Chapter 1
Chapter One-
“Nat, I need help with rounding up the cattle, we need to get them into the shoot before ma gets through with mixing the antibiotics together.” Lyle yelled into the barn, and I got up from spreading out the hay for the horses.
“I’m comin’, I’m comin’!” I called back to him, taking a quick glance at my handiwork.
“Hurry, we don’t got all day!” he rumbles, and I scoff.
“Fine, but later you’re helping me bring all the horses back in. You and Beau were supposed to have rounded up the cattle an hour ago!” I wipe my hands on my work jeans as I hurry out of the barn, my work boots clomping loudly as I jump on my own four wheeler, ready to follow his out to the pasture. He scoffs back at me on purpose, giving back what I gave tenfold.
“And you were supposed to be done with the horses thirty minutes ago!” he says and before I can get in another word, squeezes the gas handle and speeds off. Leaving me to follow behind him.
I growl under my breath, wondering how my ma could birth such a demon. Well, he’s not a demon all the time. He can be an overprotective, sometimes funny asshole. And the brown haired brown eyed guy following him around going by the name of Beau? The best friend of said asshole. He works on the ranch with my pa and brother and I.
So every day, I get to hear about how beau’s work truck getting fixed, how his date went the night before, if he happened to secure another notch in his bedpost. Hearing that about Lyle also doesn’t help, but Lyle was more of the safe player. Hes gone on quite a few dates but hasn’t found the right Bonnie to his Clyde so to speak, so he only sleeps with women few and far between. At least that’s what I gather, I don’t outright ask him if he’s a man whore or not. Believe it or not, but there is a line to how much I want to know about my brother.
If Beau nor Lyle found out that I started dating Tucker Mason from the college I’m going to two hours away from the ranch, I’d say this would have been a fine summer. Too bad my luck isn’t always on my side. On my second day home, my cell phone rang while it was downstairs, and I was upstairs showering off the long day of dirt and sweat from knocking in fence posts to fix a hole where the cows have been getting out.
I groan just thinking about that day. When my pa answered my phone for me and Tucker was on the other end, he immediately handed the phone to Lyle, who gave him a good hiding. I could hear the yelling all the way from the shower, so I had hopped out, hoping the cows just got out again. That I could deal with. But no, when I ran into the kitchen with soaking jean shorts and a tank top, soppy hair in a bun, lyle looked to me with murder in his eyes.
“Who the hell is Tucker, and why is he callin’ my baby sister?” He says, eyes narrowing. My ma just kept to her cooking, not about to get in the way of Lyle tossing me into the stack of horse shit I scooped up that day.
I narrowed my eyes as they landed on my phone in his hand. “I’m pretty sure that’s none of your ever lovin’ business Lyle, stay off of my phone!” My temper could flair to, and it did often when Lyle or Beau were involved.
“The hell do you mean!? Why is a boy callin’ your phone Natalie?” Beau came In to stand beside Lyle, and I get even more upset. I leaned forward and tore my phone away from Lyle, giving them both the evil eyes.
“I’m twenty years old, boys. I can date anyone I damn well please.” I replied, and ma shot me a look that said ‘say a curse one more time I’ll show you what you can and cant do’ I straightened up, not caring that I look like a drowned rat, turned around, and walked to my room.
“This conversations not over” Lyle yelled out, but I huffed out, cussing him out in my head.
I shake out of my thoughts as we make it to the fence to get the cattle, beau holding it open for us so Lyle tears through with me following, beau closing the first gate but kept the second open so we could round the cattle in the pen to move over to the branding station.
Beau hops on his four wheeler, and follows after us. After we got them all in, even the calves, we parked our four wheeler’s. I pull open the side gate and grab my whippin’ stick while I patted the butts of the cows that needed to go in the line in the shoot, when I got them all in, I let each one go down the line, and I trapped my first one in the green barrel pulling down the lever that closed so no other cow could get in behind it, and pulling the other lever up that squeezes the shoot to where the cow can’t squirm too much.
Ma being on the other side of me, sets up the electric branding iron, and the needles. Pa comes walking up with a bottle of the big fat antibiotic pills for Odessa, she’s been a little sick, and the powder that makes the bugs leave them alone.
