“Y’all sit and eat your breakfast. If you wanna fight, you do it on your own property and your own damn time,” Mama Winchester says.
“Apologies, ma’am.”
“Sorry,” Cash says glancing at Mama. “I don’t mean nothing by it, ma’am. Just givin’ Colt a good ribbin’ because that’s what friends do.”
“Mm-hmm, friend’s also kick one another’s ass if they don’t shut their damn mouths.”
Lemon scrapes her plate clean and sets it in the sink. “Well, as fun as this was, I’ll see y’all later.”
“Where are you off to? Goin’ to town to get your nails done?” Wade says.
Lemon frowns. “No. I was going to town to do some banking, but I can totally give you a play by play of my day, if you’d like?”
“Bankin’? What the hell do you need to do that for?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Wade, probably because I’m trying to keep my gallery afloat.”
“Gallery?” West says.
“Yeah, you know if you guys bothered to read an email or text at some point, you might know that I sent you all an invite to my grand opening. Three years ago.”
“Hey, I showed up,” Wyatt protests.
“You did, and you were the only one.”
West growls. “Some of us couldn’t leave because we had work to do here.”
Lemon sets her hands on her hips. Fuck. West is in for it now. “Chasin’ cattle around the pasture and mending fences? Like you would have any idea what running an actual business is.”
“Alright all of y’all, that’s enough,” Mama says.
“A real business?” West’s chuckle is dark and more warning than humorous. “Who the hell do you think has been running this ranch for the last five years? Or did you forget we actually live, work, and breathe this land, unlike those who leave?”
“I lived and breathed this land as a kid just as much as you ever did, so don’t you dare get up on your high horse, West Winchester.”
“Oh, darlin’, I never got off it. I never had time, ’Cause I never left. Which is more than I can say for you.”
“You wanna put me to work?” Fiery tendrils spring free of her loose braid, framing her face as she leans closer to her brother. God must have known Lemon Winchester needed a warning label, it’s why he gave her all that fucking stunning red hair. And it’s always been my weakness. Even now, I want to sink my fingers in those curls and pull her to me, devouring her hot little mouth just to shut her up. “Fine. Put me through my paces and see what I can do when tested, you go right ahead and name the place and the day.”
“You wouldn’t last a second out there.”
“Try me.”
“Not that you ever stuck around anywhere long enough to know what you’re made of,” West bites out.
As much as I’m enjoying seeing Lemon all fired up again, I’m also hating every second of this because I can feel just how deep West’s thoughtless words cut her to the core.
“That’s enough, West,” I say.
West turns his blue gaze on me, so much like his sisters. It’s bittersweet looking at my closest friend, because every day I see those eyes staring back at me, it reminds me of what I lost.
“You’re taking her side now?” He shakes his head. “Alright then. You wanna prove yourself, Lemon? Well, since you and Colt are so damn close these days, why don’t you join him on fence maintenance?”
“Wait,” I say. “What did I do?”
West ignores me and addresses Lemon while he wipes his face on his napkin and rests it on the plate. “There’s a few fence posts that need mending before we can let the cattle back in to feed in that pasture. After that, we need to rope a couple steers who got mixed up with the neighbor’s herd, and then I need you to—”
“Fine. Whatever.”
“You might wanna head upstairs and change out of them fancy clothes, princess,” Wade says.
“Shut the hell up, Wade,” she says and heads upstairs anyway.
“Well, that went well. Why don’t you be a little more of an ass, West?” Wyatt shakes his head and throws his napkin on his empty plate.
“Screw you.”
“Now, you see here, West,” Mama Winchester says handing him his packed lunch. “I just got that girl back, and I’ll be damned if I let you chase her away from her home.”
“Mama—”
“I ain’t done talkin’, boy, and I know your daddy taught you better than to raise your voice to a woman, especially your mama.”
“Sorry, ma’am.”
“You go easy on her today.”
“Pfft. I ain’t going easy on her.”
Mama turns to me as I finish with my plate. She takes it from the table and places it in the sink. “I expect you have some unresolved issues with my daughter.”
“I’m not gonna make her life hell for leaving me, if that’s what you mean?”
Mama Winchester sighs and hands me my own packed lunch. I find it a little strange that she makes us all lunch and sends us off like we’re school children and not grown men who can fend for themselves. But you don’t argue with Mama Winchester, and you definitely don’t turn down her meals. You’d be an idiot if you did.
“You look out for her today.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I take the bag from her hand and place my hat on my head before turning to leave. “Thank you for the meal, and for lunch.”
She waves the gesture away and turns to Wyatt as I walk outside and head for the stables.
It takes eight minutes for me to have Knievel out of the stall and saddled up. That horse doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to. From the second I saw him in the breaking pen at eighteen, he had murder in his eyes—my daddy called him fuckin’ evil so the name kind of stuck—but wild or not, I knew that horse belonged to me. Everyone else gave up. Not me. I sat for hours with him as a young colt alongside Lemon, and by the end of that summer, Knievel had joined up and that made him all mine.
I lead him outside and climb into the saddle, resting my hands on the horn as I wait with the others. A few moments later, Lemon comes into view, striding from the house in a pair of tight jeans, boots, a straw hat, and a plaid shirt that looks like it fit her as a teen but can no longer accommodate her great fucking tits.
“Holy shit,” Cash says under his breath.
I let out a long, slow sigh and adjust myself in my saddle. I knew I shoulda worn my other jeans. These ones are feeling just a little bit too restrictive.
“Maybe I should work with Lemon today,” Wyatt says. “We don’t want Colt suffering from blue balls.”
“No,” West orders. “If she wants to be part of this family and this ranch, she’s gotta be able to work with any one of us.”
“Oh, I get it.” Wade laughs and slaps his thigh, as if this is all some kind of joke. “You’re making her work with Colt because you think she won’t be able to hack it.”
“Jesus. You really are slow as molasses flowing uphill,” Wyatt says.
“Fuck you.”
Wyatt climbs on the ATV. “It’s clear which Winchester children got all the brains. And which didn’t.”