Page 24 of Beau
“I don’t deserve to win,” she continued. “I want to beat Lainey because I’m better, not because I cheated. Someday, maybe I’ll do it.”
I smiled at her. “You will. But your ex needs to be throat punched.”
Colt practically glared at me for interrupting.
Taylor smiled. “Right? I’m fine, Katie, without working in your stables. I’ve got the guide job plus I work at the Feed and Seed. I just hope I can find a guy who treats me right because I’m wiser now andreallytired of losers.”
Colt was my most serious brother and I often wondered what he was thinking. As a sheriff, he had to separate his emotions from the law. It was pretty hard, I thought, with Taylor. I felt really bad for her.
“Anything else?” he prodded.
Taylor sighed. “I asked Rod what he meant abouthis plan. It was simple. Use me to get the prize winnings. If it worked here in Devil’s Ditch knocking you, Lainey, out of the way, it’d be easier in out of state rodeos where you don’t compete.”
The fucker.
“The prize money’s yours, Taylor. You won it,” Katie said.
She shook her head. “He took the three thousand dollars. Said he was getting the new TV he wanted and the lift kit for his pickup.”
That asshole.
“Besides, I didn’t win it fairly. I won’t feel good spending money I didn’t earn.”
“Doesn’t he make his own money?” Colt asked.
Taylor nodded. “Yeah. It’s the place where he works that’s changed him for the worse.” She paused. “No, that’s not true. He became friends at college with the guy who lives there. Got him a summer job as a ranch hand, but I’m not sure how much work he actually does. He thinks everything should be handed to him.”
“Where?” Colt asked.
“Two Rivers Ranch.”
Colt swore under his breath.
Trig swore out loud.
“What?” Beau asked. “What’s so special about that place?”
“That’s Conrad Trout’s ranch,” Colt told him.
That explained why he was such a dick. It was like something was bad in the water over there. “Wait,” I said, holding up my hand. “He’s friends with Conrad Trout’s son?”
Taylor frowned. “Yeah.”
Colt pointed toward the door. “Time to pay that family a visit.”
Trig nodded. “Let’s go.”
“I’m in,” Beau said, his voice laced with steel and malice. Setting his hands on my shoulders, he spun me around. Tipped his head down. “You good getting your Ma home?”
I nodded, because I knew saying I wanted to go with them and track down the fucker who’d drugged my horse and hurt my dad wasn’t going to happen. Beau would say no. Trig would say no. Colt would say no. So would Pops, if he were conscious. It would be embarrassing and I’d feel childish like I did every time my brothers shut me out of something that they thought I shouldn’t or couldn’t do.
They never asked, only told. They knew best, the jerks.
Now I had Beau to add to the protective wall.
So I bit my lip and went along with it. For now.
“We’ll take Taylor to the station for a statement,” Bray offered to Colt. “Go get the guy.”