Ma hands me the syringe, and I go over to the cow and push the syringe in the fatty part of her ass. I then grab the powder from pa and pour the white powder on her back. He hands me the pill pusher, and I set the pill in the enclosed spot and go around Odessa’s teeth, pushing the rod down the side of her cheek and in her throat so she has to swallow it, and I pull the iron out of her throat.
“You’re gonna be a good veterinarian yet, little girl.” Pa says, slapping my shoulder, and I grin to him. I pull the slot open, and she goes in the branding shoot next, where all three men tip it over, Lyle jumping on top of the side, and pa hands him the electric branding iron. While their doing that, and ma’s getting the next dose ready, I go pat another cow forward, into the the shoot, and close it again, making it to where she has no room to turn around or squirm.
We did this all day, until the very last one, and my arms were dead tired by the end.
We let all the cattle back into the field, and the boys fill up the water trough while I get back on my four wheeler to go put the horses back up.
Half way through, beau and Lyle come in, helping me put away the horses, and I nod to them.
That night, with beaus help, we turn the water wheels down another row, and hook up the hoses again, making us a little wet but it’s normal.
Beau walks with me back to the four wheeler but before he gets on, he turns to me.
“I don’t understand why you’re with this boy.” He says, his eyes searching over my face. I scrunch up my face, and I tighten my pony tail that’s half out, only making my hair look crazier, but I don’t care. It’s just beau. He’s seen worse than this.
“What do you mean?” I ask, watching him lean again his four wheeler, his wranglers doing their job and still fit snugly, his boots looking worn in the right way as he crosses his feet.
“Tanner?” He asks and I roll my eyes, now understanding.
“Tucker, you mean?” He shrugs, his eyes narrowing.
“From what I hear when you talk about him to your ma, he’s not a country boy. He doesn’t know the first thing about how to handle a ranch. And you’re serious about him? What if he doesn’t move back here with you? You want to be a ranch vet, are you gonna change that to go to the country club for tea time?” He asks, and I sigh. I haven’t thought that far, and I doubt tucker has either. We’ve only been together for a year strictly in a casual setting. No huff, no fuss.
“Beau, I still have two more years until I’m a vet, and after that, I’m wantin’ to open my own practice and do the ranching calls on the side. I’m sure whatever I decide to do, tucker Mason and I will figure it out step by step. He knows me becoming a vet is important, just like him following after his daddy is important to him.” I say, and he steps forward, getting face to face with me.
“Hes not good enough for you, Nat. I don’t understand how you can’t see that.” He says, and I bite my lip, trying to stand back from him, but he puts his arms around me and holds on to the four wheeler, pressing my back against it, his front pressing into mine. This is the first time all summer he’s even cared to talk to me while we’re alone, all other times we get our job done and go.
This reminds of when I was sixteen and he had just graduated school. He and Lyle had a barn party together. When the end of the night came, he and I were just sitting in the field full of alfalfa, laughing about somethin’ when he just leaned over and kissed me. We’ve never spoken of it again, but we did become close that summer. Now that I think about it, we’ve been close every summer until this one.
“And why isn’t he good enough for me? You haven’t even met him beau, you have no idea what he’s like.” I say while getting defensive, staring into his eyes and not backing down.
“I don’t need to meet him. I know you, and you’re too good for him.” He says making me try to push him away, but he has his hands wrapped around the bars on the back, and he just presses closer to me.
“Beau, no ones good enough in yours and my families eyes. Point out any man y’all think is good enough, and I’ll think about it.” He takes a deep breath, and his face gets closer to mine. His tan shirt that’s as dirty as my tank top, presses into mine and I feel his lips fall on mine. I stand frozen and when he pulls back, he swallows.
“Are you pointing to yourself?” I ask in a low unsure voice, but he let’s me go quickly, stepping away.
“No.” He says, and hops on the four wheeler. I get on behind him, my hands now a little jittery. Instead of holding on to him like I did earlier, this time I held onto the bars. He glances back to me, making sure I’m holding on to somethin’, then starts up the engine and we ride back to my house so he can drop me off.
When we get inside, ma almost has dinner done, so I go upstairs to shower quickly then head back down stairs in sweats and a T-shirt. The swamp cooler makes the old house freeze in the evenin, and all of us have learned to bundle up for dinner time, even though it gets over a hundred outside, and nineties at night.
I sit down in the chair, ma already having gotten everything sat down on the table. Beau comes in the room with sweats and a t-shirt also, him always having extra clothes here before he goes to his own house. He started living by himself on our property about the time I went off for college two years ago, and he loves my ma’s cookin, so he comes to eat for dinner every night, and my parents don’t mind one bit, since he’s practically family.
