Page 36 of The Rescue

Cruz, the youngest of my brothers, pops his head in between his two elders and gives me a gentle, warm smile. Cruz is the wild and crazy one, he’s hard to pinpoint at any given time. He’s always off doing something or someone. He’s such a playboy, he’s always talking about his ‘buckle bunnies’ that follow him around at rodeos. He’s well known in the rodeo community as one of the best bronco riders in the state.

My heart squeezes in my chest, I miss them so much. My three older brothers are the only thing I miss about Tennessee, that and the beautiful landscape of Dusty Mills Ranch. I do miss the ranch sometimes. I miss being able to take one of the horses out of the barns and taking it for a ride through the many fields of wildflowers or through the creeks, stopping to have a swim in the summer months. The Dusty Mills Ranch is a slice of paradise. Seedville, the little town closest to the ranch, I don’t miss at all. A town like Seedville makes you rotten to the core, especially if you’re a woman. The typical southern women sipping their sweet tea and spreading rumours is not my idea of fun. I’m the only one from my high school who left Seedville, all of my ‘friends’ stayed and now have husbands and children of their own now.

Now they sit with their friends just like their mama’s did, sipping sweet tea and gossip till the sun sets. I was always different in their eyes, with my heavy makeup and wild, messy hair. That made me the centre of their rumour mill, and the butt of every joke. There would be many times we’d hang out in groups and one of the boys would pretend to like me, and when I’d get giddy and excited they’d reveal it was a joke, and everyone would snicker and laugh at how gullible I was that I could believe anyone one in that town would be interested in me. Their mean girl energy left a bitter taste in my mouth about the town, and I couldn’t wait to get far away from that place.

It’s a sight to see them all squish in close together, my large three older brothers huddling together.

“Cain, quit breathing so loud, I can’t hear her,” Cruz nudges him in the side.

“Shut up, Cruz. You idiot,” Cain slaps him on the back of the head.

“Who you calling an idiot?”

“Ladies, stop your bitchin,” Creed smirks trying to defuse the argument but makes it worse by calling them ladies.

“Shut up, pretty boy,” Cain and Cruz say in unison.

I sit there and watch them bicker like little children, and find it very amusing. The Clark brothers fight constantly, but if there’s one thing I know, they are fiercely loyal to each other and very protective over me – their little sister. After the little tiff was over, my brothers settle in and start asking a million questions. The first and most important one to them.

“Are you behaving yourself?” Cain asks, with a small smirk on his mouth.

They all eye me suspiciously, and I give them a sickly sweet smile and flip them the bird. My brothers know this question grinds my gears, and they all like to ask it to me before any other question. It’s usually the first question my mama asks me, thator some unwanted comment about my appearance. They like to stir the pot because they know the type of relationship I have with our mama. They try to make light of the situation.

It’s double standards because my brothers are allowed to go and sow their wild oats before they settle down, which none of them have yet. But, me being a female, I’m considered loose and should’ve had a litter of pups by now. I’m twenty-five and I haven’t even lived my life yet. I graduated from college a year ago, to my mom’s dislike. She didn’t even want me to go to college in the first place.

“What’s Scotland like?” Creed asks.

“It’s okay, I’m in a small town called Crossmackie. It’s smaller than Seedville.” I tell my brothers.

Seedville has a population of about five hundred people, so it’s easy to know everyone’s business. Crossmackie is about half that, and I can see now how easy it is to get caught up in idle gossip here.

“Wow, that must be driving you crazy now you’re a city slicker,” Cruz teases.

My brothers also like to remind me that I’m a city slicker now, because I hardly go back to the ranch, only when I have to, like at Christmas. I feel the sting from the guilt, it’s not because of them that I don’t like to go back. I’m anticipating a conversation with my mama at some point, I know she’s there. The anxiety starts to kick in, and I unconsciously pick at skin around my nails.

My brothers and I chat for a little while, and I’m fully caught up on details about the ranch, and Cruz’s multiple wild nights at the rodeo. I’m so deep in conversation with my brother’s that I don’t hear the door to the flat close, or Rabbie coming into the living room.

“Hey, you didn’t come down for lunch, so I brought you a sandwich,” he comes in, but stops dead in his tracks when he realises I’m on a FaceTime call with my brothers.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” he raises his hand, he turns to leave.

“Who’s that?” My three brothers clamber over each other to try and get a good look at Rabbie in the background. I block their view by moving my head closer to the camera just to annoy them.

“Move your big head Crystal,” Cain tries to hold some authority over me.

I smile because I’m clearly getting under their skin even all the way from Scotland. I move my head out of the way so they can see Rabbie standing behind me.

“This is Rabbie, he’s the cafe owner who hired me to make the website for his business,” I tell my overprotective brothers.

“Well, what’s he doing bringing you a sandwich?” Cain questions.

“He’s just being nice, I’m staying with him whilst I’m here.”

“Woah, woah. Hold on,” Creed pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Not like that, he has a spare room. Jesus,” I roll my eyes at my brothers.

I look back at Rabbie who is finding this amusing, he doesn’t seem at all intimidated by my three large brothers. He walks over and places a firm hand on my shoulder and places the sandwich down next to my laptop. His hand on my shoulder is setting my whole body on fire, and I’m trying my best not to lose my cool in front of my brothers. Rabbie leans in so close I can smell his musky scent and I try my best not to close my eyes and take in a deep breath cause that would be fucking embarrassing.

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