“I know,” Harrington said on a chuckle. He turned to me, opened his mouth, then snapped it shut. He gave me a nod, turned on his heel, and strode away.
Not even a goodbye? Or a plan for later? Oh fuck that. This kid was going to get a piece of my mind. Tomorrow.
Until then, I was just going to watch my mare, who was apparently named Ramona.
Chapter 3
Hawk
Carter Cahill was taller than me, but then most fully grown men were. At least that was how it felt like a lot of the time. I had no height complex, I knew being on the shorter side was an advantage in what I did. Horses didn’t care either way, all they cared about was your aura.
Cahill was also an idiot. Although on some level it was gratifying to see him think Russ was me, just because Russ was bigger and older. The double-take was kind of funny, but everything about Cahill felt like tiny grains of sand under my skin from the get go.
His clothing was fine for the first visit. The chinos and some loafer type shoes with a designer T-shirt. Yeah, not exactly ranch wear. He’d also need a hat if he was going to visit more. I needed him to, down the line, because I wasn’t going to give the mare to him unless he’d done some of the work to get to know her.
As I’d supposed, he didn’t like her name. But at least he’d understood that she really knew it and would respond to it. I couldn’t affect what he’d do once they were eventually off the property, but for now, she was Ramona and he was an entitled asshole.
Before I could grab an ATV, Mal rolled his truck to a stop next to the utility vehicles we had by the training barn.
“Hop in!”
I did as I was told, and tried hard not to let the anxiety take me. Reading me just right, Mal didn’t say anything, he just grabbed my hand and squeezed.
When he drove to the house, I frowned. “Why are we here?”
“Are you going to go like that?” he gestured at my dusty clothing.
I grimaced. “Good point.” Then it hit me that he was wearing clean jeans and a T-shirt that definitely hadn’t been near any horses.
Seeing my confusion, he chuckled. “It’s my day off. Crew’s taking Payton to the library. You and I are following whomever is going to the hospital. Then once we’re done with our shift, Crew’s taking over.”
That made complete sense, so I just nodded and jumped out of the truck.
I raced through the oddly empty house to my room in the attic where I’d moved as soon as Bodhi left for basic training when I was nine. It was a testament to what kind of a man Crew was, because as the second oldest at fifteen, he could’ve just told everyone he was taking the room.
Instead, he knew that I was different from everyone else. I had nine siblings, and I was the only one who really disliked being part of such a large group of kids. I loved each and every one of my sisters and brothers more than life itself, but I just needed to be left in my own company more than anyone else.
I changed my clothes and the more the clock ticked forward, the more the silent house unnerved me. This had never been what my parents wanted. There was a reason they’d had ten kids. Now that there were grandkids to spoil, they were even happier.
If I hadn’t had the attic, I would’ve moved out ages ago. I had contemplated getting a little trailer somewhere on the property and I might still do that eventually, but Mom and Dad loved having as many of us as possible at the house still.
With the youngest set of twins and Isley studying elsewhere and Demi in town, they were down to six kids here. Although Crew lived in a cabin and I was pretty sure that when he and Mal moved in together—they needed an extension to Crew’s cabin because they had Payton who needed space—Bodhi would likely move into Mal’s old cabin.
So technically it was just going to be me, Emery, Fern, and Gemma at the house soon.
My brain was spinning by the time I went down the stairs. Yeah, ten kids were definitely too many.
As I climbed into the truck and Mal started the engine, I guffawed.
“What?”
“I was going through the list of Harringtons. I just realized there’s going to be four grandkids instead of two by the time this is over.”
Mal was silent for a moment, and when I glanced at him, he was smiling. There was still that sort of awe in his expression, because he wasn’t used to having a family as big as ours. But I guessed what got to him the most was that Payton had a new set of grandparents in my folks.
They’d pulled Malachi and Payton into the fold, and then when Mal’s mom Fiona had visited, they’d just absorbed her, too. Once Fiona’s sister, Mal’s Aunt Winifred, visited eventually, they’d do the same to her.
We were halfway into town, when both of our phones buzzed at the same time.
