by Ellie Rowe
Upside is that this time we both have a date. Still a bit of a shame it was the same one. Even stranger though is that the thought of Liam being there was feeling like more and more of an upside too.
I feel something with him that I’d yet to even feel with her. I felt comradery. There weren’t many people in the world who could say they knew what it felt like to be me. They don’t know the struggle of managing a growing agricultural empire. They damn sure don’t know what it’s like to reach the heights I have and still come to work and get their hands dirty.
But Liam knew. He works as hard as any man I’ve ever met. Even when I hated him, I respected that about him.
He’s the type of man who’s the first one clocking in and the last one clocking out, and while I suspected him of fucking me over at every turn, I’ve heard nothing but good things about him from those that work under him.
The thought of him being by my side draws a smile out of me. Him being there both for our girl, and maybe even me, felt like a blessing.
“What the hell are you smiling about?” an earthy baritone asks.
I turn to meet his eyes and mentally curse myself for the warmth in my cheeks.
“It’s nothing.”
Liam looks at me like he could’ve smelled the bullshit from a mile off. He just hands a box to me with a chuckle.
I take it from him.
“What’s this?” I ask, cocking an eyebrow
“Something to make today a bit more fun.” He says with a cocky smile, that looks rather handsome on him.
What the fuck? I’ve never thought another man handsome before in my life. What has that damned woman done to me?
I guess it didn’t really matter though. It’s not like I was any less happy than before. In fact, I feel pretty confident saying this was the happiest I’ve been in a long while.
Still, I’m very curious to what the contents of this box are exactly. It’s not much bigger than a new phone case and it barely weighed more than a pound.
The box is black and blank for the most part, but Liam’s face tells me it’s got to be good. I pop it open and when I notice the rubber tadpole looking thing and remote, I shared his expression. This was going to be a really fun day.
We both speed walk to where Samantha’s getting dressed, evil smiles plastered on our face.
She turns around and makes a cute little chirping sound when she jumps.
“Jesus Christ, were you raised in a barn? You’re supposed to fucking knock,” she says in between gasps of air.
Liam raises his hand.
“As a matter of fact, I believe he was.”
“Yeah, and the door was open. No assumption of privacy.”
My smile broadens both from her adorable fury and her nudity. She looks like she’d just gotten out of the shower, and small tear-like droplets were still trailing down her flat stomach.
Her anger doesn’t lessen when she eyes the box in my hand.
“What’s that?” she asks.
Liam quickly takes the box out of my hands and gives it to her, saying.
“Just something you’re going to wear this evening. Should bring a little excitement.”
She looks skeptically at us before opening the box. Her eyes light up like Christmas trees when she pulls out the small remote-control vibrator.
“Personally I ‘d have you wear a butt plug with it, but Liam didn’t exactly inform me of this,” I chuckle.
She barely blinks.
“It’s fine, I have one,” she says, before rummaging through her bag.
Liam looks over my shoulder.
“Do you think we’re ever going to get used to how much of a freak she is?”
“Nope.”
Forty-Four
Liam
The amount of eyes that are on us at this fair is fucking insane. It feels like every single person is just watching the two ranchers parading around with Alfred Laurier’s famous daughter.
Do I completely hate it? No- because the goal for today is to embarrass Samantha’s father and make him feel the same way he’s made her feel all these years.
Asher and I have been sticking together the entire time. We don’t want to risk splitting up and then having Alfred swoop in and sneak an attack on one of us.
Now, that doesn’t mean Asher and I are walking around holding hands and kissing each other or anything like that. We’re just acting like any normal buddies would.
Except here’s the thing- every rancher around here that stays up to date with any gossip- they know that Asher and I have been enemies for as long as we’ve owned ranches here. Any time we have a ranchers fair- the two of us are nowhere near each other- and if we are, it’s because we’re fighting.
So that being said- people are definitely talking about the fact that Asher and I seem to be on speaking terms. But I have to say- I don’t give a single fuck.
I actually kind of find all the staring to be quite hilarious. It’s like- these people really have nothing better to do at the one event we have every year than to talk about us?
Anyways, Asher and I are going around to each tent and tasting everybody’s chili. It’s a little contest we do every year- we taste the chili from every tent, and then vote for the best one. Whoever has the best one gets a thousand dollars.
“Ooo, you know- at first I was gonna go with tent three- but tent seven might have stolen first place now.”
“Really? I wasn’t that impressed. A little too spicy for my taste.”
“Spicy? You think this is spicy? Go ahead and have another taste,” Asher insists.
I roll my eyes but take another bite anyway. Nope, still spicy.
“Maybe you need to have another taste- because boy that chili is spicy as hell!”
He rolls his eyes and nudges me. I nudge him back even harder, and we chuckle to ourselves. When I look up, I can see everyone in the tent watching us. Some are smiling, some are shaking their heads at us.
