by L. P. Dover
I forced a smile, but it probably looked more like a grimace. “Yep, everything. I even have someone to wipe my ass. Now if you don’t mind, I need to get to work.”
Shaking his head, he laughed. “That doesn’t surprise me at all.” The man was infuriating. Thoughts of hitting him over the head with the shovel crossed my mind, but I smiled and went right over to the horses’ stalls. “Do you remember anything about horses?” he asked.
I remembered everything, but I was a little out of practice. However, the second I stepped into the barn it was as if it all came back to me. I walked right over to the light brown horse, and he lowered his face as I held out my hand. “I’m sure I’ll be okay,” I said, rubbing the horse’s snout.
“His name’s Copper. The dark brown one is Dirty Girl, and the white one is Eagle.” Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Zac walk over to Dirty Girl. “This one’s feisty. I’d be careful around her.” Dirty Girl whinnied as if she agreed with him. It reminded me of the way I was with Blue. It was like he could read my mind. That was how in sync we were. Zac patted Dirty Girl’s back and started to head out of the barn. “Holler if you need me.”
I scoffed. “Don’t worry, I won’t.”
As soon as he was gone, I breathed a sigh of relief. It was going to be a long day.
My arms were sore and I could smell the stench of barn on my clothes, but I got the work done. All the stalls were clean and the horses were fed and brushed. To be honest, I was quite proud of myself. Zac stayed away, which made the day not so stressful.
It was closing in on four o’clock, but I had done everything I was supposed to do. I set the shovel back with the others and walked out of the barn just as Zac came out of the back door of his house.
“Leaving already? I thought I had you until five.”
“I got everything done,” I replied blandly.
His eyes narrowed mischievously. “Hold on now. I have to make sure you cleaned every stall.”
I wasn’t about to make a fuss, but I stepped out of his way and leaned against the barn door while he inspected everything. I really wanted to jam one of the shovels up his ass. He looked around the barn with a surprised expression on his face.
“Well, I’ll be damned. You did pretty good,” he called out.
“Great. I’m going to go.” Turning on my heel, I started for my car, but I didn’t get far.
“Wait! You missed a stall.”
Huffing, I circled around and marched back into the barn. “Where? I did everything.”
He pointed over at the back corner of the barn. There was a stall there, but there were no horses using it. That was why I didn’t bother to check it out.
Zac walked over and picked up my shovel so he could hand it to me. “You’re going to need this.”
Clenching my teeth, I grabbed the shovel and walked over to the stall. The door was closed, and when I opened it, I almost threw up all over the place. Inside, there was a mountain of horse shit everywhere.
“You have got to be literally shitting me,” I snapped, turning an evil glare to Zac. “What the hell is this? Could your lazy ass not shovel it a few feet more to get it outside?”
Zac doubled over with laughter, which infuriated me more. He walked over to me with that smug grin of his. “Actually, I saved it all for you. When I heard you were being auctioned off, I knew I’d win. Figured I would get a good laugh watching you shovel horse manure around.”
My cheeks burned and I could feel the anger well up in my chest. I was so livid I didn’t know what to do. I hated him with every fiber of my being. “Listen, you arrogant son of a bitch.” I stepped toward him, but then everything moved in slow motion. One minute, I was storming toward Zac, and the next, I found myself on my back … in the warm pile of shit.
At first, I thought it was just a bad dream, but then the smell hit me. I couldn’t move. If I did, I was afraid the mushy stuff on my back would spread. Zac rushed over and held his hand out, laughing so hard his face turned red.
“Here. Let me help you,” he offered.
I smacked his hand away. “Piss off.” The stench was horrendous. I jumped to my feet and tossed the shovel at him, but he caught it. I was hoping it’d hit him in the head. “You can clean that mess yourself. I’m going home.”
He nodded toward his house, but that same glint of mischief was in his eyes. “You can go inside and take a shower if you want. I have some clothes you can borrow.”
I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of coming to my rescue. Instead, I took off my shirt and shorts, dropping them on the ground. By the way his eyes widened at the sight of me in my bra and underwear, I knew I caught him off guard. I’d flustered him, and it was my time to smile.
I sauntered past him, loving the way his eyes darkened. “See you tomorrow,” I called out, knowing very well he stared at me until I disappeared around the corner. I got in the car and noticed a missed call from my mother. Taking a deep breath, I called her back as I headed home.
“Hey,” she answered. “How’d it go?”
Sighing, I looked down at my bare body. I could still smell the barn on me. “Well … it was a dirty mess. And just so you know, don’t be alarmed when I come home in just my bra and underwear.”
“What?” she shouted. “What happened? You didn’t do anything stupid, did you?”
I knew what she meant. “Geez, Mom. I’m so glad you think so highly of me. No, I didn’t sleep with the douche canoe.”
She huffed. “Sorry. Zac’s a sweet talker. I don’t want you falling into old habits.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. It just so happens I slipped and fell into a pile of shit. The asshole got a good laugh out of it. But don’t worry … I’ll get him back somehow. I just need to think.”
It was childish to be like that, but Zac deserved it with the whole horse manure scheme. One way or another, he’d get his payback. And finally, I could get my revenge.
