Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 52773 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52773 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
“I should’ve made your favorite meal or something,” Desi said as she bumped my shoulder with hers.
I tried not to get overly emotional, but it was hard.
At one point, my brothers had written me off. They’d kicked me out and had told me to not come back.
And I hadn’t.
I hadn’t come back until I had all my shit straight, and my ducks in a row.
I had a job. I had my GED since I dropped out of high school in my last semester. I had been enrolled in college and actually had passing grades through two entire semesters of it.
In fact, I hadn’t actually been the one to come back at all.
After my sister had almost been killed, it’d screwed my head on straight.
I’d decided that enough was enough, and I wouldn’t be going down the same dark path that I’d been allowing myself previously.
It was only when I’d turned twenty-one that my family had found me at my dorm.
My sister, Georgia, had been right up front waiting for me to come back to our family with open arms.
And from that point forward, once they’d welcomed me back, I’d been the hardest worker they’d ever seen.
Going to college full-time.
Doing what needed to be done at home with the ranch.
Making money on the side so that I didn’t take any money out of their pockets if I could help it.
It’d all led me to where I was today.
“I guess now is the time to tell you that I found a job,” I told them.
There were gasps all around.
“What do you mean you found a job?” Ace boomed. “You can’t go work full-fucking-time and work here and work as a bullfighter!”
I looked at my big brother and grinned.
“Actually, I can,” I said. “Bullfighting is a part-time gig anyway. I take the ones I want. And I already didn’t do shit with y’all anyway. I will still give y’all Monday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I just can’t give you Tuesday through Thursday.”
“What… how… why?” Ace asked.
I scratched the back of my head.
“It’s not like y’all really need me,” I pointed out.
Ace’s face went into a hard line of anger.
Callum growled.
Banks stayed his usual silent self.
“Tell me why,” Banks ordered after a long moment of silence.
I sighed.
“Y’all still don’t trust me with most things,” I told them bluntly. “I ride fence and I muck out stalls. But seriously, y’all follow behind me as if I didn’t do it, or don’t know how to do it.”
They stayed silent because they knew that I was right.
“And I’ll still do my fair share of the chores,” I said as I continued. “It’s not like I plan on moving out or anything,” as long as they didn’t force me to. It’s not like I really put much of an effort into the workings of the ranch. And at one point, I’d cost them more than I’d helped them. “Anyway, I’ll be working twelve-hour shifts Tuesday through Thursday at the college teaching college classes.” I paused. “And when I’m not teaching, I’m going to be doing research with the forestry service.”
There was a long, silent pause.
Then, “You’re leaving us to teach.”
That came from Callum.
“Yes.” I paused. “If you want to consider it actually ‘leaving’ you.”
Callum blinked.
“The fact that you didn’t bring this to our attention means that you don’t really want or need our opinions,” Ace snapped.
I sighed.
I had a feeling they were going to feel this way.
“Why bother staying here?” Callum asked.
Now that made my spine shoot straight.
“You don’t want me to help when I’m off?” I asked carefully.
Too carefully.
If they’d noticed at all that I was losing my cool, they didn’t show it.
It wasn’t often that I let my temper show anymore.
Honestly, it got to the point that I either A, left before it got to that point, or B, hid it in some way.
There was no hiding the anger today, though.
Desi, who was now standing next to Callum, pinched him.
Callum didn’t flinch, though.
“You just said that you don’t help out much,” Banks pointed out. “So if that’s the way you really feel, there’s no reason to stay here. The only reason we’re all staying in the big house is because we need to be here to do the shit that needs done.”
At that, I realized that they were pissed. They were pissed and they were lashing out.
That was what I hoped, anyway.
The other possibility was that they really felt like that.
And I didn’t like that possibility.
Those words coming from Banks’ mouth was rich.
He was the one that was gone more time than he was here.
Sure, he was a little bit bigger of a name than I was, but at least when I picked up my bullfighting shifts, it was on the days that the ranch was covered and there was more than enough help to go around.