Get Bucked (The Valentine Boys 4)

I had a feeling he would.Chapter 15

Life is soup and I’m a fork.

-T-shirt

Darby

He finally came around two and a half weeks later.

The day had started out well, but when I’d gotten to the barn, I found a downed horse. One that had gotten what looked to be a severe case of colic.

After taking the horse’s feed away and cleaning out the food from his stall, I got Train up and tried walking him around to keep him from rolling and hurting himself in the stall.

Once I got him to the open arena, I called the vet and got him on the way out to the ranch.

Once I was done, I took the horse’s vitals and wrote them down on a piece of paper.

Unfortunately, I had no other choice.

I had to talk to Ace.

I had to be at work in half an hour and I hadn’t gotten shit-all done while I’d been taking care of Train.

Using my keys to get in the house, I walked directly to Ace’s room and knocked.

“Yeah?”

I grinned, kind of happy that I’d woken his ass.

“Train is showing signs of colic,” I said. “I called the vet, he’s on his way out. Said he’ll be about twenty minutes. I haven’t gotten shit-all done, though. And I have to leave in twenty minutes to be at work.”

There was a long moment of silence before Ace said, “I’ll be out in a couple of minutes.”

Just as I was about to turn and leave, Callum opened his bedroom door and stared at me.

I raised a brow in his direction. “What?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. Just surprised to see you. Been a while.”

I stared at him for a long moment then shrugged. “Whatever.”

“You don’t have to leave,” he said.

“I’m not done cleaning out stalls or feeding,” I said. “I’m gonna get to as many as I can before I have to go.”

“Darby…”

“Let him go.”

That was Banks, his voice carefully neutral as he said his peace from his own bedroom doorway.

“If I don’t finish, I’ll come back after work,” I found myself calling to them over my shoulder.

“That’s not necessary,” I heard Codie call. “One of us will get it.”

I didn’t answer her, nor did I call out a thank you. Instead, I kept walking, thinking not a single one of my brothers’ wives had stepped in to defend me either. Which made them just as culpable in my opinion.

They didn’t know the old me. But they sure the fuck knew the new me. They could’ve tried to do some convincing over the last ten weeks. Yet they hadn’t.

What they also hadn’t had a chance to do was get to know Waylynn. Waylynn who’d turned into one of my best friends.

Waylynn who I’d had to convince to stay home today because she had a really bad cold that I was fairly certain was the flu. Not that she wanted to admit that.

Stopping at the fridge to grab a cold water bottle, I went back to work shoveling as many stalls as I could. It was when I was pushing it, barely going to get to work in time, that I finally exited the barn at a mild jog.

I wasn’t surprised to see Banks, Ace, and Callum standing next to the vet’s truck watching as the vet did his thing with Train.

“You caught it early,” I heard Braxton Tucker, the vet, say. “Good job.”

I felt a spark of happiness at having found him before it’d gotten too bad.

Bonus points was that it was Banks’ preferred horse, meaning he would be more thankful than most.

Heading to my truck, I started it up without a word.

All three of my brothers turned around just as I put it into reverse.

Banks started forward, and I was thankful it was him and not the other two. At least Banks made an effort. I couldn’t say the same for my other brothers.

“Got all of them cleaned out but the last two,” I said. “I’ll be back at lunchtime to finish.”

“I can do it,” Banks answered. “You come over at lunch, it’ll be done, and then you’ll have time to talk.”

I gritted my teeth.

On one hand, I wanted to come over here and finish just in general principle. But I knew if I did, Ace and Callum would use it as a window to talk to me. Something in which I wasn’t ready to do just yet.

I wasn’t over the hurt and the anger.

Not to mention I already was coming over this afternoon after work to ride fence with Banks.

“Fine,” I said. “Thank you.”

Banks grinned then.

“How’s Waylynn?” he asked.

I grimaced and looked at my watch. “Sick as a dog with the flu she refuses to admit she has. And probably getting ready to head into work because she thinks Gibson can’t accomplish anything without her.”

Banks grinned, then patted my door. “Get out of here, kid. You’re gonna be late for work.”