7
Zac
Holy fucking shit. Clara had the same fire in her from before. The woman was as stubborn as a damn mule. I didn’t think she’d clean out the horse stalls, but she surprised me. I might’ve overdone it with piling up all the horse shit I could find into that last stall. However, the expression on her face was priceless when she fell in it. What made it even more interesting was when she took off her clothes. Even covered in shit, she was still sexy as hell. It took all I had to keep my dick from springing to attention. I didn’t think she’d had that much power over me after all these years, but she did. It made me loathe her even more.
After she left, I cleaned out the shit-filled stall and took Dirty Girl out for a ride until the sun started to fall. I left my phone in the barn, and when I got back there was a missed call from my best friend, Drew. I made sure all the horses were secure in their stalls and then called him on my way into the house. Drew was my neighbor growing up, and we’d been best friends ever since. When I moved to New Orleans, he stayed in Wyoming to take over his father’s tree cutting business, but we still stayed in touch and visited each other often.
“Hey, cocksucker,” he answered. “What are you doing?”
I chuckled. “Just got through riding Dirty Girl.”
Drew laughed. “That’s fucking classic. I love that you named her that.”
Once inside of the house, I kicked off my boots at the door. “It fits. You should see her when it rains. She likes to roll around in the mud.” Hence, the reason why I named her Dirty Girl. I hated I couldn’t be around her and the others more often, but my parents helped take care of them while I was away. They loved riding them. When I was younger, my mother always wanted a horse but my father couldn’t afford to get one. That was why I got her Eagle, and eventually, Dirty Girl and Cooper for myself.
“You’ve been back in town for three nights now and we haven’t gone out for beer. Tonight’s the night. Got any plans?”
I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator. �
�No plans that I know of. Want to head to Snake River Tavern in an hour?”
“Sounds good to me. Your wife doesn’t mind you going out?”
Drew burst out laughing. “She heard that. I have you on speakerphone.”
I could hear his wife in the background. Her name was Lena and she’d graduated two years below us. “I don’t mind, Zac,” she shouted. “I trust you to keep Drew out of trouble. Before you leave town, make sure to come over for dinner. I hate I missed you at the auction. Wasn’t feeling too well. Heard all about it though.”
Drew snickered. “And that’s exactly what we have to talk about tonight, man.”
I snorted. “It was an interesting day that’s for sure. And Lena,” I called out to her, “I’ll be happy to come over for dinner. I plan on staying in town for a couple of weeks at least.”
Lena squealed. “Perfect. I’ll think up something good to cook.”
“All right, Zac,” Drew cut in. “I’ll see you soon. I’m happy to hear you’ll be in town for a while. We have a lot to catch up on.”
We hung up and I chugged my beer as I headed to the bathroom to take a shower. I couldn’t wait to see Drew. Out of everyone I graduated with, he was the only one I kept in touch with. Every time I came into town, I made sure to see them, and each time they were near North Carolina, they made it a point to see me. Now that I had my own place in Wyoming, I thought I would be able to visit more often, but my job demanded a lot of my time.
For a year now, I’d had my house built as an investment. Out of all that time, I’d probably spent a total of seven days at it. The house smelled new and you could tell it hadn’t really been lived in. I was still trying to decide if I wanted to keep or sell it. I tried getting my parents to move into it, but they refused. Said it was too big for them. They were happy with the little, two-bedroom farmhouse I grew up in; it was where they had all their memories.
As soon as my shower was done, I put on a pair of jeans and a dark blue T-shirt to go with my boots and cowboy hat. It’d been a long time since I was able to wear my hat. Now that I worked for one of the largest architectural firms in the world, I needed to dress the part when I was at work. It felt good to be back home.
Before leaving the house, I grabbed the keys to my truck and my wallet off the kitchen counter. Snake River Tavern wasn’t far away, so it only took about ten minutes to get there. Drew was in the parking lot, standing by his black Jeep Wrangler when I pulled up beside him. He was thirty years old, just like me, but his blond hair had started to thin a bit on the top. I always told him it was because he got married young.
I got out of the truck, and he held out his hand. “It’s about damn time you came home,” he teased, pulling me in for a hug instead.
We both laughed, and I slapped his back. “I’m here now. Been working my ass off these days.”
Drew let me go and stepped back. “Why do you think I still make time for you? You’re rich and successful. I love gloating to people and saying you’re my best friend. Makes me look good.”
“You’re such a dick.” Smiling, I flung my arm around his shoulders. “Come on, let’s get some drinks. You wouldn’t believe what happened today.”
Once inside, we went straight to the bar and sat down. The owner, Billy Martin, was making the drinks, and when he saw us, he smiled big and hurried over to us. “Well, I’ll be damned. I heard you were back.” He held out his hand to me, and I shook it. Billy was pushing seventy years old, but he always told us he’d work at his bar until the day he died. I could see him doing it, too.
“It’s good to see you, Billy. I’m glad to be back.”
“What you boys want?” he asked.
We both ordered one of the local IPA beers on draft, and Billy poured them right up. Drew turned to me and took a swig of his beer. “All right, dude, tell me what happened today. Did Clara actually show up at your house?”
