Page 1 of His Wilde Little
1. JACE
Today was the day and I’d been dreading it for weeks. The ranch was getting a new rescue horse, a stallion who had problems which my dad, in all of his wisdom claimed we could tame. He bragged about how they could tame the stallion and sell its seed at a premium. I kinda stopped listening to him shortly after he said seed. My older sister, Olivia had the same repulsed look, followed by a retort on keeping him away from the social media accounts.
But it wasn’t what today was about. Today we were getting a new ranch hand, a cowboy all the way from Texas. Yet again, another one of my dad’s great ideas. The ranch was doing fine with its goats, chickens, alpacas, and housing the occasional rabbit burrow and duck nest. We didn’t need someone here to train horses because the sole mare we had in the stables was old. We didn’t need some Texan coming in with their bigger is better attitude and trying to transform us into what they were used to.
In the kitchen, stress baking cookies and bread, in this state, it was best to leave me be, the only person who dared to piss me off was my little brother, Max, he was excited to have someone new on the ranch. I don’t think he got the same memo as the rest of us, the guy arriving was in his thirties, a Texan, and probably didn’t have the time for a teen who wanted a friend to play video games with.
“Sweetie, are you almost done?” my mom called out from the kitchen doorway. “He’s driving up now, and your father wants us all on the porch when he gets here.”
Pulling out the sheet tray of cookies with a mitten, I rolled my eyes. “We don’t need to perform for him, do we?” I asked.
“Come on, sweetie, those can cool off and you can come stand with us,” she said.
Our kitchen had two large ovens, side by side almost. It was somewhat a commercial kitchen since we sold a lot of baked produce. I dipped down to view the inside of the second oven. “The bread is almost done,” I told her. “I’ll be out in a second.”
“Come on, Jace,” Olivia huffed. “I don’t wanna be left out there with Dad and Max. Also, he made me wear a dress.”
Immediately, I turned my head to her, standing half-hidden by our mom in the doorway. She pushed out a leg, showing a blue and white gingham dress with her brown cowboy boots on. “Jeez,” I laughed. “Is he trying to sell you off?” I asked. “Does Dad know Saddle Up isn’t for another six months, and the last I checked, they don’t allow you to sell family members.” I smirked. “I should know, I’ve inquired.”
“Don’t be silly, Olivia, you look gorgeous in your dress,” Mom said. “But you can put jeans on afterwards. Your dad just wants us to put on a bit of a show for the guy. He accepted the job, but it doesn’t mean he’ll stick around. They have real conservative views where he’s from, so—”
Scoffing, I knew her next words. “Don’t you dare.”
“Go on, mom, say it,” Olivia teased.
Glancing around the kitchen, I noticed all the rainbows were hidden. We had rainbow utensils, rainbow knives, rainbow magnets on the fridge. I’d turned this place into a subtle pride flag, but I hadn’t noticed it until she’d mentioned being less gay. My eye twitched, forcing me to lose focus on the bread I was trying my best not to burn, and for who exactly… a known bigot. My dad had hired a homophobe.
I couldn’t bring the words out to say what I was feeling because any words I did have would’ve brought about some type of vomit with them. My family, who claimed to know and love me where sterilizing the kitchen for a man they didn’t know. If he was like that, then this place wasn’t for him, and I couldn’t wait to drive him away.
Usually, I left being a brat to my younger brother, but today, I was going to take the title.
Once the bread was done, my mom rushed me out of the kitchen. From the front door, where my coat hung on the rack, I yanked at my pride flag pin and placed it on my shirt. I had some boots with rainbow laces, but they were nowhere to be found, so I stuck my feet into a pair of sandals instead. My look was unhinged. I donned my Stetson, again, just a regular brown rather than the rainbow rimmed kept in my room.
On the porch, we stood as a family, almost like we were taking a family picture. All that was missing was Daisy the golden labrador, but she was quick to sniff us out, barging between my legs and running around the porch in an excited muddle, wondering what we were all gathered for.
“I give him a week,” Olivia whispered to me.
“I give him a day,” I countered.
“Quiet you two,” Mom said.
Dad had barely picked up on any of the conversation going on between us, too busy staring at the fancy tech watch Olivia had only just taught him to use. It was like teaching him to use an iPad all over again, the man stared at it like it was going to take over the world in moment. “This thing is telling me he should be here,” he grumbled.
“Why? Did you AirTag him?” I chuckled.
Olivia snorted. “Oh my god, could you even imagine?”
But he was right, he was here, arriving in a gurgling truck with tarp over the flatbed truck. It was mostly visible because of all the dust and dirt collected over it. It left deep hazy plumes of smoke behind. My eye twitched again, making an image of this man in my mind, someone who would vote against my rights, someone who would have a handful of teeth in a glass jar tucked away in his van as a reminder of the teeth he once had. A visceralsneer formed on my face and my heart pounded with the anxiety of having to share a space with him.
My dad was first off the porch as the van parked up.
“Smile,” Mom said. “And be nice, your father said he met him at the Saddle Up event last year, and he comes highly recommended. So, please, don’t do anything that will have this all have been a wasted journey.”
Through the sneer, I could only hold on to a smile for a moment, and it was made easier as Olivia cracked jokes about how it was going to be a hard sell to visitors having someone we didn’t like around.
As the smoke settled and he climbed out of the car.
I saw him.
