—.”

“Tell you that you’re trespassing,” Jackson finished, almost startling me as he walked up behind me, put one hand on my shoulder and his other on Alison’s. Bill stood to my side to face Karen.

“Go home, Karen,” I told her, and turned to go back to the party, pulling on Ali’s hand. The rest of the spectators followed us.

For a few minutes, we walked towards the refreshments and got drinks in silence. I noticed her rubbing her knee at odd moments and grinned.

“That knee thing, isn’t that supposed to be for guys?”

“Yeah, but it’s all I could come up with on short notice.”

“It worked anyhow. If you want to learn how to defend yourself sometime—.” The words trailed off, and I noticed we stood in a darker corner while everybody paid attention to Karen as she shouted obscenities at the world in general.

Alison interrupted me with a kiss so deep and passionate, it took me by surprise. For a moment, I was too shocked to respond. When I did, my hands gently cupped Alison by the side of the head, and my fingers worked their way into her hair. A polite cough behind me startled me after a moment when it repeated.

“Oh shit,” I murmured, my face burning.

“Um.”

“Really, you two. You should be on the dance floor and not lurking in the shadows. Don’t make out in public, it isn’t polite.” Sandy scolded.

“Yes ma’am,” I nervously told Sandy, not knowing what else to say.

Behind me, Alison held my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze for comfort. Without that, I might have died of fright right there.

“You better get to sleep soon, son,” Sandy nodded towards my now empty beer bottle.

I hadn’t remembered picking up or drinking another.

My kiss with Alison overwhelmed my senses. I walked to Tory’s old cabin, and wandered off the path, holding my hands out so the tall grass tickled my palms as I made a path to what would be my new home. The cabin was originally built for the foreman’s family, but as the years passed or moved on, another one was built. I remembered going there a few times with my mom to check on Tory when she hadn’t come into the kitchen in the morning. She had skipped breakfast from time to time, and it was our way of keeping track of her, making sure nothing had happened to her.

Tory’s husband had passed away, but like many families who work a large operation, family usually all worked together. Bill was the owner of the ranch, and usually made all of the decisions. He was advised by Jackson, who practically grew up on the ranch and worked with Bill’s father and grandfather before that. It’s just the way everything worked, a large dysfunctional family dynamic. When Tory’s husband died, they moved her closer to the main house to help keep an eye on her. She’d show up and work in the kitchens when she could, always helping out to sew and darning clothing that we’d always rough up and was a great fount of herbal remedies and knew more about doctoring than a lot of the docs who visited the ranch once a month to check up on everyone.

I heard somebody walking behind me, trying to be quiet. When I first heard the footfall, my instincts were to make myself blend into the shadows and circle around whoever it was but the tread was too soft and too quiet to be Tim or any of his family. I was trying to decide if it was Karen, and if it was, was she coming for payback? A thousand paranoid thoughts danced through my head as I walked, waiting for those steps to suddenly speed up, signaling that whoever it was, was trying to close the distance.

I veered to the left as the wind changed, letting it hit me from my back. The extra noise of the wind muffled any sounds but it did what I’d intended it to do. I smelled strawberries and vanilla.

“You following me, Alison?”

“I… How did you?”

“It’s what you have to do sometimes. To survive,” I stopped walking and let her get close.

She reached out and touched my shoulder. I saw the movement in my peripheral vision and turned to see her shaking.

“Things are going to get bad now, aren’t they?”

“What do you mean?”

“Tyler, Carl, Karen, Tim…”

“You did what you had to. You won’t get in trouble for-”

“I was only going out with Tim to help out with Dad.”

I took her hand and we started walking again.

“Help him with what?”

“The ranch butts up to the Bart ranch and…”

“You were thinking an arranged marriage situation?” I asked, stopping and turning her to me. I couldn’t help letting some anger into my voice.

She shrugged, her eyes tearing up.

“That’s something right out of the 1800’s. Nobody does that anymore,” my tone harsh.

“I think that’s why Tim always thought that when he was ready…”

“We don’t have to talk about this right now, not if you don’t want to.”

“Maybe later then? This has all been so much, so fast. My head is spinning,” she admitted.

“Yeah, it’s a lot to take in for me too. I leave one war, and step back into another one,” I grinned.

