by Mia Brown
Andrew and Ace were both in the front as the groomsmen. Alana was there, too, along with Lily’s sister, who had come for the wedding. I didn’t mind not being a part of the wedding party. It was perfect this way.
Lance came to the front, and he looked grand in a gray suit with silk in the weave so that it shimmered when he moved. He looked nervous. He caught my eyes, and I mouthed “smile.” He did, and I nodded, smiling, too.
When he reached the front, Ace clapped him on the back, and Andrew shook his hand. The two brothers were the best to have at your side when you were going through something intense. Lance turned around and looked at the guests. Quite a few guests were attending, and despite their differences, Lily’s parents were here, too. I knew it meant a lot to her, and I was so grateful for her sake.
“No, it’s okay,” I said to Hannah when she started moaning again. “Look, there’s Daddy.”
I pointed to Lance, and Hannah looked. Lance waved, and she smiled. He had taken Hannah as his daughter, calling himself her father from day one. He had already signed the adoption papers to make Hannah legally his own, and it was the noblest thing I’ve heard of.
The music started, and Lily came down the aisle, dressed in white and looking like a vision. She was smiling, and I had never seen her this happy.
The ceremony was beautiful, and the reception afterward was a party. We ate and drank—alcohol-free for me—and we celebrated one of the most beautiful unions.
When it was finally time to go home, I was dead on my feet. Ace collected me, and we drove back to the ranch in the dark where we would cuddle together in bed.
“Tonight was amazing,” I said when we were lying under the sheets. “I’m so happy for them.”
“You know it’s all because of you,” Ace said.
I turned my head to him. “Why?”
“Because you allowed Lily to stay when you had every reason to kick her off this property.”
I thought about it. I guess he was right. I hadn’t seen it like that, though. It had all been Lance, stepping into a role that he didn’t have to, being the man Hannah’s biological father could never be.
“And it’s because of that, that we have the home that we do,” Ace added.
I nodded. I knew that it had been because of Lily that we’d started up what we liked to call the program. We hadn’t branched out into horses or a dude ranch. Instead, we had made the ranch a home for strays. We had opened sleeping quarters for people that had nowhere else to go, that were stuck and needed a place to stay and a job.
We didn’t take in just anyone; we weren’t a homeless shelter, and we didn’t let them stay for free. We let them work for their right to sleep here. But we also taught them something valuable. We helped them when they needed help like Lily had.
In the few short months we’d been doing it, word had spread. We didn’t advertise, but word of mouth was a powerful thing. We also got donations from all over for what we were doing, and it was more fulfilling than any business would have been. Of course, we still did the cattle and the crops and the vegetable canning, but what we really handled was people. We had three people on the ranch right now, kicked out of their homes for different reasons.
We had expanded the bunkhouse even more. Lance, Lily, and Hannah had an apartment above it, but we had given them a part of the ranch—on the far side—as a wedding gift, and Lance was already talking about building a house there. Then we would see how we would use the apartment. I was thinking to put Andrew and Alana there. Right now, Alana was living in the house, in his room. Later, they would get their own house on the grounds, too.
I couldn’t believe how much a year could change everything. When I had arrived at the ranch, I had been sure that making a living in the dust wasn’t the life for me. I had thought I would only hold out a couple of weeks until I could find something better and then leave.
I had thought Ace was a bastard, and I had thought their mom was crazy to live here like she did.
Now, I couldn’t imagine ever being somewhere else, living a life that wasn’t this one. I was happier than I had ever been, even though my parents didn’t want anything to do with me. I had a new family, now. I was carrying forth a tradition that meant something, building a family that would move into the future, and I felt like we were making a difference. It was satisfying in a way that nothing else was.
I was so glad I had taken Ace’s number that night, that I had gotten drunk enough to ignore how much I disliked him and took him up on his offer instead of turning my back on the opportunity that had become my future.
“You have a huge heart,” Ace said. “You’re more like my mom than you will ever know.”
I kissed him. “That means so much to me,” I said.
Ace meant the world to me. I was happy. I was free.
Cowboy’s Virgin
One
Alex (early June, afternoon, Eureka Falls, Wyoming)
Knock, knock.
“Who’s there?” I called loudly, tossing another couple of tee shirts in to the suitcase. “I’m busy, y’all know?”
“I know, asshole,” my best friend, Jeff, called back. “That’s why I want to see you, before you bugger off and leave me.” He pushed the door open and stepped inside with a six pack of beers. “I might even miss your sorry ass!”
“Of course you will.” I rolled my eyes. “Who’s going to wing man you for six months while I’m outta town?”
“I’m actually thinking that I might do so much better with the ladies if you aren’t around stealing them all.”
“Stealing them? What the hell do you mean? I would never steal a woman off of you. I’m the best friend ever.”
Jeff popped open a beer using the bottle opener on my fridge and gave me a look. “Not intentionally, sure. But they all want the hot, rugged bull rider over the scrawny gut who works on a ranch. You know that.”
“Whatever, y’all. You’re a cowboy, not a guy who works on a ranch. Use that to your advantage.”
