Page 20 of Keep You Safe
“Yes, you do.” I met his gaze to remind him of exactly how dirty he’d gotten on the bank of the pond.
“Behave.” He glowered at me, not moved in the slightest. “Kat will be around if you have questions. I’ll check back later this afternoon.”
I returned to the bunkhouse to make a hasty lunch of leftovers, remembering at the last second to clean up after myself and put the plate in the dishwasher. In my little studio apartment, dishes were less of a pressing task, but this communal living was like a return to my college days. Back then, my distractibility level had been a frequent complaint from my various roommates, and I was determined to not have it be an issue here.
“Can’t believe he’s got you cleaning drains on your second day.” Kat greeted me with a pair of elbow-length rubber gloves upon my return to the barn. “This is gonna get gross, just warning you. Even the best drain covers can’t keep out all the hay, dirt, manure pieces, horse hair, mud, rocks, and other crap.”
“I think he has it in for me.” I laughed, but he really did seem determined to make me miserable today.
“Gray’s usually a fair boss.” Kat frowned as she leaned against a post. “Folks like working for him even if he’s on the strict side.”
“Usuallyis doing a lot of work in that sentence,” I teased.
“You do seem to rankle him like a horsefly circling his tail.” Unlike Grayson, Kat was quick to smile back. “He’s usually unflappable, but you’ve got him swinging in the breeze. Nicely done.”
“Thank you.” I gave a courtly bow.
“Tell you what. You get this done before the school bus comes, and you can ride when the girls get their lesson.” Kat smiled as she gestured beyond the barn door to the paddock, where many of the horses were milling about. By girls, she meant Maverick’s niece Hannah and Colt’s daughter Willow, both of whom were horse-obsessed. “Cinder needs more practice.”
“Riding practice would be awesome.” Resolved to earn that lesson, I applied myself to the grossest of tasks, cleaning drains and taking the extra step of shining the drain covers. I was done with plenty of time to help Kat bring Cinder, Magnolia, and Pepperjack in for the riding lesson.
Accordingly, I was following Hannah and Willow around the ring, working on my turns, when Grayson finally made a reappearance.
“What’s this?” He strode up to the arena gate.
“Kat said I could ride if I finished the drains.” I knew he was talking to me even without him saying my name.
“He did a great job.” Kat walked over to him and patted his arm, an action I knew far better than to attempt and was slightly jealous of. She pitched her voice all soothing. “You’re gonna need him riding fence sooner or later.”
Harumph.Grayson made a frustrated noise but didn’t disagree.
“Did you need me for another job?” Mirroring Kat, I kept my voice all sweet, ignoring his obvious displeasure.
“As soon as you’re done here, you can head over to the hay barn. The loader’s broken again, so we’re needing to load by hand before chow. Make sure you find a pair of work gloves. Otherwise, your hands will turn to hamburger in no time.”
“Sure thing, boss.” I gave a chipper nod as he stomped back out.
Being agreeable wasn’t working as well as I’d hoped, and neither was doing the best job possible. He hadn’t even mentioned my shiny drain covers. If being good wasn’t getting me noticed, maybe it was time to be bad.
Chapter Eleven
Grayson
Halloween fellon a Friday and a payday to boot, so the bunkhouse was full of folks in a hurry to spend their cash and have a little Halloween fun. Most everyone had plans to head into town or farther on to Durango, and they’d all cheered at the morning meeting when I said the hands could knock off early if the chores were all done.
The hay loader was still broken, which meant a lot more time spent loading bales onto the flatbed truck. No one liked the task as bales were heavy, and the twine tended to break at the least opportune moment. However, today, everyone was focused on getting the afternoon loading done as quickly as possible.
Everyone other than Adler, that was. Lord, but he had been on my last nerve the past few days, moving at the pace and urgency of the last float in a town parade. His first few days as a hand, he’d been Johnny-on-the-spot, only too eager to do a good job. The last two days, he’d been woefully terrible, dropping bales, lollygagging, distractible, and doing a half-assed job on his tasks until I sent him back for a second try.
“Did you sweep the horse barn earlier?” I asked as we finished. The others were quick to head back to the bunkhouse,chatting happily about their weekend plans. I had none, so I didn’t mind lingering to ride herd on Adler.
“Oops. Forgot.” Adler made a show of slapping his forehead. “I’ll go do that now.”
“I’ll be along to see that you do.” I was mighty tired of needing to check up on him, especially since I suspected he was perfectly capable of keeping himself on task.
Sure enough, I arrived at the barn to find a half-swept floor and Adler leaning on the broom, checking his phone.
“Are you trying to get me to fire your ass?” All my frustration of the last few days came out in my tone, but Adler didn’t recoil from my ire.
