Page 85 of Close Quarters

“Whatever. My question is still the same.”

“It took us almost a full day to realize the back line of the pens was damaged as bad as it was,” Max said, his nose wrinkling. “I’m real glad I’m not the one in charge of checking on that sort of thing. Mona was seething.”

“I’m…not sure I want to see what Mona seething looks like,” I admitted, and even Reno grunted his affirmation. It had been a couple of weeks since I’d caught him and Mona hanging out on the porch of the Big House together, having what looked like one hell of a heart-to-heart. He hadn’t spoken of it, and it wasn’t my business to start with, especially considering nothing seemed to come of it.

Whatever they’d talked about didn’t seem to have changed much regarding his opinion and behavior toward her, at least not openly. There was something different between them, but it was hard to put a name to it. Whatever it was, the two of them were normal, but there was something…respectful between them.

“Oh, it’s perfectly fine to be around her when she’s like that,” Max explained, then grinned the most evil grin I’d ever seen. “Not so fine if you’re the reason she’s pissed off, though.”

“A good thing I’m the sort of person that inspires happiness and comfort in others,” I said, ignoring Reno when he gave the ugliest of snorts. For someone who liked to give me shit about not being funny, his jokes weren’t any better.

“Yeah, a good thing,” Max said dryly, smirking with Reno.

“Assholes,” I sniffed, turning away to pay attention to my horse instead. “You’re not a shithead like these two, are you Buttercup?”

“His name is Coyote,” Max told me, and I didn’t have to look at him to know he was rolling his eyes.

“Looks like a Buttercup to me.”

“That’s because you didn’t see him thrash the group of coyotes that came into the barn when he was only a colt.”

“Seriously? And they gave him to Elliot?” Reno asked in a dubious voice, but it was a sign that I’d been around him long enough to know he was genuinely worried. While still kind of insulting, at least it came from a decent place.

Max snorted. “Coyote is a good boy. Gentle as can be with people and other farm animals. He was defending the other foals in the barn at the time. As far as he’s concerned, no one’s going to fuck with what he considers his.”

Considering I wasn’t precisely sure what a horse would or wouldn’t consider ‘his,’ I wasn’t exactly sure if I should be thrilled by his explanation. All the horses I’d been exposed to at the ranch had been calm and friendly, but I knew quite a few animals had to be separated because they weren’t. Then again, Max was the one in charge of the care and training of those animals, so really, I just had to trust that if he said it was okay, then it was, even if I wasn’t all that sold on the reasoning.

“Anyway, it makes sense that you might need to stay out there. You don’t want to go wandering around at night,” Max continued, stepping back.

I glanced at Reno, not caring that my surprise was probably blatant. “Seriously? We’re?—”

“More than capable of handling yourselves, I hope,” Max finished, watching me.

“I’m sure we can manage not to die horribly,” Reno added, his brow furrowed.

“Good,” Max grunted and then frowned. “And speaking of. We haven’t had any reports lately, nothing significant, but don’t let your guard down out there. Mr. Isaiah works pretty hard with the other ranches in the area to ensure this county is clear of drug runners, but keep an eye out all the same.”

“Yeah, we know,” I said with a sigh. I knew I didn’t have the world’s greatest memory, but I thought it might be a little hard to forget the repeated warning. Everyone knew to keep an eye out for the drug runners. No one wanted to deal with cartel members when they were unarmed and didn’t know what they were doing. “This is not news to us.”

“Look, I know you have issues assessing a problem properly…” Max began seriously, only to be cut off by Reno clearing his throat.

“He’s bad at deciding if he should pants Dom in the middle of a serious conversation about work safety, but he’s more than smart enough to realize that mean assholes with a gun aren’t to be fucked with,” Reno told him.

That made me grin. Dom was officially plotting revenge for that little joke. Telling him he should blame his genetics for being called ‘Big Hog’ wasn’t really helping much. “I have earned that bit of revenge. But it’ll be worth it.”

“And I’m not saving him when the day of retribution comes,” Reno said with a shake of his head as if he hadn’t been laughing later when we were alone.

“Worth it,” I repeated.

“Whatever the case,” Max said with a touch of the old irritation we were all used to hearing from him. “Just watch your asses out there. And don’t get bit by anything.”

“Yes, because I’m a toddler with a death wish,” I snarked.

“That’s redundant,” Reno said.

I frowned at him. “I…what do you know about kids?”

He snorted. “You serious? I was one of the only people in my neighborhood who didn’t have kids by nineteen.”

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