I run my eyes over the case, wondering if I have everything I’m going to need. Fuck knows what I’ll need for six months. What I have will have to do. Anything else I can buy on the road. It’ll be all good.
“You stopping?” Jeff asked. “You wanna have a beer with me to celebrate your departure.”
“This a celebration or commiseration?” I chuckled. “I can’t work you out, buddy.”
“Who cares? We’re getting our asses drunk. It’s the same result in the end.” He took a giant swig and I matched him, knowing I could easily drink him under the table if needed. “So, are you gonna kick ass on the rodeo tour? You’ve been showing the world what your made of over the last year, haven’t you? Your performances since you left my ass behind on the ranch have been incredible. The world is gonna know Alex Fancy!”
“Hell yeah!” We clinked our beer bottles together. “They sure are. I’m gonna be the best damn bull rider the world has ever seen. The attention I’m getting now is small fry. I’m gonna be huge. Then all the asshole sponsors that won’t even look at me at the moment will eat their damn hats. They’ll regret turning me away.”
I stepped over to the stereo and flicked it to life. The drawl of a sexy country singer burst in to the room from the radio which instantly made me smile. The song reminded me of the old times on the ranch with Jeff. They were all good moments, but I had ambitions for more from the very first day I started there.
“Maybe it’s your behavior.” Jeff cocked an eyebrow at me. “That’s why the sponsors are keeping away.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” I refused to meet his eye. I couldn’t look at his knowing face.
“Oh no? So, the bar fight with Ol Tommy at the end of last month? The horse prank you pulled which ended up in Sally’s fruit market stall? How about the foul mouthed interview you did with the local news station…?”
“In my defense, I was drunk during all of those things.” I shrugged, completely blasé. “I can’t be bl
amed.”
“Okay, so what about the competition you were disqualified for because you had sex with the organizers girlfriend? You weren’t drunk then. And when you kissed Julie and got kicked off the radio show. Need I say more?”
“Alright, alright, so I haven’t always been the best behaved, I will be honest, but who the fuck cares? Does that matter? Does it affect my ability to ride? Hell no. It does nothing of the sort. You know I have the passion for bull riding, you know I’m better than any other fucker out there. I’m the best of the best. You know I can do it.”
“Even if it means focusing more on the bulls than the chicks?” His face said it all. He barely believed in me.
“Oh, hell yeah!” I nod vigorously. “Even if I never see another chick again. I’m focused. I’m on the ball.”
“Now that I will never believe!” Jeff shook his head, bemused. “You can’t keep it in your pants for longer than five minutes. There’s not a shot in hell you will last six months without any action at all.”
Even thinking about it was too much. Six months was going to destroy me…
“Okay, maybe not the whole time, but I’ll be alright. I’ll be better than usual. I will… I’ll prove you wrong, you’ll see.” I nodded seriously. “My eyes will be more on the prize than the women around me.
“So, you’re going to behave over the next six months then? Or should I expect you home early?”
“You expect me home in six months time with the championship title and a smoking hot fox on my arm.”
“You? With a girlfriend?” Jeff scoffed. “Nah, I don’t believe it, mate. Never. You aren’t a boyfriend. I can’t ever see you as anything more than that. I can’t ever see you as the commitment type.”
“I could be… if the chick was hot enough… probably.” Nah, I was talking out my ass.
“But then you’d have to keep it in your pants, and I don’t think you could.” He knew me too well.
“You have no faith in me Jeffy Boy. I will get a girlfriend one day. Just y’all wait and see.”
“Well, if you come back with a girlfriend and the championship, it’ll be up to you to buy the beers. I’m sick of wasting all my hard earned cash on you, you ungrateful bastard. It’s time for you to pay up.”
“Oh, and here was me just thinking that I was great company.”
“You?” He ran his eyes up and down me in mock disgust. “Nah, you’re an asshole. I don’t know why I put up with you, really. You’ve never been anything less than an annoying douche bag.”
“And yet you’re here, yet you’re gonna miss me when I’m gone. What does that say about you?”
“Yeah, good point.” Jeff nodded. “Who the fuck knows what that says? Probably that I’m an idiot.”
“A glutton for punishment… either that or you’re obsessed with me.”
“Pffft, you god damn wish! Obsessed with you… a bit full of yourself, aren’t you?”
I laughed, then indicated for us to sit outside in the yard. It was a hot afternoon so why the hell stay inside? Now that Jeff was here, I wouldn’t get anything productive done now anyway. Drinking with my buddy would be good enough. Then maybe later on we could head to the local bar and find a fittie to spend the night with. My cozy little farm house always felt better with some company around. Whoever it was, even if I didn’t know her name.
“Eureka Falls just won’t be the same without the larger than life Alex around.” Jeff shook his head and took his cowboy hat off. “It’s gonna be weird, I won’t lie to you. Super proud though. You’re showing the world that you aren’t just a do nothing Wyoming boy who doesn’t give a shit about anything.”
“Hmmm, and that’s all everyone thought I would turn out to be. I’m proving them wrong!”
Teachers in high school, family members, people wo I’ve worked with on the way up who see me and hear me and make their assumptions on me without having a fucking clue about my ambition. Not that I gave a fuck about any of them. I didn’t even need to prove myself to anyone. I was doing this all for me.
