“But Tootch is willing to swear out a complaint,” I said. Loren sighed. Tootch coughed and shook his head like a dog with ear mites. I huffed in aggravation. Tootch had agreed to file whatever needed to be filed to get Chip Tooth aka Donald Great Bear into the police station for questioning on the way here. He’d vowed he would do so. Guess his word didn’t mean much. Or he was just too scared to get involved and end up back in jail.
“Look,” Loren lowered his mug as his pack of boys barreled out the back door, “I’ll find the Great Bear brothers at the powwow and talk to them. I can run them through the system and see if they’ve got priors, but I’d know about it if they did. Still, I’ll do that for you guys. But when that comes up empty, I expect you kids to stop sneaking around playing Scooby-Doo. Just because you think someone did something doesn’t mean they did.” He pinned all three of us with a look that dared us to say anything other than “Yes, sir” and leave his home like a trio of whipped dogs. We stepped out into Loren’s front yard—what you could see of it under the toys and bikes—to find my grandfather parked beside my truck.
“Shit,” I mumbled as Kenruh lifted a hand. I glanced at Will and Tootch. “You two stay here. This is probably for my ears.”
Neither seemed to object. Smart men. I shuffled over to the yellow pickup. Kenruh was listening to Willie Nelson and sipping on a can of peach iced tea.
“Nice to see you visiting the neighbors,” Kenruh tossed out.
“Did Loren call you?”
“Nope. Just happened to be going by on my way back to the powwow grounds when I spotted your truck. Thought I’d pull in and see what was going on.” His keen gaze flickered from me to Will and Tootch. “Anything I need to know about?”
“Nothing bad. We just had some information we wanted to give to Loren.”
“Ah right.” He lifted his can of tea to his lips then took a long drink. “Tastes like shit when it gets warm.”
“Yeah.”
“So this is all under control?” Which meant that I wasn’t in trouble, and he wasn’t going to press me.
“Yep, it’s fine. Sorry about missing the grass dance.”
“Next year.”
“Yeah, for sure. Thanks, Kenruh.” He reached up to pat my cheek then cranked his truck over and left. The guys walked up to me as I watched my grandfather head down the road.
“Did you get in trouble?” Will asked. I shook my head. “Kenruh is cool.”
“Yeah, he really is,” I murmured.
“So yeah, I hate to be the kind of guy to say I told you so but…” Will threw his hands into the air.
“Just get in the truck.”
There was somuch tension in the air you could cut it with your finger and to hell with a butter knife. Will, Tootch, and I all stood on the front porch of Landon Reece’s fancy log cabin home, waiting for the three head cowboys to make a decision. Granted, asking if Tootch could sign on as a hand right in front of Tootch was probably a sneaky way to do it. If Landon, Nate, or Kyle said no, it would make them look like dicks, especially since Tootch knew we were shorthanded.
“So do you have any experience ranching?” Nate asked while Kyle glowered at his brother. Will, being Will, just sort of smiled at his elder brother as if he knew we were well aware of what we were doing. Which we were. It felt kind of shitty to me now that I was looking them all in the face. On the ride from the rez, it had seemed okay to get things settled. And Tootch really did need somewhere to crash and pull a paycheck. Parole officers were funny about that Will had informed me.
“Not really but I like milk,” Tootch replied earnestly. If I could have melted into goo and slipped through the floorboards of the porch I would have.
“We don’t raise dairy cattle, son,” Nate gently replied, his gaze darting to Landon. I stared at one of several sparkling clean windows, noting the fact that Landon’s PA lingered but behind the sheer curtains. She disliked Will greatly. Well, perhaps disliked was a strong word. Mona distrusted Will. I’d never heard the reasoning why, and it wasn’t my place to question the much older Asian woman.
“He’s willing to work hard as he learns,” Will piped up to counter the rolling eyes of his elder sibling. “We hire workers here that deserve second chances, right? The people that other ranches won’t take on because of their race, sexual identity, or past criminal records, which I’d like to point out were all juvenile offenses—mostly—and nothing involving murder or mayhem of any kind.”
“You should study law,” Landon commented with a wry smile. Will grinned. “Give him a bed in the bunk room and two weeks as a trial hand.”
“Thank you, sir. Thank you! I’ll be the best hand that ever milked a cow!” Tootch gushed, grabbing each hand he could find to shake it. Even mine. Will led him down the stairs with an arm around Tootch’s neck. I smiled feebly at Nate.
“You’re in charge. Train him well. And let us know if anything happens in the bunkhouse,” Nate stated, and I bobbed my head.
“Yes, sir, everything has been fine.” Aside from Ron borrowing things without asking but that hadn’t happened since I’d spoken to him about it. “Thank you all.” I backed off the porch, acutely aware of the fact that I still wore most of my dance regalia. “We’ll get to work now.”
“Good idea,” Kyle tossed out just as Montrell appeared in the open doorway. He gave me a smile then informed his husband that dinner was ready and Mona had the paperwork for the cattle sales to go over.
Landon groaned. “I only want to ride horses and rope calves,” he playfully whined as he looped his arm around Montrell’s lean waist and shuffled into his house.
“You couldn’t rope a stump,” I heard Montrell reply. Both men laughed. Kyle and Nate nodded because…well yeah, it was true. Landon was trying but his skills were obviously in other fields. Like ice hockey and wearing fancy city suits.