Visions of her pissed off and wearing nothing but her underwear flashed through my mind. “Out of all the things for us to catch up on, this is what you want to start off with?”
Drew’s eyes about bugged out of his head. “Seriously? The whole town’s talking about what happened at the auction. You and Clara are hot news right now.”
“After today, I don’t know if she’ll be back.” Clara was so damn stubborn, I knew her pride wouldn’t let her give up. Then again, that was the old Clara I knew. I was pretty sure California had changed her.
His grin widened. “What happened?”
I shrugged. “Well … I made her work in the barn.”
Drew choked on his beer and coughed. “Holy shit, that had to be funny as hell.” The second he saw my smile, he chortled. “Tell me everything.”
I took a gulp of my beer and sighed. “I had her clean the horse stalls. The other day when I found out she was being auctioned off, I knew I was going to win her. That night, I shoveled all of the horse shit into one stall in the corner so I could mess with her. At the end of day yesterday, I pointed out that she’d missed a section, and when she opened the door, she slipped and fell.”
Drew gasped. “In the horse shit?”
I nodded. “Yep. I’d have given anything to get it on video. She was so damn pissed.”
“Then what happened?” Drew asked, his face lit up with excitement.
More visions of her bare body ravaged my mind. Averting my eyes, I cleared my throat. “She took off her clothes and went home.” I waited on him to say something, but he didn’t. When I looked at him, his lips pulled back into a smile. “What?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I get the feeling there’s something you’re not telling me.”
There was a lot I hadn’t told him. Things I didn’t want to admit to myself. “I don’t know,” I confessed. “It felt good being an ass to her.” But it also made me feel like a douche.
Drew chuckled. “That’s because she left you and never came back. Did she apologize for that?”
“Nope,” I scoffed. “We haven’t talked about any of that.”
He took another sip of his beer. “Maybe you should. Was she being a bitch right back at you?”
I blew out a sigh. “You have no idea. She’s always been feisty though.”
He agreed with a nod. “True. What do you have planned for her tomorrow? You have her until Friday, right?”
I did. Before I could answer, two girls I recognized from high school walked through the door, one of which I knew had a huge crush on me back then. Her name was Julie. She used to have dark brown hair, but now it was mostly blonde. That was the thing about small towns. You couldn’t go anywhere without knowing everyone around. The other girl with Julie was Rachel, but she went straight over to another table with other people while Julie headed toward me.
Drew nudged me with his elbow. “Forgot to tell you. Julie was looking for you the other night at the auction. She just got divorced and is obviously ready to find herself a good time.”
Julie was a beautiful woman, dressed in her skin tight shirt and jeans. “Hey, Zac,” she called out as she got closer. Stopping beside me, she leaned against the bar. “How are you?”
“Good. You?”
She shrugged. “Can’t complain. It’s been a long time.”
I nodded. “It has.”
“How long you in town for?”
“Not sure,” I said, “probably a couple of weeks. Why?”
She bit her lip and smiled. “I was wondering if you’d like to grab some dinner one night. Maybe catch up on old times?”
Throughout the years, I’ve had my fair share of women. It was a good stress reliever. Drew nudged me in the back, and I cleared my throat. “We’ll see. Let me check my schedule,” I replied.
The look of disappointment was evident on her face. “Okay. I’ll leave you my number.” After grabbing a napkin from behind the bar, she pulled a pen out of her purse to write her number down. When she handed it to me, she leaned in close. “It’ll be a good time. I promise.”
As s
oon as she walked off, Drew laughed under his breath. “Damn, man. She wants you. Then again, she wanted you in high school, too.” There were a lot of girls who flirted with me when I was with Clara. I didn’t want any of them.
I stared down at Julie’s number. It’d be so easy to say yes and take her up on her promise of a good time … but there was something holding me back. Then again, it couldn’t have been more perfect.
“Why are you smiling like that?” Drew asked. “You gonna call her?”
Shoving Julie’s number in my pocket, I turned to him. “I’m going to do something better than that. I know what I’m going to get Clara to do tomorrow.”
Drew shook his head, laughing. “Oh hell. Can’t wait to hear this.”
It was going to be good.
8
Clara
The morning had come for my father’s first chemo treatment. After I got home last night from being covered in shit, I took a shower and had a huge dinner with my parents. We knew it would be the last time my father would be able to eat like that for a while. I’d researched the effects of chemo for the past month, and I knew it wouldn’t be easy on my dad. I also had an aunt who passed away a couple years ago from breast cancer. We all saw what the chemo did to her. Besides losing her hair, she also lost the ability to taste food. That was why we wanted to make sure my dad had all his favorites beforehand.
I could hear my parents downstairs in the kitchen, so I threw on a pair of shorts and an old T-shirt. If I was going to be working in the barn, I wasn’t about to throw away any of my good clothes. My hair was still a little wet from my shower last night, so I brushed through it and braided it down the side of my head as I headed downstairs.
My father was at the table, drinking a cup of coffee while my mom busied herself with dishes. She was nervous; I could see it on her face and the tenseness in her body. I walked over to my dad and squeezed his shoulders. “I wish I could be with you today.”