He sits opposite of me, with Lyle next to him, my pa on the end and my ma to his right. We say grace, and then ma looks to me.
“Honey, do you happen to have any plans this last weekend before you head off for college next week?” ma asks me, and I shrug.
“I don’t know, Just hanging out with y’all works for me.” I say back. She shakes her head, her eyes squinting. I saw pa have a satisfied smile on his face at my answer, along with Lyle, while Beau focuses on his food.
“You should go out and have some fun, hang out with some of your old friends, they miss you. Mrs. Martin wants you to come by so she can see how much you’ve grown.” she says, and Lyle’s smile wipes off his face.
“Ma, it’s okay that Nat wants to spend all of her time with us, she hangs out with people at college.” Lyle says, and I roll my eyes.
“Don’t get your panties in a twist, Lyle, I focus on my studies more than anything.” I retort, and he smiles again.
“You better be, I don’t want you wastin’ all your time on that no good boyfriend of yours.” He says, and I let my head fall back, looking to heaven to see if God would just let into my wants a little, and just smite Lyle enough to where he’d stop being so hard on me. I look back towards him, and I see Beau glance at me, waiting for my answer.
“It’s not a waste. And he’s not exactly my boyfriend, yet.” I say, and then regret it immediately. Beau drops his fork, looking to Lyle, who already looks like he’s about to turn beast. Pa looks to me and frowns.
“I thought you said you’ve been together for almost a year.” He says, confused. I look to ma, who just gave me a shrug. I told her everything, and she understood, but she wasn’t about to get me in more trouble by saying anything.
“He and I have just been going on dates, and hanging out. We’re just havin’ some fun.” I say, shrugging. I would like for us to be something more, but he wasn’t ready the last time this question was brought up, and that was four months ago. He makes me feel like I’m the only woman when he focuses on me, but I’m sure he does to all the other women also. He doesn’t talk about the other women, or diss me for them, but I know he has other women he atleast talks to and that’s okay. We aren’t exclusive. I don’t expect him to focus solely on me all the time. I’m fine with where we are.
“What kinda’ fun are you havin?” Lyle spits out, the sound of his chair scraping back as he stands up. I gulp. Do they really expect me to be a virgin at twenty? Especially when they talk to each other every morning about their past conquests?
I eye Beau, who is blatantly staring at me.
“We just go to parties together, he helps me study.” I say back, putting my hands up in defence, and Lyle glares at me.
“Y’all better be studying in public!” he roars, and I take a deep breath.
“Lyle, shut your trap and sit back down.” ma says, and Lyle sits back down immediately.
“Have you given him your flower?” he asks as bluntly as he can, and I looked to him in horror, just like they were all looking at me, only ma knows. It wasn’t even Tucker, it was at a party and I was drunk and gave it up too easily to a guy I thought I liked. I called her right after it happened, and I cried to her. We had forgot protection, or to even ask if he was clean, and she talked me through on what to do, and luckily it was on a thursday night, so I had drove home that next morning skipping classes, and she gave me a plan b pill, and took me to the doctor. It was a traumatic first.
“Lyle that is not any of your business! Natalie don’t you dare answer that! These boys don’t need to know anything!” ma snaps, standing up, throwing her napkin down. I gulp at the spectacle in front of me, and I sit back. My ma is my only advocate in the house. Pa was neutral, but more often than not, he took Lyle’s side when Lyle fights with me over stuff like this. Beau and Lyle were fuming, and pa just sat back, looking at his food like it was sour.
“Why can’t she answer ma? Did she give it up the second she left this place?” Lyle says, and I shake my head, pissed. Pissed because he was partly right, and pissed because he was being such a hipocrite.
“No, how dare you, you horse. You and Beau talk about the women you take advantage of every morning. Don’t come at me because I might have had sex!” I growl at him, so mad. I take my food, drink, and head upstairs, so mad at them.
Ma follows behind me, food in her hand also. we get into my room, and we sit our tea on the dresser, and she closes the door. I clear off my dresser from my work, I was getting ahead where I could before the new year started, so my books were scattered around along with my laptop, so I put everything cleanly away.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what got into Lyle, I’ve talked to him about you dating, and he said he’d get better about it.” ma said, and I shrugged.
