“For the love of . . . ,” he murmured, before running his hand through his hair. “You can’t be on the property while you’re not working. That’s called trespassing. It’s against the law.”
“What? Are you going to call Sheriff Cole to come arrest me for brushing Dottie?”
“Don’t test me, Hazel,” he said through gritted teeth. “Are you trying to push my buttons, or does it come naturally to you?”
“Like breathing air.”
He grumbled some more and brushed his thumb beneath his left eye. “If I hear about you getting in anyone’s way, you’re out. And I don’t just mean for today, but I mean out out. Fired. Do you understand?”
“I hear you loud and clear, Coach.”
“Stop the sarcasm.”
“That comes naturally to me like breathing air too.”
Before he could bark his annoyance at me, a woman walked into the stables and looked toward Ian. “Are you ready to go, Ian? I only have such a short lunch break if we are going to . . . you know.” She glanced over to me and looked away, growing a bit red in the face.
Oh, trust me, sweetie, we all know.
If I had a dollar for every woman I’d seen approach Ian in the past few days, I wouldn’t even have to work at the ranch anymore. I’d be Kylie Jenner–level rich. I could’ve probably made a whole makeup palette based on the eye colors of the females that crossed his path and made it into his office.
Emerald green. Midnight blue. Black shadows.
Ian looked at me as if he wanted to scold me some more, but his desire to take that girl to his pen was higher than his want to boss me around. I was pleased when he left me alone. Dottie and I had more to catch up on.
4
IAN
“She’s a pain in my ass,” I complained to Big Paw after a few weeks of training Hazel. Day in and day out, that girl kept showing up in her black wardrobe and messed-up combat boots, ready to work. No matter the task I gave her, she completed it. Sometimes she’d stay late into the night to finish, but she always left her work completed, giving me no reason to fire her. Even though I really wanted a damn reason to let her go.
Plus, on her days off, she was still lurking around. It was as if she had no fucking life outside the ranch. Her favorite pastime was talking to the livestock as if someday they’d talk back. I knew Dottie well enough to know that she didn’t care a lick about what Hazel was saying—she just wanted those damn apples.
All the other guys on the ranch seemed to be fine and dandy with Hazel wandering around like a lost dog. James said she stayed out of the way and even came in handy when he needed an extra pair of hands. Marcus and Eric found her equally helpful, and I swore Old Man Eddie had kissed Hazel’s cheek when she’d offered to help him in the chicken coop.
It seemed I was the only asshole who didn’t want her around, and I knew damn well that it was because of my personal issues with her connections to Charlie.
Seeing Hazel every day reminded me of Charlie, and thinking of Charlie reminded me of my parents. I tried my best not to think about them. I worked hard to keep them buried deep in the back of my mind, but seeing Hazel made that near impossible.
I didn’t know the girl, but the taste she left in my mouth made me sick. If she was connected to a snake like Charlie, no good could come from her working around the ranch. She came from a world of toxicity.
“And you’re a pain in mine,” Big Paw replied, sitting at his desk in his home. He scratched at his overgrown beard that Grams had been trying to get him to shave down and yawned without covering his mouth. “She’s been working harder than half the blockheads out there. Every time I’ve passed by the ranch, I’ve seen her working hard, struggling sometimes, sure, but working. Unlike half your team that I find slacking off and shooting the shit.”
“Yeah, but . . .” I groaned, knowing I didn’t have a leg to stand on but still wanting a fucking leg to stand on. “Did you know she’s Charlie’s stepdaughter?”
“You think I don’t do my research before hiring hands? Of course I knew that.”
“And you still brought her on?” I asked, flabbergasted. “You know that Charlie is the reason Mom and Dad—”
“Don’t start, boy,” Big Paw sneered, his voice coated in annoyance. He flicked his finger against the bridge of his nose. “I don’t got time for you bringing up this issue. Hazel Stone is working at the ranch, and you will be the one overseeing her work. End of story.”
“But—”
“I said end of story!”
How could he push it away so fast? If it weren’t for Charlie, Mom and Dad would’ve never gotten hooked on meth all those years ago. They wouldn’t have run off in a drug haze, chasing their next high. They would’ve still been the parents I needed in my life.
So fuck Charlie, and fuck everyone who was attached to him. He ruined lives—including mine.
I wished I hadn’t known my parents before the drugs slipped into their lives. I wished I hadn’t seen their good side, but I had for thirteen years of my life. I had a slew of memories in my brain that reminded me of what Mom had been like before meth. I remembered how she’d loved to help Grams garden. I remembered her laugh, her rose-scented perfume, her smile. During the summers, Dad would let me go down to the dump and use the forklift out there to help him move around busted-up automobiles.
The worst part of having parents who developed a drug habit over time was remembering that they hadn’t always been so fucked up. If they had always been tragic people, I would’ve had an easier time when they’d left.
“You should think about letting her go. Or at least having someone else look after her,” I offered. That would’ve made it less annoying for me—if I didn’t have to look after Hazel.
“I can’t let her go. I owe it to someone close to her to give Hazel a shot.”
“Who? Who could you possibly owe?”
His brows knitted, and he avoided my question. “How much are you paying for rent at the property on the ranch?” he asked, his question loaded, and I knew exactly what trap he was setting up.
“Big Paw—”
“Easy question, boy. Now answer it.”
I slumped down in my chair. “Rent-free.”
“I was talking to Tyler down at the marketplace the other day, and he was telling me that ranch house was easily worth over two hundred thousand. He asked me if it was up for sale. I’m debating if I should take him up on that offer.”
“Okay, I get it.”
“I don’t think you do.” He clasped his hands together. “I could be making money on that ranch house, but I don’t because you’re my grandson and I knew you wouldn’t be able to find a nice spot on your own without the help. I lend the barn house to you and your bandmates to rehearse in, even though I could be making a profit from renting it out to others. In a town where so many people are struggling, you’re living like a goddamn king, and you have the nerve to come into my office whining like a baby because you don’t like a girl who works harder than most people? Well, tough cookies. If you want her to have a new trainer, then quit. But Lord knows you’ll be losing everything that comes with your comfortable life.”