Page 53 of Ace of Spades
“Finally, there you guys are!” Kota exclaims, running up and throwing her arms around us both. “Rhonda and Debbie have been running me into the ground all evening. Remind me to never sign up for dinner duty again.”
“Oh, don’t be dramatic!” Debbie chastises from the kitchen.
“She’s got ears like a hawk,” Kota mock-whispers, earning a chuckle from Hailey.
“How can I help?” Hailey asks.
“Well since you asked,” Kota says, placing her hands on Hailey’s shoulders. “I may or may not have signed us up for breakfast duty together tomorrow.”
“Oh,” Hailey says, her smile faltering just the slightest. “Um, okay.”
“Come on, Hails—It’ll be fun, I promise!”
“Yeah, 'cause waking up at the butt crack of dawn to make breakfast for twenty hungry men sounds like the time of my life,” Hailey jokes.
“What if I told you there would be coffee?”
“Okay, sold.”
I leave the two girls to chit-chat, making my way into the kitchen to greet Debbie and Rhonda. The two of them had been here since the beginning—Debbie had taken Rafe in at the age of sixteen, giving him a place to stay and putting food in front of him after finding out that he had been sneaking into the school at night for a place to stay. She was like a mother to him, and he had insisted she move onto the ranch with him, letting her take one of the cabins near the front of the property.
Rhonda had gone to high school with my mother, and when the barber shop that she and Mike ran in Cedar Creek had gone out of business, my mom had told them that we were looking for ranch staff at Hidden Creek Ranch.
It had all worked out perfectly—Rhonda and Debbie had gladly stepped up to help out around the place, the two of them making sure we all had warm meals ready to go and helping with the housecleaning around the bunks. We paid them, of course, though both of them always insisted that living on the ranch rent-free was more than enough.
I’d known Mike since I was a kid, and I’d always respected him for how much he and Rhonda took care of my mom when she needed it. I’d been more than happy to bring him on aslead ranch hand, and eventually foreman as Rafe got too busy with rodeo and the operations of the ranch.
“Well if it isn’t two of my favorite ladies,” I greet them, giving them my go-to panty-melting smile.
“You only say that because we put food on the table,” Rhonda scoffs, snatching the bread roll from my hand that I was trying to sneak.
“Oh, come on, you know that’s not true. I don’t know how we would function around here without you two,” I tell them.
“Flattery won’t get you anywhere,” Debbie teases, reaching up to give me a peck on the cheek as she walks by with a stack of plates.
“Hold up, what about me?” Chelsea whines. “Guess you don’t love me anymore, I’m just gonna go cry in a corner now.”
“Don’t be dramatic, you know I do,” I laugh, pulling her into me as she tries to get away. I’d known Chelsea since grade school, all of us claiming her as a little sister—with the exception of Beau, of course. The pair were childhood sweethearts, going on eight years now. It was no secret that a proposal would be coming at some point, but I knew from talking to Beau that he was just waiting until the ranch was fully up and going.
“Hey, hey, hands off my woman,” Beau warns, narrowing his eyes at me as he walks into the already crowded kitchen. Chelsea laughs, wiggling out of my hold to go give him a kiss.
“Aw, get a room you two,” I chide, my smile wide as I watch two of my best friends, a pang of envy growing in my chest. Not for Chelsea, of course, but just at seeing how happy the two of them are.
I’d never brought a girl back to the ranch, never had anybody important enough to introduce to my makeshift family. I wasn’t chaste, by any means, but I just didn’t value emotional connection. I was like Chance in that sense—we had our fun, and we left the next morning. But as I got older, something inside of me was shifting. There was a small part of me that wondered what it would be like to have someone of my own. Someone that would run up and kiss me like that, that would look at me with the same sparkle in her eyes that Chelsea had for Beau.
My eyes drifted over to where Hailey was chatting with Mike, the old man looking way too comfortable around her for my liking. I make my way over to them, ready to unapologetically interrupt whatever conversation they’re having, until Chance appears out of nowhere, blocking my trajectory.
“Hey man, so I talked with Dakota,” he starts, my sister’s name drawing my attention away from Hailey and Mike. “She says she’s okay with it if you are.”
“Okay with what?” I ask.
“About moving into my spare bedroom, remember?”
Oh—right.
“Good,” I tell him. “She doesn’t need to be living in a bunkhouse with twenty men with pent-up sexual energy. I’ll help her move her stuff over after breakfast tomorrow, just promise me that you’ll keep the women down to a minimum when she’s around, got it?”
“You got it,” he promises. “So I heard you took Hailey down to the creek earlier?”
