Page 21 of More Than Anything

“Well, I?—”

“Did she say she’d put you on the list?” Greg asked.

Avery could feel his face flaming. “Yeah.”

“Better hope you’re close to the top,” Joey laughed out.

Before he could answer, the door opened and Mike stuck his head out. “What the hell are you knuckleheads doing out here?”

“Danette got him!” Robbie howled, and the other three were laughing so hard they were gasping for breath.

“DanetteMoyers. Lord have mercy, son,” Mike said, leveling his gaze at Avery, “you’d probably be wise to go get tested.”

Avery could feel his balls shrinking as he stood there. God, how embarrassing. He’d always held his own in the bedroom, at least as well as he could tell. Well, at least he’d never had any complaints, not even from Shannon, or at least not to his face. She’d wanted Ben’s job and status, not his cock. Hell, for three months after she’d been with Ben, she kept coming to Avery, trying to sneak into his bed to get him to sleep with her. He’d finally had to tell her he wasn’t going to be her dirty little secret. Women didn’t do that with guys who were lousy in the sack.

Did they?

He had to believe they didn’t. Of all the things Avery had ever felt shaky about, his sexual prowess wasn’t one of them. Until that very moment.I don’t need this shit, Avery told himself as he stepped into the house. The five workers just kept working, either ignoring him or cutting him a little slack from all the previous teasing. Avery stomped up the stairs and headed straight into the bathroom.

One hot shower later, he padded into the bedroom and lay down across the bed. Somehow, all the relaxation he’d gotten from the romp in the hayloft had petered away with the teasing the guys had given him. How in the hell would he ever show his face in town? He rolled from his stomach onto his back and stared at the ceiling, the towel falling away and the air from the ceiling fan flowing across his naked body. God, he hated himself sometimes. How had he let that happen? But he knew exactly why he’d done it.

As long as he’d been fucking Danette, he wasn’t thinking about Lydia. But the second they were done, she waltzed right back into his mind. What was it with that stubborn, difficult, hateful woman? Why couldn’t he shake the sight of her standing there, leaning against the house, her face tear-stained and arm swollen? The urge to call and check on her was so great that he had trouble fighting it, but he knew he couldn’t do it. If he did, she’d decimate him the next time she had a chance, and he wasn’t going to encourage that.

The day had taken its toll and Avery dozed off, tired of thinking about it all. When he woke, the house was silent, and he rolled to look at the clock. Six thirty-three. He pushed himself up off the bed and sat up, then rubbed his eyes and reached over to rummage in a drawer and find some underwear. Once he’d found some old boxers and pulled them on, he grabbed a pair of pajama pants and slipped them on too, then remembered to put on his flip-flops to avoid nails on the floor downstairs. The guys had hooked up the refrigerator out on the back porch so he at least had cold beer. He’d just popped the top on a cold one when his phone rang, an unfamiliar number, but local. He hesitated for just a few seconds before he hit ACCEPT and let out a shaky, “Hello?”

“Hi!” a cheerful woman’s voice said. “I’m looking for AveryHolcomb.”

“This is Avery. Can I help you?”

“I hope so. My name’s MarjorieFowlkes. My daddy died about six weeks ago. I was talking to the county extension agent and he said you might be interested in Daddy’s cattle.”

Avery’s eyes popped open wide. “Oh? So what’ve you got?”

“Well, we’ve got forty head of heifers. Angus.” Avery’s heart started to trip in double-time. “They’re all between a year and three years. Good-looking lot, real healthy.”

It just seemed too good to be true, but he knew Cletus wouldn’t have given the woman his number if she wasn’t for real. “So what do you want for them?”

She chuckled. “I have no idea. Wouldn’t even guess. What would you give me for them?”

“I just bought twenty. I can tell you what I paid for them on the hoof.” When Avery looked up the price, he told her and added, “And I can transport them myself, no problem.”

“Sounds like a good price to me. Oh, and we have a livestock trailer for sale too. It’ll hold ten cows easily. I’ll take twenty-five hundred for it.”

Ten cows! That beat the five-animal trailer he’d rented. “I’ll take it. When do you want me to come and get them?”

“As soon as you can. We’re taking care of them and, frankly, we really can’t afford it until the estate’s settled. They need a home. Oh, and one more thing.”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“I’m not sure if you’d be the least bit interested, but there’s an old bull out there. He’s not much to look at, but he’s a good old man. Very gentle, and very gentle with the cows in their season too. Been a good producer over the years. If you want him, I’ll throw him in for free just so he has a home.”

It was all Avery could to do keep from screaming and jumping up and down. A bull! How had a day that had started out so shitty turned into such an awesome evening? “Yes, ma’am! I’ll be glad to take him, and thank you for the offer.”

“You’re welcome. You’ve got my number now. Just let me know when you want to come and get them and I’ll make arrangements to meet you out there.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll get the money together and give you a call. And thank you so much, really. You just made my day!”

She chuckled. “Son, you just made mine. I look forward to hearing from you. Have a great evening.”

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