Chapter 22

Afew weeks later, I’ve started to settle into the pattern of things. Waking up so early is easier now and William seems content to lounge around during the day and walk around outside in the evenings. He’s adjusting to ranch life just like I am and I don’t even have to put him on his harness anymore. He’s made peace with the cows and horses close by, including Harry Trotter, and knows to keep away from their hooves. The first time I watched William sitting on a fence post and Harry nuzzling at him, I’d nearly melted as I’d quickly snapped the picture. They seem like great friends now, William calling hello to Harry every evening.

A few of the notoriously shy barn cats have even started to come up and say hello to both William and I when we’re out. I’ve befriended pretty much every animal I can, all except the large bull Levi warned me against being in the pasture with. Not that I haven’t tried. The goat always comes up to the fence when I call, taking the apple I offer her, but the bull just looks at me and goes about his grazing, not caring to come up to me. I don’t take it to heart. I’m going to befriend him at some point. I’m genuinely enjoying the consistency of work and taking care of the animals that Steele Mountain gives me, and with every day that passes, this place starts to feel a little more like home.

Levi still hasn’t really warmed up to me after the last conversation we had. Our time working together is mostly filled with silence when I’m not trying to start a conversation with him. I’ve been curious about the bull out in the pasture, but I’m hesitant to ask him again after he’d so clearly showed he has no interest in talking about it. But the bull is a beast of a thing, so massive, he never looks anything less than terrifying. The moment I’d mentioned riding him, Levi had shut down, and he clearly refuses to speak on it again. If I even seem to be leading the conversation in that direction, he immediately stops talking. Apparently, the bull isn’t the only one that’s difficult to decipher. Levi’s just as stubborn.

Similarly, Dakota has also been a tough nut to crack. He’s stoic most days, his mind clearly on the difficulties of running a ranch of this size. There’re so many moving parts, I can’t begin to imagine the stress he must face daily. Though we’d seemed to have a connection on our shopping trip and I’ve gone over his words a thousand times in my mind since then, we haven’t really shared any more time together. Sometimes, I think I catch him looking at me. Sometimes, I let him catch me looking. But there’s a darkness about Dakota that both unnerves me and interests me. Normally, I’d think he was no good, but I’ve seen the way he acts around other people. He’s nothing if not respectful. Surely that means he’s a good man, right? Of course, the thought of Dakota being a bad boy also does things to my nether bits that it shouldn’t. I don’t even have my nails painted red right now. Instead, they’re a dark and calm blue. I really shouldn’t be thinking of my literal boss doing very bad things to me. I definitely shouldn’t be thinking about what that darkness in his eyes is hiding.

Wiley, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. Every morning I work with him, he shows up with a coffee and a bagel. After two mornings, he figured out my exact preferences, a coffee with too much sugar and creamer and an everything bagel. Every evening after dinner, he walks me back to my cabin and tells me good night. He doesn’t hide his intentions, openly flirting at every opportunity. He’s a heart throb and I can’t help but wonder how he doesn’t have a line of broken hearts behind him. Maybe he does. Maybe that’s Wiley Carter’s red flag.

Today, Dakota appears outside my cabin as I exit to explain what my work is. Though I’ve been here for over a month now, he still makes sure to explain any new task clearly so I don’t have to ask questions. I appreciate the thoroughness, especially since Levi often leaves me to flounder and figure shit out myself. Dakota wants it done right, and so he gives me all information pertinent to the task. Today, my task is to take some hay out into the various pastures around the house. Some of them have new mothers and calves. Some of them have horses being watched because they’re new or they had an injury. Only one has the big bull in it, alone except for his friend, Ninny. Apparently, I won’t have the side-by-side to help since they’re all taken up or in use, so I’m given the wheelbarrow instead. As soon as Dakota gives me my instructions and storms off to handle some large delivery, I fill up the wheelbarrow with hay and get to work, throwing some in the pastures closest to the barn and house first. Once I’m finished with them, I take in just how far it is to walk to the outer pastures pushing a wheelbarrow. It’d be much quicker if I could pass through the closer ones. So I go through the gates into Harry Trotter’s pasture, and go to the outside ring on his side. I move back and forth throughout the day, making sure there’s enough hay for the number of animals in them. When the sun rises high overhead and I have to take my hat off to wipe my brow, I realize I’ve actually made damn good time. I’ve done almost all the pastures, and now I only have one more left.

