Page 7 of His to Keep

“I’m going to have to. He’s not going away, and neither is my damn love for the fine-as-hell cowboy. I guess I should consider myself lucky he didn’t wear his cowboy hat today. I’d have left a pile of drool in my wake,” I admit. She lets out a snort of laughter.

“Sienna, hate to tell you this, but you’re drooling now talking about him. Now quit being a weenie and text him.” Twice now Genny has called me on my drama.

“I will, later. After I design some pieces.” My thoughts go haywire yet again, thinking about every little thing that could go wrong.

“Absolutely not. Do it right now while I’m watching. I love you, and I also know you won’t do it later. Another excuse will come up, and then it’ll be another day wasted.” She means business—one leg is propped outward, tapping away.

“Fine, drill sergeant, I’ll text him now.” I pull out my phone, unlock the device, pull up the text messages app, and type his name in as the recipient. I haven’t texted him in so long, it would take me days of scrolling to find him.

Me: Hey, do you have a few minutes to talk later tonight?

“Look, it’s done. Can we get to work now?” I give her a quick flash of my lit-up screen. Trey hasn’t responded, and I don’t expect him to right away. Yet, my heart does a little thump that he may not respond at all.

“Yes, let’s get to work.” Genny drops her cup to the table and claps her hands together. An excited little grin crosses her face. I shake my head. At least now we can get to work. One thing is for sure: I’m going to keep my phone far away, or I’ll be tempted to check it every minute of every hour.

SEVEN

TREY

I followed Sienna to a warehouse, hanging back so she wouldn’t know it was me. Once she grabbed the bags, used her hip to shut the door, and scurried her way into the building, I took off. A stop at the grocery store to pick up a laundry list of items for Mom and a few essentials for my place, namely coffee, bacon, and lunch-type shit. The chickens supply the eggs, and breakfast is about the only thing I cook on the weekends. Mom will have dinner on Sundays with the whole family, which leaves Friday and Saturday night where I have to fend for myself. I’ll either grab a bite to eat in town or pick up a pizza and eat it at home. While Mom made sure all of her boys knew how to cook, I don’t see the point in it for one person. Hell, I’ll even go over to Ryland’s, hang with Case, mooch off him, and then head back home. We’re the last two standing out of the six of us. Ryland being a single dad and protective of his boy makes dating near impossible. Those are his words. Any of us would take Case at a drop of a hat if Ry wanted to go out for any reason.

Once I dropped my shit off at the house, I drove up to the main house to bring all of Mom’s groceries into the kitchen. I’m not sure what she has up her sleeve, but there sure were a lot of ingredients she doesn’t normally buy. Which leads me to here, driving down the road, heading back to Amos’ place for the second time today. I’ll be glad when this shit is done and settled, the bison will be where they belong, and we won’t have to do all this back-and-forth bullshit. Not including coming over here. That’s going to be the nature of the beast regardless. Amos has more freed up land, pastures are already fenced in, there are plenty of water sources and for them to eat till their heart's content. All the blood, sweat, and tears will be worth it. Hell, Amos will probably have the magic touch with the National Bison Association. In all honesty, I’m beginning to think they have it out for me or my last name. The only reason holding me back from voicing my opinion is other rumors, which make it sound like it’s like this for everyone. A guy walking into the building while I walked out grumbled about this being his third time coming back and he’s about ready to hire an attorney to deal with them. I’m not sure what’s true and what’s not, but Amos taking this off my hands will make my life a fuck of a lot easier, that’s for damn sure.

My truck navigates around the bend in the road, and the big white farmhouse comes into view. Every few years, Amos and Sienna will repaint the house, she’ll add new plants in front of the railing and then rope Amos into adding something to the landscaping. He’ll do whatever her little heart desires and then get pissed when one of the wild animals wreaks havoc on it.

“What the hell,” I mumble under my breath. Amos is standing by his truck, arms resting on the side, and he’s looking out over the plains. I’d put my foot to the pedal, but all that will do is stir up dust and piss Amos off. He’d have to grade it, and while doing it, he’d cuss me up and down. My phone pings from somewhere in my truck, the noise taking away my attention for a moment. I tossed it in the backseat after loading up the groceries, and I’m sure it’s now under the seat.

I slide my truck beside Amos’ and throw it in Park, not bothering to take the keys out of the ignition, instead choosing to keep the truck running. Now look at me, pulling a damn Sienna from earlier.

“Everything okay?” I check the bed of the truck, expecting something worse with the way he’s deep in thought.

“Yep, taking off for a few days. I’m going to get a hotel in the city, do a little bit of gambling, and take care of the paperwork. I haven’t left this farm for more than a day since my parents passed. Takin’ you up on that offer. Hope you’re good with staying here.” Amos finishes on a long sigh. I’ve told him countless times over the years to get away, do something for himself, we’d take care of everything. He wouldn’t allow it, not even when Sienna was away at college. Now she’s home, off doing whatever it is she has going on, and Amos looks to be at his breaking point. Mom likes to call it burn out from working too much. Dad says it’s time to get away when Mom gets the lost look in her eyes. They head up to the cabin for the weekend, and both come back refreshed.

“It’s about fuckin’ time. How long you been waiting to ask? Months, years, a damn decade?” I grunt out the question. Amos doesn’t respond for a beat. I sit in silence with my best friend. He’ll figure out what he’s going to say. In the meantime, I prop myself up on the side of the truck and make a plan of my own. My thoughts have a mind of their own, thinking about being under the same roof as Sienna for a night, let alone a few. Never when we were together before did I have the option to see her in the morning light. Looks like I’ll be getting the chance to now, and maybe she’ll even drop more than her towel for me. Maybe she’ll drop the shield she’s been using to keep me away.

“Too damn long. You good to stay here for a week?” Amos asks.

“You could take a month, and I’d do this for you.” We look at one another. He lifts his chin, appreciating what I’m doing for him.

“Then I’m out of here. I’ll shoot Sienna a text to let her know. She should be home around eight or so. Don’t expect dinner. Whatever she’s doing lately has her leaving early in the morning and coming home late at night.” Him giving me this intel is fucking with my head. Before, he’d keep Sienna under lock and key. Right now, he’s being a wealth of information. Which is damn odd.

“Alright, we’ll figure shit out. I’ve got her number, and she’s got mine.”

“Yeah, and you think she’s gonna pick up for you. She barely answers my calls. We’ve resorted to texts. You and I are a lot alike, being tethered to a damn device while waiting for an answer,” Amos grumbles.

“We’ll be fine, one way or the other. You heading out?” I ask.

“Yep, loaded up. The animals are good until this evening. You know what to do, you know who to call. Anyone but me.” Amos is really doing this, thank fuck. The man is liable to work himself into an early grave.

“Got that right. Have a good time. I’ll go home real quick, grab what I need to, and come back over. The house unlocked?” He nods his head. His hand comes out for me to shake, and I pull him in for a hug.

“Have fun. Don’t worry too much,” I say as we pull apart.

“Good luck.” We each head to our trucks, loading ourselves in the driver’s seat, and I follow him down the road. When we reach the end, he goes left, and my phone ringing stops me from going right. I slam my truck in Park. No way I’ll be able to search for it while driving down the road. A quick search, and I find it on the floorboard of the passenger seat. Fucker must have slid a long way to get there.

I glance at the screen and see a missed call from JW. I also see a text from Sienna.

Sienna: Hey, do you have a few minutes to talk later tonight?

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