Cowboy Casanova - Lorelei James [112]
So he’d called his father to share the love. “Ben. What’s up?”
“My curiosity mostly.”
“Well, your tone don’t match your words. You sound mad as hell, son.”
“I am.” He counted to fifty. “I just left Uncle Casper’s house where I had to keep Brandt, Tell and Dalton from beating the tar outta Colt.”
No response.
“And you don’t seem particularly surprised about that.”
“Not much surprises me these days.”
“It sure shocked the shit outta us,” he snapped.
“Before you chew my ass, lemme say Casper’s private business is not mine to share with you or with them.” A pause and Ben heard the squeak of his dad’s office chair. “So I take it Casper’s boys just found out?”
Ben’s knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. “Yeah. Kane called me to run interference and keep fists from flying.”
“That responsibility always seems to fall to you, don’t it? Bein’ the one to smooth things over and calm them hotheads down.”
He was surprised his father had noticed.
“Look, none of us have been on the best terms with Casper, especially in the last year. But he is my brother. You know you’d keep your brother’s secrets too.”
“Some of my brothers are better at keeping secrets than others, aren’t they,” he snarled. “Did you know?”
“Do I know what?”
“Don’t play stupid, it just pisses me off.”
“Like you calling me, throwing accusations left and right is pissin’ me off? Why don’t you just spit it the hell out.”
“Did you know Gavin bought the Wetzler place?”
“What? Gavin? Wait. Since when has it been for sale?”
“It wasn’t.” Ben explained what’d gone down. His dad stayed silent for so long Ben wondered if they’d gotten cut off. “You there?”
He cleared his throat. “Yeah. I’m just stunned. Gavin hasn’t said a word about it to me or to Vi.” Ben’s relief was short lived, however, when his dad said, “But I’m takin’ this as a good sign.”
“You consider it a good sign that Gavin would purposely fuck us over?”
“I’m gonna ignore that smartass remark bein’s you’re not acting at all like yourself. What I meant was I’m takin’ this as a sign that Gavin wants to be closer to us. He’s interested in becoming part of the family.”
“Family doesn’t do shit like this to each other, and if he’s that type of guy, then I sure as fuck don’t want him as part of my family.”
A deep paternal sigh. “You don’t mean that. Have you talked to Gavin about any of this?”
“No. I don’t care if I ever talk to Gavin again.”
“Son—”
“Don’t tell me I don’t mean it, because I do. This day has been a clusterfuck of epic proportions and I need a goddamn drink. Later.” He hung up.
When Ben reached his house, his temper had pegged overload. Needing to blow off steam, he roughhoused with his dogs. He chopped and stacked firewood. After a long, hot shower, he’d calmed down and poured himself a hefty shot of Pendleton whiskey.
Ace and Deuce dozed by the woodstove. Ben had always kept his shit moods to himself, dealt with them himself. It worked for him.
But wouldn’t it be nice to have someone to share this with? Someone to listen to you, verbally soothe you and then you could lose yourself in the heat, softness and surrender of her body to yours?
Just another fucked up situation in his life. Taking out the damn loan in the first place is what had caused him to lose Ainsley. All because he wanted to do something good, something helpful for his family. All his family saw was the loss of the land. There’s no way he could make them understand he’d lost something far more valuable.
Grabbing the bottle, he flopped in front of the TV and flipped the channel to Wheel of Fortune. But he’d gotten so used to watching the show with Ainsley in the last month, it felt pathetic sitting by himself, guessing the puzzles out loud.
Halfway through the program his phone buzzed. He didn’t recognize the number, but he answered it anyway. “Ben McKay.”
“Ben? Gavin.”
“Fuck.”
“Don’t hang up. Please hear me out.”
“Start that fast talking bullshit you do so well, cause you’ve got about thirty seconds.”
“Charlie called me, mad as hell, and chewed my ass. I assure you I didn’t want any of you