JD
“In a hurry?”
I turn to find Thomas leaning against the railing of the porch as I head to my truck.
As much as I enjoyed the physical labor today, it did little to alleviate the gnawing worry about Janey. Which is why I’m rushing to get to her place.
Still, I tell Thomas, “Not really.”
“Good, then you can join me for a drink. I wanna hear all about the excitement at the rodeo.”
Guilt has me take the first step up to the porch.
Thomas reminds me of my grandpa, who also spent his last years sitting on his porch, watching the world go by. He’d ask me to sit down with him too, but I always had better things to do. I was too young to appreciate what I was missing out on, and I don’t want to make that mistake twice.
Still, I quickly pull my phone from my pocket and shoot off a text to Janey.
How was your day? Are you home?
An answer comes back immediately.
Okay. Productive. Tiring. And yes. I’m just putting my feet up for a bit. How about you?
Done for the day. Having a quick drink with the old man before coming over. That okay?
Of course. Your father?
Ha. Don’t be calling him an old man to his face.
No, Thomas. He missed out on all the gossip.
Ah. Gotcha. Spaghetti and meatballs okay? The meatballs are frozen, I don’t have the energy for much more.
Leave cooking to me. You relax.
Well, if you insist. (Smiley face)
“Doc?” Thomas asks when I take the seat next to his rocker.
“Yeah. Just checking in.”
“Good. Don’t get too comfortable,” he warns, handing me his empty tumbler. “I need a refill and you’re gonna have to get your own.”
I take his empty glass into the house, where I find my mother in the kitchen.
“The old coot con you into fetching him seconds?” Ma grumbles.
It’s a daily struggle for Ma, who tries to keep Thomas to his one drink a day, and he uses every trick in the book to get his hands on more. I figure he derives more pleasure from besting my mother than the actual drink itself, but for an old rancher who can’t do much more than sit on a porch and watch the world go by, it may be one of the few joys he has left.
“Come on, Ma, let up on the guy a little,” I plead his case as I top up his glass from the bottle on top of the fridge. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
She turns on me, her eyes glistening suspiciously.
“He could die,” she says with emotion.
I set the glass down and walk up to her, pulling her into a hug.
“Would that be so bad?” I suggest gently. “What is he, ninety-three? At least he’d die a happy man.”
“I’m not ready…”
Her response is barely audible.
“Ma…”
She steps out of my arms and turns her back, lifting her apron to wipe her face before bracing her arms on the counter by the sink, her eyes staring out the window.
“I may not be of his blood, but that old man is the only father I’ve ever known. I need more time.”
My mother didn’t have a great childhood. Her mother was an alcoholic, who pawned her daughter off to relatives most of her young life, and she never even knew who her father was. The hard outer shell Ma shows the world is her way of protecting herself and a direct result of her childhood experiences.
Sometimes it’s hard to remember Ma shields a fragile heart.
I grab Thomas’s glass and lean over my mother’s shoulder to kiss her cheek. Then I bump her aside and turn on the faucet, tipping half of the bourbon down the drain and topping it up with water.
“I doubt he’ll be able to tell the difference. He’ll be too busy enjoying the illusion he got one over on you.”
“Sneaky,” she says, a faint smile on her lips as she nods her head. “I like it.”
By the time I grab a beer from the fridge for myself and head back outside to join Thomas, Ma is by the sink, watering down the remains of the bourbon left in the bottle.
Twenty minutes later, I leave the old man happily dozing in his rocker and head over to Janey’s.
“Sterling gets to stay.”
I lean back in my seat, while Janey fills me in on her conversation with Junior Ewing this afternoon.
Despite my offer to cook, she already had dinner going by the time I got here. I’d stopped off at the trailer to pick up a change of clothes, since I plan to spend the night here.
I’m not sure who she’s talking about, but the news clearly makes her happy. I grin back at her smiling face.
“Sterling?”
Janey nods. “Yes. That’s the name of the pinto; Lacey Del Franco’s barrel horse.”
She stacks our empty plates and starts getting up, when I stop her.
“You cooked; I clean.”
She doesn’t fight me when I take the dishes from her and carry them to the sink.
“So how did that come about?” I prompt her.
“Sheriff Ewing was in contact with the girl’s father, he’s her closest remaining relative. The guy works on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico and wants nothing to do with the horse,” she explains. “Apparently, the father wasn’t too supportive of his daughter’s life choices. He told Ewing to send the damn horse to a glue factory.”
I snort. “Aside from the fact those days are far behind us, he clearly doesn’t know how much a decent barrel horse can bring.” I turn on the faucet and run hot water in the sink. “Even a trained amateur horse can fetch an easy five grand to start,” I add. “One as pretty as that pinto—if she shows promise—could go for quite a bit more than that.”