“Alright why don’t we head over to tent eight,” I suggest, feeling a bit uncomfortable now.
“Agreed- but first, why don’t we find Sam and give her another little shock, huh?”
“Oooo, I like the way you think!”
We head out of tent seven, passing right by Mr. Laurier on the way out. I can feel his eyes drilling holes into the back of our heads as we walk away- but he doesn’t dare say a single word to us.
We glance at each other once we’re a safe enough distance away, and we both crack a smile.
“Oh there she is! It looks like she’s talking to the lady who owns that small library a few miles up the road from us.”
“Oh shit, you’re right, that’s Mrs. Phinski!”
“The perfect time to send her a little jolt, don’t you think?”
An evil grin spreads across my face, and I slide the remote control out of my pocket. I press the on button, keeping it on low at first. We watch as her body tenses, as if she just had a shiver run through her body.
I slowly turn it all the way up to the highest setting, and she completely drops the small bowl of chili that she was holding. It falls down to the grass, and she stumbles down to grab it before Mrs. Phinski does (which I’m assuming is so that she doesn’t lean down and hear the vibrator going crazy and catch on).
Finally, she manages to get the bowl of chili and the spoon to a garbage can, apologize to Mrs. Phinski, and excuse herself. She stumbles away from her, seeming to look around for a place to sit.
When she can’t find one, she starts frantically looking around trying to find us. We duck down and burst out laughing.
A few seconds later we peek back up to see old Mrs. Phinski looking at Samantha limp away like she’s a crazy person, shaking her head at her. This only causes us to burst out laughing even louder, almost falling over onto each other in the process.
When we finally calm down and look up, we spot Samantha walking towards us- well, more like limping towards us- and she looks pissed.
“Oh my god I am
going to kill you guys. That was Miranda Phinski, my grandma’s best friend. I have known her literally since I was a baby, and you two just made me orgasm while sitting at her feet trying to clean up my spilled chili bowl!”
She tries to keep a stern face, but in the end her smile wins over, and the three of us burst out laughing together. It’s a hilarious moment, and I would pay hundreds to repeat it just one more time.
As we march around the fair, testing the rest of the chili and placing our votes- we decide to go all out. Asher and I take turns kissing Samantha, holding hands, etc. The goal is to completely ruin her father’s reputation and make him look like a complete idiot.
Do I feel bad? Absolutely not. He deserves whatever he gets for threatening Asher and I when we have done nothing wrong and treating his own daughter like literal property.
See, it’s guys like him who get away with everything they do because no one has the balls to stand up to them. No one wants to actually get up and call them out. But we aren’t afraid of him anymore.
In fact- it’s him who should be afraid of us. Because we are out for some serious revenge.
Forty-Five
Samantha
Today has been an absolute whirlwind. It hasn’t been easy for me to go to the ranchers fair and face all the people that I haven’t seen in years.
See, normally I’d be excited to see everyone- but going there knowing how much my father looked down on me for leaving Texas and going to New York to be a model- I’m sure he hasn’t spoken very highly of me to anyone in this place.
I try to keep my head up though. When it comes down to it- I know that my fathers issues with me aren’t really about me. That all has to do with him. I’ve done nothing wrong, and I just have to keep reminding myself of that.
The one thing that has kept my spirits up through all of this has been Asher and Liam. They have managed to make this whole day that I was not looking forward to by any means, into something fun and exciting with this whole remote-controlled vibrator thing.
It seems that they always catch me at the absolute worst moments, like when I’m talking to an old friend, an old relative, an old family friend, or just plain old trying to take a bite of food or drink a glass of water.
I’m practically weak in the knees from how many times I’ve already came because of this damn thing. I know that I could take it out at any time and be done with it- but the truth is that I fucking love it.
Knowing that my two boys have this control over me, and there is nothing I can do about it at that moment- feels amazing. Not only that, but I love that this is something that they can bond over.
Speaking of them, the three of us split up a few minutes ago. They said they needed to go and check out one of their favorite ranchers tents because he always has amazing tips. So once again, I’m on my own.
I’m about to go grab some watermelon from the nearby fruit stand when all of a sudden the vibrator kicks in again. I roll my eyes, but a small smile creeps its way onto my face at the same time.
After I grab my little watermelon kebab, I turn around to see if I can spot the boys, when my father walks right up to me. Fucking great.
“Samantha, can we talk?”
“Actually, Dad- I’d really rather we didn’t,” I say, trying to dodge him.
He stops me in my tracks, grabs my arm, and pulls me aside.
“Samantha this is enough. You are in so much trouble right now, I can’t even look at you.”
“You do know that I’m a grown ass woman, right?”
“No, Samantha- you’re not. A grown ass woman would not embarrass and disappoint her father like this. A grown ass woman would be smarter than this.”
As he talks, I can feel the vibrator getting faster and faster. I glance around, realizing that there is no way they can see me. They have no idea that I’m talking to my father, so they just keep turning it up higher and higher.