The one on the far side of the bull’s.

Either I can pass through his pasture or take an extra thirty minutes to go all the way around his large pasture. I don’t have the luxury of a side-by-side of a four-wheeler to take it out there. All I have is this damn wheelbarrow. I stand at the gate, my eyes on the bull as he grazes. He’s currently on the complete opposite side of the pasture, uncaring and unconcerned with me. Ninny grazes beside him, like usual. She looks up at me as I stand at the gate, clearly searching my hands for apples, but the bull doesn’t bother. He’s far enough away and rarely pays attention to me so I think I might be able to sneak past him. I know I’m not supposed to go inside his pasture, but I’m sure he’s not as bad as Levi made it sound. Wiley said Harry Trotter was bad too and he liked me. Besides, it doesn’t matter if he never notices me. He’s so far away, I doubt he’ll look up to see what I’m doing. I’ll just move fast. It’ll cut so much more time off by cutting through.

“Okay, Mr. Bull,” I sigh, wishing I knew his name. “I need you to stay over there for me. I’m just gonna zip on through and we’re gonna go about our business without incident.”

Carefully, I undo the chain on the small gate. I look up to find the bull in the same spot, grazing on the opposite side of the pasture, far away from me. Ninny is really watching me now and bleats, inquiring into if I have any more apples. Neither make a move toward me so I ease the wheelbarrow in and close the gate behind me, careful to make sure it’s locked. When I check the bull again, he still hasn’t moved, even though Ninny has taken a few curious steps in my direction. Easy. The bull is probably just misunderstood, like Harry. Who wouldn’t not like Levi? I certainly don’t.

I ease the wheelbarrow across the pasture, moving slow and measured so I don’t startle him even though my instincts scream at me to move as fast as possible. Each time I check, he’s in the same position despite Ninny slowly making her way over to me. I figure if I cut through the middle, it’ll shorten how long I’m in his pasture. He’s on the opposite side and pointed in the opposite direction so if he never turns around and notices me, I should be fine. If he changes his mind, I can hopefully run to the fence in the opposite direction. I make it about halfway across when I glance over to him again and find him looking up at me, his eyes on my movements as Ninny appears beside me. She bleats at me, asking an apple, drawing the bull’s attention even more.

“Fuck,” I murmur, quickening my steps now that I’ve garnered his attention. I push the wheelbarrow faster, hurrying along. If I can get to the other gate to the back pasture, I can slip out with no one the wiser that I’d nearly found myself in trouble. I won’t speak a word to anyone. I’ll just quietly finish my job and thank whatever god is listening if I don’t die. Easy as pie. Only, when I turn around again, the bull is now trotting my way, his head shaking from side to side while Ninny begins to really bleat at me, the signature goat scream drilling into my skull, somehow making the situation feel even more frantic. It’s as if she’s screaming at me to run, but I know she’s just demanding an apple. The bull on the other hand doesn’t look like he wants an apple. He looks pissed.

Someone whistles in the distance, but I don’t turn to look. My eyes are on the bull and the sudden angry bellow he lets out. The trot turns into a run. “Fuck!” I cry, dropping the wheelbarrow handles entirely and taking off at a sprint, my hand on my hat so I don’t lose it.

I’m a decent distance away from the nearest fence, but I head in that direction, running as fast as I can. But I’ve never been a strong runner. I was always that bitch that huffed and puffed on the treadmill after a minute of powerwalking, cursing every step. Not to mention the struggle of finding a good sports bra that kept my tatas from hitting me in the face. Running in a gym though? Boring. Terrible. The worst ever. Running for your life? Completely different experience. I’m not thinking about how terrible running is now. I’m thinking about the sharp ass horns on the bull’s head.

I can hear the bull closing in as I pant and try my best to get away. When I glance over my shoulder, I realize he’s close as fuck now and there’s no way I can outrun him. Ninny is standing on the wheelbarrow now, munching on hay, being a fucking traitor as she watches her friend run me down. I’m going to die. Fuck, I’m going to die! I was wrong. The bull is an asshole. Clearly, he’s not misunderstood at all. He’s just a fucking devil cow!

