I didn’t answer. I kept my eyes on the road and hoped to hell that when we got there, Dad would still be breathing.
9
HUDSON
Dust clouded the air, dry and heavy, coating everything: skin, clothes, and lungs. My shirt clung to my back, sweat traced a line down my spine, but the work was familiar. Steady. A good kind of exhausting despite the tension strung in the air from all the latest happenings on the Magnuson ranch. Speculation had turned into hardened truths that now spread across the town like wildfire. Gray Magnuson was indeed sleeping with his son’s fiancé, which was confirmed when, a couple of days ago, he’d had an explosive fight with Carter, who showed up at the ranch and learned about their affair.
Junebug huffed under Matty’s legs a few yards ahead, her ears twitching as she cut off a stubborn steer trying to break formation. He rode like he was born in the saddle, and he practically was. Gray had ensured both his boys were knowledgeable about ranch life, even if the older son had chosen a different path. But today Matty was restless, distracted, and my heart hurt for the way his family’s name was being dragged through the mud.
Five of us were working together: Matty, me, Hans, Boone, and Clayton. Good men. Reliable hands, most days. But today… Today, their mouths were running like a busted pipe about the Magnuson family matter, and it grated on my nerves.
“You hear what they’re saying in town?” Hans muttered low, nudging his horse closer to Boone. “Gray sleeping with his son’s fiancé. That’s some Jerry Springer-level shit.”
Boone chuckled. “It ain’t even the first time I’ve heard a story like that, but damn. Who would have thought Gray could do his own son dirty like that? The boy ain’t even all that. Could have found somebody better for sure.”
I gritted my teeth to stop from barking at them to shut the fuck up and get on with the work. For one, Matty. I didn’t want to interfere in his family’s messy business.
No matter how much I wanted to go to him and ask if he was okay, I knew better. I was the last person Matty would want to talk to. Not when another area of his life was crumbling. His mother and brother had left town yesterday in a mood. The whole town knew about it.
“Guess even decent men get lonely,” Clayton said, voice loud enough to carry. “Still, banging your kid’s partner? That’s foul.”
I tensed, tightening my hands on the reins, clenching my jaw so hard it ached. I glanced toward Matty. Had he caught it? Shit, judging by the way his shoulders stiffened and his body went still, he had.
Without a word, he peeled off. Turned his horse and rode away from the group toward the ridgeline, out of earshot.
Fuck.
“No, seriously.” Hans made no effort to lower his voice,since Matty was gone. “I blame the fiancé. Should have kept his legs shut. How much of a slut do you have to be to sleep with both the dad and the son? That’s how disease spreads, I tell ya. Never liked all that gay shit that happens around here. Ain’t natural.”
“Will you shut the fuck up about it already?” I wheeled my horse around to face them. “You leave the Magnusons’ family business alone. It has nothing to do with you.”
Hans lifted his chin, unbothered. “Everyone already thinks it. What’s the matter if we say it out loud?”
“Well, maybe everyone else should mind their damn business too.” I tugged on the horse’s reins to steady her under me. “Gray has done more for this town and this ranch than any of you ever will. That man’s given up holidays, sent your kids to colleges, and made sure y’all had paychecks and steady work.”
Boone snorted. “Didn’t realize we weren’t allowed to have opinions anymore. Especially when it’s the truth.”
Hans crossed his arms and smirked. “Why you so worked up, Granger? Defending the cheaters like it’s personal.”
“Because I know better than to bite the hand that feeds me.”
Hans laughed. “Oh, right. I forgot. Cheating runs in your blood too, don’t it? Weren’t you sleeping with the boss’s son a few years back? Probably thought all this was gonna be yours one day, didn’t cha? Thought that lying under Magnuson’s son like a bitch in heat would get you a piece of the land? Well, how did that turn out for ya?”
“You gonna continue talking out of your ass, Hans?” I was barely clinging to my control.
Hans’s laugh boomed even louder as he doubled over,wheezing. “You gotta be two shades of stupid to ruin all this for the town whore. Although I can see why you dropped Matty faster than a busted fence in a storm. He ain’t nothing but a pampered brat with mommy issues playing cowboy ’cause Daddy owns the deed to this land. Always thought he was too good for the rest of us, too clean, too proper, like being gay made him special. Musta not have what it takes to please you in bed, eh, Granger?”
The hit came before I even registered dismounting my horse.
Knuckles to cheekbone. Sharp and satisfying.
Hans stumbled back, spitting blood, and lunged for me. Clayton shouted, trying to grab his arm. Boone jumped off his horse, yelling for us to knock it off. But Hans and I were already swinging again, boots scraping dirt, fists flying. He landed one on my ribs.
“You can talk all the shit you want about me!” I punched him in the jaw, rocking him off his feet. “But don’t you say a word about Matty, you homophobic fucker!”
“Enough!”
Gray’s voice cut through the chaos like a whip crack.
