Herd That (The Valentine Boys 1)

Not that he needed to know that fact just yet.

I wanted him to fall good and in love with me, that way when he realized that I had more baggage than he was probably comfortable dealing with, he’d be stuck with me.

“You can take about ten dozen home with you today,” Todd suggested, gesturing toward a counter that was filled to the brim with dozens and dozens of egg cartons.

I would. I so would.

Speaking of.

“I put you down as a reference for the police department,” I said without thought. “I hope that was all right.”

Todd rolled his eyes. “I told you when you asked the first time a couple of weeks ago that it was all right. It’s all right today, too.”

My lips twitched.

“I got the job, by the way,” I said. “I’ll be starting Monday.”

Todd extended a fist toward me, which I bumped with mine.

He winked and then gestured at the papers in the middle of the room.

“Now, let’s get down to business.”

***

An hour later, we were once again driving down the bumpy driveway, only Ace was driving this time.

“Thank you for that,” he said softly. “I was at a loss for what I was going to do.”

I grinned. “I know. Which is why I texted him while we were still at that meeting. But, just sayin’, Todd will wipe the floor with that other lawyer. It’s going to be epic.”

“How do you know Todd?” he asked, holding out his hand for me to take.

I did, and he shifted our joined hands to the middle console to rest.

I sighed and leaned forward and sideways, repositioning myself in the seat so that my knee was tucked up under my left one and I was sitting sideways in the seat.

“I already told you I was a bad kid,” I explained.

He looked at me quickly before returning his attention to the road. “Yeah, but you didn’t tell me you were in enough trouble to require a lawyer.”

I snorted. “I wasn’t… per se. But my parents, after what Jace did, wanted to have a backup plan in case the assistant chief decided to press charges. Thankfully he didn’t. And my parents knew Todd before all my acting out went down.”

“Why?” he asked. “It didn’t seem like he knew them all that well. Only you.”

I grinned then. “I held a job at Todd’s firm. I was the go-to girl that did all the shredding, filing, and answering of the phone calls for about four hours a day. My mom was the one who found the job for me. Though, this was after I was labeled as a bad girl.”

He tossed me a quick smile then pulled a left onto the main road of Kilgore. “So… want to work out?”

I grimaced. “Not really, but Desi really is counting on me to do this race with her, so I better give it at least a little bit of a shot.”

“A little bit of a shot.” He snorted. “I like it.”

The rest of the drive went on in silence.

Not an uncomfortable silence, but a relaxing one. And he held my hand the entire way.Chapter 17You have to take the bull by the horns. Or the cowboy by the belt buckle. Whatever.

-Text from Desi to Codie

Codie

“You think I should what?” I asked in confusion.

“I think you should enter him in the rodeo this weekend,” Ace repeated.

I blinked. Then blinked some more.

“He’s ready?” she asked. “I thought you said last week that he still had some growing to do… and isn’t my grandfather’s bull in this one?”

Scooby was big… but he wasn’t that big.

“He’s scrappy,” Ace explained. “And yes, from what I understand, your grandfather did enter his bull. But, there can be multiple bulls entered. And you’re not there to win the cash prize or anything. You’re there to show Scooby off. I have a feeling you’ll be surprised by his performance… as will everyone else.”

“But Shaggy will be the star of the show,” I finally settled on.

“He will.” Ace reached for my hand and pulled me into the couch with him. “But I really think you should do it. I wouldn’t tell you this if I didn’t think that you could get some benefits out of it.”

I bit my lip and thought about how I wanted to spend the rest of my weekend.

And it definitely wasn’t at the rodeo.

However, Ace had explained that it was a good opportunity… and that he wanted to go watch Banks barrel race and calf rope. Me, being a supportive… what was I? Girlfriend? Booty call? Hook-up?

Whatever I was… I was a supportive person, and I wanted to go with him

But that was likely because I wanted to spend time with him, and if that required me going to a rodeo and smelling horse shit for hours sitting on cold stadium bleachers… then so be it.