Page 23 of Peaches

Kasey sighs, scrubbing a hand across his jaw. “We need to do morning rounds,” he says quietly. His eyes are heavy, and it’s only now that I notice the bruising beneath them, a clear sign of his exhaustion. He looks at me before tilting his head. “Let’s go.”

I cast a quick glance at Brooks and watch him stride toward the far wall, his shoulders hunched. He’s on edge in the worst of ways, and a knot lodges itself right into my throat with worry. Wells is still watching him too, letting out a quick “I’ll be out there in a bit” before pushing off the wall to stand in Brooks’s path, his hands out wide to put a stop to his pacing.

Kasey’s hand presses against my shoulder. “Come on,” he says. “We have a lot to do.”

I turn to him and nod, eager to get the hell out of his house.

I follow Kasey through the front door, and as he wraps his coat around his shoulders, I bite the bullet. “What happened?”

He sighs, tipping his cowboy hat down his brow. “Melody spiked a high fever last night, and Brooks took her back to the hospital. Things just keep getting worse for her, and there’s not much the doctors are doing other than flushing her full of meds to keep her comfortable. And you know Brooks is dead set on getting her better . . . I guess he got loud enough with a doctor that they made him leave. Gave him a security escort and everything. Told him he could come back after he cooled off.”

“Shit.” My breath whooshes out of me, fogging the pre-dawn air. Brooks must have been pretty riled up if they made him leave his sick wife.

“Yeah.” He nods. “Mom’s there with her now, and I’m sure Brooks will head back soon. But . . .” He looks up toward the sky, squinting at the dreary clouds. “I’m starting to think things aren’t going to end well, Rhett. I think—I think they’re going to get really fucking hard, and we need to do whatever we can for Brooksandthis ranch.”

He looks at me, and I feel it before it comes. The shot he’s about to fire.

“We need you here.Ineed you here. And I’ll tell you this: the last thinganyoneneeds is you getting into trouble.”

“Do I look hungover to you?” I ask.

Kasey does a double take. “No.”

I nod. “Because I’m not. I’m not fucking around, Kase.”

“Then where have you been going? Just this week, you’ve been out more than you’ve been home.”

I crack my knuckles and take a breath to stave off the frustration. “What does it matter?”

Kasey takes an assertive step toward me, pointing a finger in my chest. “You think I don’t know Ellis is setting some shit up? You think I don’t know all the ways you can end up in trouble, Rhett? Most likely either behind bars ordead. Whether it’s cards or booze or fuckingpills, I told you to keep your nose clean and stay away from all that shit, and?—”

“I’m not doing anything!” I shout. “I already told Colt I’m not going to that game, Kasey. And I haven’t touched pills in almost a year. I barely fucking drink.Jesus. Whether you believe me or not, I’ve been keeping out of trouble. You’re just always so sure that I’m going to fuck something up?—”

“Because you always do,” he spits out, his eyes near wild. “Do you know how many times this family has had to save your ass from the shit you cause?”

I shake my head, blood damn near boiling. I can hear my pulse pounding through my ears, and I know that if I don’t walk away now, I’m going to do something I’ll regret. I don’t know how to make him understand that I’m doing my best.

“Rhett!” Kasey calls behind me.

“Fuck you,” I throw back, heading for the building behind the house that serves as a tack shed and makeshift office for the ranch. Kasey’s the one who’s been overseeing most of the daily operations lately, but I’m not interested in letting him lead me today.

I check the calendar that always sits open on the desk and see that we have two horses scheduled to come in from a private ranch in Dallas that likes to send us horses for training. The farrier will be here tomorrow morning, which means a lot of prep work to not only get the new horses situated, but also to get the others groomed and ready to be doctored. I bring my fist down hard on the desk, rattling the ceramic bowl of paperclips and jar of pens.

Kasey and I are going to have to work together all fucking day long.

* * *

The weather’sas cold as the work is grueling.

The clouds hang over us until late in the afternoon, finally showing glimpses of the sun when we’re about ready to wrap up. My hands are sore from mucking every stall in both barns, and I swear on all things holy I’m going to find some part-time help just so I don’t have to keep doing this shit. I’ll pay for them with my own tips if I have to. We used to have more outside help around the ranch, but with Melody’s growing medical debt, we’ve cut loose anyone who isn’t absolutely necessary—which at this point is only Hank the farrier and the rotation of vets we have on speed dial. But the ranch operation has nearly doubled in the last decade, and it’s too much work for only a few of us.

Wells worked both of the new horses that came in, his diligent focus keeping him in the saddle with every attempt to buck him to hell. Layla jumped in to help brush out the horses in the barn in preparation for the farrier tomorrow, but then she disappeared back into the main house to watch the boys when Mom came to take Brooks back to the hospital, and Wells eventually left to open the bar for the night.

I have the closing shift, and I’m thankful as fuck I get to work with Wells instead of the asshole grunting next to me as he lifts a saddle onto its rack. The awareness I feel on the back of my neck tells me he’s watching me, so I avoid looking in his direction.

Eventually, he sighs. And I brace myself.

“Look, Rhett?—”

---