Page 31 of Stay for Me

“You see any tracks?” he asked, referring to the wolves. There was a pack that settled on the mountain in the fall. I spotted them when I was out on a hunt. They came and went every year, but their pack had almost doubled in size since last year. That was a problem. About a week ago, Denver and I tried chasing them out, only to spot them on the trail camera’s hours later, after the sun had set. They were back the next morning.

“No. You?”

His mouth was in a thin line as he answered, “Yeah. A few, but they went across the property line.”

“You tell Kings?” I prompted, raising a brow.

Beau nodded. “I think I’m going to go out there later—”

I cut him off. “The only place you’re needed tonight is up at the main house.” His blue eyes held mine, and I could see the pain flickering within them. He wanted to be alone.

But leaving a cowboy alone with nothing but the company of his broken heart was a very dangerous game to play.

Beau needed to be about the people who cared about him the most. “You got me?” I pressed, my voice low and firm.

Thankfully, he nodded. “I got you, Mags.”

Our conversation was cut short when one of the twins opened their mouth to spout off some more bullshit. “Oh, so he talks to Beau, but not us,” Lance quipped, huffing.

I stared at him, wondering if Denver would mind being down a cowboy or two. We were doing just fine before they wandered onto the ranch. Plus, hiding their bodies would be easy—-

“So, at what point are you going to stop being a whiny bitch?” Jigs asked causally, pulling out his favorite cast iron skillet and setting it on the stove, silencing all thoughts of murder in my mind.

All eyes shifted over to the old man, and Beau chuckled from beside me.

Lawson shook his head, his eyes darting up to the ceiling. “I hate it here.”

“You can leave whenever you want, you know,” Beau suggested. “Not everyone can handle being a cowboy.”

Lance pointed at his brother. “We can’t. We owe a debt to Denver.”

Jigs whistled. “Owing a Langston. That’s…” He trailed off, and the twins started barking out questions.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Is owing him a bad thing?”

“Why are you all fucking laughing?”

I walked into the kitchen area and started checking the bags as Beau began arguing with the dumbasses. Jigs tipped his hat to me. “Afternoon, Mags.”

“Jigs,” I rumbled, pulling out the groceries.

“Now, they didn’t have any protein powder this time around, so I got you some protein bars instead.”

“Either is fine. Thank you,” I murmured, pulling out a wad of cash and handing it to him. He eyed the money for a moment, hesitating like he did every month. “Either take it now, or it’ll end up in your truck.”

Another old laugh left him as he took the money, putting it in his breast pocket. As I unpacked the groceries, Jigs got to work cooking a meal for all of us, Beau settled in the chair I had been occupying , and the twins finally cut their shit out.

“Maybe we should put up a Christmas tree,” one of the twins said, breaking the comfortable and peaceful silence all of us had settled into.

Beau’s head fell back. “Rather shoot myself in the foot.”

“Why shoot your own foot when I can do it for you?” I drawled.

Beau flipped me off.

“So that’s a no to Christmas tree?”

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