Page 4 of Wrangling the Orc Cowboy

How mortifying it would be to tell him I was messing up the important task I'd been given. Meanwhile, his fake jail looked amazing, and he'd made up these cute little fliers for our future customers offering tours and even pretend arrests—something that stunned me at first. Why would anyone want to pay to be placed behind bars? But the idea was sound. We had guests scheduled for our grand opening week already, and most of them had signed up for the jailhouse offerings, proving he was right.

Guests who would probably cancel if they saw my social media failure.

“Did you need something?” I asked, trying to sound as casual as him.

Probably also failing at that.

He didn’t speak, just stared like he was trying to figure something out about me. Eventually, he let out a breath and straightened. “We’re running low on grain for the sorhoxes. I sent a request to town already. They’ll deliver tomorrow and I’ll make sure they fill your silo too.”

“Thanks.”

“I didn't stop by to see you about that, though. I wanted to see if you'd hired that social media expert yet.” His eyes flicked away from mine.

Damn,hadhe seen my post? He was savvier about this than me. Savvier about everything when compared to me.

“I plan to.” After my mess-up, Ihadto. I really was bad at this. Could someone help? Actually,anythingwould help. I'd hit the bottom and there was nowhere left to go but up.

Dungar's eyes narrowed, and he nodded, though he didn’t seem convinced. “Good. Those humans online—they’re good at making…connections. I think that's the word. I see them talk about food and shoes and, I don’t know, sky things.”

In the orc kingdom, far below the Earth's surface, there was no sky like we'd found here. We lived in enormous caverns, and there were various species of orcs, just like there were all kinds of humans. But our “sky” was the cavern roof speckled with tiny insects that glowed like stars. No sun, a bright, burning mass in the sky that had stunned me at first. The blinding thing almost didn't feel right, though I was getting used to it after a few months on the surface.

Not long ago, an orc went exploring far beyond our caverns. He’d stumbled out into this amazing surface world and even met humans. When he returned, our king formed a treaty withsurface governments. Now orcs were moving here, setting up businesses. Finding mates.

“Anyway.” Dungar stood and brushed his hands on his jeans. “If you need something, you know where I am.”

I grunted, a non-committal sound that served its purpose. He stepped forward and rubbed his knuckles on my shoulder, and I rose and did the same, fighting to drag up a grin. To look casual and relaxed and even happy—none of which I was. His knuckling sign of affection would be reassuring if it didn’t remind me how much I was disappointing him and the others.

After he’d left, I sat and stared at the table, listening to the thud of his sorhox's hooves fading into the whirring hum of evening. The house quieted, but the pain in my chest didn’t go away. If anything, it wound deeper, squeezing the air out of me.

Funny how small a big old orc like me could feel at a time like this.

Reaching for the phone, I flipped it back over like I might find something different this time, some forgotten hope among the cruel comments. Of course, there was nothing. Only an empty spot where my post had been, plus the echoes of laughter ringing in my mind.

“Help.” The word left a sour taste in my mouth. Orcs were raised to fix things with their hands, to solve problems with swords and persistence. Asking outsiders was like admitting failure. But this time, I couldn’t see any other way out of the mess I’d created.

Podar sauntered back into the room and sat on the floor beside me, looking up and studying my face. With a soft cry, he leaped, landing square on my lap again. He braced his front paws on my chest and rubbed his face against mine, over and over. Comforting me as only my furry friend could.

My throat tightened so much I could barely breathe. My eyes stung as I patted him until he settled in a ball on my lap.

“I can fix this,” I whispered. “I just need to do it fast.”

I opened my mail-of-the-E and scrolled down to the reply I'd received after enthusiastically reaching out to one of the flu-encers I saw on one of the apps. She seemed so comfortable in her role in life, her skin, and whatever might be thrown her way. The information below her picture indicated she could manage social media for others, which was why I'd sent her a mail-of-the-E. I already had approval from my brothers for this. They'd expected me to get things started but then hand this part of our operation over to someone else. Once tourists started arriving, all of us would be busy with trail rides, rodeo events, bonfires with stories and mallows-of-the-marsh that I hoped didn't taste like moldy grass.

I took a moment to admire her image, a pretty woman standing on a rocky overlook, smiling at the horizon like she knew something wonderful out there was hers for the taking. Long dark hair framed her face, and her brown eyes held a spark of curiosity that couldn’t be faked.

That spark in her eyes fascinated me. It wasn’t the forced brightness I’d seen in other humans. It was something different, natural, like she’d seen the good and the bad of this world and still found a way to love it. The thought turned sour almost as quickly as it hit me. What did I know about human women? Sure, Jessi and Rosey were amazing. Beautiful, and sweet to my brothers, plus kind to me. But I'd barely talked with them. What could I say that wouldn't give away the fact that I was big and awkward and clumsy and…pretending to be something I wasn't?

If I talked too much to them, they'd see right away that my confidence was a façade as unreal as the false fronts on our recreated buildings in town. That my smile masked the turmoil boiling below my green skin.

For all I knew, this wasn’t her real image. She could be using a fake thing to catch attention, like humans sometimes did.

She could be also married. Mated. Though, that didn’t matter. I was also a fool for gazing at her and dreaming when she was probably someone else’s dream already. I wasn’t hiring her for her appearance. If she took on this job, she'd come here to save me from the disaster I’d created.

With fingers too big for the keyboard, I tapped at the screen. I kept my message short and careful. No bumbling around and messing this up as well.

I read it three times, then five times more.

Request for Social Media Assistance

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