“it’s Lyle ma, it’s not hard for him to get riled up. I didn’t even really say anything to him that was bad, and he just went off.” I said, and we sat down and ate dinner, just talking about physics, thqe statistics classes along with my vet science, with my third course english. While I was already in vet school.
Later that night ma went to bed, and I lie down, finishing my first weeks class load. All I’d have to do is take the notes I need and the quizzes. I started on the second week, knowing it would take me another few nights to get that done. I rub my eyes through my reading glasses, checking the time on my phone and seeing it was ten, and there’s a missed call from Tucker, I called him back.
“Hello?” his voice came through the phone, and I smile smally.
“Hey babe, sorry. I saw you called, it’s been a long day.” I said, and I heard him shuffle, and he sighed.
“It’s okay. How was it on the farm? I hope you aren’t working too hard, you deserve a break every once in awhile.” he says, and I shrug.
“Work is fun for me. I’ve missed working on the ranch, I’ve missed my horses. I think coming back this year is gonna be harder than I thought.” I say, knowing that usually my first week I get home sick.
“We’ll get through it. I’m gonna miss my family to, I’ve been with them every day, helping my dad in the office, running my sister around.” he says, and I smile. I hear something tink against my window, but I ignore it.
“You’re right, we’ll get through this. So what’d you do today?” I ask him, and I hear him answering me when there’s a few more tinks, so I get up and look out my window, to see Beau right next to it. I put my hand to my heart.
“Babe, you okay?” Tucker asks through the phone, as I open my window for Beau to come through, and I back up, and cover my phone speaker.
“What are you doing here?” I whisper hiss at him, and he turns around and closes my window silently.
“I needed to talk to you.” he breathes , and I roll my eyes.
“You could have texted.” I said, and he just shrugs. I put my phone back up to my ear.
“Babe? Who’s there? Is everything okay?” he asks, and I huff.
“Everythings fine, can I call or text you tomorrow?” I asked, and I heard silence for a moment, and then his voice.
“Yeah, yeah, of course. I’ll text you tomorrow. Goodnight. Love yah.” I take in a breath. He always says he loves me.
“Night. You to.” I hang up, and I toss my phone on the bed and run my hand through my hair, turning to Beau.
Bonner Bolton is Beau
“What do you need?” I ask, and he sits down on my chair in the room, and he looks at my scattered mess of books and papers on my bed.
“I thought the semester doesn’t start till two weeks.” he says, and I shrug.
“I’m getting ahead where I can so it’s not too hard on me.” he nods, and he looks to me. He clasps his hands together as I start to clean off my bed, embarrassed by the mess.
“You really think you being a brainiac is something to be embarrassed about?” he asks, and I shrug, saving my work on my computer and shutting it off, putting it in my book bag.
“I just don’t like others seeing a mess.” I murmured, and he nods .
“Okay, what is it you needed to talk about.” I say once every trace of the mess was gone and I sat on my bed. I didn’t have to worry about anyone hearing us, they all go to sleep early while Lyle would go to the bar to just get the hard day behind him, and he won’t be back until midnight. He’ll go right to sleep and wake up at five, like clock work.
“I didn’t know that when Lyle and I talk about girls that it makes you upset.” he said, shrugging, and I roll my eyes.
“It doesn’t, but it’s hypocritical that y’all talk about that every day but get mad that I might not be a virgin.” he looks to me, and stays silent for a moment, then he gets up, and comes to sit next to me. He makes me face him, so I get up on the bed further criss crossed, and he takes his slippers off, matching me.
“Are you?” he asks, squinting his eyes at me. I blink at him.
“Am I what?” he looks up and down my body, and then goes back to my face.
“A virgin.” he says, and I gulp. Is he gonna freak out to if I tell him? I shake my head slowly.
“no.” I say quietly, and he takes in a deep breath like he’s been kicked in the gut by a wild horse.
“You’re not.?” he asks, and I shake my head.
“Was it with this Tanner guy?” he asks lowly, but I shake my head.
“No.” he narrows his eyes.
“How many men have you done it with?” he asks, and I shift uncomfortably, eyeing him.
“Why does it matter?” I ask, and he scoots closer to me.
“Because, it does.” he says, leaning over me, his face close to mine.