“Kenzie was the only one who believed in you in high school, wasn’t she?”
I nodded. “She sure was. That girl has always been a good friend to me.”
I smiled as I thought about her. She was a real good girl, the girl next door type who drove many guys wild. They loved the idea of corrupting a good girl. That hadn’t ever been my bag. I liked them wild. Willing to do whatever.
“Do you ever think about making her more than just a friend? She’s always had a thing for you? I know that I haven’t ever asked you before, but you’ve never mentioned wanting a girlfriend before now.”
I paused thoughtfully for a moment, but to be honest, the answer was already obvious to me. I wasn’t ever going to see Kenzie as more than a friend. Sure, she was cute, but she wasn’t for me. She was just my friend. I couldn’t ever see her as anything other than that and I never would do.
“Nah, I don’t think so. If me and Kenzie hooked up, it would ruin our friendship.”
“So, you don’t know that she’s just broken up with Bradley then?”
“She has?” That was a shock. I thought that he was her happy ever after. “I didn’t see that coming.”
“You didn’t? You didn’t think that her and Bradley were doomed from the start?” I furrowed my eyebrows, confused, which made him continue. “Because she has the hots for you. She can’t stop herself.”
“Kenzie knows that me and her are just friends. I aint worried about that. I think you’re wrong anyway. Maybe in high school, but no more. She’s moved on and she knows I’m not hanging around for her.”
We’d had that conversation, I’d been upfront with her. She got it… didn’t she?
“Yeah… everyone knows that.” Jeff smirked. “The notches on your bed post are crazy. I don’t even want to know the number of women who you’ve been with. It would shock me, I’m sure. But I still think that she has hope.”
I didn’t want to think about that. Me and Kenzie were just fine as we were. Wrecking things with sex was the worst idea ever. I had to have some women in my life that I didn’t show my moves to. As soon as me and Kenzie slipped between the sheets, that would be us done forever. She would fall harder, and I would pull away. I could just see it happening now… and what the fuck was the point in that? There were plenty of women wanting to get in my bed who wouldn’t be hurt by my actions. I might as well stick with them.
“Yeah… sweet and innocent little Jeff. Doesn’t get any action. Whatever.”
“I might not be love ‘em and leave ‘em Alex, but I do okay.”
“Yeah well, like you said you might do much better with me gone. You might not want me back. I might return with my championship and a six pack of beers…”
“And your smoking hot girlfriend,” Jeff reminded me.
“Oh, of course, I mustn’t forget her.” I smirked. “And you might not even want me around.”
“There aint much chance of that, Alex. If I’ve put up with you for this long, we’ll be just fine. It isn’t going to be like we won’t talk while you’re away anyway, so I can’t exactly forget about you.”
“No one can forget about Alex Fancy.” I chuckled. “It’s a fucking name that sticks.”
“You’re sure as hell right about that!”
As we clinked our beer glasses together once more before pulling out more beers and glugging them back. Alex Fancy used to be a name that haunted me. The other kids teased me that I thought I was better than everyone else, or I assumed I was posh because of my name, which was fucking crazy. Then they used to call me Butler Fancy and ask me to do stuff for them… which was right around the time I started getting in to trouble for fighting.
But now, it was the name that was going to take me far, it was going to give me everything.
Two
Emily (early June, afternoon)
“Be a bit more sexy,” the photographer, Dan, commanded. “Come on, Emily, is that all you got?”
I kept my teeth together, gritting them tightly so as not to let the string of expletives that wanted to fly out of my mouth inside. I couldn’t be rude, models didn’t have that privilege of being negative towards all the dickheads who were shitty to them. I didn’t like it one bit, it was the hardest part of the job.
“Sex sells, Emily, and you’re supposed to be selling this sports wear brand. What is your problem here? You look like you’re just playing tennis, not that you’re feeling lustful thoughts about the tennis balls?”
What sort of bullshit was that? Sexy feelings about tennis? What the hell? I was a great model, I knew that. I’d worked with enough girls to know that I was professional at all times and that I produced good pictures… so I wasn’t about to let this asshole walk all over me and make me feel like shit. Dan was known in the industry for this anyway, it wasn’t just me he treated in such a way, but that didn’t make it any easier to listen to.
I positioned myself a little better and stared in to the camera, just trying to focus on that piece of machinery than the man behind it. I stared at a million different cameras, so I could focus on that easily. Dan could fade away.
“A bit more hip,” he barked. “A bit more ass. I want to really see you. All of you.”
The hint behind his words suggested that he wanted to know what was going on underneath my clothing… not that I would allow that to happen. Not for a twat like him. I’d gotten this far without being naked in any of my shoots, which wasn’t quite as easy as I wanted it to be, and I wasn’t going to change that now. He could see the shape of me, but it wasn’t going to be my butt that sold this sports wear brand.
As Dan stopped shooting for a moment to check what he’d taken so far, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. It had been a long ass day and the worse that Dan got, the more I wanted it to end.
Not too much longer, I promised myself. We have to be done soon.
“Right, actually, Emily… I think that we might be done here,” Dan called out with a frown.
