“Whiskey?”
She didn’t remember the name of my favorite horse. My temper flashed as I remembered how Royce hadn’t remembered either.
Putting the mug away, I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it, Silk. I got everything covered and things will go back to normal eventually.”
I bit my tongue before I threw out that she should just go back to being focused on her man and baby and ignoring me. I knew that was over the line and not fair at all. Silk was trying and I was the one being a bitch, but I couldn’t seem to reel it in.
Silk slowly straightened and grabbed my arm before I could leave.
“I do worry, Gabs. Right now, I’m more than fucking worried about you. Tell me what happened. Let me—”
I waved my hand through the air, cutting off her words.
“Just leave it be, Silk. There’s nothing you can do, okay? This is just my life right now. It’s full on and I’m busy as hell, but it’ll pass.”
With that, I pulled from her grip and rushed out of the room. In the main room, both SeVen and Donny paused their machines to stare at me with concern but quickly returned to work when I waved them off and headed to the counter. Before I got there, the door opened with a customer. Forcing a smile on my face and my muscles to relax, I switched to work mode and set about booking him in for the piercing he wanted. By the time I’d finished, my next client was waiting. My last appointment for the day. After checking Silk’s appointments, I knew she’d be busy with her own client by the time I finished up, so I’d be able to escape without risking another run-in with her.
Deep down, I knew Silk was right. I couldn’t keep working myself this hard. Something had to give and soon, or I’d fall in a heap and be the one in hospital, just like Boone had warned me.
The easiest thing to take off my plate was the horses. I couldn’t keep being the sole caretaker for them. I needed to carve out some time to look for a long-term solution.
Royce still hadn’t allowed me to see for myself how sick John and Kate were, but if whatever they had was something permanent or, heaven forbid, terminal, the horses needed to be rehomed. As much as I was making sure they were fed and groomed, I didn’t have time to ride them. It was cruel to lock them up like they were. They were used to being ridden every day and working the ranch.
I could tell they were pining for the action of their previous lives. John had cycled them, taking a different horse out each day to check cattle. All the horses looked so damn sad every time I saw them. They were starting to put a little weight back on, their ribs not showing so obviously anymore, but their eyes revealed their misery. They missed John and the exercise but sadly, there were only twenty-four hours in a day, and none of them were spare for me at the moment.
Boone
Determined to find a way to at least see Gabs, I headed into Silky Ink. I couldn’t get her out of my head, and I wasn’t willing to just let her go because her life was busy. Now that calving was over, I had a couple of months before I’d get busy again with branding, inoculating, and castrating the males. I wanted to use that time to get my girl back.
When I walked through the door, my heart sank. She wasn’t in the main room. Praying she was in a back room or somewhere on the premises at least, I headed straight to the counter.
“Boone? That you?”
Jerking my gaze to the man who’d called my name, I grinned. “Donny! Man, how are you? I had no idea you worked here.”
Donny had done my bio metric tattoo for me a few years ago. I’d had no idea he’d moved shops.
“You got time to hang around? I have another twenty minutes or so here, then we can catch up for a bit.”
I nodded. “Sure, man. I got time. Is Gabs around?”
He shook his head, “Sorry, buddy. She won’t be in till later.”
I nodded, trying to cover my disappointment I turned to scan the tattoo designs that hung on the walls of the waiting area. Lost in my thoughts, I started when a female voice quietly called my name.
“Boone?”
I turned to see Gabs’ friend, Silk, standing behind me.
“Hey, Silk. What’s up?”
She frowned. “I don’t know. I was hoping you could tell me.”
I glanced around the shop. No one was in earshot, but I still didn’t want to be airing Gabs’ and my private shit out here.
“Got somewhere more private where we can have a coffee while we chat?”
She nodded. “Come on back to the break room. Donny’ll find us when he’s done.”