“Two. The first I was completely drunk, I had just had my final, and my friends and I went to a party. I got drunk, and a guy I thought I knew took advantage of that. Then the second was Tucker.” I answer honestly, and he closes his eyes for a moment, and then he moves his body over mine, straddling me. I was confused on as to why he’d do it, but I didn’t question it.
“When was the last time?” he asks, and I gulp.
“Three months ago.” I say, and he nods, and he grabs my face, and he bends down to kiss me. His chapped lips from the sun feel good, warm against mine. When he slips his tongue past my lips and into my mouth, it felt like it was perfect. My inner sixteen year old is crooning at this very moment.
“Tanner isn’t your boyfriend?” he asks as he pulls back, and I blink up at him.
“No, Tucker isn’t my boyfriend.” he nods, and then he leans forward so he can kiss me again.
“What is this..” I whisper against his lips, and he groans.
“This is me taking what I want, Nat.” he rumbles as he lets go of my lips, and he kisses my neck. His scruff only makes it feel so much better, and I bite my lip to hold in a moan. As he’s kissing up and down my neck, his hand goes up my shirt, sinching it up. He fondles my breast, and he groans, letting go of my cheek, and his lips let go on my neck as he sees I’m not wearing a bra. He starts to kiss my breasts.
As he takes his time with each one, one of his hands travel down my sweats, and my breath catches.
“Beau..” I moan, half as warning, and he looks up and grins his sinfully delicious smile at me.
“Oh come on Nat, If I touch you and you’re not wet, I’ll give up.” he says, his gravelly voice against my ribs, his finger moving lower, touching my core, and he groans.
“Nope. Can’t stop now.” he murmurs, his eyes burning into mine.
“Then.. Don’t.” I mumble, my eyes half lidded, and his smile wipes away from his face, as both of his hands go to my sweats, and he pulls them down. He grabs my shirt and helps me out of it quickly, and all I’m left in is my panties. He looks at every part of my body, and he groans.
“Never.” he replies, going straight to the inside of my thighs, and him sucking, making me moan even harder.
“God, you smell so good.” he rumbles, pulling my panties off. He pulls my legs over his shoulders, and dives his head down. I immediately move my hands to his hair, and my eyes go wide as my back arches automatically. One of his hands come up and he grabs my nipple, and tugs.
“Give it to me.” he says, and I groan, knowing he wants me to come, and I feel my body go into hyperdrive.
“I-” I say, but I hitch my breath as I feel his other hand go into my core, two fingers going into my slick center, and I automatically feel the orgasm tear through my body, I moan his name.
He keeps sucking on me until I stop convulsing, then he reaches up and takes off his shirt. Even though I see it every day, when they get through half the day and they get too hot so they take their shirt off, this is the first time I havent seen it covered in sweat, but I had a feeling that by the end of this encounter I would.
He takes his sweats off immediately, and he looks me in the eyes.
“Is this Okay?” he asks quietly, and I feel a lump in my throat, not sure that I could speak confidently, so I nodded.
“Are you sure.” he says, his Tennessee accent coming through. I nod again, and he kisses my neck.
“Birth control?” he asks lowly, and I nod to him.
“Yeah.” I breathe, and he fixes himself over me, not wasting any more time and pushes into me. My eyes roll into the back of my head as he fills me completely. His breath catches, he reaches up and looks into my eyes, his rough hands stroking my cheek.
“Fuck Nat.. You don’t know how long I’ve been wanting this to happen.” he rumbles, and I bite my lip before I lean forward and plant my lips onto his. It felt like he was worshipping me, he whispered in my ear the whole time, saying how tight I was, how good I felt, how beautiful I was. My stomach in knots, winding up every stroke he made, every carress, he pummels into my heat, and it was too much. I dig my nails into his ass, throwing my head back and calling out his name as he extends my pleasure as much as he can before he cums himself.
He and I were dragging in rough ragged breaths, and he collapsed onto me, still in me, his semi hard on still throbbing.
It was silent, and he rolls off of me. he grabs his shirt, and he cleans me up first, then himself. He gets back into the bed cuddling me to him, us both feeling completely sated and dead tired after our day.
In the middle of the night he wakes me up, filling me full of himself, and I cry out sleepily, him nipping ear as he took me hard, and after, he cuddles back up to me, and we fell asleep again.
At around four, I feel him stir, and I roll over to see him putting his underwear back on and his sweats. I close my eyes sleepily again, and I feel him come over and kiss my forehead before I hear my window opening, then closing.