Janey grins. “Obviously you know that, and I know that, and probably Ewing too.” Her expression turns serious. “But clearly that man doesn’t, and I don’t feel even a little bit guilty about it. I find it hard to imagine any father being so callous and vindictive after finding out his only daughter died a violent death. I don’t care how big the fight was when she chose her own path.”
Point taken.
Still, I feel sad for the girl, and I hope a bitter father and an abandoned barrel horse isn’t all she leaves behind in this world.
“You plan on keeping her?” I ask, throwing a glance over my shoulder.
“I thought she might make a good companion for Red.”
I put the last plate in the dish rack and drain the water from the sink. Then I grab the towel hanging on the stove door and dry my hands.
I can tell she’s excited about it and I don’t really want to play devil’s advocate and kill her joy, but I’m not so sure she’s thought this through.
“You sure you have time for any horse? Let alone two? You’re already pretty much burning the candle at both ends. Those horses are going to need—”
She stops me with a raised hand, a warning for caution in her eyes, and a clear reminder not to overstep.
“A little credit, please?”
Janey
A leopard doesn’t change its spots, at least not in one day.
I’m sure his concerns come from a place of caring, which is why I’m not jumping down his throat. His wince makes it clear he received the friendly message.
“First of all, I called Big Sky Lumber this afternoon and they’re dropping off a load of boards to fix the fence around the field in the back. They put me in touch with a local handyman, who has time this week to come in and do the repairs.”
“I could’ve done that for ya,” JD offers with a hint of petulance.
“I know you could’ve and I figured you’d offer, but you also offered to help me with the house, and I’d much prefer you in here with me.”
The scowl is quickly replaced with a wolfish grin.
“Is that a fact?” he drawls, pushing away from the counter as he stalks toward me.
“Hmm.”
I tilt back when he braces one hand on the back of the chair, and plants the other on the kitchen table as he leans over me. His lips are soft on mine, but his tongue is demanding. I lift a hand and run my fingers through his short, thick hair, holding him close as he turns my limbs to jelly with only the touch of his mouth.
“What kind of help did you have in mind tonight?” he mumbles, his breath brushing the flush on my cheeks.
“Depends on what you feel up to,” I whisper back, my body tingling in all the right places.
“Mmm, dangerous proposition, leaving that up to me, Angel. I’m afraid I’m up to more than you can handle in your current condition.”
A smile stretches across my face as I challenge him, “Try me.”
His nostrils flare as he curses under his breath. In the next moment, he grabs me under my arms and hauls me out of my seat. Next, he swiftly strips me out of my sweats and plants me with my bare ass on the edge of the kitchen table, before he sinks down in the chair I just vacated and gently lifts my legs over his shoulders.
“Lie back,” he orders.
Oh, his mouth is talented, and I prop myself up on my elbows, just so I can watch his dark head between my thick, pale thighs as he goes down on me. When he adds his long slim fingers to the manipulations of his forceful tongue, it doesn’t take long before my entire body quivers and I’m no longer able to hold myself up.
I can feel myself hurdling toward the edge of release, but just before I fly apart, his mouth and fingers suddenly disappear.
“No…don’t stop,” I plead, raising my head off the table.
I catch him shucking his jeans down his narrow hips, his fierce-looking cock springing free as he fishes a condom from his pocket and rolls it on.
“Gonna hurt you if I fuck you,” he grinds out between clenched teeth. “I need you to set the pace.”
With that he pulls me up, sits back down in the chair, and slowly impales me as he lowers me on his lap. No sooner is he rooted deep inside me, when he whips off my shirt, his hands curving around my naked back as his lips latch on to one of my breasts. I feel the deep tug of his mouth all the way down to my core, prompting me to move.
I barely notice the light tugging of the stitches in my leg as I ride him. Time doesn’t exist, only the moaned mingling of our breaths, the blissful friction between our bodies, and two hearts racing in concert. It’s only after I soar off the edge, and moments later JD spills inside me, awareness slowly returns.
“Are you cold?” he asks, his voice gentle and deep.
I shiver again, not so much from a chill as it is an aftershock of pleasure.
“No. I’m perfect right where I am.”
Where I am is still nestled on his lap, surrounded by his warmth with his cock softening inside me. He kisses the hollow where my neck meets my shoulder and gently nips my skin between his teeth.
“I have to get rid of this condom, Angel.”
I sit up and smile at him.
“Angel? Me?”
He shoots back a lopsided grin.
“Yeah. But one of those fierce ones, with a shield and sword.”
I like it. I like that he sees me like that.