Page 12 of My Cowboy Freedom
“That’s something I don’t need to see. How come?”
“He’s got this sleeve he thinks is so awesome. He’s always flexing his muscles.” Rock demonstrated. “Getting in everyone’s faces. He calls people retards if they don’t bow down and worship.”
“He call you that?” That word purely enraged me. Reflexively, I wanted to find this Lefty Wheeler and put him out of all our misery.
“Yeah. He’s an asshole. One time he—”
“Rock, I think I heard Elena calling you.” Julio turned to point toward the kitchen window.
“I didn’t hear.” Rock turned to look.
Julio jerked his chin toward the house. “I heard it. Go see what she needs.”
“Okay.” Rock gave up and went inside to see what Elena wanted.
Once Rock was gone, Tad and Julio flanked me. The whole thing had a practiced look to it. Maybe they kept Rock away from all the hands, not just the ex-cons with homo dick issues?
“I’ve seen tats like those before. You get all that ink inside?” Tad asked.
“Yeah.”
He got right up in my face. “Does the boss know?”
“Yeah he does.” If these guys thought I’d never been backed up to a sink before...
I didn’t like the way they tried to box me in. Even as I pivoted, casually putting my back to a solid wall, my pulse machine-gunned in my throat. I wasn’t actively worried they could hurt me. It was another knee-jerk reaction. A reflex. Reflexes are worse than useless sometimes.
Some reflexes get you jailed. Some get you killed.
“I don’t know if the Rocking C’s right for you.” Tad glared at me. “Maybe you should think about moving on.”
“Because I have tattoos?” I pushed past Tad and Julio. “Everyone has tattoos. If I move on it’ll be because Mr. Chandler asks me to.”
“Fair enough.” Julio gave a sharp nod. “But until I talk to the boss, you eat on your own.”
“Fine.”
I let myself relax because I preferred that anyway. Nobody needs to see me hunched over my food like a junkyard dog.
“And I’m real sorry if I gave Rock some idea about getting tattoos—” I shrugged. “I can talk to him—”
“I’lltalk to Rock,” said Tad.
“This isn’t just our job. It’s our home. These people are my family.” Julio nodded toward the table where the rest of the hands were eating. “We protect what’s ours.”
Julio and Tad stood side by side, united to protect the ranch from me and whatever perceived evils I brought with me. My plan going forward was to show them how wrong they were about me. I could be the best goddamn ranch hand, ever. But proving that was going to take time. And I wasn’t going to catch any breaks by standing there arguing.
“If Mr. Chandler lets me stay, I won’t let him down.”
“We’ll see.” He left, after exchanging a sly look with Tad.
Well, shit.
What did I expect? A welcome parade?
Starting over is never easy. Keep your head down and work your ass off. Trust that Chandler is a fair man. Things will be fine.
My self-talk sucks.
