Page 18 of Stray

“No, Mama, ain’t nothing out there to find,” I say around a bite of the roast beef sandwich. She nods before glancing up at the stairs.

“She’s been in there all day,” she gestures with her hand towards Pop’s door. “She was having a rough morning or something. The poor thing dropped a glass and started crying. Your father has been talking with her since.” I rub my aching chest as my mother walks outside to tend to the chickens.

Standing up, I make my way towards the staircase. I can see the door is cracked open slightly, and as I make my way up the stairs, I hear Ozzy let out a laugh, though it sounds tired.

“Morris, you better stop flirting with me. I’m guessing people around here like to gossip.” I press my back against the wall by the door as I hear my father’s weak laugh.

“Girlie, I wouldn’t flirt with you even if it would cure my cancer. Ain’t no way I’m falling into your web.” He sounds different. I hear his sarcastic tone, but he sounds weak like talking is a chore for him. Like breathing itself is becoming too much of a task. I slide down the wall, sitting on the floor, as I listen to them talk.

“How are you feeling?” Ozzy asks, and Pops lets out a dry chuckle.

“Like I’m dying,”

“Shut up, asshole,” she sighs, and I hear the clicking of her shoes hitting the hardwood. “You know I meant with meds. I wanna make sure I only gotta do this once.” Pops laughs, and I am disturbed by their shared morbid humor. But also, it’s endearing. Pops has never taken to anyone outside of us, and even then, things were different. He is a great father, and I never doubted that he loves me, but I know that he and I could never sit in the same room and bust each other’s balls for hours like this.

“You gonna tell me why you’re limping?” Pops’ question grabs my attention. I hear Ozzy sigh as she sits back down.

“Hurt it doing all this work for you. Think I could claim a workplace injury?”

“Ah, deflection, my favorite.” He muses, and I can almost see Ozzy’s pretty brown eyes rolling. I have to roll my own eyes at that thought. You just had to add pretty in there, didn’t you, Rowe?

But it’s true, she is pretty. At first, it was a physical attraction, and I mean… it still is, but now, after the storm, the truck ride, last night, and now listening to her banter and laughing with my father in a way no one ever could. Fuck.

“I had a flashback last night,” I hear her confess. “Jackson found me in the woods. My ankle got messed up.”

“That bad?” Pops’ voice is soft and sincere. I hear her shaking intake of air, like she’s steadying herself to answer.

“I swear he was there Morris,” she whispers desperately. “I-I know he wasn’t, he couldn’t be. But I… I could feel him, smell him. But, I was wrong, and then Jackson was there, and, god, I was so embarrassed.”

I want to walk in and tell her not to be embarrassed, but I can’t. If Ozzy knew I was eavesdropping on their conversation, I would never hear the end of it.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” Pops says firmly. “You can’t control it. Now what you should be embarrassed about is having your ugly ass bare feet up here on my bed.” I crack a grin at his comment and Ozzy’s loud laugh following it.

“You know, old man, there are people out there that would pay me mad dollars for pictures of these bad boys, and here I am, bestowing it upon you free of charge. You should be grateful.”

“And you could use an odor eater, but I don’t think either is happening anytime soon.” I can’t sit here anymore. If I do, they will hear me laughing. Standing up, I cover my mouth until I’m down the hall and in my room. I let out a breathy chuckle while removing my dirty clothes and tossing them into the hamper.

My mind is still on Ozzy when I walk into the bathroom and turn on the shower. Not that it’s out of the ordinary, it seems like my mind often steers right back to her. Or some part of her. This time is different, though. I’m not thinking about her body. I’m thinking about her laugh, how fresh and bright it sounds.

How I would love nothing more than to experience it face to face.

Ozzy

“Hey there, pretty lady!” Theo’s voice puts a smile on my face when I see her riding up on a brown horse. She’s very attractive, a little taller than I am, with tanned skin, shoulder-length blonde hair, and a very fit, athletic build you can tell has come from years of hard work on the ranch. If I were into girls, I’d jump into her relatively strong-looking arms and let her take me away.

Alas…

My gaze trails over to Jackson, who is fixing a part of the fence with Carter, shirtless. Jackson shirtless is a sight I didn’t know I needed, but now that I’m privy to it, I’d be okay seeing it regularly. Jackson is massive, with broad shoulders, muscular arms capped by big biceps, and those forearms… His chest is powerful and covered in dark hair that travels down his tight stomach and disappears into a place that I have no right to be looking at or even thinking about at all.

…and yet…

“Hey Theo,” I give her a small wave while trying to shake the spicy thoughts and feelings out of my head. I’m blaming Indy and my therapist for this. Right before I started here, it was suggested that I try some audio to relax me. ASMR and background noise, which turned into books, turned into me finding out that I have a strong pull towards the romance genre—something I will take to my grave— and then I found out about smut books. I don’t know how it happened, but here we are, and it’s because of those fucking books that I find myself burning holes into Jackson whenever he’s not looking. It’s deplorable. “How’s it going?”

“Better now that your pretty self came outside. What are you doin’ in there anyway? Usually, you’re out here more,” I shrug and lean on the fence. Making a point to turn my back to the man I can’t stop looking at.

“Waiting for Morris to wake up mostly.” The truth is, I’ve been trying to keep myself busy and scarce since my flashback a few days ago. I’m so embarrassed that happened, and I know Jackson wants to ask about it, which is why I’ve been avoiding him like the damn plague, staying in Morris’ room or downstairs in a smaller room off by the kitchen. I prefer it down there. It has one small window with curtains looking out to the front porch. I’m safer there.

“Ozzy?” I blink at Theo’s voice and look up.

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