Page 80 of Burned & Bound

“Where’d you go this morning?” I asked.

“I wanted to check on Betty before getting all the horses ready,” West said.That tracked.Honestly, I probably should’ve assumed he was with the horses instead of avoiding me. Granted, he had a history of using the horses to avoid me so the thought wasn’t completely unfounded. “Turns out Betty likes cows more than she likes horses.”

“Because why the hell would we have one normal fucking animal on this farm,” Imuttered.

“And the cows seem to like her.”

“Not surprised.”

“They aren’t the only ones who seemed to like her.” His lips quirked, and I had a sinking feeling I wouldn’t like what he said next.

“What the fuck happened?”

“How do we feel about Zeus doing his thing with Betty?” West asked.

“Jesus fucking Christ.” I ran a hand over my face. I knew we were heading into breeding season with the horses, but usually, I didn’t have to worry about anything. Most of the horses were mares, and the few stallions I did have didn’t seem to give a fuck. “And you didn’t fucking separate them?”

“The next time that beast fucking mounts a mare, I’ll let you come in and tackle him off her,” he retorted dryly. “No, I wasn’t about to fucking interrupt that shit. I like all my body parts where they are, thank you very much.”

“Fuck.” I sighed. “Fine, I’ll let the vet know to take a look at her too. Jesus fuck. New rule, keep Zeus away from Betty. And all of Betty’s friends.”

“Betty’s friends are cows. Are we worried about him fucking cows now too?” West teased. “Lock up your heifers now, cowboy.”

“Don’t you fucking start with that shit.” Somehow, with my luck on this goddamn ranch, Zeus would do exactly that. I’d end up on the front of some science fucking magazine with cow-horse babies. I didn’t need that bullshit. “Come on. We got shit to do.”

Fishing my keys out of my pocket, I headed toward my truck.

“Where are we going?”

“The sperm bank,” I called over my shoulder.

“Thewhat?” he exclaimed. I just laughed but didn’t stop, forcing him to run after me.

CHAPTER 54

west

You could’ve said itwas for bull sperm,” I said.

“It ain’t my fault you assumed something else,” Jackson replied, that shit-eating grin on his face widening. I walked alongside him down a sidewalk in Eugene. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been to this city. Sure, it was the biggest city near Double Arrow, but we rarely visited it.

And yet, the city wasn’t the weirdest part about the whole damn thing. It was the fact that the container Jackson carried had several vials of bull sperm in them.

“You could’ve fucking said something sooner,” I retorted.

“I could’ve, but it was funnier this way.”Jackass.“I figured after we meet up with Beau, we could go get lunch or whatever. We’ve got the whole day. Mickey’s taking over everything for me. I didn’t feel like rushing back if I didn’t have to.”

Beau Abernathy was a businessman through and through. The exact nature of his business always eluded me. When asked, his answer had always been the same: he did a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Anyone in the ranch business knew who he was, though I wasn’t sureanyone actually knew what Beau did. It just came down to what did you need from Beau or what did Beau need from you.

In this case, apparently, he needed bull sperm from Jackson.

“How the hell did you get hooked up with Beau Abernathy anyhow?” I asked.

“About fifteen years ago, my dad ended our bull breeding program,” he explained. “Harrison wasn’t holding up his weight where the bulls were concerned, and my dad couldn’t keep doing it all. But, he didn’t stop collecting samples—though, he kept that from Harrison. After my dad died, I found out he had an account at the bank here in Eugene. It was more meant for backup income if needed. I have all the certifications for each vial. Every now and then I sell a handful off to keep the ranch going.”

“How often are you selling them off?”

“More so recently than I used to,” Jackson told me, his answer vague as fuck. I frowned. Again, I found myself wondering how bad off the ranch was. I wasn’t blind to some of the shit going on, but I also knew Jackson. He was proud—sometimes to a fault. He always had been. There was a good chance things were much worse than he was letting on. “Anyway, Beau’s decided to get into the bull riding business. He’s opening a top-of-the-line training facility up on the Washington border. I’ve seen it. It’s fucking incredible. I would’ve killed to learn at a place like that when I was younger.”

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