Page 1 of Property of Rio

PROLOGUE

Rafe, age 10

“C’mon, Issy, Sheba had her foal last night,” I call out to my best friend and neighbor, Isla. She’s eight, now, and we’ve both been excited to see what color Sheba’s colt was going to be. She’s a gold champagne quarter horse and my dad studded her with our black Arabian stallion.

I have my shotgun slung over my shoulder since Paps told me he’d seen coyotes running around, especially early in the morning. With the fog all around, I didn’t want to take any chances of one of those bastards catching me and Issy off guard.

“I’m coming, I’m coming! Your legs are longer than mine,” Issy exclaims through panted breath, running to catch up to me. I hear something scurrying through the foliage and grab her arm to stop her forward movement.

“Issy, stop,” I quietly say with a rattled hiss, pulling my shotgun from its resting place so it sits snugly on my shoulder. “Don’t move a muscle.” I pull the trigger, bracing for the recoil as Issy waits beside me. When I can hear again through the ringing inmy ears, I point about a yard away from where we’re standing. “He was about to strike.”

Her eyes grow wide as we both stare at the huge, coiled rattlesnake that’s now in two blasted pieces. “You saved me, Rafe,” she whispers, her voice trembling.

“I’ll always save you, Issy. I promise.”

Rafe, age 13

“You did well today, Issy,” I say as I walk over to the trailer where she’s helping to load up her horse, Starlight. She won first place in her age group for barrel racing, while I took second in bronco riding. Granted, I wasn’t sure I’d even be able to stay on the damn horse; he was mean as hell, that’s for sure. But as Paps tells me all the time, I’ve got a stubborn streak a mile wide.

“Yeah, she did,” Gage states, grinning. He rides too and placed third overall in the roping event. He’s been practicing on the smaller bulls on the ranch because he wants to become a professional bull rider and aspires of becoming a star on the circuit.

Not me; eventually, I’ll take my place with KOAMC as a prospect then a patched member. I know Paps is hoping I’ll move up the ranks at some point, but that remains to be seen. I can’t possibly know what I wanna be when I’m only thirteen.

Gage is a new friend in our trio of misfits. We met on the rodeo circuit about two years ago, give or take. While my paps is the current president of the West Texas chapter of the Kings of Anarchy MC, one of the businesses the club runs is a horse ranch. We host rodeos and own prize studs and mares that are part of our breeding program. While I’m nowhere near ready tobe part of the club, I’ve learned to listen and know that the ranch is one of the more legitimate ways the club earns money.

Still, it allows me to ride a horse and also spend time with Issy since her dad’s part of the club too. Gage’s mom is a buckle bunny on the rodeo circuit, but he lives with my family now after my paps found out she was putting her son in harm’s way. Again, not something I’m supposed to know, but I’ve found that being in the right place at the right time gives me information I shouldn’t have otherwise.

“Are we gonna grab some food before we watch the finals?” Issy asks once she has Starlight secured in her trailer with a full feed sack and some water in the transport trough. She carefully closes the back gate of the trailer, slides the bolt into place and locks it, slipping the key into her front pocket.

“I want one of those Italian sausage things. Been smelling them all day long,” Gage says.

“That sounds good,” I reply. “But I know no matter what we eat, Issy’s gonna want a powdered sugar funnel cake, right?” I tease.

She grins at me while looping her arm through mine. “You know me so well, Rafe. Now, c’mon, let’s go so we can get good seats.”

I scoff because wealwayssit in a prime location. It’s part of the perks of hosting the rodeo at the Triple R, the ranch my family owns which is also home to our chapter of the KOAMC. Still, as we walk through the crowds, I see some cuts I don’t recognize as ours and instinctively pull Issy closer to me.

“What the fuck are they doing here?” Gage asks, keeping his voice low. “They don’t normally come down this far since they’re out of Arizona, right?”

He’s right. We might not be in the club per se, but Paps believes forewarned is forearmed, and since we’re on the rodeo circuit, he’s made sure we know of any enemies the club might have. They’re apparently a newer club or something, and while the KOAMC isn’t exactly made up of choirboys and such, there are certain lines none of the chapters will cross.

“We need to find your paps,” Issy whispers. “Because I recognize that one on the left. He was paying a lot of attention to me earlier. Gave me the creeps.”

“Let’s go then and tell Paps,” I mutter, noting everything about the asshole who bothered Issy. I promised her a long time ago I’d always protect her and while I might not be a man yet, I have some good ones at my back who will help me keep that vow.

Rafe, age 18

“You look so official now, Rafe,” Issy says as she looks at my prospect cut. “But I guess I have to remember to call you Rio when I’m around the club, huh?”

I snicker since I suspect she won’t do that, but it doesn’t really matter to me. Issy can call me whatever she wants. She’s my best friend and maybe someday, when we’re both a lot older, she’ll be more. Right now, though, we’re just friends. I don’t want to get into any trouble and draw the law’s eyes on the club. I know I won’t know everything the club is into until I have my full back patch, but having grown up surrounded by the members, I know enough.

“It’s okay if you forget, Issy,” I tell her. “Wanna go practice?”

She grins at me and nods. “I’m so glad Paps decided to keep the barrels up year-round, Rafe. It makes it easier for me to stay on top of things.”

“Your times are really good too,” I remind her. “You should win the circuit this year.”

“From your lips to God’s ears,” she teases as we walk down to the barn so she can saddle up Starlight for a few practice rounds.

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