“It’s not that, it’s just that-”

She jumped as I poked her in the ribs, the same way she’d gotten me in front of Jackson earlier. A surprised squeak escaped her lips and she went to swat at my arm. I took off running. I let the gentle breeze push my hat off backwards, the straps holding it behind me as I heard Alison’s feet pounding the soft ground in pursuit. I wasn’t far enough away from the cabin to worry about her catching me over the distance and I easily beat her there. I had half a second to play with the knob when she crashed into me, almost knocking me off my feet.

“Damn,” I said, rubbing my head where it had banged into the door.

“Sorry about that. I couldn’t stop fast enough,” she was smiling.

I didn’t mind, she’d crashed into me and had wrapped her around my chest to keep her from bouncing off. Then I remembered she was someone I couldn’t like this way, couldn’t get close to.

“Come inside,” I told her, opening the door.

“Don’t mind if I do,” she told me, sticking her tongue out at me and then smiled.

My head was a bit fuzzy tonight. It was the first alcohol I’d had in a long time, and although I was still young, I wasn’t that young anymore. I was thinking about to starting a pot of coffee when Ali turned the light on in the little kitchenette and pressed the button to start it. She must have read my mind.

“Sorry, I was here earlier. I had a couple of the guys bring your bags in the truck while I went through the place and dusted. I restocked the shelves in here from the big kitchen and…”

“Alison. That kiss…” I interrupted, my mind and body conflicted.

“Oh?” She looked at me with an embarrassed expression.

“You’re now my sister,” I hated the words coming out of my mouth, much more than I cared to admit.

“Yeah, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for that to happen. I kind of got caught up-” She sounded apologetic.

“It takes two. I should have known better,” I tried to smile, to put her at ease. I tried to keep the anger out of my voice, hating what I was doing.

“What do you think Sandy thought about that? She might mention it to Mom?”

“Oh god, I don’t even want to know,” I told her. Actually, I was mortified at what my mom would think.

“Dad’s the one I’m worried about,” Alison admitted.

“I thought you were worried about the Bart clan?”

“Yeah, them too. We’ve really made a mess of things haven’t we?”

“We didn’t start the mess; we’re just in the middle of it.”

“I’m worried.”

“I’m not, not yet,” I told her, but hearing how bad things were getting from Jackson, had me concerned.

I was glad the conversation had turned away from the kiss.

“I knew we could put in some long days if needed, and we could always bring in outside help for the water issue. The fences and the dead calves worry me more. That’s somebody messing around,” I finished the thought aloud.

“They aren’t messing around. It’s Tim’s family, I’m sure of it.”

“What side of the ranch do they butt up to?” I asked her.

“The sides where the cattle are coming up missing, fences keep getting cut… Calves…”

“Looks like me trying to be a slacker and get the easy job backfired on me huh?”

“We can only hope it’s an easy job. The other reason Jackson has put off on keeping somebody on it-” She let her words trail off.

“What?”

“It could be dangerous.”

“I can take care of myself.” I told her.”

“You always could,” she said, stepping close to me.

I had to put some distance between us, my feelings were in turmoil. I was having an internal war, and there had been too much happening too fast and Alison’s kiss had added a layer of confusion that I wasn’t expecting. The fact that I enjoyed it, wanted more, terrified me. I sat at the small table and watched her pull two coffee cups out of one of the cabinets and set them on the counter. A knock on the door had me turning to see who it was, the screen door the only thing closed.

“Hey kids, can an old cowpoke come have a cup of coffee with you?” Jackson’s voice floated out from the gloom.

“Come on in, you don’t have to knock,” I told him through the screen.

“Didn’t know if you guys were busy catching up,” he said, his expression funny, I couldn’t read it.

“We’re just talking about the issues on the ranch. Ali here thinks the Bart boys are behind it all. Thinks this might be dangerous.”

“She may be right. We can’t get the useless sheriff to investigate anything. I just got word; Tim is out of the hospital.”

“Good, maybe the boys in the holding cell will be gentle with him when they find out what he tried to do.”

“He’s not in custody either.”

“What?” Alison asked, her body going rigid.