I’m biting my lip, trying to push this out of my mind and focus on the evil man standing in front of me. But holy fuck, it’s hard.
“I cannot even believe you are doing this. Prancing around this place with two different men by your side? You look like you came home and just whored yourself out to any old rancher that would take you.”
“Okay that’s enough. You are the one who sent those men to me. I heard you, Dad. I heard you on the phone, the day I came home. When you thought I wasn’t there yet. I heard everything you said about me, and I heard your little plan. I knew all along. You can’t hide anymore, father. You’re a horrible man, and everyone- including me- knows it.”
“You just keep talkin young lady. You’re only digging yourself into an even deeper hole.”
“Don’t you understand?? I’m not your property. I’m a human being, and I can make my own decisions. You have been trying to control me for my entire life- just like you do to mom. Only I was never going to allow you to treat me the way you treat her. I refuse.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Your mother and I are very happy together. You need to stop this nonsense right now. I demand that you come home, apologize to your mother and I- and while you’re at it- the entire rest of the family as well, seeing as how you soiled the entire family name when you started posing naked for the whole goddamn world to see!!”
And there it is. My final straw. He just isn’t getting it, and clearly he isn’t going to. I’m done here.
“Look, father. The truth is- I have all of the power here. All of it. And you can’t stand that. But for some reason, you still aren’t scared of me. So let’s get this straight, once and for all. If you don’t start respecting me… things are going to get a lot worse for you.”
His entire face goes beet red.
“Stop this nonsense. It’s enough already. What do you want? Seriously- what do you want? Money?? What is it? I’ll do anything if you just stop this- I can’t do this anymore. I can’t watch you destroy yourself.”
“Father- I’m not destroying anything. In fact, I’m happy as can be. My life is perfect, and I don’t need or want a single thing from you, except for you to leave me the hell alone.”
With that, I turn around and walk away as fast as I can before he can say another word. Good thing too, because as soon as I’m a few feet from him- yet another orgasm sets in, and I’m forced to keep walking as I let it roll through me.
Now it’s time to find those boys.
Forty-Six
Asher
“Turn it off! Oh my God, please turn it off!” Samantha’s slender frame whips around the corner of a Cattle feeder display, bolting directly to Liam and I.
Her face is rosy and flush, and I get a little stiff thinking about Liam and I being the ones to give her that pleasure so publicly.
“How many orgasms would you say you just had?”
“I’m serious!”
“But we were having so much fun,” Liam whines.
He’s cute in ways I’ve never noticed.
“Maybe not as much as you are though.”
Liam removes his hand from the remote.
“Is something wrong?” I ask. “Are you okay?”
“It’s my dad,” Samantha’s breathing steadies but her sense of urgency never waivers. “I just saw him. I guess he was in the mood to chat and… I think he knows something’s up.”
Liam tenses beside me.
“How can you tell?” Liam asks.
“He said I was an embarrassment to the Laurier name and that I needed to get my act together.”
Samantha’s eyes are glossy now.
“He told me he will do anything to stop this, stop us, stop whatever’s going on... I know my father. You both know my father. He’s good on his word. He will do anything to get back at us if he finds out-”
“Samantha,” I say, staring deep into her baby blues.
I don’t even want to give her worries a chance to push tears out of those gorgeous eyes. I grab her hand, tight, so she knows I mean what I’m saying.
�
�It’s time we end this. Your father has no right to do the things he’s doing. You are a grown woman, and you’re strong. Stronger than he is. This manipulation has gone too far. Sam, are you hearing me?”
The fair fades around us.
It’s just the three of us. Samantha, Liam, and me.
Liam jumps in, resting a hand on both Samantha and I.
“It’s damn time for him to stop controlling you,” says Liam.
She releases a hot breath as a single tear streams down her cheek. She’s nodding like her head might fall off her neck.
“There’s something I need to tell you both.”
“What is it?” says Liam.
“I’ve been keeping it in for so long, I swear I almost made myself forget,” Sam's chuckle doesn’t feel light, but she’s wearing a dangerous smile.
“You can tell us anything,”
Liam and I can both see how tired Samantha is. She’s tired of lying for her father. Tired of covering up. Tired of keeping dirty little secrets.
“It’s about his ranch… He stole it.”
“What?” Liam asks, his own voice is dripping with disbelief.
“He doesn’t own it. He never has. Not the house, not the animals and certainly not the land. He faked the deeds, stole it and has been lying about it ever since. He lied to all of us! The city, his friends, his community, me…”
“I can’t believe this,” I say. “Samantha Laurier, do you know what this means? Your dear old Dad is going down! You’re in control, you always have been.”
A microphone squeaks behind us and suddenly, our focus snaps back to reality. The reality set in the Annual Rancher’s Fair. There’s got to be something we can do, someone important we can tell, someone who will really do something about this.