When someone leaps over the fence in front of me, still forty feet away with the bull closing in on my ass, I expect Dakota or even Wiley to be coming to my rescue. I certainly don’t expect Levi’s angry face as he grabs me and drags me toward the fence faster than I can run. My legs struggle to keep up, my chest burning with the exertion of running in the first place. When I trip and slow him down, he literally lifts me over his shoulder and runs. It gives me a good image of the bull closing in on us.

“Go!” I scream, slapping at his ass to get him to move faster. “He’s coming!”

Levi is big and I’ve known he’s strong, but he runs with me thrown over his shoulder like it’s the easiest thing in the world. He doesn’t pant. He doesn’t grunt under my weight. He just runs. When we reach the fence, he practically throws me over it without any sort of warning. My hat goes flying off, falling in the dirt. I’m not quick enough to catch myself and end up falling down on my hands and knees, panting from my own attempted run, sucking in great gulps of air to try and steady my facing heart. Levi launches himself over the fence and lands on his boots beside me just as the bull gets up to the fence and bellows aggressively, pissed that we escaped. He paws at the dirt and shakes his horns, snorting at us as if reminding us of who the real alpha is. If not for Levi, he would have definitely gotten me. I’m a fucking idiot.

Christ, I didn’t realize he would be so aggressive. None of the other cows are so mean, not even the new moms. I’d thought he would ignore me like he has every other day but apparently all bets are off once you’re in his pasture. Ninny bleats happily from the wheelbarrow. I suppose at least she’s grateful for the hay, even if it wasn’t meant for her.

I turn toward Levi, prepared to thank him in between catching my breath, only to find him doubled over, wincing in pain as he stretches out his back. It’s the first time I’ve seen him show any sort of discomfort, let alone pain, and I frown.

“Are you ok?—”

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” he snarls, straightening as he realizes I’m looking at him. “I told you to stay out of that pasture!”

“I—”

“You could have fucking died! Didn’t I tell you that bull was no good?” he continues to shout, his hands gesturing to the bull watching us on the other side of the fence. He paws at the ground and snorts, tilting his horns toward us as if waiting for an opportunity to fuck one of us up. Though he aims his horns more clearly at Levi.

“I didn’t know?—”

“You don’t fucking know anything!” he bellows, not much different from the bull on then other side of the fence. “You don’t belong here! Go home! Before you get yourself killed!”

I flinch, the words slamming into me so hard, I nearly stumble under them.

“I thought I was doing okay?—”

“City girls don’t belong out here!” he continues, so angry his face is turning red. “You’re going to get yourself or someone else killed. You should know better by now when someone tells you not to do something that you shouldn’t fucking do it!”

“I didn’t know!” I shout back, my own anger flaring. I’d made a mistake, yes, but he’s not even giving me a chance to speak, let alone apologize. I realize I’d acted without knowing all the facts, but I couldn’t have known how aggressive the bull was if no one told me. No one told me a damn thing about a killer demon cow! “It’s not my fault you don’t tell me shit! You could have explained! You don’t tell me anything at all! So fuck you!” I spit, not knowing what else to do. My fight or flight is triggered, and this hulking asshole doesn’t deserve flight.

So, fight it is.

“I shouldn’t have to explain that!” he growls. “It’s common fucking sense, which you clearly have none of.” He leans in close. “Go back home, city girl. This place isn’t for you.”

My face twists. “Just because you have a stick up your ass doesn’t mean I have to have one, too!” I snarl. I glance over the wheelbarrow still on the other side where Ninny works her way through the hay. “I’ll ask Wiley to help me get my wheelbarrow back. You can go on and be an asshole somewhere else. I won’t bother you again.” I lift my chin. “Next time, just leave me out there if all you’re gonna say is I told you so.”

I snatch my hat off the ground and then I storm off, angry, leaving the asshole there to stare after me. I can’t deal with him right now. I can’t deal with him ever.

The bull watches me leave and bellows after me, as if rubbing it in my face.

“Fuck you, too,” I growl, going to find Wiley instead.