“You’re going to spill that coffee,” Jackson pointed. “Sheriff must have sweet talked somebody. Last I heard, even the deputies were on board with locking him up. I guess he’s back home by now and with Karen smooching on you and the whole town seeing it, there might be trouble,” my face burned.

“Couldn’t help it,” I told him.

“What a stupid bitch. I wonder if she set that whole thing up on purpose?” Alison said the venom evident in her voice.

“She isn’t that smart,” I told Ali.

“Great. Just great. Can’t we call somebody else? FBI, somebody?”

“I just don’t know. I wanted to catch up with you before you rode out in the morning. Come outside a minute, I’ve got a couple things for you.”

Alison started to follow me, putting the now full coffee cups down, but Jackson shook his head.

“This will only take a minute,” he said, his dark complexion almost hiding his expression as he moved in the shadows.

I headed out behind him, bewildered. I’d left and saw the world for years. Once I get home, I know less about what’s going on than I did before, and apparently I was clueless back then too. I let the screen door bang shut behind me to find Jackson picking up a rifle that he’d leaned up against the bench, by the railing.

“I don’t know if you have one of these, but take my spare.”

“Remington 700?” I ask him, feeling the weight of the gun, knowing if it wasn’t; it was something close to it. It was a gun I was familiar with.

“Yeah, the police model. Here,” He handed me three magazines from a pocket, then slid a box of shells to the side on the railing, to get my attention. “Figured you might need it if any coyotes cause any issues for you and the calves.”

“Is it so bad here that it’s come to this?”

“Son, I’m old enough to have lived through this when Bill’s granddaddy was running things. It always comes back to guns if you wait long enough.”

“Yeah, it’s an almost impossible situation. With Tyler being the sheriff and Alison dating Tim to try to make things better for the ranch…”

“That’s what she was doing? Oh man, nobody, not even her daddy could understand why she was dating him. She hated his guts even before they started dating.”

“Yeah, I didn’t get it either.”

“You two are…?” He let the words trail off, but I knew what he was asking, the confusion in his eyes.

“No, it was a crazy moment.”

“What was?”

“The kiss.”

“You kissed her? Well, I guess Sandy was right after all. I was just talking about how you two kept shooting each other glances.”

Shit, talk about letting the cat out of the bag. When he’d started to ask, I figured he already knew. Oh well… When I first moved out here and rejected Bill, Jackson had been a big part of my life for two years. If anybody knew me well, it was this old cowpoke.

“What did Sandy say?” I asked, figuring she could see things clearly.

“That we might have another wedding the way you two were horsing around.”

“I can’t do that.” I said.

“I know you can’t. People would talk, the scandal would kill the ranch and the world would come to an end,” he finished, his tone turning into a falsetto, mocking voice.

“Maybe not that dramatic.” I kicked at a pebble on the porch.

“None of it is dramatic, you dumb ass. She isn’t blood,” Jackson said, as he took a swipe at me with his hat.

“But, I grew up with her,” I was talking about my fears. I worried about what people would think. What my family thought. If I couldn’t talk to Jackson about it, who could I talk to?  The man half raised me himself.

“Not that long, not really. Besides, she’s adopted. You knew that didn’t you?” I just nodded.

“It's too soon to be putting rings on anyways. I don’t know how your parents would feel about it but it ain’t as weird as you are probably twisting yourself up about it.”

“Want to get some coffee?” I asked him to change the subject and he nodded, so I grabbed the box of shells and headed inside.

Alison barely gave the rifle a glance before pouring a third cup of coffee when we came back in. I put the gun against the table’s edge and took a sip. It was glorious! The first sip wiped away the fuzz in my head; the second sip had me ready for it to cool down. I’d forgotten how good real coffee was. The three of us sat down at the table.

“I know Alison said she’s going to stick close to you, and I think with Tim out that you really should stick to that plan. Especially when your parents are gone. I figure you’d be safer with Cam or with Sandy and me until this whole mess blows over.”

“Do you really think that’s necessary?” I asked him.

“It was one of the deputies that called me. He’s a nephew of mine. Figured he could get word to me quietly. Tim said some things and…”

“I bet. If it sounded bad enough that he’d warn you, why didn’t your nephew take him and the sheriff into custody?”