Once we were heading down the driveway, Logan spoke up. “He wants us to believe he’s involved with Gabriela.”
“Yeah, I caught that. The way Gabs talked about Royce led me to believe they weren’t even friends. No way are they together.”
The silence dragged before he spoke again. “She your girl then?”
I blew out a breath as I turned onto the road back toward town. “I wish. We dated for a bit. Her life got turned on its head a couple months back when her folks were in a bad crash. I overstepped when trying to take care of her, and she pushed me away.”
He nodded. “She looked in worse shape than the horses. I hope he listens and either steps up or sells them before she burns out and can’t look after them or herself.”
I prayed for the same damn thing, while wondering if I hadn’t just overstepped again.
Gabs
Damn men. Always thinking they can just roll on in and fix everything.
“You called in the SPCA on me? What the fuck, Gabriela?” Royce all but growled.
I’d finished brushing down the last of the horses and they were all out in the pasture grazing now. I grabbed the fork and muck bucket then headed toward Whiskey’s stall.
“I didn’t call the SPCA. I’ve got no clue why they came out.”
Turning so I could keep Royce in my line of sight, I started to sift the manure out of the bedding, dumping the horse shit into the bucket. He threw his hands up in the air.
“Well, how in the hell else could they have known?”
I rolled my eyes as I dumped the next fork full. “Gee, I don’t know Royce. Maybe since your folks haven’t been seen around town in months, one of their friends called it in. Don’t be surprised if the cops rock up next to do a wellness check.”
Maybe that was what I should do. Get the cops involved. Although, it would no doubt make Royce even harder to tolerate.
He paced over to the doorway that faced the pasture and mumbled under his breath.
“Maybe it’d be easier to just shoot them all.” He shook his head. “Auction. Plenty of kill buyers there. Then I’ll get some money out of it. Yeah.”
My heart skipped a beat, and I nearly dropped the fork. I was well aware he was mean enough to shoot them just so people would leave him be. Selling such beautiful animals to the slaughterhouse wasn’t any better. Emotions swelled, clogging my throat, and I couldn’t take another moment in the monster’s company.
Taking the fork and bucket out of Whiskey’s stall, I set them down before marching over to Royce.
“Since you have so much free time, you can finish off the chores today. I’m leaving.”
I was careful to stay out of his reach, not giving him time to respond before I headed to the door and into the pasture. As I stomped across the uneven ground, Whiskey and Flint shadowed me until I reached the fence near my trailer. With a huff, I turned to face them, reaching out to stroke down their noses.
“I’m sorry, girls. He just makes me so damn mad! I’ll be back later to make sure y’all get bedded down with feed and water.”
After another couple minutes of petting them, I climbed over the fence and headed inside to shower and change. As I washed off the morning’s grime, I tried to think of how to prevent Royce from destroying the horses. Maybe I could ask around to see if anyone would want to privately buy them. Surely, they’d sell for more that way than whatever the kill buyers would offer.
If I could convince Royce he could earn more by privately selling the horses, I might be able to get him to agree to advertising them that way. Royce had always been all about the money. Hopefully, by the time I got back over there later, he’d have cooled off and be more reasonable to deal with.
Once more, concerns for John and Kate rose up. I still hadn’t managed to get into the house to lay my eyes on them. The longer I went without seeing them, the more worried I got. Was Royce bastard enough to hurt his own parents? Parents who’d spoiled him rotten and given him everything he’d ever wanted.
I shook my head as I made my way through my trailer to the bathroom. I was just tired and letting my imagination run away with me. Maybe when I went over later, I’d try to sneak into the house to check on them. I’d been so busy with everything and trying to avoid Royce, who seemed to want to hit on me every chance he got, I hadn’t even asked about John and Kate for a while now.
As I stripped then started the shower, my thoughts turned to Boone. He was about the only one I knew personally who had enough space for more horses, but I had no idea if he’d have the funds to buy them. Not that I’d be seeing him anytime soon to even ask. I was still furious about what he’d done. He’d taken my reaching out to him for advice and turned it over to his work with the SPCA. He’d broken my trust, and thanks to him poking around today, the horses could lose their lives. He should have just left well enough alone.
With a shake of my head, I recalled him pulling me away from the hospital, making it so I hadn’t been there when my dad had taken a turn. What was with that man and interfering?
Damn cowboys. They were always trying to fix shit, even when they had no clue what they were doing.
With a sigh, I focused on getting showered and dressed as quickly as possible. I had way too much shit to do today to waste time here at home. As soon as I was ready, I grabbed my keys, phone, and handbag and was out the door.